A lot of the “survivors” had weird memory problems due to the brains reaction to the really strong electricity. They did fMRI’s on survivor’s brains and showed them a video of blinking dots one after another and then after the last dot disappears the person has to remember where it was on the screen. They found that more brain areas react but it’s at lower levels. The frontal lobe has little reaction when the person is thinking of where the dot was. So in essence they have to think harder because their brain is just not reacting normally. Which I have to tell you, I find this to be true. I often have to close my eyes and forget about outside stimuli in order to remember where I put something. Even at work I find myself forgetting silly things and have to strain to remember where an item is.
Most lightning survivors also have strange physical pains in different parts of the body that can't be pin-pointed to any specific thing. (Remember you of my back pain?) Doctors say it's mostly related to the nervous system damage that the lightning causes as it electrifies the body. It damages the nerves and when they are damaged they lose their sense of when to let the body know there is pain present.
I found some doctors in Chicago that are specialists in the human body after it’s been struck by lightning, so I’m researching them because it would be great to know more. I just wish folks, especially the university admissions office, would know about my struggle and it’s hard to express to people, or even admit, that I’m just not what I used to be! In all honesty, I downplay lightning, but I do think it’s a cause of some of the negative issues in my life. A lot of the times people just wish they would have died so they didn’t have to deal with the lifelong effects of being a lightning survivor.
P.S. I know people don’t think much about lighting, and think it’s pretty, which I agree, but it’s not taken seriously and I think people need to really take care of themselves and get inside with any inclination of a storm approaching. Just like the bomb-squad t-shirt says “if you see me running, you better run too,” the same goes for me and lightning. If you see me go indoors before a storm, you should too!
