Need help traumatizing a character in a story...

April 6, 2006 12:50 PM

Need help with a neurology problem/research...

I'm writing a script where I need a character to get hit with something and have as much of the following happen as a result:

-- unconscious for a few to several days (wade in and out of consciousness)
-- sees spots afterwards (preferably of various sizes and intensities; preferably worsening when stressed; preferably getting worse over time till "good" vision is minimal to non-existent)
-- memory affected (preferably either a chunk of time gone or everything before X gone)
-- halucinations

I need to know:

-- where on the head should this person be hit?
-- with what should they be hit (needs to be common item that could be found in an alley or a car (but can't be the car itself)--tire iron? board with a nail in it? concrete block? etc.)?
-- how would a doctor describe this person's condition (name for seeing spots?)? what would recommended treatment be (surgery? medication?) and possible side effects / risks of such treatment?
-- would the spots be solid? translucent? transparent? perfectly round? clusters? black? colored? what?
-- how long would someone afflicted thus be in the hospital and/or in rehab?
-- what else would be affected by such a wound? (speech? physical/mobility?) what other details should I include?
-- how would a doctor characterize what happened to the patient/family?

posted by dobbs to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

where on the head should this person be hit?

Consider that a person does not need to be hit on the head to produce traumatic brain injury. Anything that causes a whiplashing of the head can do that (shaken baby syndrome is an example). A fall could cause that, or a collision, or . . .
posted by Neiltupper at 2:00 PM on April 6, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks, Neiltupper. The person needs to be hit on the head, however, as I have a person to deliver a blow and a reason for it to be delievered.
posted by dobbs at 2:07 PM on April 6, 2006

Take a look here. It's a quite extensive site with much of the information you're seeking.
posted by Neiltupper at 6:43 PM on April 6, 2006

Could have the character suffer a stoke. It generally fits the symptomatology your seeking - memory loss, hallucinations and other visual disturbances and can be caused by bleeding in the brain or a blood clot after a head injury.

Or, another possibility is post-concussion syndrome.
posted by squeak at 9:11 PM on April 6, 2006

Occipital cortex, near the base of the back of the skull.
[paging Ikkyu2....paging Ikkyu2]
posted by docpops at 9:52 PM on April 6, 2006

I think a basilar skull fracture would do the trick. Massive trauma to the back of the head, or to the side of the head, or even to the face can do it, although this is an extremely serious condition--generally thought of as life threatening, a neurosurgical emergency.

It's even got a cool name associated with it--Battle's sign, which is when you see hematomas (bruises) behind the ears, over the mastoid processes (those bony prominences behind your years.)

this emedicine article is pretty technical but goes into all the details...http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic2820.htm


mmm...getting sleepy...will finish later...
posted by gilgul at 10:39 PM on April 6, 2006

Response by poster: thanks for all the comments so far.

gilgul, are you awake yet? :)
posted by dobbs at 11:59 AM on April 7, 2006