What Exactly Does the "Mild" in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Mean?

I suffered a mild TBI in April of 2016, the symptoms did not become persistent until about 8 months after my injury an then continued to get worse for roughly 8 months afterwards. Sleep disturbances and constant exhaustion, personality changes, loss of emotional stability, to debilitating levels. Now over two years from the initial injury (car crash into a hard object going roughly 50 MPH) I am still suffering tremendous symptoms, though they are greatly improving over time. I literally feel like my life has been put on hold by my injury as it is all I can do to simply stay alive each day. I wish I had known that I had TBI instead of depression years ago so that I could have actually done something to better treat my symptoms before they got worse.

 WTF is going on?My TBI seems to be mild moderate if such a term can be quantified. I determined a 13 on the Glasgow scale. Four years later I had to retire from 35 years of teaching. By the end of the school day there was nothing left to grade papers or plan. My colleagues provided me with weekly lessons and monthly plans. I had to switch to a recumbent trike for two years due to vertigo and loss of balance. My eyes see differently due to now working on different axes. My senses of taste and smell are both compromised. My libido is substantially diminished. How did I get here? This is not my beautiful wife. This is not my beautiful house.

Hello, here is some info that can help you guys.

New scan that can show disruption of brain connections is called diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI). It is a special T3 MRI connected to oxygen uptake of neurons, I believe. I live in Portland OR and the only place that does these scans is SIKER IMAGING. Even OHSU does not do these scans because they do not have the normative data collected.

WHAT CAN HELP: the only specialist I know that is able and willing to help is a Chiropractic Neurologist (has to have the letters DACNB after his/her name). These are not the "I can cure anything with an adjustment" kind of chiropractor, but really a specialist. Through eye movements he figures out what part of the brain is not working (right now gold standard to diagnose mild traumatic brain injuries for litigation). The guy I know well who has helped many people is Glen Zielinski, DC, DACNB, FACFN. 

Representatives of the medical community, in case any happen upon these pages, please take note of this great blog/page. I suffered a 'mild' tbi nearly 8  months ago and most symptoms are not getting better; some are worse.The net effect continues to be this: its been catastrophic to my life. I cannot work (I loved my work). I am lost, in pain, confused, dizzy, walk with difficulty with a cane, and it is difficult to get the most basic of life tasks accomplished. I am exhausted the great majority of the time and sleep up to 14 hours a day, still without feeling rested. Less sleep leaves me feeling even more exhausted.. So  the fact that this kind of review of the medical literature/information gives little or no credence to those of us who do not get over our trauma easily or quickly - well,  it makes the journey much more lonely, more confusing, more difficult to access medical care, and more difficult to survive or to cope with the legal side of things that many of us must deal with. There is no way that this many people posting here are not representative of a real portion of survivors, a portion that deserves and really needs to be recognized. Please stop ignoring that we exist. Please stop making broad statements that make others question our experience, our honesty and our integrity. Please stop making the act of living through our trauma and injury even more difficult.

After reading all the posts to this I can definitely relate.  My husband went in (alone) to a doctor's office for a normal blood test procedure; meaning they took a test tube of blood and were testing him for his levels of cholestrol, etc.  He told me the nurse proceeded to stick him 4 times to find a vein from which he said he told her he felt dizzy.  She told him to lie on the table.  She left the room he said. Next thing he knows he's waking up with smelling salts up his nose, not at first realizing where he was or what happened. The what is he fell off the table. Hit the floor face & head first; trauma to his face and head.  They immediately moved him to x-ray he said. The only reason I know all of the above is he had enough gut reaction (he's a paramedic) to call me to tell me what happened; (he now doesnt remember he called me from the office) they were releasing him; his head felt like a big egg on forehead & he was hurting but they were allowing him to drive his car home. When he walked in at home I immediately noticed the big huge egg on his forehead, loss of hair also, neck was also swollen. The pain & swelling from the fall proceeded to get so bad I brought him to the emergency room at the hospital that evening. His neck was triple the original size and the egg on forehead had proceeded to get bigger, but pain was his biggest issue. He was diagnosed with a concussion.  This happened on Saturday and that following Monday, his brother who had came over saw the condition of his brother.  (He's a District Chief) & tried to get records from Drs. office documenting the fall. He was refused. This was 4 1/2 years ago and my husbad was 48.  My husband was a young 48 with a vibrant personality, calm, cool, super swift with finances, energetic, etc. He now has short term memory loss; irritable at the smallest thing; has to write down everything, curses when he can't remember things, says his head hurts if he tries to think; (whatever that means); headaches, dizziness, equilibrium problems, depression has set in and he has had numerous tests; showing a decrease in his memory, reaction times, and other things they have checked with tests.  Our life has been hell, our relationship has changed, no emotions, no caring, no love; his whole demeanor has changed.  It didn't change drastically it was over a period of two of the 4 1/2 years.  4 1/2 years later i'm still holding on, i cry when he is not around; i have to stay strong for all of us while my son is in college & my husband continues to work. Certain persons think he is faking,  others that know him before the incident see the difference in him.  He use to laugh, very adventuresome and fun, mechanically and physically able to fix or build anything.  All has changed. Our son can't stand to be around him b/c of his drastic mood swings, irritability, hollaring, etc.  Bills are late if paid, so I took that responsibility away from him 2 years ago among all the others.  He is now on something to slow the memory loss down; the doctor said it won't change it, just slow it down.  I hate to say it but the doctors are definitely missing something significant, something miniscule for all concussion victims. Hopefully with more research it will provide some kind of Positive Impact on all that are affected by concussions (the patient & their families) have dealt with...it's definitely not a game, it's not a ploy, and it's not False, It is SOOOO Real & it hurts to see your significant other suffer.  All we want is to help Ours that are affected get better; that's all.

