Facts About Traumatic Brain Injury

Thank you all for sharing . I am a TBI auto accident in 2013 . Thank goodness I had full auto insurance , this helped me get medical help where needed. We all must get society and medical folks knowledge that TBI is real and it is very different from another TBI . We need help, we can not be ignored. I never had head pain like this every day since 2013 . Also I am very fatigued by afternoon . And sleeping is a battle . Anger / frustrations is a battle I work on daily . And I must follow a schedule or I can't handle things . Which is new to me. I am sharing little about how much damage I had . I got help thank goodness , my husband has been there for. Please know TBI person still has love for everyone and Needs love . Hang on to each day, in hopes it gets better .

I was born with forced caused T. B. I. I had seizures till I was nine and had some minor learning disabilities but my I. Q is high. I had odd symptoms as well. Hallucinations, emotional labile, but very athletic. Now I am having issues with memory and coordination . I am 55years old. I wonder If birth T. B. I can cause issues later in life.

God Bless TBI It is very diffiult for them, for both the patient and the one who takes care of them, family friends and spouses.  It is hard for everyone to understand why the brain may react in the way it does. I know because I am one. I look normal I am physically fine but my I am a TBI  from a car accident in High School many years ago and I try to mask it every time I do something STUPID its not on purpose my brain just does it I dont know why? hard on a 34 yr man. Seizures, emotional problems, No sleep. I still work full time  have have  a beautiful 4 yr old boy and beautiful wife I am crying out God bless TBI you dont know what its like

I also acquired Hydrocephalus from a Traumatic Brain Injury and have had 30 Brain operations so far in the ten years since I was first diagnosed. I hope and pray that is it but I know there are more operations in the future for me.

Your definition of "serious" brain injury included amnesia. That makes sense to me, but does not fit my experience with the diagnosis of "mild" traumatic brain injury that I was given. I was "technically" unconscious for 40 minutes, but because the person who hit me delayed reporting the accident for 20 minutes, and then told police the accident had "just happened," the ER personnel were told I had been unconscious for 20 minutes. Since my recollection begins the next morning, I question whether I was ever conscious that night, and since the accident, my event memories (as opposed to memory for facts, which seems unaffected) is very limited. I do not remember details of my day by the end of the day, and after approximately two weeks, my recollections are limited to whatever I wrote in my journal. My journal has become my "memory" of events since my accident.

Despite the on-going memory problems and ever-increasing focusing difficulties, and despite a golf-ball sized 1/4-inch deep dent in my skull 2 inches above my left ear, and slightly behind it, my medical reports still show I had a "mild" TBI, and my current diagnosis is post-concussive syndrome. I spoke with the police who had been at the accident, and they did not expect me to survive, based on the amount of blood on the pavement. How is it possible that I was diagnosed with a "mild" TBI? (a rhetorical question)

Family members and strangers alike are often unaware of what is happening with the TBI patient. If there are no obvious signs of the injury, people can be ruthless and unforgiving of the inability the person has. There is a lot of joking and making fun of people who can't perform how they used to and if they behave somehow inappropriate there is not much tolerance for it. For an adult with TBI, it is like a double injury being treated like a child along with the inability to do what they could before. There needs to be more education to the public about what happens to the brain injured.

Veterans, the military hospitals and medical centers are doing much better with TBI/ABI across the board, as well as the PTSD issue.  They seem to deal with more brain injuries than any other large entity that I know of, so we vets can tap into that source, if the drive isn't too far away.  Good luck and have a blessed night y'all.

