9 1/2 Need-to-Know Facts About Traumatic Brain Injury

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I was hit by a car when I was 5 while standing on a sidewalk at school. I was unconscious for a time and sustained other injuries. I did well after but then in my thirties a car hit me while I was coming down a hill and spun my car around. It took the doctors 3 years to diagnose my TBI. It started out with just extreme pain. Every time I think I've reached the highest level of pain, a new one comes on. I now also am having extreme memory problems. I can't remember words, what a show was about that I watched the day before or if I talked to somebody during the day. It's very frustrating, I have to take a lot of meds but I'm thankful at 45 to be alive and be married to a wonderful man and have a beautiful daughter. I am basically housebound but tell myself that there are people who are worse off than me. I just pray every day that something new isn't going to pop up!
I have been in four car \'accidents\' in the past two years. One the car flipped after hydroplaning, two the tire blew out and I just remember walking down the interstate with a broken nose (didn\'t know that at the time I was numb), three I can\'t even remember as well as four... in fact I was happy to find the insurance, tow truck number etc. in my wet pocket (in my jeans on the floor) after the last wreck. I can\'t remember anything anymore and it\'s frustrating me to exhaustion and causing huge problems in my relationship and have lost my job due to the after-effects. I had a huge swollen bump on the back of my head for about 2 months and now it\'s a dent in my skull. I have no insurance so obviously I don\'t matter. Anybody have a clue what I can do to help myself? I can\'t remember anything anymore.
My MTBI occurred on Friday the 13th, 11 years ago. NO JOKE. Thank goodness I was at work for a very large & prominent company, & was fortunate enough to recieve the very best of medical care. After months in a hospital with a nationall,y recognized head trauma unit, brain surgery for a resulting brain anurysm,4 more subdural hematomas due to my balance disorder, & resulting epilepsy, I still hit the floor every morning grateful to be alive. My last name is Faith, think thats a hint????? I take 13 meds every morning, am so tired of being fatigued, but think it is maybe time to see a shrink. Anyone have any input? I sure could use it. I have no social life, but do have a man that loves me like no other & am getting married soon. I am truly one lucky woman.......
I had a car accident when I was 34. I was paralyzed and in a coma for 30 days. I was not supposed to live. I do very well considering all the medications I have tried . I walked out of the hospital, (they said I'd never walk again) I still have alot of trouble. The weather seems to effect me severely. I cannot take temperatures above 75 degrees or so. I love the winter, but feel like s___ all summer. Anyone else like this. I stll have PCS and have lost my memory back to 10 or 11 years old. The hospital gave me an experimental drug for brain swelling and I say it worked. I do well most of the time....I have to wear shorts year round, not long sleeve shirts. Been that way since I woke up from the coma. Dont get me wrong, I am very grateful for how well I've done. They said I would never walk, I do very well, never be able to live alone, I do. I can drive only because I can tell when I'm having trouble, it always starts when I get up and I would never get in a car like that. Otherwise I dont go anywhere much, but I am grateful. '
My daughter suffers from a TBI...in Oct. 2010 she had a motorcycle wreck that left her with a sheared brain stem, frontal lobe, occipital lobe, cerebellum and small stroke in right hemisphere...needless to say the Dr.s never thought she would make it 8 hours...prayer, FAITH, hope, love and HARD work has shocked and awed many!! We are 9 months out and she can now walk holding my hand...the periphal vision they said she would never get back has improved drastically...her "10 second Tom" memory has now improved to a 12 hour memory! My advice is pray and have faith that what you ask for God will handle...the rehab centers we have been to told me I was going to have to except this was all she was going to be able to do...I didn't except it. She has also been visiting a Maximized Living Chiropractor who has been AMAZING!! Since these visits her balance is INCREDIBLE! Never give up HOPE! Our God is bigger than our problems! .
To the one who wrote on April 3, 2010. I am 31 and have epilepsy. I have had it since I was 8 years old. I have took medicine after medicine and still have seizures. I have also had brain surgeory which cleared most of my seizures up. My granny would say I would have them but she couldn't do anything about it. She would say my temperature was over 100, then I went for about 5 years and then started to have seizures from a medicine I was allergic to. I have had seizures ever since 1986. Doctors have changed my medicines about 4-5 times since was 8 years old. I have gone through school and still graduated with my class since all this happened. Even though I have graduated I am in this house just for people that are handicapped and have nerve problems. I feel that I could do something else and not feel retarted. I work with the seniors on two days of the week and the juniors 3 days. But I feel I have come quite a ways. The reason I say that, I graduated with the class I started with in 1982 even though I started to have seizures in 1986.
last year i was hit by a car and i had a very bad brain injery, but i am now back at school and i am almost back to my old self i am a very storng girl
thanks
Last month on july 29 I celebrated 19 years of recovery from a TBI to the front of my brain.Even now I have brand new problems that appear that were never there before.The most fun is the harassment I've recieved constantly from co-workers and management at my job.The wonderful United States Postal Service.I Guess no one ever explained respect and courtesy to them.
I had a TBI at the age of four. I thought it was done and over with. Wrong! It is now, thirty-nine years later. I now have epilepsy, in my twenties, I started getting numbness in my right extremities, along with a great deal of weakness. Now my right leg turns in and I have to walk sideways down the stairs. My reflexes are very abnormal. I have encephalomalacia on the right side of my brain due to my head injury. By all medical accounts I should not have survived the fall. I had thirteen skull fractures according to my medical record and had to have burr holes drilled to relieve the pressure and because of internal bleeding. I have a very difficult time with memory and learning new things. It has been that way all of my life, that I can remember. I never did remember my mother or anyone in my family, I just was told they are my family. I also have a hard time with aphasia. But I know if it had not been for God,I would not be here today, he is the one who decided it was not my time. I accept things the way they are, at leas I live to fight another battle! Yes, I have depression, anxiety and do see a psychiatrist also. But I also know that having pity upon yourself is a waste of time ad energy. Just remember that you are alive and do not feel sorry for yourself, everyone has challenges and we all have more in this life, but we are alive and not deceased!
With emotions out of control, a TBI patient could have many run-ins with the law. Our son was lasered repeatedly, had to go to court, was fined and had to do community service. To this day, he only remembers being jumped by the plainsclothed police and fighting back as any soldier is trained to do. This is a real problem and it's imperative that some understanding of TBI be brought to light so our legal system and police do not judge these individuals as common criminals.

