What Happens to Relationships After Brain Injury?

My best friend of 20 years fell and had a serious TBI 2 years ago that has affected her higher cognitive functions such as her self awareness, abstract thought and pre-planning. As she is single, with no children, and is estranged from her siblings (no hope of reconciling on her part), I have been handling all her finances, getting her to appointments, following up with her doctors, etc. Since comes across as normal until you start talking to her in depth, no one realizes that she needs a conservator. My friends drivers license has been suspended, until she gets cleared medically, but she has been driving anyway, which forced me to take her car keys away. I will not enable her to injure herself or other innocent drivers out there. Now she threatens to sue me to get her keys back, accuses me of stealing her money, and has cut off my friendship. I know it is the TBI, but it still hurts.

I had a brain hemage ended up getting 2 shunts in my brain to drain fluid while I was in hospital for 6 weeks I set up a new snap chat and loads a girls were adding me I accepted them and they were sending dirty videos and my girlfriend got my phone and seeing all the messages and videos I was been sent and has been heartbroken over it I don’t remember doing it or anything as my memory has gone down hill and she has not for gave me

I am an active duty soldier and while I was deployed my wife had a TIA and when I returned it was not the same. She doesn't like men and thinks she is a lesbian and I want to know if this has happened to anyone else?

My husband of 35 yrs had a stroke five years ago. No physical symptoms except a massive headache and high blood pressure. He ended up with aphasia. Luckily with extensive therapy and from myself he has returned to his usual self and returned to work for his final recovery. However, he doesn't work anymore (up and quit, not like him). He's easily frustrated and loses his temper fast. At times I am the target with the criticism. He has lost friends both his fault and theirs. I was the pacifier and realised there is nothing I can do. He was so easy going and now has no empathy. I have physical disabilities as well and do my best to manage. He shows no enthusiasm and I have to push him for his walks for both of us. This caretaking has taken his toll. He ended up back in hospital high blood pressure because ne was not looking after himself as well as he should. I find I am angry at him and it doesn't do any good to say anything as he will fly off the handle and he brings up past mistakes I made 20 years ago. When I go out he sends me texts not so nice..as to when when I am returning. It is unfortunate we live in a town where everyone seems to know everyone's business. He has been portrayed as someone who's stroke made him less. One in particular and I call him "know it all, better then you" who makes comnents to others about him to others. Hubby and I dropped him as we caught him in his lies. At the same I was dealing with the so called friends who gossip and I dropped them too. His short term memory has been affected and long term hasn't. So I do my best to keep busy and not be so angry at those who let us down when they try and be so nice to us. Am I disappointed yes, do we have the social network we once had, no. Just wish he would go out and talk to someone else instead of me as he has isolated himself. A couple of real good friends have reached out to him and he says no, prefers to stay home and watch TV. So that's where it is. Keep going the best we know how.

My partner who has a head injury no longer touches me or want me. All I feel like is a caregiver. The it’s need a year, since sex and since he even put his arms around me.
I even mentioned to him if he would hold me and played with my toys with me. No he would have once watched and joined in.
I love him to bits but there is not even the personal touch like when at the bench he use to rap his arms around me no long mer does.
I do ask for these things believe me I tell him how I feel but know more I’m thinking of Twitter or something for a one night sand to have someone touch me. Even if I feel bad for doing it he won’t give what I need when I do. He does not remember me massaging him last week.

I had 14 surgeries, most of them brain, in just over 16 months. I leaked spinal fluid from my left eyes, both ears and my nose. I finally feel like I am getting my feet back under me, Finally after studying for over a year have been able to move formulas and normal values I need to know to sit for my RRT exam,(a 2 day test to become a Registered Respiratory Therapist) from my short term memory, which sucks rotten eggs to my long term memory, I have been back at work full time for going on two years, minus one brain surgery to replace the proximal catheter in my LVP Shunt. Which of course occurred right at the beginning of the Corona virus. When my sutures cam out and I was ready to get back to life. my boyfriend let me know I would have to stay in a hotel, so as not to bring the Covid Crud home to his parents, which I completely understood. 4 hotels, 3 long months later.............my mind is going to crap. the feelings of quarantine and isolation, with our major form of communication being in texts, I found myself living alone in an apartment, 45" from all my friends, and then found out my boyfriend was not coming with, then he broke up via text, He does not want to have to worry about me anymore? That hurts more than the multiple incisions, Lumbar Drains, failed shunts, headaches that bring you to your knees,
I have always been able to deal with lifes bumps pretty well, but not so much anymore, my brain confuses me, written words are harder to digest, and my short term memory loss demands I read the meassages like 5 times before I can even form a response.
I feel broken, bent tattered and torn.
I feel lost, isolated and completely alone, I can't seem to stop crying and feeling so much helplessness. my Family lives on the other side of the country, I am broke, I am feeling so completely alone and it scare the **** out of me. It also makes my head hurt......
I think I just need to know that I am not alone., in a world where I feel completely alone.

