Mexico Mexico - Homeless American man in Mexico; does not remember his name

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He appears to have great muscle tone, clear skin and no needle marks on his arms, so I feel pretty certain no drugs are involved. This is an interesting case.
 
Rodriguez89 said:
Interesting! I'm not too familiar with the whole Ancestry DNA kit but I always assumed it was intended for finding out about one's own ethnic background rather than something that can ID a person. That'd be interesting if someone were to do that! But one has to wonder if he would even allow anyone to try?
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Watch Long Lost Family (and be prepared to cry). They have reunited a lot of families via Ancentry DNA kits.
 
Indeed its an interesting case! Many of the locals have come up to him already asking for his name and many have received different answers. He first stated he was from south Carolina but now he's saying he is from Brazil and has family in the Caribbean and El Salvador. Its a bit odd...I do still think that this man is a missing person. Someone out there is looking for him! His accent reminded me of surfer dudes from California.

However the original facebook post did mention (in spanish) that he cried of impotence from not remembering his name or his family's phone number after he had ask a nearby local for her phone. I wish we can help :-(
 
SweetCaroline said:
He appears to have great muscle tone, clear skin and no needle marks on his arms, so I feel pretty certain no drugs are involved. This is an interesting case.
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Yeah, I keep thinking that his build makes me wonder if he was military

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Rodriguez89 said:
Alot of what I read on facebook mentions that this man has told numerous stories of where hes from so its possible he doesn't want to be found or most def has some mental disability.
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Sorry for the quibble, but as a brain injury sufferer myself, I have to correct a point.

Brain injury is found on the whole intelligence spectrum. So, let not assume he is intellectually impaired just because of his symptoms.
Brain injury doesn't imply reduced intellectual capacity.

Brain injury is a factor of intellectual impairment.

But brain injury doesn't automatically translates into intellectual impairment.

Hope it helps.
 
Rodriguez89 said:
However the original facebook post did mention (in spanish) that he cried of impotence from not remembering his name or his family's phone number after he had ask a nearby local for her phone. I wish we can help :-(
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For me, his behaviour is very consistent with brain injury + a little but not enough rehab.

It's the most likely explanation for the facts we have at hand + our hypothesis.
 
Ok guys, just to clarify some puzzling aspects.

1) Autobiographic memory is stored on a different pathway than the academic knowledge (like learning how to read, a foreign language...).
Someone can forget his autobiographic data, like his name, who is his family... and still be fully able to learn a foreign language. Actually, learning a foreign language can help rehabilitation. It worked for me, at least.

2) Giving different names while forgetting your own is consistent with short term memory impairment + autobiographic memory loss.
Someone's name, nickname.... is part of the autobiographic memory.
Giving different names doesn't necessarily mean unwilling to be found. It can be part of the brain injury sequelaes.
So, if the man lost his autobiographic memory + had brain injury, it can account for giving different stories to different people.
While it doesn't exclude the intent of unwilling to be found, it doesn't necessarily imply being unwilling to be found.
Brain injury can act out this way.

We need to be very careful about interpreting intent with people suffering from neuropsych issues.
If we interpret only with the angle of typical people, we can be easily way off.

Brain issues knowledge is still at its infacy : much more questions than answers. I wish medicine knew more !!
 
Giuc0 said:
Doesn't rule out anything
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Thanks for the information! The brain is a very complex system for sure. I'm just hoping that time will shed more light on this case.
Even if in the video the man states that hes just "backpacking" and being "spiritual" I highly doubt his loved ones would've allowed him to live in those conditions so something is not right. I been searching all over the internet for missing persons that resemble him but so far had no luck. Its hard when theres not alot of information. I will pray that someone out there recognizes him soon.
 
No it's not said:
He does not know his name, but he knows his name is not Sean or David..hmm

-Nin
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Despite being lucid, I almost got the impression he also appeared a bit nervous and fidgety. Could be the brain injury messing with his mind OR he doesn't want to be found.
 
Does anyone recognize his accent? To my ears, he sounds like a Californian surfer...the way he says "spiritual" is rather unique.
 
Rodriguez89 said:
Despite being lucid, I almost got the impression he also appeared a bit nervous and fidgety. Could be the brain injury messing with his mind
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His overall behaviour is more consistant with the former.

ADHD (diagnosed) is one of my sequelaes. Without stimulants, I am 100% like that. People easily misinterpret as "she has to hide something" when it's actually inaccurate.
 
