Ask me anything. I'm not a medical expert, but I can tell you what I know about being knocked unconscious from a forceful blow, and what it's like to wake up again. Also anything about memory loss, I've experienced that too.
Ask away, I'm happy to explain, and I can tell you right now it's not like how it's written most the time.
Does getting knocked out happen suddenly or does it set in
It's sudden af. From a blow to the head anyways. If you're being choked out it's different obviously haha.
But if you get whacked, let me tell you, you wont even know you went down. You'll just wake up eventually. When I got hit, I didn't even know it. I just woke up at the hospital, and had to piece everything together myself until someone finally filled me in. When writing getting knocked out suddenly, I honestly would skip any describing of the event, unless you're writing out of that characters POV. Just, they're doing the action right before, then scene break and start in with them waking up. When people say 'they never knew what hit them' that's real as hell.
What are the first few days after getting knocked out like? What sensations did you feel, how disoriented were you?
I got a concussion when I got conked (which, tbh, kinda goes hand in hand. Getting knocked out is literally your brain bouncing off ur skull, which is very concussive, as you might imagine.) And I literally slept for like two-three days straight. During the first day or so, I was really nauseous whenever I stood, or even sat, and I had no apatite at all. rip all that hospital food that got thrown away after I didn't eat it.
As far as how disoriented I was, I was very. Did I know that about myself? hell naw. I thought I was perfectly cognizant.
When you're writing a character who is going through that, you should try to show how disoriented they are without actually having them notice. Like for example, I had a possible neck injury too, and when the doctor wanted to remove my neck brace, she asked me some questions and told me to answer without moving my head by nodding or shaking it. I nodded or shook my head every time. I couldn't remember the instruction until after I'd moved. But It didn't occur to me until later that it was because I was mentally disoriented.
When I got home, I was probably pretty out of it for at least the week. Of course, there was a lot going on too, family coming and going, etc. I Don't remember much of it, and I really wasn't aware that I was anything less than perfectly functional until much later. Just as a reference to how bad it can get, I was told I couldn't drive until a month after my release from the hospital, just in case my brain was still struggling from the concussion. So I'd hazard a guess that you can easily remain mentally impaired for that long.
One last note, the headache really wasn't super present. I can't remember if I was on pain meds in the hospital, but I sure wasn't at home. I needed 22 stitches, and obviously I got hit really hard, but there wasn't that much pain. the other sensation were a lot stronger, like the balance issues and nausea and disorientation. But most of it I really wasn't too aware of. I felt pretty out of my body, to the point where, again, I didn't even know it myself.
I hope that answered your question, let me know if not!
That was really helpful, thanks!
That was really helpful, thanks!
Yay!!