andy55,

I am sorry to hear of your struggles.

It is not at all uncommon for a doctor to say you will recover fully. Some studies show that about 80 to 90% will recover to what appears to be a full recovery. This full recovery means that under normal circumstances, the person will feel back to normal. Even these full recoveries are not full recoveries. When the brain is put under stress, it will become symptomatic.

In your case, you have a good case of Second Impact Syndrome or Multiple Impact Syndrome. More likely the Multiple Impact Syndrome. Think of it this way, after the hit with the softball, your brain became like a hard boiled egg with the shell cracked. The shaking of the roller coasters was like putting that cracked egg in a small container and shaking it. Now, it has a shell that is completely cracked.

Believe me, I have experienced concussion symptoms from amusement park rides. The long duration of the shaking can be much worse than an single impact.

What to do now? First, get an application started for Social Security Disability. You should qualify if you can document your cognitive and other problems. They will likely send you to a psychologist who can test you for these functions.

If you get better and don't need the SSDI, great. But the application process is slow so get it started.

Keep a daily journal of your sleep, food, and activities with a reference to how you are feeling/functioning at different times of the day. An entry might read: Woke up at 8:00. Ate cereal for breakfast while reading the newspaper. Needed to take a nap from the exhausting effort to read the newspaper. (This is my normal morning) Note the tasks that cause you problems. Like: reading causes exhaustion, trying to cook but forget and burn things.

What diagnostic tests have you had? How is your nutrition? Good nutrition is important for a injured brain to recover. Search 'nutrition' or 'vitamins' and you will find posts with nutrition comments. Avoid alcohol (one beer a day, max), minimal caffeine (one cup of coffee a day), and no artificially sweetened foods. Avoid high sugar content foods. Get good meat protein.

Forget about trying to compare different people and their recovery from a concussion. There is no way to compare different brains. They all react differently. Plus, your brain was already injured when it got injured again by the shaking.

List your continuing symptoms so I can help you with each. Each symptoms needs to be treated individually. Most of the treatment is more how to work with the symptoms and try to minimize it and stop it from getting worse, like foam ear plugs for the noise. Sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat for bright lights. Relaxation skills for the head aches.

If you can minimize the level of each symptoms, over the long term, that symptom will get better. Maybe not a full recovery but a much better functioning.

If you can, find some simple low stress activities to do. Fishing, walking a pet, light reading (complex story lines can be too intense)
Try to relax and get to know what you good functions are. That is the new you, at least for now. Try to learn to live with this new you. The reduction in stress will help you heal.

Keep in mind that you have two functions. Receiving information/stimulation and replying or presenting information of doing tasks.

I have serious problems receiving information both visually and auidibly. I need to read or hear things over and over to make sense of them. If I try to speak, I get flustered. If I put my thoughts down at the computer, I can go on and on. The computer screen becomes my short term memory so I can remember what I am thinking and saying.

If you can send me a private message, send me your e-mail address. I will send you a copy of the TBI Survival Guide. The link to it is broken but I can send you a copy of my file. Dr Glen Johnson has some good information at www.tbiguide.com if his web site and links are working properly.

If you feel comfortable, you can post your email address on this thread. Add some spaces and spell @ as 'at' to prevent address sniffers from getting your address.

I've probably already overloaded you.

My best to you.

Happy 4th of July.

Tough day, the sounds can be a problem for many of us.