My husband of 19 years had cardiac arrest in May 2019. He had to be revived twice and then fell into a coma for 27 days. When he woke we were all hopeful and he was beginning to make strides physically and neurologically. However, the hospital in Boston transferred him to a horrible LTAC 1 facility and they did NOTHING for him. No real PT or OT and toward the end my son and I walked in on him and thought that he had died or was about to die. Turns out that he was so weak from dehydration and malnourishment. So, working with a local cardiologist and neurologist, my son and I did an AMA on him and brought him back to NH and the hospital where it all began in May. But, during this horrendous time at the rehab, I also found out that he had been actively cheating on me with many women over the course of 16 years ! Then, we discovered that he had also mismanaged our finances and basically had no thoughts as to our future. I am disabled myself and he insisted on doing the bills years ago and I trusted him, I had no reason not to. HA. I did not see any signs and trust me, he knew what I would do to him if I did catch him cheating, especially since my first husband had violently abused me for 11 years and also cheated on me, So, my ability to pick men is horrible and now I am unable to confront my husband about the cheating, mismanagement of money, and the fact that one of these women supposedly was going to confront me about his cheating and their long term affair! It is very hard to sit and watch someone you had loved for such a long time, had twins with and planned a future with and see them struggle to feed themselves or watch as the nurses check to see if they have soiled their diaper. He does remember cheating and I do not bring up the subject, he does. I try to visit and spend some time with him but I am so hurt and my life has been turned upside down. I am working with our priest for help and have been able to flip the switch, if you will and I am able to now treat him as the patient and make sure that he is not hurt, gets proper treatment and is treated with dignity and respect; as any human would want. However, as for my marriage, well, that ship has sailed and it only sailed because of the enormity of his infidelities. I was granted guardianship before I found out that he cheated and I entered into this guardianship promising that I would do everything in my power to make sure that he does not get hurt and that he receives the necessary course of action for his recovery. I fought very hard before having to do the AMA but I do not regret my actions. However, I do wish that I had been able to move him much sooner. I do not know what our futures will hold or if we will remain married. I do not know what to do if I wanted out of the marriage. But, I will remain his guardian simply because I cannot and will not walk away from him or his needs. This has been hard for us all and we have had so much on our plates. I wanted to run away so many times but I had to remain vertical for my children and for myself...and for my husband who is still really sick. He needs heart surgery but his mental state is preventing that from happening. I am told that he may end up in a nursing home and this is so sad when you consider that he is not yet 50 years old and had a very loving wife and two fabulous children who loved and depended on him. I just needed to vent!!!!! Thank You

It's a good thing there are platforms like this one that makes me see that I am not alone in this battle and there are other people that I can get learning from their own experiences.

My girlfriend/fiancé was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer last May 2018. The location of the tumor is in her hypothalamus which made it very hard to operate or else it will only cause a lot of complications and also, the hypothalamus being affected caused a haywire in all her hormones that regulate her salt, sugar, steroids, estrogen, progesterone, regulation of water, temperature balance, etc. She had a year of chemotherapy but afterwards the tumor only got bigger. She had brain radiation treatment as well to which she responded very well and the tumor went back to it's original size. However, she had a stroke recently caused by clots forming in her brain brought by complications of high dose steroid replacement and a heart complication from her disease/medications/treatments.

It's been a tough time for us. I always hate it whenever I see her suffer. We were only like 3 months together when she was diagnosed with it and I just met her here abroad. It's like the world turned upside down for me. I have been with her all throughout her journey --- all the hospital admissions, doctor appointments, scans, treatments, everything. She's always admitted in the hospital every month since she started the chemotherapy which always compromised her immunity and causing infections here and there. Her longest stay in the hospital now is for the last 5 months and the stroke made everything even more complicated that's why the doctors are not planning on letting her go because she's always confused and all her capability to do daily activities are affected.

I saw all the sufferings and difficulties and challenges she had. She was not able to work anymore for more than a year and a half now and I have to sacrifice a lot. I basically became her own carer.

It was exhausting and depressing. I lost all hope and am still losing hope every now and then. There was a moment last year I got so low I thought of ending everything already. I though everything was unfair because I could see everybody happy while us, we're always stuck in the four corners of different hospitals.

Nonetheless whenever I look at her, even though her physical appearance is very different from the person I met before, still, I see the woman I love so dearly. I always see a spark of hope and joy in her. God, even though she's been suffering, you could always see her smile. We're total opposites even back then. She's always bubbly and friendly and joyful and happy while I am always silent and well-reserved. That is why even when thing gets tough all the time and even tougher over time, I can't leave her. It always crosses my mind, the thought of leaving her. But I always come back to my senses. She made me a better man than I was. Even though she's always confused and acting childish, I could always see her there. I never got tired of reminding her of all the things that we shared and all the things that she love.

I do not know what the future has in store for us. But we will keep fighting and surviving and living. It's when things gets tough that we will see that hope is the last thing that will go, but until then we all keep holding on.

All sounds very true as I have been very confused overall with friendships, relationships and family connections after TBI occurred to me riding my bike home from work and being struck badly by challenging motorists!