Recently I've been feeling so much better, almost normal, so the thought of having a weekend where I went to a comedy gig with my boyfriend before spending a whole day with my loud family was exciting.

While I had a good time, half way through my family day, I'd started suffering, forgetting what I was dong, the food I'd ordered, where I was.. while my father is now perfectly used to me being slower and is patient with me, and my aunt, a nurse, is understanding about my PCS, my cousins all found my forgetful nature and dazed expressions a mixture of: amusement, annoyance and awkwardness.

One moment which stands out for me was when my closest cousin stated that my 'head thing' is 'nothing' and that my personality hasn't changed and that having a couple of headaches 'every now and again isn't so bad'. I was mortified that someone who was meant to know me so well couldn't notice the differences, that I get angry/upset quicker, that I struggled the whole day not to let on that I was in so much pain and that I found the whole day stressful and completely overwhelming. I wanted to explain to her. Sit her down and ask her to try and live my life for a day. I couldn't speak.. Later on, she also questioned why how I could forget what I ordered, which, when I didn't answer, led to her persistently asking. I found it really upsetting, my aunt comforted me and tried to mime 'head injury' and 'shh' to stop her asking.

Has anyone else had these situations? How would you cope? Do you explain to someone that it's more than a couple of headaches or do you just brush the comments aside and pretend that it's nothing that affects you greatly?