To the author of this story,

What happens to those who suffer enduring symptoms? Can you please point me towards the evidence that is being quoted about how all MTBIs remit? I am not sure I believe it. Certainly nobody else who has written here does.

Thank you.

I'm tired and frustrated.  A six foot fall with no loss of consciousness resulted in a very small subarachnoid hemorrhage concussion and fractured shoulder.  I was confused for days.  Would be found just standing in closets. I would not turn water off after washing my hands.  My short term memory was bad I didn't remember clinics I visited.  A year and a half later I still get stabbing pains in my head and my word finding and recall is terrible.  I have been told by a " concussion specialist ". There is no way this can be related to the TBI as there is no damage on the CT scan.  I am somataform it's psychosomatic.

each of the comments contains a question not asked, namely what is a "mild" brain injury? With somewhere near 14 open / closed cranial assaults I have over the past 6 of my 69 years had one plain easily understood no medical lega insurerese bafflegab answer to that question. This makes me think do any of the experts in the field have a clue as to what it is like living with an ABI be it a severe (I have most of the front temporal cut out after a truck rollover) or as the same experts claim them all mild ones? wanna bet they don't love to hear from just one of them.

It has been over three years since my Mild TBI and I'm NOT getting better, I'm getting worse. 

Please let us know the name of the psycologist that did the QEEG testing in WA? Thank you so much!

Are there any studies or information out there on people who had existing conditions and then have a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury?  I have suffered from Fibromyalgia and Chronic fatigue off and on for years and since the accident most symptoms have come back. My Neurologist told me the reason it is taking so long to heal is because of my preexisting conditions. Tests show I have damage all the way to my white matter and my vision is blurry.

I was in a terrible car accident May 9 2015. A 94 yr. Old man ran a red light and blew my car off the road. I never saw him coming and lost consciousness. I remember nothing from the accident. I too was diagnosed with TBI as well as a spinal cord injury. Prior to the accident I worked as a young vibrant paralegal at a very fast paced exciting company. It was anybody's dream job. I was a single mom with 2 young kid's & I was living & loving life. Now - I'm lucky if I can remember my own address on any given day. I have severe tremers. I scored significantly below normal on the neuropsych tests. I constantly fall in public but per the ENT I have very healthy ears and no indication of vertigo. No sign of temporal fracture or skull fracture, MRI'S are all normal, nothing abnormal on any of my xray or imagining. I suffer from horrible debilitating headaches. During the worst headaches I have acutely lost my vision . Once in august 2015 for 2 days and again in September 2015 for 2 days. Was hen the headache resolved my vision returned. My neuro ophthalmologist wrote me an RX for glasses even though a week prior he himself tested my vision and advised that it was 20/20. And 2 weeks later when my vision returned and he retested it was again 20/20. I also suffer from facial paralysis on the right side. And tingling 24/7 in my hands feet and directly down the center of my face. I have social anxiety, constant vomiting & nausea, insomnia but constant exhaustion. I am a nightmare to be around. I've list my job. My doctors are telling me that my symptoms are "psychosomatic " but even with my TBI I'm still an intelligent enough person to know that they are real. But like everyone else I'm fighting the insurance system& fighting the doctors. I can't find anybody that seems to know how to treat me or understands what I'm going through. I feel totally lost. My psychologist recommended a book called "I'll carry the fork" by kara Swanson. It's no longer in production & very difficult to find. You can find it on Amazon & some libraries have at least 1 copy. This author gets it. I think you guys will agree!

