The football players showed symptoms but the study was based on a pathologist in the morgue in Boston who started looking into the brains of football players who died prematurely. He found their brains to be seriously atrophied. He coined the term Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. (CTE)

A CT or MRI can image this problem by looking at the size of the brain compared to the size of the skull. This same atrophy shows up with Alzheimer's at later stages.

If you find a support group to join, you will notice many people with far more disabling conditions. They accomplish much in life with only a minimum of support.

I know people with entire lobes of their brain missing who live relatively full lives. I knwo a woman who administers a residential home for others with more severe brain injuries.

It all depends on your view of life. Many think their glass is half empty. I say they have a glass that is too big. There is lots to life available without needing complete memory of cognitive functions.

Don't worry about future decline. Get involved in keeping your brain active now. Get a nutritional regimen started to feed your brain the foods it needs to operate at as high a level as possible. Take control of your life.

I prefer to not give my life over to the doctors. They do not understand how it is to be inside a brain injured body. I only met one doctor who had a sense of what was going on in my brain. He was impressed with how well I was doing compared to the level of dysfunction he could see on the diagnostic tests.

Establish routines of activities for your free time. These activities may be repetitive but they will put you in contact with others. My father walked his Cock-a-Poo Joey every day. He had a route he took. After he passed, my mother started taking Joey for the same walk and people would ask about my dad. He had made friends just walking his dog.

The research says that relationship ties are the most important in slowing the decline of dementia, etc.

Don't be afraid to tell people you have a brain injury. Just don't wine about it. I state matter-of-factly that I can't do such and such (remember peoples names or drive in congested traffic). It is not an excuse or complaint but rather a statement of condition.

If people seem interested, I explain a bit, like: If I attempt to drive and come to a stop sign with uncontrolled traffic crossing. I can look to the left and see the oncoming cars. Then, I look to the right and see the oncoming cars. Problems is that I have already forgotten what I JUST saw to the left. They begin to understand my visual memory difficulties.

I have developed a work-around for this scenario. When I see no cars to the left, I convert the visual image to a verbal image by repeating to my self, 'No cars to the left.' I may have to wait until one direction has no cars coming but with this work-around I can drive occasionally. I used to have to avoid crossing two lanes of traffic. Lots of right turns then left turns.

There is a book of these tricks. 365 Tips and Techniques is written by an MD who suffered a severe concussion in Colorado. Check out http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Injury-S...7335943&sr=1-3

From you list of symptoms being treated with meds, it sounds like meds regulate your life. This is scary to me. I have sleep disciplines I need to follow to sleep properly. I only take a single med (Neurontin, generic as gabapentin) to help my body stop twitching so I can sleep. I tried using caffeine to help me wake up but my smart doctor nixed that.

There are some drugs that can cause paranoia. I hope you are not taking any of them. Drugs are not a science but rather a "Try this and tell me what happens" trial and error process. Some are very powerful at impacting the mind. I have had a few drugs recommended but I declined due to my research into the side effects, etc.

There is only a very limited understanding of method of action of most drugs. SSRI's are modeled after the active ingredient in St John's Wort. They do not understand how it works exactly. They just know that it provides benefits that overcome the side effects for some people. They have to tweak and tweak the clinical trials to get enough that show the worth of the drugs.

Prozac took a hundred or so clinical trials to get the half dozen that lead to its approval. There were far more trials that showed how problematic it is. Most psychotropic drugs have this same clinical trial history.

Seroquel has been just as controversial. In some people, it works wonders. In others, it is a nightmare.

Benzidiazapines are a problematic group of drugs. Research is beginning to show long term damage from benzos. I was on a benzo (Klonopin) for about a year. Glad to get off it. Doctor switched me to Neurontin, a much safer drug.

You sound like you can understand the issues with drugs. Have you researched any of the drugs you are on?

If you want, list them and I will look them up. At least you will know what their pros and cons are.

Regarding mixing with others. I don't think it is much different that telling someone you have a prosthetic leg and have to go slow up a flight of stairs. Your brain injury symptoms are objective points. If you avoid making them subjective, others will usually be very understanding. Like: "I have a brain injury that makes it difficult to remember faces. I can even struggle to put a name to faces I have known for years."

I have to pause to connect names to faces. People are very tolerant as long as you don't wine about your struggles. It can even help if you joke about your struggle. Like, "Slow down, this wooden leg does not like stairs."

Learning to be open about your struggles is easiest in a support group. Learn to be open with friendlies before trying it in the wild unknown world. You have enough outgoing attitude when you mention putting on the cool Jeffrey to meet Roxanne. Therapists are also a good place to talk about being open with your struggles.

Your problem is the same as every closed head injury person's. We are the invisible wounded. Our injury is hidden. If we don't expose our injury, others will wonder what the problem is. If they understand the cause of the problem, they accommodate us very well.

So, you have a choice to make. Will you expose yourself so people will let you into their lives, or will you hide and be left out.

It is a tough decision but a worthwhile one.

My best to you.