Recovering from Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

I was riding a mountain bike downhill, was launched over my handlebars, and my head is what i landed on without being able to get my arms or anything else out to soften the blow. Was out for about 15 seconds, tons of physical pain for 1.5 years, and much of the TBI was attributed by me to pain meds and physical pain. Then the pain hugely reduced and i stopped my pain meds, THEN the reality of TBI came to light and I've been really dealing with it for only about a month plus now. It is a pain in the butt process, mainly because hardly any doctor or cognitive therapist knows the details and it is hugely misdiagnosed. Also, if you are in a managed care system I have found most doctors are busy finishing with patients to get the billings to the insurance company to help justify their job, but hardly any truly try to figure it out and help. YOU must do the research and find those that specialize in this area. Of the 10 or so docs I've seen thus far, appears only 1 truly understands and has read the latest on TBI's.

Noticed at the bottom of this page after the comments there is a supposed definition of TBI. I disagree completely with the statement that most mild TBI's go away within weeks or a very short period of time...that is post concussion syndrome, NOT a mild TBI (and most doctors think the same wrong thing). If you truly had a mild TBI, it does not suddenly go away. You might not go back to a doctor, try to ignore treatment, get coping mechanisms, improve things over time with various exercises, change the excess stimuli with ear plugs or sunglasses/brimmed caps, etc., but a mild TBI does not go away. That is our bummer in one way, but at the same time don't forget to enjoy the present moments and stimuli right in front of you that we now seem to be able to appreciate more than before - walk along a beach or river or in a forest...nature is wonderful for TBI, so is exercise, regular sleep, very little alcohol, calendaring everything daily, a TBI Support Group (lucky to have one in my area that meets twice per month), pushing your social abilities a bit more each time (longer phone conversations, longer in person conversations, more focused for longer, etc.), reduce gluten and grains and sugars from your diet (they cause inflammation to the brain and body), drink water regularly, and find a hobby or interest. Hope those help as a TBI sucks, but since it IS permanent you need to get positive and find the things you enjoy doing in life. Most of the old friends and habits will be changed to a large degree, and that is the reality we all must accept at some point to begin getting positive and moving forward with your new brain.

Anyone that is interested I have put some info on a blog I started on Blogger called "As I Stand Dying" (came up with the name when the physical stuff was real bad too, but didn't start writing until after the pain reduced and i was aware of the TBI). I put some helpful materials there and talk about the things i've experienced and things that have helped. Not super familiar with blogs and settings, but here is my link: (copy and paste) http://scbiggib.blogspot.com

Keep pushing forward!

Kevin

My personal experience I had a head injury in a car wreck about 10 years ago, to this day I still have problems with light sensitivity and balance issues. I usually only keep a single small yellow light on in a room, if there is too much light (white light seems to be worse than yellow) my head will hurt which causes headaches and depending on the brightness I'll have to look away/down or squint my eyes or if it's bad enough I'll have to close my eyes completely which makes it much harder for me to keep balance. Before the injury seems like I too the ability to keep balance for granted, now post-injury it is a constant task, feels like a lot of my enegy goes to just keeping my balance. If someone were to look at me walking I doubt that would notice anything odd with my walking, but I think that's mostly because of how long I have been dealing with this problem, unfortunately though it may look like I'm walking effortlessly but if something were to happen to my sight I would fall over and be on the ground, my sight is the only thing that helps me keep my balance. If I close my eyes I will fall over, if I have something to hold onto like the back of a couch/wall I can still walk but it is definately even more of a challege than if I was able to see.

I was lucky and on the problems with hearing mine are very minimal, I lost some hearing on the side that my head hit, other than that I can hear just fine, though I have noticed since my head injury my ears don't seem to produce wax like they used to, so the inside of my ears seem to get dry and irritate me.

Probably that last and most frustrating issue I have is my mental capacity, I used to be great at math, post-injury I'm barely able to recall the order of 4 random single digit numbers which makes doing math in my head impossible, so any simple math I have to use paper and pen or if it's more than just basic addition/subtraction I have to use a calculator. Seemed like my mind was always active before hand, now feels like I'm a bit of a meat head, the thoughts in my mind are very simplistic as opposed to before where they could be pretty complex. I also constantly get similar words mixed up, even though I think the correct word I somehow will still say the incorrect word, so it has caused me to have to think about what I'm about to say multiple times just to make sure it's correct and even then it still sometimes comes out incorrectly.

My head injury happened when I was 18 so I have been dealing with this for a while, just try to not take everything so seriously, if you mess up just try to laugh it off, I know it's easier said than done but it's real easy to get down on yourself and get into a bad place, so just keep trying. I still get upset with my issues from the injury if I think too much about it can bring me to tears, but it is do-able to deal with this, you just can't expect life to go back to the way it was, you hae to re-adjust to have life is now and as you get better at coping with your issues the more you know what to expect and you'll be able to do a lot more.

I cried when I found this sight and began to read it. You see, I had a whiplash 2 years ago. I was sent for physical therapy, chiropractor, massage therapy, optometrist and now am left with profuse ringing in my ears, pain in the back of my head, with weird lacy light sensitivity. NO one ever told me I had a brain injury. It saddens my heart that I had to find this out on my own. My doctor told me it is a chronic soft tissue injury.

i suffered a TBI in 2002 when i went thru a windshield in a head on collission, i had to learn how to talk right and think straight, i have short term memory loss and repeat things all the time,i have lost more friends because people can get annoyed with me, in november of 2012 i fell down the stairs and hit the back of my head and neck, that day i suffered a seizure in a grocery store and have never been the same, my left ear buzzes all the time and i can barely walk a straight line, i cant focus my eyes on anything and going to the grocery store is almost impossible, i get dizzy just reading the words i am typing and my vision is blurred terribly, i have had more tests then i count and seen so many doctors and noone knows what is wrong other then i have a massive brain injury from 11 years ago and i reaggrevated it recently, my hearing is fine, too good in my left ear, everything seems amplfied and the last time i went into a resturant it sounded like everyone was banging their silverware aganist glassware it was horrible, i am giving up hope to ever live normally again :(

My TBI in2005 ruined so many things mainly because of loss of energy which makes me mad and depressed. I galloped race horses for a living. It was my job, my pleasure and my life! When I have energy, I can deal with my problems and my meds help a lot...but not enough! Energy loss has ruined my life and my daughter's also...she just turned 10 one week before my accident. This article is the first I have seen about energy post TBI. THX

May you heal I sustained a MTBI after slipping off the edge of my bathtub, hitting my head twice on the bowl...The tub is about 12, 13 or 14 inches above the floor. I stood on the edge like a fool while showering to fix a shower caddie that I nudged out of place...I had two bumps above my ear, meaning I hit my head twice..I only remember the second one. My husband and friends say I hit my head twice, since there were two separate bumps but I do not remember the first hit, nor how I got a very large bruise/hematoma on my left arm... This article is the most detailed description of all I have been experiencing for the past 3 and 1/2 months. Thank you so much.