Traumatic Brain Injury: A Lifetime of Recovery

I have tbi I'm 27 yr old but mine hasn't recovered and realizing I cannot do things on my own randomly my brain works very little and it's like I'm a new page the next feels like emptyness and a road of manipulation upon me since I'm a weak state minded human and beleife my life scrambled to random phases of my life I may or may not remember. I help alot of people but find myself unsure but on my own I do not know. Was told 6 months to heal but it's been near a year. Do not know what's wrong with my brain still. Confused and slow mentally at daily life n isolation (try to be social) is progressive at times alot. I try not to show it but reality is I'ma never be the same. My name is Richard pavoni and I'm from lake county California no medical help for this as they claim it's ok.

thank you for your story

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I had a TBI in 1996. I get so angry when people talk about neuroplasticity and how well the brain fixes itself after an injury bc I clearly have so many deficits that have lasted more than 20 years post TBI. When people talk about neuroplasticity, it makes me feel like they are sweeping the enormity of the situation under the rug. I now have chronic pain and continue to have low tolerance to stress and increased irritability. I know those things would not be in the picture if the accident had not occured. I want to find specific data on neuroplasticity not being the ultimate healer, and that it cannot make us be the person we used to be. I'd love to hear any feedback or information you can share on this.

I suffered a TBI from a head on car accident last year in January and it sucks, things will never be the same as they used to be, and constantly hearing people say “oh it’s not that hard” is beyond frustrating. Before If I got mad I was able to control it and walk away, now post TBI, I don’t get mad, I get infuriated , it’s like there’s a switch in my brain that goes off. I try my best to control it but no one seems to understand the type of challenge one must convey. I know this will be a lifelong injury, I will never fully recover who I used to be.

Thanks to good care & personal responsibility in recovery, we can re-learn, re-generate brain function & become functional. Thanks to great partners, family & care-givers... survival & function is possible...

Honestly, the only issue I deal with now is sometimes I can stumble on my words, or think faster than I speak. Sometimes I’ll forget words, but I find that reading and doing puzzles has really helped with my cognitive function and memory a lot.

Anyway, I say this to encourage you. Your journey is not over. Yes, it will take some time, but as you said, the brain is in a lifetime of recovery. Try working on puzzles and doing things that require focus (video games are great for this!!). You should be on the right path, and I pray that you recover 100% and can be like you were in your pre-TBI days.

OMG! Your comments were just what I needed to read today. I am only a couple of weeks from the one year anniversary of my car accident. In the accident that totaled my car, the airbags did not deploy so the left side of my head hit my drivers window. Other injuries are much better but my diagnosed PTSD and TBI have not. I went through 18 sessions of cognitive remediation which did help but I am still a long way from my “normal” self. I am on a “brain stabilizing medication” but I don’t think it is helping. I have gone from owning two businesses, traveling internationally to speak and train business owners to working at an $8.00 an hour job (to at least have me interacting with people again - that is the PTSD part) What is so frustrating is that I sometimes can’t do simple “left brain” activities even there. I suspect the next step will; be TMS treatments. The “get it done now” part of me is wondering how long do I keep working to get back to me vs. finding a new direction. Your post was encouraging. Thank you.

Thank you for your encouraging words. My 18 yr old son was in a bad accident and was ejected trough the sun roof of his vehicle and suffered TBI. In March of this year, he had all of the signs of having to have a shunt put in because the brain was holding fluid. With God on his side, the fluid started draining. Now we are still facing the short term memory and no sense of taste or smell. Although the memory is a little better, he still hasn't recovered. He is constantly misplacing keys, debit card, license and so on. He can be getting ready for a hair appointment and forgets to go.

It gives me some comfort to read these posts. I fell on my pasture walking my horse down a muddy path. I remember the slip but not the fall. Unlike most of you the only symptoms I immediately displayed were headache and nausea. I went on about my business for a month traveling keeping regularly scheduled events until I developed bad anxiety attacks loss of bladder sensation numbness tingling and bad memory loss with bad depression. Today 4 months later I am severely incompacitated. Hardly leave my bedroom am incontinent isolated and afraid how could this happen. Two months after the event the MRI showed nothing abnormal yet there is nothing normal about my life want so badly to be me but am afraid the old me is lost forever so frightened. I don’t know how I can live like this. I have lost all hope of ever recovering from this senseless tragic experience

Thank you for this post and for all of the comments. I was in a car accident a little over a year ago. The car flipped several times and I hit my head in many different areas. I had surgery and met with neurologists. They just told me I had a concussion and that it might take a year to feel normal again. Then I was just left to fend for myself. I took 6 months off of work and then went back full time. I was in so much pain and so exhausted. A friend who is a brain specialist and lives in another city checked in on me after my return to work. She said that there is no way I should be working full time and that I should have been diagnosed for a traumatic brain injury. 10 months after my injury she is the first person who really asked me about my symptoms and understood what I was experiencing. She set me up with a new doctor that specializes in concussions. I began physical therapy for my neck, (apparently it was injured and not addressed) and cognitive therapy twice a week. After 10 weeks I was reevaluated and they said my neck was worse then before. Also my vision and balance were bad. They then sent me to a physical therapist that specializes in brain injury.

I am starting to feel a little better. But after any stress, lack of sleep, or lots of physical work my neck and head really hurt. The base of my head feels swollen. I will be out of work for the rest of the year and hope to start in September.

Reading all of the comments was encouraging but also depressing. I thought I would be better in a year. I didn't think I would be struggling for my whole life.