Mild traumatic brain injury from a car accident in 2013 - It's been a long and exhausting road since... My ex boyfriend of almost six years had left me a month after the accident had occurred. Shortly after, my best friend had moved away due to a new work opportunity that she had been given, across the country. Feeling alone and surely depressed, I am so greatful that I had been introduced to a new friend who was willing to sustain my irritability and constant mood swings. He is determined to help me get through the past and look towards a brighter future. Although things may never be the same after the accident, it is important to acknowledge the minor difficulties one might be experiencing, and work towards healing or overcoming those issues. As an example, I had gained well over twenty pounds from lack of exercise and terrible drinking habits that had followed after my accident. It became rather habitual to indulge my pain in alcohol and inevitably lead me to dive head first into an ocean of sorrow. When I had learned that something so simple as exercising would increase dopamine levels in my brain, I started getting "off" on working out. My eating habits had gotten increasingly better, and I had turned my difficulties i.e (forgetfulness, anger, frustration) into a challenge, rather than accepting them as a disability. I've learned to monitor my behavior, take pride in what I do, create strict schedules/routines, relax and enjoy life by indulging in the arts and meditation and so on and so forth. Life is worth living with or without any brain injury. When people react to my behavior or anxiety (due to the TBI) I am honest and straightforward in telling them my past, and it makes me feel good that I am also giving awareness to those who are unfamiliar with people who continually strive against their own TBI. To this day I still have set backs, and once in a blue moon I will find myself in a hopeless situation where no one can truly understand my pain, but I will continue to live my life as best as I can & I will fight every day to overcome obstacles and challenges that create barriers in my life. I will make efforts to see my loved ones because they are the ones who have been there for me (even when I couldn't care less if they were gone or not) I will open my heart and take my time to make things right. Everyone has a different story - DO NOT GIVE UP...you only live twice.

I was diagnosed with TBI after a car accident in 2006.  It has been referred to as mild TBI since then.  I worked as a full time teacher until the accident and then could only work part time.  I pushed myself very hard because I loved my job and had to provide for my children as a single mom.  As I continued to work, my difficulties with information processing, memory, multi-tasking, executive functioning and extreme fatigue continued to worsen until, eventually, I was told by my doctors I needed to stop working.  As a teacher, I am not covered by SS and my private disability company denies benefits because they claim my speech difficulties, etc. are not a result of TBI even though I never experienced these difficulties before.  I know this is happening to so many of us.  I would love to have a group of us work together to get solid medical descriptions of TBI and better neuropsychological testing for TBI patients so that insurance companies (and everyone else) can take this physical condition more seriously.

As I read all of the posts, my heart breaks all over again. My Husband, age 36, sustainted a TBI/concussion after a car accident on April 1, 2014. It was a care accident where his car was struck on the passsenger side near the headlight. He blaked out for about 30 seconds. He was able to get out of the car and call me. I took him to the ER and he had a "normal" CT, and the report stated that he had a concussion. He was discharged.  Almost right away, I noticed that he was short tempered, but I thought it was because of the headache he was experiencing- and still does to this day. A few weeks after the accident, he would go into blind rages, turning bright red and screaming. He was unable to sleep for a very long time. For at least 3 months he was maybe sleeping two hours a night. Almost two months after, he told me that he was not in love with me, and wasn't for 3 years. The hardest part was no affection, no touching, no smiling, no interaction with our two boys who were 5 and 2 at the time.  Every night I sat in our room crying and feeling very alone. I was mourning my marriage, and my husband.  Some of our immediate family was understanding (his parents). My Mother and Sister thought he was lying and "faking it."  He had several friends before this accident, and a couple still bother with him. The others don't call or come around. My Husband had a career that he loved and was very successful at. He lost his job after his family medical leave act ran out.  He hasn't worked in almost a year. He cannot go back to his field because he is terrified to drive. My Husband was, before the accident, so confident, my rock- always reassuring me things would be ok when they went wrong. Now my husband has major depression. He cries all  the time, he cannot get into a car without an anti anxiety medicine.  Three months after the accident he had a seizure and fell face first onto the ceramic tile, landing on the same side he hit in the accident. He spent three days in the hospital and had an abnormal EEG. Almost every family duty falls on me now. I have to drive everywhere, I work and am terrified about losing my job.I have to pay the bills, make sure the boys are happy, and this has increased my anxiety a lot.  Our boys were affected by this. They tell me that they miss Daddy before, when he was fun and did things with them. They know daddy's brain is hurt.  My oldest will burst into tears if he remembers the things that they used to do, but cannot now. We cannot go to the movies, be in a crowd, or go to family functions without my husband hiding out somewhere quiet and by himself.

