I apologize for being away for so long. I have this site on my news feeds so I can see newbie questions and answer them if I feel that I can add anything, but other than that- I've been gone... gone... gone... For a good reason though, I've been very busy at my job.

For the new ones to the group- I had my TBI in June 07. I had a follow up head injury in January 08 in which I had 7 staples in my head.

... by the way, I still feel the dent where I hit! Crazy!

I think I've settled in to where I'm going to land for a while. I feel that I'm back to 100% brain power unless I'm stressed for ANY reason. When I'm stressed, my IQ seems to fly out the window.

Strangely enough, after hitting my head the second time, the teeth grinding and jaw clenching stopped immediately. Isn't that weird? That will make my dentist VERY happy.

The only lingering effects are the myoclonic jerking and the sleep disorders (nightmares, physically acting out my dreams, sleep walking, etc.). I take klonipin (for jerking) and seroquil (sleep disorders) at night and those drugs keep those symptoms under control most of the time. If I'm stressed for any reason, the drugs aren't as effective.

I've tried to cut back on the klonipin and seroquil and it was a good experiment for me to see that those drugs really DO make a huge difference in my life. I suspect I'll be on them for life. I also suspect that I'll continue to have issues when I'm under stress, so I'm doing what I can to keep stress to a minimum.

I just wanted the newbies out there to have hope that sometimes it's just a matter of waiting it out until things get better. I live a fairly normal life now, except I can't have alcohol under any circumstances (which, is probably a good thing). Alcohol makes things much worse. I also have to watch my stress levels.

Everyone at work now knows the hand I've been dealt, so when I'm having a bad day- I just say I'm having a bad brain day and they understand why I'm not making a whole lotta sense.

I wish I didn't have the jerking and sleep disorders, but out of everything else I was experiencing, these bothered me the least.

I have a blog with a special category for "head bonking" if anyone is interested in following my journey. It's in backward order, so you'll see me go from better to worse. The important thing about the journey that I've logged is how it made me feel. I think newbies to this condition might find a lot of similarities. It helped me in the beginning to know that I wasn't the only one that 'felt this way'.

It may sound odd, but I'm sort of thankful that I've been through this. I was taking my brain for granted, and I don't do that anymore. I hope all of my friends here are well.

~Lori