Traumatic Brain Injury Basics

I am going through these problems. I've had to relearn everything including talking and walking. Some days I feel great and like myself. I was in a coma for about a month. I feel great physically but get turned around easily in new places. My memory is good. I remember old memories pretty easily. I would like to try to drive again soon. I do understand that I'm not the same but will continue trying to make life meaningful. My spiritual life has grown tremendously. I never take life for granite anymore. I used to see something once and have it but now it make take a couple of times. I thank my mother who has been with me since day 1 and my physical therapist who pushed me to greatness and to never settle

I completely relate to your situation.I fell down my basement steps 18 months ago landed on concrete and was knocked out.I spent a few days in the ICU and had to stop nursing school, I am 40 years old and decided to go to college and then I got the TBI.I was at the Drs a few days ago and he corrected me when I said I had a TBI with a cerebral hematoma the Dr then informed me I had 2 cerebral hematomas, I felt foolish cause I don't remember, I have lost memories of my children can not work outside my home at times I will be driving and not know where I am and I grew up in the area we live in. My children remind me of dates, what time they get out school and the list goes on.At times I mean to say one thing and something completely opposite comes out, my kids understand and I try to play it off but it really bothers me.I have good days and bad and when there are multiple things going on in a room I can not focus and get headaches.It took me 5 times to pay 1 automated bill today....I take medicine daily and see neurologist. I don't know if I will ever get better. One doctor said after 1 year, the recovery phase is over, and that's just it???

Here's an example of why just one time out drinking can have some big effects. I went to the bar with some friends to decompress after a long week. We all had some beers and a few shots. Later that night, we ended up at the beach down the street. Somehow at the beach I came away with a bruise and some blood on my forehead; I don't remember exactly how it happened and no one around was watching me. None of us were blackout drunk but I have no memory of the injury or the preceeding hour or two. The next evening I was extremely nauseous, had a constant headache, and had some mild confusion. I thought I was just hungover from the previous night (even though I felt different than any previous hangover I've ever had). The symptoms continued into the next week and in some ways got worse, such as having "off" vision and balance. In addition, since then I have felt mentally slow. I have a harder time keeping up with movies and TV shows, and I feel like I have to read many things twice in order to comprehend what's written. I have a pretty constant and mild headache with pressure on both of my temples too. It's been almost two weeks but it scares me to think that any of this could be permanent.

FYI:  Not all TBI diagnosis is from accidents. I am diagnosed with TBI and it is caused from  Neurosyphilis. It was in my system for over 10 yrs. as I never I knew I had it so did not seek treatment until it reared up yrs. later and caused TBI. Thank God a very alert neurologist did a spinal tap which it showed up on.  

I suffered a massive cerebral brain hemorrhage at 23 my whole life has become frustrating nightmare. I've been housebound for 21 years

My husband was hit in the head and few times in high school and college. In his mid 20s he was struck so hard in the head with a baseball bat. He was treated and released. Now he is in his mid 40s and I'm starting to notice changes in his behavior. He has been moody, depressed, he says he feels stuck, he is just not the same. Can somebody give me some advice. Thanks

I'm getting emotional just talking about this. I have mild TBI . I tripped at a concert venue and fell backward on concrete and split my head open. I was out for awhile until I was brought back by the paramedics that eventually wrapped my head up to stop the bleeding. I ended up at the er where they dug bits of concrete out of my head and put 11 staples there I was kept all night for concussion observation and released the next morning. That was 5 months ago. My life is a complete hell! I still suffer from headaches,nausea,and balance problems. I was recently let go of my job that I have worked for 24 yrs. I broke my tailbone so it's hard to sit and I know I damaged my back as it hurts all of the time. I have had 2 cat scans and a chest X-ray to clarify no broken ribs. I am 56 and I have lost 30lbs from nausea and my life is not the same. Can anyone relate?

In 1998 I was ran over by an s10pickup and attained broken neck Basel skull fracture medulla oblongata severed all but a strand of hairs width. I was diagnosed with the exact injuries as Christopher Reeves. I can walk and talk write etc though. I have dizzy spells, moments of complete black out, I forget a lot short term wise. And a lot of times I do not know how to react to situations due to carelessness. And I will always try to care but a lot of times I am unable to. I was not supposed to live through the accident. Difficulty daily is very real.

I ran into a glass door walking at a very fast pace. I knew something was wrong when I was becoming quite forgetful. I went to see my PCP and after a CAT scan not only did he confirm a concussion he found ano arachnid cyst at the base of my cerebellum. Two months later I had a chest cold and after one particularly hard cough I passed out in my kitchen. A visit to the hospital and an MRI later found that the cyst had increased in size and was literally tilting my brain into the front of my skull. Surgery was successful but now I'm prone to bursts of anger and I'm not the happy go lucky I used to be. Anyone out there have anything similar and if you do what steps have you taken to improve your quality of life?

