GillianGillian,

Again, welcome to NeuroTalk. As ginnie said, there is lots of good experience and compassion here.

I have a lot of comments for you. I hope I do not overwhelm you. I tend to be that way.

First, I am so sorry for your injury. What you are experiencing is very common to many concussion victims. Even though you sense that you are making improvements slowly, you may be in for a long recovery. There is absolutely no way any doctor can predict how long it will take for you to recover. There is also no way any doctor can predict your level of recovery.

Because of this, a work place head injury can become very difficult. Work Comp can be a nightmare on top of the nightmare you are already experiencing. You need to find a good mTBI Work Comp attorney just to protect your WC rights. The WC system is stacked against the mTBI/PCS employee.

Check out www.tbilaw.com for a possible referral in your area. When you have a few brain cells working, read Gordon Johnson's TBI Law and Subtle Brain Injury sister site. It is full of excellent information and advice.

Next, download the TBI Survival Guide at www.tbiguide.com and print it out so you can slowly read it as you brain allows. If you can, print a second copy and give it to the person closest to you. You need an advocate with understanding of your symptoms.

When you have time and an ability to focus on your computer screen, it will be helpful to watch "with" that person closest to you, a YouTube video series by mTBI survivor John Byler called "You Look Great." Here is a link to the first of six segments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Xso...ature=youtu.be All six take about an hour. Probably too long for you to watch in one sitting.

There are lots of ways we can help you deal with most of your symptoms. Reading is a common problem. Many do better with a piece of paper to hide the line below and even the line about the line that you are reading. Your brain is being overwhelmed with too many images/letters. Anything you can do to hide them will help.

I find it very difficult to read fiction or very descriptive writings. Too many concepts, adverbs, adjectives, and such to juggle in my memory. It is like the multi-step task.

Break multi-step tasks down into single steps. Think of baby steps. one little step at a time.

It will also help if you remove visual stimulation from your primary area of focus when you are relaxing. Maybe a single wall with a simple image or two. Try closing your eyes for a few minutes. The open them and look straight ahead. Do you feel disoriented by what you see? If so, you likely have too much visual stimulation.

The morning experience you had is also not uncommon. Sleep apnea is a common symptom with PCS. It will first manifest as stressful dreams. Then when you wake up, you will feel disoriented. You will also feel tired and very sleepy during the day. If this sounds like you and it happens frequently, ask your doctor or preferably your attorney about getting a sleep study done.

You appear to be ahead of the game already by my observation of your post. You kept your paragraphs short with a full line space between. This is an excellent work-around/accommodation for the visual scanning problems common with PCS.

btw, Word-finding is the layman term, anomia, aphasia or fluent aphasia are the clinical term for these types of problems.
Another problem is: Agnosia, the inability to name or remember recognizable persons or things is also common. It is the frustration of finding in your mind and/or speaking your best friend's name when you see her.

Think of it as if someone came in to your office and mixed up your files. Nothing is where you expect it to be. Welcome to the club.

Let us know about your biggest struggles. There is a lot of great support here. Also, if you tell us where you live, we may be able to direct you to good help.

And, don't worry about the typos. I spend more time correcting typos that I do writing the comment. Thank you spell check.

My best to you.