The thing that makes me most angry is that people have told me to "have my husband strap on a pair and get  back to work." I've fought for my husband the whole time this has been going on. It has made me with drawl from the non-understanding- if you cant see it, its not real- family. He still is symptomatic today- almost a year later.

God bless all of you on your journey...

I have a very similar TBI to the Brainiacs guy. Reading his comment made so much sense about my own TBI, which was diagnosed as a concussion after a car going 40-45 MPH without braking slammed into the passenger side of our legally turning car, totaling it. My head took pretty much the entire impact, which was on my right ear and temple. I had two CT scans at separate times, both of which came back normal. Have been diagnosed with post-concussive syndrome by my neurologist. Everybody lied and said I would be fine. I am anything but. :(

Dr. Arcineigas, speaking several years ago to the BIACconference, presented his research about the "MTBI" cases who did not get well, which was about9 percent, I think. He found they had something in common:  damage to a sensory gate related to sound. Symptoms to recognize this included that when there are alternating or competing sounds, the MTBI person may be unable to understand anyone. I am one of these people, and I have a smorgasbord of cog deficits. My point of impact was left side, and was a cous contracous, so my brainstem got a whacking back and forth also. But American Jurisprudence PROOF OF FACTs also includes mention that hitting near the eyesocket of the skull could be more serious than Mtbi."

I also have lack of impulse control, problems remembering what I hear (65% comprehension unless competing sounds, then 31%. Also abstract reasoning skills heavily damaged. Smell and taste impacted. Balance issues. Others.

I am also known as a "walk and talk," which means I was not in a coma or wheelchair, so I am going to be refused most services because, as you know, only people in wheelchairs are REALLY disabled. The rest of us are evidently liars.

I produce Brainiacs on www.denveropenmedia.org

My husband was struck on the head by a 1,200 pound dock door just a little over a year ago...He suffers with constant headaches and migraines, balance, dizziness, cognitive issues, short term memory loss, and a plethora of other things....we were just told at our last neuro appt "this is as good as it's going to get". He will most likely never be able to drive or work again. So Yes there are ppl who are considered mild to moderate TBI who do not fully recover.

Six months post-concussion from a slip on black ice and subsequent loss of consciousness after hitting side of head.  Continue to be plagued with horrible headaches, double vision, cognition difficulties, and vestibular issues.  I have Meniere's Disease on top of this.  No one seemed to take me seriously.  I looked okay but still feel like I am different person.  I can't remember names, phone numbers, feel like I have ADHD, and am exhausted. Have difficult with balance, vertigo, nausea, lights... get confused whereever I go.  Even have word finding difficulties especially under any stress.  Been receiving vestibular treatment which is helping a little.  Have also received nerve blocks in back of my head which help with headaches for about 10 days.  I feel very frustrated and just not myself.  Hope this won't be forever!

Twenty years ago I was diagnosed as having a \'mild concussion\' (I had lost conciousness for a few moments also) when I was hit head-on (on) the drivers side. From the time of that concussion and continuing to this day I have had problems with anomic aphasia (speech and language), other issues with S&L, concentration, long and short term memory loss, PTSD (and something else with initials), am treated with daily medication to try to control the Complicated (or Complex) Migraines where I have stroke-like symptoms, my right side never regained the full strength of my arm or leg, I am Bi-polar but unable to take the medications because they work opposite on me, and more. A concussion is not \'mild\' when one immediately show signs of things that are different and the issues never go away, even if they improve to a certain point over the years. I think ALL who work in the medical field who would encounter people with TBI\'s and concussions need to be better informed and/or trained in relation to this health issue. AND TOO, when a doctor sees someone with a concussion, they should refer person go to a doctor who is THOROUGHLY TRAINED AND SPECIALIZES in TBI\'s, etc. (and)who works ALL THE TIME WITH helping those who have issues with brain injury whether through a Rehabilitation Hospital -or- their own office.

I wish people where i work could understand what i go through. i would love to just shut down and recoop usually what i get is I need u to just do this. they dont understand that i dont function and perform at the same level i use to. But they expect me to. its been an up hill battle 2 years post car accident.