I need help. Can anyone give me advice? Struck my head on a steel beam in February of this year (2016), and workman's comp is dragging this out. Meantime, I saw a 'neurosurgeon', that happens to be on the company payroll, and he says nothing is wrong though he wants to test for seizures. In the meantime, I've had most of the symptoms here, and even what are possibly seizures, but still not receiving treatment. I've been told all I can do is wait, possibly get a second opinion out of pocket.

I just shaved my mohawk off because my hair hurt though, and I'm losing it over everything, I cannot handle the smallest amount of frustration. I haven't had a paycheck for almost five months now and my husband is trying to get a second job to pay for all our bills, we have nothing extra for therapy or a second opinion. Does anyone have any advice for me? Am I really stuck until workman's comp gets moving?

lydiadanea86@gmail.com Please, I need help, I see the disclaimer about medical or legal advice, but I need help.

talk about repeating my  self, i just read what i wrote a year ago, sorry guys, lol melissakelley

Omg this sounds like me! I fell at a concert and split my head open and had staples in my head and I have not been the same since! I have no appetite and my head aches entirely! I have lost too much weight and actually my doctor has ordered another cat scan because i have hemorrhage in my left ear which was not detected a month ago in the er...

I suffer TBI to this day after 23 years. I was struck on the left side of my head in front of ear right under left eye. I was surprised not to hear more about memory. My short term memory has made me appear silly at times and has also been embarrassing. I definitely can relate to disruption of sleep patterns. If I can come close to sleeping at all I feel blessed. I also talk different. I was once pulled over by police and accused of drinking. My equilibrium is bad, so needless to say, I flunked sobriety test, but passed breathalyzer. My biggest loss is my creativity. I was a professional musician and songwriter. I can still function a little, but its easy to recognize that things dont flow like it used to. I have sympathy and compassion for anyone dealing with TBI. I know it changed my life and still is.

I am very lucky. I live alone and went to bed on a friday and woke on sunday to find I had fallen and had many injuries that did not hurt. I had been falling all over the house and had a broken arm, a large hole in my hip, and other varies injuries including a brain bleed. The doctors told me I had a large mass on my brain and I was going to die. They operated the next morning and found it was a bleed instead of a mass. I went home in three days to recover. It has been four months and the only things I notice wrong is I forget some and I am not able to do things fast. I don't know what really happened to cause the first fall. My brother was here on the Sunday when I woke up. When I woke up I was up walking. I had been up and doing things. It was as if all my lights were on but no one was home. I was seeing things that were not there. My vision was very bad. Waking up after the surgery my vision was much better but my eyeballs were jumping. That is back to normal. I was very lucky to get back to 95% in 4 months. I feel I may get back all the way to normal. I had a very good surgeon.

I was in bad car crash & i was in the hospital for 4 weeks 2 I spend on a ventilator fighting for my life an the rest in rehab . An now I'm suffering head trauma , I don't sleep for days ,I don't eat most days , I'm very depressed , I've lost friends and family . I don't wish this on anybody , this is very hard to live with I'm only 21 an life has been rough these last 2 weeks since I've been able to come home . The pain meds don't work really , I'm in pain most of my days this just all seems like a dream to me . I pray for anybody going through this an there family's .

Thank you for this information on TBI. I was in a Sand Truck Accident back in 1998 that busted the skin open but not the skull on the right side of my head. The doctor just stitched me up and sent me home. My Head hurt so very badly for for 6 months to the point I could not even turn my eyes or my head. I have had Chronic Daily Migraines ever since. I have just recently been diagnosed with Hemiplegic Migraines as well. Since that accident I have not even been able to work math at all and have anger outbursts that are so not me. Mixing my words up when I talk.  Could it be that I have actually been suffering from TBI and not even knowing it?

My tbi was 4 yrs ago i had a subdural hematoma and crainiotomy i still suffer with headaches tracers ringing ears poor balance short term terrible memory loss irrtability chronic fatigue ect. I have found what helps me is meditation constant prayer and my love for jesus and my family. I concentrate on what i can do not what i can't do. It is literally a hour by hour day by day healing i enjoy what i can and try to stay busy and positive and rest when i need to. I'm blessed with a wonderful husband who is just happy I'm alive. May God bless anyone who is reading this. Walk with your head up and be happy you can read this. God bless c.z.