Rodriguez89 said:
Thanks for the information! The brain is a very complex system for sure. I'm just hoping that time will shed more light on this case.
Even if in the video the man states that hes just "backpacking" and being "spiritual" I highly doubt his loved ones would've allowed him to live in those conditions so something is not right.
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Remember, mental illness and brain injury go hand by hand. There are no 100% specific symptoms of brain injury sequelae.
However, ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), ADHD (yes, even after adult brain injury, it's quite a recent discovery), anxiety and depression are very common with brain injury and often don't respond to therapy the same way as non-brain injured. People can also have conduct issues, be impulsive and aggressive. They can also be very emotional, and being very upset very easily. I would describe it as being without emotional skin. You can learn the skill, but it's a long and arduous process. Typical reward-and-consequences behaviour plans often fail, because it doesn't teach you problem solving, prioritizing, how to organize yourself....
Being fidgety is one of the possible problems with brain injury. Remember, you can be very emotional without "not wanting to be found" !

Mine is from birth, his seems like to be an acquired one. However, I can only say that it's consistant with brain injury, and only a proper medical work-up can tell what's the actual issue.
When you acquire it as an adult, symptoms can more severe than when it's from birth.

Also, from neuroradiologist's opinion, symptoms don't always correlate with brain MRI findings.
You can have a very small damage with profound intellectual disability. OTOH, you can find extensive injury on MRI while your symptoms are quite mild, but enough to need serious help.
My neurologist and GP were very surprised by the MRI findings because I don't look like the typical brain injured.
Shrinks I saw since childhood were puzzled : they saw there is something, but couldn't explain. Only the brain MRI & a neurologist referral explained the unexplained.
I'm lucky in a certain way, because I respond too much to psych meds. My shrink feels safer this way than if it were the other way round.

You also need a strong family commitment. You need a village to help a person with brain injury.
Recovery is rarely a quick fix.
OTOH, if the family was completely alone to help him, I can fully understand their exhaustion. Because it can be exhausting for love ones to help someone with brain injury.

Sorry for my long long storytelling. I hope it sheds light about this gentleman's behaviour.
If my sequelae were not treated the way it has been, I may had end up like this man.
 
Rodriguez89 said:
Thanks for the information! The brain is a very complex system for sure. I'm just hoping that time will shed more light on this case
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Remember Benjaman Kyle ? IMO, our man's case looks very similar. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjaman_Kyle

Contrary to the long held belief, we know now that brain cells do regenerate at adulthood https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/can-you-grow-new-brain-cells

So, you can recover pieces of lost memories. It can explain why he is sure that his name is not Sean or David while he was unable to know so before.
AFAIK, such tiny pieces are more often than not accurate. Though I'll ask my shrink, or be redirected to a specialist at this specific issue. My shrink is a competent professional, but I can't ask him to know everything.
However, these tiny pieces of memory are not enough to get your identity back without considerable help.
 
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Giuc0. I always enjoy reading your posts!
 
my first impression of the repetitive hand movements was brain injury or dyskinesia, sometimes a lasting effect from some psychiatric medications. Sometimes the movement continues long after the meds are stopped.
 
Rodriguez89 said:
Hello,

Few days ago, I came upon a Facebook post (the post itself is from Nov 2017 so its a bit old) on a spanish facebook page (David Nostos) that caught my attention. It basically mentions a homeless American (or perhaps Canadian?) who appears stranded in Mexico, asked a lady for her cell phone so he can call his family but cried when he couldn't remember who to call or the phone number.
According to some of the facebook posts, seems like many locals have tried to get him to go to an American consulate but he refuses. Some have also mentioned his name is "Scott" and hes a welder from Brownsville Texas but not sure of the accuracy because someone else is saying his name is David. So who knows really? In the picture shown of him, he appears to have a black eye like someone punched him.

Point is, his loved ones are probably looking for this poor man and from my own experience of being an observer of this forum, you guys put so much love and effort into these cases that make me think people still care and these people are not forgotten. Hopefully, someone out there recognizes him so he can reunite with his family!

Here is a link from an article thats in english mentioning this particular homeless man:

Do you recognize this Homeless American man stranded in Mexico? – Missing Persons of America

Here is an image of him:

attachment.php
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Wow....sweet of you to make a thread. I think he has blue eyes. Is there any info about the language/accent he has.
 
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