Quote:
Originally Posted by Hockey
Hi No tbi and welcome to our little brain boo boo club.
We all understand the pain you're feeling over your lost intellectual capacity. A tbi strikes at the very essence of our identity.
How recent is your injury? You sound like you are in a deep period of mourning. I am three years out and still struggling not to compare old me with new (but definitely not improved) me.
I have to admit that I don't buy the stuff about this being a new beginning I should embrace. It sucks - but I'm stuck with it and I have to make do.
For me, I find it helps not to give up. I have done a lot of cognitive, physical and speech therapy and I am functioning a lot better than before. I won't lie to you, it's hard to get excited over being able to count backwards when you used to have a highly skilled job and a bright future.
Still, the therapy I've done has made my daily life less frustrating and more bearable. I also refuse to give up hope that there will be better treatments in the future - and I want to be ready for them.
Also, try not to underestimate your potential for recovey. A member here told me that Abraham Lincoln had suffered a serious tbi before becoming President. I try to remember that when I'm struggling.
Cheers
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I had a concussion back in 1995 and suffered serve whiplash in 1998. The concussion occurred after falling 8 feet (2.44 m) from a window on my head. I blacked out for a few hours and woke up in the hospital with amnesia. The doctors provided zero cognitive rehabilitation and just sent me home with a cast for my broken arm. The whiplash incident occurred while I was boogie boarding and duck dived under a wave. The board hit my head, causing a major jolt in my brain and neck. My neck was in great pain and I could barely move it. I was also very dizzy and nearly passed out. I went to see a chiropractor for a few adjustments and that's it.
Since the TBI incidents, I've noticed a gradual steady decline in my short term memory, verbal skills, and my ability to just "get" things. I used to be able to just remember things effortlessly in an almost involuntary manner, now I have to make conscious effort to memorize things by using mnemonics and repetition; and even then, my ability to memorize is crap. I also used to be in the gifted and talented program in elementary and was often the top 2% student in my classes. Now I'd say I am merely average to below average in my cognitive abilities.
I just try to keep my brain active by doing puzzles, experiencing new things, and keeping my brain stimulated. I have doubts that I will be able to be 100% and will have to just learn to cope and make the best of what I have. I really want to have a neuro-psychological assessment to find out where my deficits are and work on improving them, but I currently don't have health insurance and it will be months until I do have health insurance. Since my brain injuries occurred many years ago, my road to recovery is probably highly limited, but any bit of help will be appreciated.
Yes Abe Lincoln and many other brilliant people have suffered various degrees of brain injury. I guess learning about their injuries provides me with a little hope, but then I realize everyone has different genes, everyone experienced different types of head injuries with differing levels of severity and respond differently to various types of head injuries. Essentially no two TBI are the same. Moreover, it seems that no one ever completely is 100% after a severe TBI. I'm sure Abe Lincoln was brilliant before his concussion, and was probably slightly less brilliant post-concussion.