I would like to bring to peoples attention in this country that doctors do not understand brain injury. I have suffered severe headaches dizziness collapsing brain pressure seizures and being ignored all the time. Now got a living body and a brain that is dead

I am 24. I was standing in a parking lot on my phone for a minute and next thing I know I woke up in the hospital. I didn't understand what happened. Everyone was crying. I first seen my new son he was about 4 months. I said hi and everyone was freak out. I talked and I was like what? My mom then said do you know me and who you are and why youre here? I said I know your my mom and I'm your son but did I get in a car wreck? Then the doctor explained it to me. He said I wouldn't wake up for three days and we weren't expecting you to be able to speak correctly or remember a lot of things. He said someone hit you in the back of your head with a car fracturing it and causing severe brain damage. I was bleeding out of both ears and spinal fluid. Long story short I don't remember me coming home. I could walk but I was really off balance. I couldn't move my right side of my face and speech was slurred. I slept for about a week straight and realized I needed to start fighting this. I'm a very strong person mentally. I fought and fought and fought. I got everything back to normal in about 2 months. Physically I lost my right hearing and I have horrible headaches. I hear ringing all the time. Still it's over whelming when I'm trying to be with my son and it hurts so bad just to hear him cry. I can't handle it and gives so much anxiety when this happens. It made me anti social. I'm always saying it's going to get better then I fail again and I hate myself. It's really shifty. I cry because I still can't handle hearing loud stuff. I want my son like used to play all day with him. Now I get flustered and that's not me and it's just mentally challenging. I then turned to alcohol to stop thinking. It just caused me alot of suffering mentally. I'm still dealing with this but I am fighting it for my son and I won't stop. I hope everyone recovers from your injury just don't give up stay positive.

Thank you for this information. ..I couldn't do my job as a nurse for many months after my accident...My short term memory has been affected and I need special glasses for focusing because my focus goes in and out..very tiring..I don't feel like I ever go into REM sleep and BP is much higher..I stumble with words and say things that don't make sense some times...Must be so frustrating for my family and friends at times..I do feel alone sometimes.. It's difficult to explain a TBI to someone.

i was in a head on collision car accident with my mom and stepdad, we were on our way to fishing when a car came speeding towards us, we didn't see him  and he didn't see us, he hit us broadside head on(i was 3 yrs old at the time), the impact was so hard that my mom and i was knocked unconscious, my step dad got cut's and bruises, but the accident left me with a depressed scull fracture and a broken collar bone, my mom got a concussion and fractured rib's, she was unconscious for two day's, i was unconscious for 6 day's, the doctor had to do surgery or i would of died, mom got to go home in 2 day's, i was in the hospital for a little over a month, i had to learn how to walk and talk again, my mom had me walking before they sent a nurse out to work with me, when she got to our house, mom said i ran up to her and she said "Well i guess you don't need me".

i was afraid of the x-ray light when the doctor did x-ray's on me, mom had to practice with me laying on the kitchen table with a lamp and i had nightmare's galore, the accident damaged my frontal lobe but thank God we all lived, i have tried to take care of my self, i have been refused job's because i either didn't pass the test ori caught on to the job to  slow, but i did manage to take care of my self through alot of job's, i had no problem getting a job, it was keeping it that i had a problem with, i got kicked out of kindergarden when i was five in one school and had to go to another, i had alot of bad temper's, i used drug's and alcohol but i got help for that and i am alcohol and drug free, i have taken counceling all my life and still do, i take anti-depressants and exiety pill's but i don't have a problem socializing because i learned through my life how negative behaviour effects other people, i am on disability and i'm 45 year's old, the doctor's never asked my mom if she wanted to sign me up for social security, and one doctor tell's my mom i will never be able to take care of my self and a nother doctor tell's my mom i can with training, well, i have tried and now i'm here on disability at age 39 is when i started getting it, i have been a fighter all my life and still am as far as life go's and that is why i am here, My name is Melissa, and it is nice meeting every body, we all have come a long way fighting tooth and nail to get here, God bless you :)

To September 2015 comment: you are not alone, as I am far too much like you. Stick it out, so we each know the other is there.

