Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. I just discovered this forum while searching for other peoples PCS stories to see if I can relate. Prior to my injury I did not know the symptoms of PCS and after being released from the hospital, I was still not educated on the symptoms and the healing process! I am a 25yrs old female and this is my first head injury. I know this is long, I apologize!

On July 17, 2013, I was in a bad motor vehicle accident. I was stopped on the highway waiting at the red light with 2 vehicles in front of me. I was rear-ended from behind and from seeing the pictures of my car, I'm assuming the driver was still driving at a high speed on the highway because the trunk and back seat was compressed! From this accident I lost 2 teeth, shattered upper jaw bone (I need a bone graph done), dislocated pinky toe, hairline fracture to my lower spine, multiple scrapes on my legs and right hip, bruised right wrist, fracture on my right cheek and nose, LOTS of cuts on my face and 2 black eyes. I was unconscious and woke up in the ambulance. I had no memory of getting out of bed and leaving the house so I was very confused. At the hospital I slowly regained my memory of where the accident happened. I was in the hospital for 2 days.. I got an MRI and CT scan that came out negative.

The first week after my accident I experienced waves of nausea, I took a lot of naps and would go to bed early, I got dizzy spells and my emotions were like a roller coaster. I would either wake up happy or sad and by evening it would be opposite. I couldn't watch tv or go on the computer because it would make me dizzy. At the time I never knew these were symptoms of PCS because I was never educated on this! I didn't know what was wrong with me so I cried a lot.

It's been 5 months since my accident and a lot of websites say symptoms will clear after 3 months but I don't think my symptoms are gone. Is this normal if this is my first concussion? I still have headaches (like right now) and other times it would come with a really sharp pain where I would have to stop what I'm doing and close my eyes. It would last for about a minute and then it would go away. My short term memory is bad.. I can't remember parts of conversations that I've had with people. I can't remember little things and people get mad at me for that . I did poorly on an exam I just did 2 weeks ago! But my main concern right now is how irritable I am. I don't mean to get angry with my family, boyfriend and friends but after 1 month of my accident, I can get so irritated that I snap/yell/get angry. Things that didn't bug me before make me so angry now and if things slightly bugged me prior to my accident, I now get very angry over it . I feel bad because my family and loved ones cared for me after my accident.. I want it to stop.. I want to stop getting so angry. I may be missing a few things but these are the main symptoms right now.

I guess my main question is it normal to still experience symptoms after 5 months if it's my first head injury? Will the irritability get better with time? How long has everyone been dealing with PCS?