
I need a lot more rest than I used to. I’m not being lazy. I get physical fatigue as well as a “brain fatigue.” It is very difficult and tiring for my brain to think, process, and organize. Fatigue makes it even harder to think.
My stamina fluctuates, even though I may look good or “all better” on the outside. Cognition is a fragile function for a brain injury survivor. Some days are better than others. Pushing too hard usually leads to setbacks, sometimes to illness.
Brain injury rehabilitation takes a very long time; it is usually measured in years. It continues long after formal rehabilitation has ended. Please resist expecting me to be who I was, even though I look better.
I am not being difficult if I resist social situations. Crowds, confusion, and loud sounds quickly overload my brain, it doesn’t filter sounds as well as it used to. Limiting my exposure is a coping strategy, not a behavioral problem.
If there is more than one person talking, I may seem uninterested in the conversation. That is because I have trouble following all the different “lines” of discussion. It is exhausting to keep trying to piece it all together. I’m not dumb or rude; my brain is getting overloaded!
If we are talking and I tell you that I need to stop, I need to stop NOW! And it is not because I’m avoiding the subject, it’s just that I need time to process our discussion and “take a break” from all the thinking. Later I will be able to rejoin the conversation and really be present for the subject and for you.
Try to notice the circumstances if a behavior problem arises. “Behavior problems” are often an indication of my inability to cope with a specific situation and not a mental health issue. I may be frustrated, in pain, overtired or there may be too much confusion or noise for my brain to filter.
Patience is the best gift you can give me. It allows me to work deliberately and at my own pace, allowing me to rebuild pathways in my brain. Rushing and multi-tasking inhibit cognition.
Please listen to me with patience. Try not to interrupt. Allow me to find my words and follow my thoughts. It will help me rebuild my language skills.
Please have patience with my memory. Know that not remembering does not mean that I don’t care.
Please don’t be condescending or talk to me like I am a child. I’m not stupid, my brain is injured and it doesn’t work as well as it used to. Try to think of me as if my brain were in a cast.
If I seem “rigid,” needing to do tasks the same way all the time; it is because I am retraining my brain. It’s like learning main roads before you can learn the shortcuts. Repeating tasks in the same sequence is a rehabilitation strategy.
If I seem “stuck,” my brain may be stuck in the processing of information. Coaching me, suggesting other options or asking what you can do to help may help me figure it out. Taking over and doing it for me will not be constructive and it will make me feel inadequate. (It may also be an indication that I need to take a break.)
You may not be able to help me do something if helping requires me to frequently interrupt what I am doing to give you directives. I work best on my own, one step at a time and at my own pace.
If I repeat actions, like checking to see if the doors are locked or the stove is turned off, it may seem like I have OCD — obsessive-compulsive disorder — but I may not. It may be that I am having trouble registering what I am doing in my brain. Repetitions enhance memory. (It can also be a cue that I need to stop and rest.)
If I seem sensitive, it could be emotional lability as a result of the injury or it may be a reflection of the extraordinary effort it takes to do things now. Tasks that used to feel “automatic” and take minimal effort, now take much longer, require the implementation of numerous strategies and are huge accomplishments for me.
We need cheerleaders now, as we start over, just like children do when they are growing up. Please help me and encourage all efforts. Please don’t be negative or critical. I am doing the best I can.
Don’t confuse Hope for Denial. We are learning more and more about the amazing brain and there are remarkable stories about healing in the news every day. No one can know for certain what our potential is. We need Hope to be able to employ the many, many coping mechanisms, accommodations and strategies needed to navigate our new lives. Everything single thing in our lives is extraordinarily difficult for us now. It would be easy to give up without Hope.
Excerpted from Lost & Found: A Survivor's Guide for Reconstructing Life After a Brain Injury by Barbara J. Webster. © 20ll by Lash & Associates Publishing/Training Inc. Used with permission. Click here for more information about the book.
Comments (774)
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Anonymous replied on Permalink
These hit home with me, I'm really thinking of posting this on my dorm room door. I cracked my head open the senior year of high school and got a concussion, since then I've had multiple head injuries and a month ago sustained another concussion. I'm a college student, and I had been doing better cognitively but after the last concussion it's like I'm back at square one. We are having to retrain my brain for everything, and it is beyond frustrating to wake up each day and have people judge me for not being able to "be normal". It's kinda comforting to know there are others going through the same kind of thing.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
I am so glad to have found this site. I suffered an anoxic brain injury when I was 19. My personality changed. I wasn't diagnosed with a TBI for over a year. I was fortunate to have had therapy and been shown some useful tools to help me with my everyday life.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
I am a 31 year survivor of severe TBI, thank you~
Anonymous replied on Permalink
Wow, I am so grateful to have found this website!! I have been doing so much research after I got hurt. I had 2 concussions within about 3 weeks of each other in the late summer and early fall. One severe one to the front of my eye/head and a mild one to the back of my head. A lot of my symptoms were pretty delayed, not presenting themselves for weeks after I got hurt. Now I struggle with all my symptoms and I have recently developed odd pressure and a stutter. Some of my friends think I'm faking, but I wish I were. I have no control over the stutter and it's inconsistency. My scans show nothing and I just want to be seen as who I am, I don't want this stupid brain injury to define me, I don't want to be pitied, I just want to be me. This site looks like a huge help, and hopefully will help learn more about my injury. If anyone has any adivce to this exhausted college kid, please feel free, I need all the support I can get these days. ~Robin
Anonymous replied on Permalink
I found this site today. and it left me in tears. I had a TBI in 1998, I had several significant concussion before playing sports, many falls followed, seizures, constant migraines. My wife divorced me. My friends called a malingerer and left, only my children stayed. Medical treatment was poor until three years ago. For the first three years I could not speak coherently. I still have trouble and live below the poverty line. I am now treated for the migraines and for the seizures but not for the head injury. This year is the first year, for a whole number of reasons, I have been able to live on my own. I have not know what my future is or what to do. I am more than glad to have found this site, MORE THAN GLAD!
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Great article! It is obvious that many of us connect with the symptoms and find relief that others are or have experienced what we have or are having. But more than that, this site brings all of us together with a common bond of losing what we once knew and struggling to understand or accept who we are today. It I has been six years since my TBI and I still struggle with living in the new "me". Yes, anger, exhaustion, confusion, fear, loneliness, all those things I still struggle with. I describe it as living life one step behind the rest of the world. Or having a dimmer switch turned down to low. I was an active, fun loving person, ran my own business and raised three great kids. Now I struggle to cook, clean or go shopping. I do not drive, and I am dependent on my loved ones to take me to the places I once freely took myself to. I have lost my social filter and often say inappropriate things at really inappropriate times or places. I cannot stay in a store where too many things and people are talking and moving about. Too much light, too much sound, too much motion. My heart was turned off. I have little emotion, or feelings of personal connection to people or such. It is a very empty feeling. I truly miss me.
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Great article. A visionary like Tesla is all too rare, unfortunately. BTW, he was almost knifed by another passenger on his voyage to America. Imagine what life would have been like without his genius. Kigurumi animal onesies
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