My mother has had three fall each of them hitting either their side of her head on(1)on the back of her head. All of these were due to imbalance. Prior to the past three falls in the 2months she had fallen from getting out of bed too quickly,resulting in a fractured hip. She is 88 years old but has her "wits" and is very coherent. Only recently she has been put on meclazine for vertigo 12.5 mg tid Prescribed by a neurologist. This mg did not work. She also has what seems to be as a slight migraine. Primary doctor told her to take Tylenol for the headache,which he considered it to be the safest drug to take that can be tolerated due to her other medications,mainly cardizam atenolol diovan prodaxa. She was told to increase her meclazone to 25mg tid. On her first dosage of 25 mg of me calzone 25 mg she got ENEN more dizzy and her bp(which is normally high (diagnosed years ago for hypertension ) taking 160 mg if diovan. Her bp was kept in a good range taking this amount. But since her past three falls(one of which caused a triple bleed to her head,yet she had three ct scans showing improvement) at that time after her first really bad fall she reported dizziness and headaches however the past two "minor"??? Falls , she fell and hit the back of her head and another hitting her on the opposite side of her head with major bruising (but she was not on her prodaxa at this time ) now her bp is on the low side approximately 106/62,which is remarkable since she has always had hypertension. I'm confused and being her care taker don't know what to do if anything. She sleeps a lot in fact has had over 15 hours(and counting) of sleep this far since last night till now) Any guidance would be helpful she had been in the hospital and rehab and has been home with my husband and myself now for at least three weeks. This is where she had her past two falls as described hitting her head. One thing to mention is that i administrated her .5mg Xanax yesterday trying to help alleviate any stress related problems that may have been causing her headaches. Upon awakening for dinner last night after the Tylenol and Xanax (prescribed prn) she did not feel as dizzy and again ate two good meals one for lunch and another for dinner. My concerns are her drop in bp and sleeping so long ANY ADVISE

My 19 year old son was ejected from a motor vehicle crash and sustained fractured skull, severed artery to his brain, facial fractures, 2 brain bleeds deep in his brain, plus numerous other injuries, this just occurred on 10/09/2013, this is fresh and a whole new scarey LIFE however we are blessed he is alive and I just have got to say thank.God I found this website!!! Your kinda tossed around when u have no health insurance, but I'm grateful still... just thank you all so far your posts and comments are easing a bit of our worries...

I had a major head and back injury 15 years ago. It happened at work yet the insurance company fought me all the way. I partially recovered for a while but growing symptoms like insomnia and cognitive difficulties have led to me losing my job and family. So now I must recover from a mental breakdown due to losing everything and not being able hold the same job because of age-physical ability. I seem to be able to find some resources for getting medication and support groups and even doctors yet there is a common piece of recovery missing. Shelter. It seems all the resources one needs are out there, food, clothing, but no shelter. No safe environment for one to work their way out of a situation and be rehabilitated. This lack of shelter situation makes the other resources useless. No progress can be made. Most family members cannot understand mental illness and have deep fear and stigma toward it. This leads us to the streets or a jail. Where we become criminals recovery becomes virtually impossible.

thanks a lot, when did you put this website up

I appreciate your posting here - I work with multiple populations as well as TBI survivors. I am a Hospital Liaison for a Mental Health Agency and my biggest issue with TBI persons is finding appropriate placement options. These folks don't always have family or friends that they can reside with. A lot of TBI persons, especially if they have other mental health issues are likely to remain in psychiatric hospitals because there are no placement options available that will provide a structured supervised living environment for them. There are several folks that require 24 hour supervision and with the TBI Waiver requirements in effect presently - they also have to meet a PAS-2000 (Nursing Home Pass) in order to qualify for this Financial Assistance. Unfortunately, if your body is in good working condition - you don't qualify - even if your TBI is severe. I have written my states Legislative committee and have individually contacted several committee members with this issue. the best response I received was "We'll look into this issue and get back with you." This is NOT the response I was really looking for. I would appreciate Legislation to actually investigate the REAL issues with this population: 1) Lack of Community Support Services; 2) Lack of adequate Supportive Housing options for Homeless TBI survivors; 3) Redesign of the TBI Waiver program from excluding a severe TBI person because their body is "too healthy" to receive this benefit; and 4) Financial Assistance for TBI persons needing other Community Mental Health Services.

"What causes TBI? The leading causes of TBI are: Falls (35.2%); Motor vehicle-traffic crashes (17.3%)" Silver, McAllister, and Yudofski in their book by 2005 have named Motor vehicles crashes as the first, and Falls as the second causes of TBI. Sarah, Psychology student, Iran

thank you for the helpful information. :D RAINBOWS RULE SAVE THE EARTH RECYCLE

ThAnk U sO mUcH 4 yOuR hElP

thank you so much for posting this!!!!