Lastly one of the hardest challenges is people thinking that I 'look fine.' My cognitive therapist calls it 'the invisible injury'. It's frustrating when everyone else goes on with their lives, but you are stuck struggling with things daily that people can't see.

I try to stay positive and all of the suggestions are helpful. Best of luck to everyone.

My TBI occurred on June 19th 2017 I am told. A ladder clasped with me on it. According to my work phone I was unconscious for two hours. So I am new to this. I get frustrated very easy trying to remember where I am going or doing, spelling words, or as some have stated here making intelligent sentences. I was in college as well a the time 4 credit hours of completing my masters degree in theology, which has come to an end. I cannot remember what I read to pass a test. I have also noticed lack of interest in things I used to do is this normal? I was told to grieve who I used to be and embrace the new person I am trying to be. I like the old me and fighting to get it back, but I am starting to see that is not possible right now and may not be for good. They say I went through a stone wall head first, thankfully I the hard hat did its job for the most part I am here breathing, it was not the initial impact but the the secondary wave that caused the most damage to the right side of my brain. I am sadden cause it as affected my ability to support my wife. I am thankful she is supportive and understanding in this time but I can see it weights on her, and leaves me wondering what happen. vertigo sucks, ringing of the ears, and all other symptoms that accompany a TBI are least desired.

The challenges involved with after-care will write a medical series in there own right. Well warranting its realm of specialities. My situation is unique in the fact my initial hospital was University of Kentucky/Caridinal Hill Rehab, and from what I can recall they were great. However I released into the hands of my abuser, and when he attacked me and was incarcerated I was alone and low function. I didn't know how to continue care and the doctors statement of " most recovery would be in a year " loomed and was accepted. My recovery is still happening and changes according to my stress levels. Being in a high stress environment causes back petaling, when the level drops the road back to where I was is longer, harder, and more stressful.
At present I am experiencing a psychological break down and can't really pinpoint why it continues. For the first time I can identify the trigger and give it exact day and time but the power it has over my mind is unexplainable and highly stressful on its own accord. After every obstacle I conquered and climbed I want to scream give me a break.
Recently I was enlightened to see these psychological are a constant cycle. The gap between cycles ranging from 1 month to five years. Usually I end up seeking professional help. The line between medical and mental gets so blurred and frustrating. The physical doctors want to blame the mental problems and the mental doctors apply inaccurate or untrained knowledge with applying the physical to the mental. Rural America carries a lot of impact into this, but show me a doctor who will admit they simply don't know.

My struggle has been encumbered in a large way by my refusal in accepting any statement as true and the inability to accept any thing I don't understand. I keep digging till I'm able to connect the dots. Sometimes this must occur in kindergarten terms while at a college level at others. The simpler thing require the most explaining, Frustrating to myself and others. Stories that are missing details, whether relevant or not, are usually followed too many questions, relevant to the point or not. Relationships are to date impossible to maintain. Easy to start but when begin to care I want to understand. Don't get me started on trying to deal with new people, the feel they can unknowing trigger an uncontrollable response only increases my anxiety. If I find a person who can deal with me I seek them in my effort to have control over my public behavior. This recently lead a person to remove themselves from my life, and even though I understand and totally accept responsibility, I hate on my injuries for being the reason.

I am the spouse of a 6 year tbi survivor. My husband fell 14 feet from a house roof landing on his head into a cement floor. He fractured his skull shattered both arms which required surgery. Watching what he went through wad horrific to say the least. He didn't know who I was for months afterwards. He survived and can drive a car, and function mostly on his own. He does forget things easily and word search is difficult. He is on two different anti depressents to control the anger. He becomes extremly tired after working his brain and has to sleep. With all this we are still grateful he is alive and tries to be the best he can be. Bless you all who have to go through this and God strength to those who love you..

If this is not the truth i don't know what is: Typical of so many, I have ongoing memory challenges, often more significant than most realize. Word-finding challenges and aphasia are my constant companions. Add a splash of vertigo and half a cup of tinnitus....... the one thing that sucks is when people aren't suffering from long term concussive issues, they say, "Oh I deal with that too." It's like honestly not like I do... when I know the word I want to say, I use to know the meaning, I was able to form sentences clear, correct, and articulate and now One of my hardest obstacles is to form a complete articulate and sensible sentence.... it's harder to explain what I'm trying to say now; I could explain so much in a matter of three seconds and not mess up once unless I was nervous.... but thank you author this was a motivational for me.

David and anyone interested, please look into qeeg-based neurofeedback. It made me the 1 in a million. Loreta and classic power training are both reputable, data-backed methods. Be skeptical of neuroptimal, anyone who wants to work without a qeeg and anyone who trained to use the equipment in a weekend workshop! I'm convinced from personal experience and from the stories of many others that cranio-sacral plus neurofeedback is the most powerful recipe for recovery as long as the skull is not broken. It's hard to walk the path between acceptance and defiant hope, but getting back your whole self is possible for many with this. It is expensive and not covered by insurance, qeeg can run 300-1000 and each session anywhere from 70-200, but I don't think you can put a price on getting your brain back. I went into debt for it and I would do it all over again.

There are therapies available that have helped many people with different neurological issues many years after initial diagnosis, including TBI. Check out HANDLE (Holistic Approach to Neurodevelopment and Learning Efficiency), a study was published in 2006 in the journal of neuroimaging on TBI survivors.

My husband suffred TBI 7 years ago, Its been a tough life after that . But I have seen him recover every day . I am hopeful of his near to complete recovery . As he gains more experiences post accident , he would regain the mental strength. He is already back to his business albeit recovery is very slow . ..