Well, I'm very close to a year now...and unfortunately, I'm worse than what I started out to be. I've done everything from shutting myself off from the world, pushing through symptoms, slowly increasing stimulation little by little, strict vitamin regimen, anti-seizure medications, intensive therapy and much more. Nothing worked for me. Instead of finding a solution that helped me get better, I permanently declined every few months to the point it became unbearable.

I've gotten to the point now where I've accepted that I'm going to be like this for the rest of my life. I got tired of not being able to live my life, so now I'm just living it and putting up with the consequences. I have a son that needs me, so I can't live my life as a hermit.

Fortunately, I've had some improvements. Once I stopped obsessing over the way I feel all the time, I started to get better in some departments. For instance, I can handle being in a store without becoming disoriented. I can understand what people are saying to me, I still get confused sometimes but not as much as before, my anxiety is pretty much gone, my sex drive has gotten better than it was before the injury (not sure how that happened)...There is probably more I'm missing. If this was a perfect world, I wouldn't have any symptoms at all. But, I do...and they are quite annoying. I struggle all day everyday with putting my thoughts/feelings into words. My speech is slow, I have a lot of pauses, umms and uhhhs, and other stuff I can't think of right now. Its a constant thing that doesn't ever go away, however I can sometimes break through and be able to articulate myself properly, but its very short lived. It usually happens when I meet a new person (its like my brain forces itself to act right), important phone calls (disability, case worker, etc.). Still can't watch TV without severe fogginess, music is a big no no, and driving causes serious fogginess with my speech as well.

I've been feeling very depressed lately because I thought at a year I'd be at least better than I was 6 months ago...but I'm not. I'm going through a very dark time in my life. Its causing problems in my relationship because my speech is making me frustrated all the time. Its a battle everyday accepting what is...we just have to wake up and grab that sword and shield and keep on fighting.

God bless, everyone.

Nick