Hi Mark,

THANK YOU so very much for your response!! You are the first person to really address my concerns, and you don't even know me. That means a lot to me. I'm a 28 year old female and I live alone, and although I have family and friends that care about me, they are hours away, so this has been an especially difficult time.

I do have a boyfriend, but he is currently deployed in Iraq and only comes home twice a year for a month at a time. So it gets lonely around here. We Skype often, and he has felt very bad that he hasn't been able to be for me during this time. He comes back in a week though, so I'm incredibly grateful for that.

I currently live in New Bern, North Carolina. I recently relocated here for my job. Before my house was ready for me to rent here in New Bern, I was living with a friend in Jacksonville (about an hour south of here). And that is where the concussion occurred.

You have given me so much valuable information. Yes, for a speech therapist, you would think I would have more knowledge of TBI. I have only been practicing speech therapy for about 2 years and don't have much clinical experience with TBI, mostly with stroke patients.

I guess in a way I haven't been much of an advocate for myself.. I should have been more attentive to my needs, but since I am a new employee where I work, I didn't want to risk losing my job and forced myself to try and keep up. I've been keeping the office staff and my boss informed of my symptoms and doctor appointments.

As you mentioned, I also wonder about the medical skills sets of my boss. I would imagine she would at the very least be understanding to my inability to meet productivity standards. But then again, being a new employee, she may not have an adequate assessment of my typical work habits to compare with. But I still feel like she diminishes the severity of my condition.

In addition to taking the vitamin D, I take a multivitamin. I will get additional folic acid tablets and omegas. You are absolutely correct, I have been compensating for my fatigue by drinking lots of coffee. And when I crash from the caffeine, I crash HARD. I will stop drinking that. I don't typically use any artificial sweeteners and my body generally doesn't tolerate MSG anyway.

And I haven't had an alcoholic beverage since May, I'm not a big drinker at all. Good info, thank you!

I know that the company I work for offers disability pay, but I don't know if I have to have been working for them for a certain length of time before qualifying for it. I will look into that. My fatigue is the biggest reason I don't finish seeing enough patients in a day. I don't want to be on the road when I'm too sleepy. And I don't want to keep drinking coffee all day long to get through my day.

I am also going to look into the Family and Medical Leave Act. Does it vary state by state?

Do you think I have done permanent damage to my brain by drinking coffee? I have been drinking two cups in the morning and a cup or two in the afternoon to stay alert for work. But before my concussion I just drank one cup of coffee in the morning.

I forgot to mention that even after more than two months, the area where I hit my head still has a bump and is still tender. And I have a bald spot about the size of a quarter on part of the bump. Also, my balance is terrible. I have always been a bit naturally clumsy, but it's definitely magnified since my concussion.

Sometimes I get really off balance and lose a step, and if I'm in a patient's house or in public, sometimes people notice, and it's very embarrassing.
And I have noticed that my pupils are sometimes different sizes. This is not always the case though.

Last night I drove in the dark for the first time in a long time, and it was scary. I don't know if it is simply because I haven't driven in the dark lately, or because of a vision issue. But my visual judgement seemed way off.

My biggest complaint has to be my fatigue, inability to focus, and my forgetfulness. It has been a big blow to my self esteem. I don't feel as productive as I once was. I feel ineffective at work, and when I get home, I look around at all that needs to be done, but I just want to sleep, so I do, then I wake up feeling guilty that I got nothing done around the house.

And I miss doing things I used to enjoy, like yoga, playing the guitar, running, crafts, etc. I don't even watch TV anymore. My day is: wake up, work, come home, sleep, repeat. I'm lucky if I can stay awake long enough after work to eat dinner or Skype with my boyfriend.

There are so many things I've let get behind because I don't have energy for them. Just for example, my car is in desperate need of a good cleaning. When I think of everything I need to do but haven't done, I feel SO OVERWHELMED.

Once again, thank you so very much for listening and taking the time and effort to respond. I am incredibly grateful for your support!!