First and foremost, my name is Jae, I'm 22 years old and currently reside in California. I'm new to the forum and I am looking for support I guess. I'm just extremely confused.

About three months ago I had what seemed to be a minor work-related injury. I was whacked right above the eye with a metal pull out drawer at work. I sustained a minor concussion, contusion/blunt-force trauma. Seen doctors and was being treated for a minor injury. I noticed midway into the third week or treatment that my symptoms were not that of a typical "minor head injury". I was having a clear discharge leak from my nose, relentless migraine 24/7, double vision, trouble remembering and the occasional neck stiffness. I tried to tell the DR. but they told me they were concussion symptoms and would go away within a month and was dismissed from medical care. Right. -_-

With time, the symptoms were becoming more noticeable. I would forget simple things like were I put a small item or what I was supposed to be doing. I would eventually recall what was supposed to be done but not until I scrambled around for some time. I also begin to notice that I was starting to stutter. Fast forward two/three weeks, I got extremely sick within a matter of hours. It came with no warning and it hit HARD. All my previous symptoms had escalated by a 1000 as well as being accompanied by others: confusion, nausea, inability to concentrate, light sensitivity.

My parents had swayed me to admit myself to the hospital. After spending my whole day in the ER, I was admitted into the hospital to see a neurosurgeon. The initial injury had actually caused a skull base defect on my right anterior/mid right cribriform plate causing a CSF leak out of my nose. I had fell ill because my body was trying to fight off an almost bacteria meningitis infection.

I'm scheduled for diversion treatments soon to ease the pressure on the defect but my fear is not really recovering back to my old self. I'm still having memory/concentration issues and occasional hallucinations. I have noticed myself stumbling over my words when speaking more than ever and some days I don't feel like myself. I'm usually a bubbly person, extremely outgoing but every once in a while I just feel so down and don't want to be bothered by life itself. I am kind-of scared and don't honestly know what to do. Any advice would be lovely.