Stories such as yours are the reason that both the general public as well as authorities are educated on tbi. Yes, it often causes behavioural changes and yes, there may be alarming issues that pop up... But with the right medical team and a proactive attitude there is a lot of hope. My husband has had TBI for 35 years he has encephalomalacia and white matter disease it has been a battle but I put my faith in God. Learn everything you can and don't listen to pessimists.

is it possible that i have this after a bad motorbike accident in 1983 when my head was run over by an hgv although my consultant surgeon said no way!! I have to work all the time, i feel very depressed unless ni work, please let me know there is someone else out there !!
I am one of the 'deer in the headlights'. Emotional stress and/or at times the stress of daily life situations [including needed major renovations to our home and the mess we now have due to that] ... these things bring out the bi-polar depression, the memory problems, the speech [aphasia] problems, sometimes the physical problems [stroke-like symptoms of right-side weakness], etc.. Top that off with a recent dx of Generalized Inherited Early Sudden [Chronic] Onset Osteoarthritis [at age 53; now am 54]doesn't help matters either. Yes, I get through my daily life ... sometimes I have good days, sometimes they aren't the greatest. And sometimes I often wonder how I will get through a day. Add to that mix needing to find a second P/T job that I feel I could do on a daily basis [due to things becoming so expensive nowadays and not sure of getting from one pay to the next] without having a 'melt-down' either physically and/or mentally and you often wonder how to manage your day[s] without burning out from the TBI residue you now have to live with. Heaven help me too when I have anesthesia for even minor surgery! It takes months to get over the severe aphasia, etc.! I often wonder how people with major illnesses [ex: cancer] seem to get through them, yes with difficulties but still get through them, and it is so hard for me to get through a day. I feel guilty for feeling like I do when / getting to the point I do when there are those out there battling those worse things than what I have. Why is it so hard to deal with the problems of TBI when comparing it to cancer, etc.?
The tendency for as many as 80 to 90% of TBI survivors to believe they have fully recovered does not make it true. As the first comment asks, What is a "good recovery?" Many consider a good recovery to be an ability to return to the same activities as before the TBI/MTBI. What they fail to consider is the evidence that shows that even those who appear to have returned to the same state and functional abilities as before the TBI/MTBI, thorough testing will demonstrate that they have residual damage from the TBI/MTBI. Athletes are the best example of this. Many appear to recover fully only to begin noticing problems years after the injury. The least symptom of incomplete recovery is the sensitivity to a second injury, be it a very mild concussion or more serious injury. The more serious issue is the risk of cognitive or memory impairment during times of physiological stress and for some, even simple emotional stress. There is a sleeping monster lying in wait in the injured brains of TBI survivors. It can raise up and strike out at very inopportune moments, such as when there is a risk of imminent danger or a need to make a life critical decision on a moment's notice. Beware the 'deer in the headlights' as this monster strikes out.
I feel recovery is directly correlated to attitude. My husband had made a tremendous recovery from a TBI in 1992. He will never be "back to normal" however, he has an amazing attitude and quality of life. Endurance training (Long distance running, road biking and triathalons) have made a huge improvement in his processing and physical disabilities. I am so proud of how hard he has worked at getting a "good life" because most of us don't even try to improve our lives.
100% recovery may not be possible but we don't know if a person will get 65% of the way back or 99.9999% back. What's important is working hard and discovering all your post-TBI abilities. "Oh, my friend, it’s not what they [TBI] take away from you that counts. It’s what you do with what you have left." — Hubert Humphrey Dr. Mark / @gotbrain
What is the definition of "a good recovery from TBI"? Does that mean 100% or less then that. Is there a 100% recovery for TBI ?
this is a very good article I love number 9 and if you have a TBI you will definately recover in time,its hard work but you will recover. I know Im almost there

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