"Brain Injury Is ..." Brain Injury Defined By People Who Are Living With It

Life is changed forever. A true test of character and determination to live life in slow motion. Feeling isolated from others, but getting to know myself and God better. It can be depressing at first, then you realize how glad you are to be alive and decide to live and enjoy the life you have, now. I'm still the same person, just slower. I can't take anything for granted. I have to work for my health and quality of life to be restored as much as possible. Walking and dancing make me feel alive. Eating healthy food and resting helps me stay calm and restores me from the stresses of each day. I know how to encourage others who are suffering. Life is still beautiful.

.....like mashed potatoes. 
.....like being in a constant fog.
.....frustrating; embarrassing; fatiguing...
.....did i already do that?
.....what was i going to do???
.....you mean, we went down this road/visited this place already?
.....what's your name again?
.....it's my turn to make dinner.....again????? (a week later)
.....trying to remember something you KNOW is in your head but have no way of pulling it out because you can't find it........
.....wanting all the noise to stop!!!!!
.....wanting the world to stop spinning....
.....wanting to sleep, just to sleep.....
.....wanting it to be the day BEFORE the accident, when life was "normal".....
.....working through your breaks/into your lunchtime/after hours because you were too slow during the day
.....having conversations with others who think that you're understanding but in your head it's really like the voice on the other end of the phone in a Charlie Brown cartoon

Like the mirror from Harry Potter, you see things in the reflection of perfection. Then you look down at yourself and realize that it will never happen for a multitude of reasons.

Somewhat like a tree. It begins with 1-leaf and then adds many more. One can look at this a negative or a new beginning. I see it as a new beginning with all that is composed of it.

Like trying to climb a staircase but just as you reach a new level the staircase collapses.  Constant dissappointment as you try to achieve things but end up with extreme brain fatigue for days, sometimes weeks, watching everyone around me out enjoying holidays and doing things in their busy lives like i used to do but knowing that I'll most likely never be able to do those things that most people take for granted, again.  Its lonely. Lots of grief but also some amazing learning, Being good at Living in the NOW, Compassion for others, Knowing that Love is what lifes all about.

 I did everything backwards from talking to brushing my hair had to relearn how to function again and did with the help of my MOM and DAD and both of my daughters. I also still have a hard time remembering things from the past. People, places, incidents, sometimes it is a blessing other times it is a hardship.

I have lost my job.I yell at people and frighten them and myself. I am ashamed of myself and don't leave the house much anymore.I have pain and think about it too much.I don't sleep without some dream or headache waking me up.I think about the same stuff over and over.I talk about the stuff over and over, An example of some of the things are people talking about me small things like did i raise the flag on the mail box.My inter voice talks out loud and i embarrass people. I am a outsider and the scary black sheep of the family.

Sitting and trying to fight back the pain from the headaches and trying to remember what my wife asked me to do for the day. And trying not to loose my temper at those I love . TBI sucks big time but I've gotten used to the painful headaches that I've had for 9 years and only go to the E.R. when the pain stays at 10+ for over 3 days.

A new day every day all day long. Confusion like my brain needs to be turned on every minute of eveeyday but I have no one button or reset button. Oh the pain just trying to think hurts so much like a bad joke. Having a good loving and caring support system is so helpful since I cannot remember how to drive or take care of myself at age 36

To me it is knowing what I was, fighting to get it back, losing more of who I was, and then finally trying to forgot my past achievements and instead focus on who I can now become. It is extremely frustrating some days, and then other days I have small windows of time in which I see all the ways that I have been blessed through my injury. It's an emotional rollercoaster and I'm still waiting to see where it goes.

as if all the things on the desk get swept off, about every 10 minutes.... or another way to see it: its as if the 'computer's' hard drive overloads and shuts down for a while, like the old window 3.1 if more than one item tries to open at once....   thanks! it just means learning a new way to do just about everything...

Like I forgot to do my homework and can't remember how to get home!

Playing hide and seek with most things like; memory, your past, your present, balance, expressing yourself correctly, being coherent...

A ride you cannot get off.

never having an easy day again.Make the challenges enjoyable. They are not going away.

Like dumping over a giant file cabinet, full of the "files of your life" & then spending the REST of your life trying to put everything back where it was... (sometimes only half ass... cuz that's THE BEST you can do/hope for.)

I resonate with every one of these statements. But I removed myself as much as possible from the life I had chose to create my own little world that embraced me for the person I became. My new community had no expectations of me to 'get back to normal'.

I love the internet because I get to choose who I interact with. *This is one of my favorite sites.

like being betrayed again and again.
 

A long and strange journey that doesn't seem to have an finish line.

Richard

I asked my son this question in order to post of his behalf, his words "I don't know"

Meaning he is not aware that he has Anoxia brain Injury- And that his/our life has forever changed. Its been 11 months now since he was hung, spent the first month in a brain recovery center, 7 months of PT/OT and now its him and I for the long hall. I want him to understand, but yet I don't, he is happier today than he was before all of this. K.B.

My thoughts used to run like lightning now it feels like my thoughts are running through oatmeal!!!

The medical field has helped by saying, "It is, what it is."

Jimmy Stewart puts Life into perspective as Harvey quotes, "In this world you must be oh so Smart or oh so Pleasant.  Well, for years I was Smart.  I recommend Pleasant. You can quote me."

It hurts and causes problems to hold on to your past self.  Consider yourself, with all the brain fog, shakes, and aphasia as the New Normal.
 

Sad... because tomorrow I will not be able to recall one if these comments unless I write one down.

missing what you once were able to do.

-Adeeb

Constantly feeling disconnected/lonely & chronic mental fatigue.