Thank you to all who have posted their experiences.  I feel so isolated and alone.  I suffered numerous severe head traumas in childhood (the ones I can remember) due to abuse and family dysfunction.  My father was by all appearances a loving man but could fly into uncontrollable rages.  One of these resulted in a hard slam to my back when I was 10 years old.  I may have suffered broken ribs as when I remember waking I was on my stomach and crying because of the pain and the fact I couldn't breathe.  My Mother told me that they couldn't take me to a hospital because my dad would go to jail.  I know that I didn't finish out my last 3 months of 6th grade and don't remember that summer at all.  However, in 7th grade I got straight A's so of course everyone wanted to believe there was no damage.  However about this time I started being what my family referred to as a "spaz" with jerkey weird motions.  I continued to appear to excel in school but nothing really worked inside of me.  I became a strange hyperacheiver with severe social difficulties.  My family made fun of me and my achievements were resented by my siblings.  I now know that I was trying to win affection and approval but all of my achievements were very shallow if that makes sense. I think because emotionally and cognitively I couldn't really comprehend them.  Before this incident my oldest brother who myself and my other siblings (7 children) were left in his charge pulled me by my foot at about age 7 from a high bunk bed where I was trying to avoid him (he consistently sexually molested me and beat me up).  This fall I remember because my head hit the floor violently.  He then drug me through the house by my foot to a back room.  My memories of what happened then are blocked until I remember my mother beating me for "asking for it" by staying home instead of going with her.  He was 7 years my senior but his activities were passed off as children "playing" so any trauma there was discounted and is still so to this day. This results in my family tsking, tsking me for being erratic and unforgiving--further isolating me.   I do know that as young as 3 years old I remember desperately trying to hide from something/somebody all of the time.  The combination of abuse resulted in me being odd socially.  I guess I was considered attractive and would have people that wanted to be with me but I was unable to maintain relationships.  I think this was alot due to the brain injuries and my erratic behavior.  I still succeeded in many ways so people found me confusing and often would eventually tire of my "behavior" although initially being drawn to me.  Then in 1986 I was doing very well professionally (also not tolerated by my family as they thought I was a strange person to not be married, etc) when I was involved in a severe accident.  A drunk driver pulled in front of me (2.75 bac the next day) and I hit him full on.  I now understand that I suffered a very severe closed head injury although went without a proper diagnosis (I believe to stem my rightful lawsuit--bad lawyer/bad choices/erratic behavior/no support system-I quit my high level job because my self-esteem would not allow me to accept my new normal.  Oddly, my company begged me to stay but I quit.  I went from handling 11 major apartment complexes and several businesses (I was a high lever asset manager managing large budgets and a lot of people) to not being able, literally, add simple numbers.  It was me who quit after years of success.  I was 32 at that time and haven't been able to maintain a job for any length of time although I always initially do very well.  I just wear out and start getting confused.  I try to hide my disabilities (like a good girl-plus people think I am making it up because I can be very high functioning so I try to avoid "explaining" to people--they don't get it).  I am constantly making and losing friends because I initially appear to be one person and then inevitably I act out (sometimes I don't even know what I did wrong) and they don't like me anymore. Or they get annoyed during the periods of time that I cannot function due to severe fatigue and confusion.  I have never had a support system of a partner/helpmate so I have struggled to constantly rebuild a life.  I suffered a serious fall/concussions 3 years ago (also numerous other accidents--they seem to follow you once you have one).  I tried to rehab myself as I am never really been  listened to completely and unfortunately I was living in a place with severe toxic mold (my life circumstances have been difficult for all of the time since the accident and I make extremely erratic and impulsive choices and my income and insurance has been deeply impacted-which further irritates people in my life)   I am still trying to have a life.  On good days I am still very optimistic and try to still have the best life I can but it is very scary.  I am at the point of a pretty small life but I keep trying.  It is embarrassing because I know people look at me at my age and imagine I am somehow a big screw-up--that I had it all and messed it up.  Compassion is hard to find after all of this.  And I still often appear competent and attractive.  If I had a broken arm it would be easier.  I guess I just needed to vent here and hope that is okay.  For all of you caregivers, God Bless you for sticking by the injured person. Just acknowledging that their injury is very real and knowing their challenges is so important.   It is so confusing from the inside of it.  I wish I did have someone but I feel like I would be such a burden to anyone.  But I would love just having someone keep track of when the bills are due and some groceries bought.  And some human touch.  Again, I have many blessings and keep going but it is depressing that this has gone on so long and affected my life so dramatically.  I am so happy that brain trauma is finally getting recognition and hopefully our society is changing to a more understanding and compassionate stance.  It is not a simple thing and I believe it is so misunderstood.  Even by those of us on the "inside".  I constantly want to deny the very real effects and I have lived with them for years now.  (I am 61).  But I am still in here.  thanks for listening.  sorry to go on so long.  Please just love that person and no matter how crazy they might be making you know that you are helping them by just being there.  It is a heroic thing to give up so much for someone who needs you.  And yes, you are probably giving up a lot. I wish I had someone like you in my life that cared enough to stay even when I am so hard to understand.