Hello,
My name is Kristin and my husband, Richie, suffered a severe TBI about a little over a year ago. We had just moved to the mountains of Colorado and he was enjoying riding a bicycle to work every day. Three months after our move, he was hit by a car on his way to work; he was not wearing a helmet that day..... Now, our lives have been changed forever and I wish every day that it would go back to the way it was before the accident. I wish that he had just suffered some broken bones and not such a trauma to his head.

Considering the fact that all the doctors told me he probably wouldn't wake up from his coma, I think he is doing very well. He walks with a cane and he really doesn't have any memory problems or significant personality changes. He has double vision and so wears glasses with prisms, but he has a hard time seeing small things. His biggest issue right now is the constant dizziness that he feels (lightheadedness) and it has been going on 5 months now. I feel so badly for him. He has had inner ear fluid pressure tests and vestibular nerve tests and they have come back normal. He is having a test for inner ear fistulas in a couple of weeks and is attending a clinic at the Denver Ear Associates in an effort to find a cause for his dizziness and relieve it.

I am interested in any information anyone has to share on this topic of dizziness after a head trauma. We go to a chiropractor and I just found a cranial sacral therapist in our area and am considering getting him acupuncture as well. I read about Cosotin and Antivert and Gota Kola on your website and am wondering if I should pursue any of these medications/herbs.

I don't know if my husband has as much awareness as I do of all the support systems out here on the web....it actually makes him vomit to type (moving his head up and down to look at the keyboard and the screen). But I am looking for any support we can get so we can keeping working our way back to some sort of "normal" life. We were active mountain bikers and skiers/snowboarders and waterskiers before this terrible accident and now I feel like I have lost my best friend because he can't do any of these things right now. It's quite overwhelming....

So, that's it for now. I anxiously await any advice you all might have for us.

Kristin

and

Hi Kristin and Hubby!! I'm sorry to hear what's happened... but I'm so glad you found us. Welcome to our little corner of the world!!


Here is the link to the Traumatic Brain Injury/Post Concussion Syndrome forum:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=92

Seems to be a fairly active group with a lot of nice people there.


I myself do not have TBI and to be honest don't know what all that entails. I do, however, live with intermittent dizziness from RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystropy)

I wanted to let you know that I receive Chiropractic treatments as well as Acupuncture on a regular basis for various reasons. When I am having a round with dizziness... I let my Chiro know and he addresses that issue. I get great relief from these treatments when I am experiencing dizziness. The dizziness is not as frequent and is no longer a constant in my life.

As far as the medicines and herbs you have listed here I have not tried any of those... I can only suggest you discuss all of these options with your husbands doctor and hopefully you will find something that works best.


Please feel free to roam around... Ask as many questions as you would like...someone will be around shortly to help in anyway that we can.

Also... please feel free to yell, cry, vent, scream if you need to...we don't mind.


Again... Welcome!

Abbie

Hi Kristin...welcome to NeuroTalk. I'm so sorry about your husbands' accident. Here is the link to our TBI forum.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=92

You'll find lots of support on these forums.

LOL Abbie....we were welcoming at the same time!

Kristin and Richie,

Hello and welcome to NeuroTalk. Great to see you have come to be with us. You will find a great number of caring, supporting members here willing to help each other as they can.

Sorry to hear about your accident. Just hold that head up and take it one day at a time.

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around.

Darlene

((((((((((((((Kristin)))))))))))))))).

Before you do any of this, he should have an MRI to rule out any type of internal trauma, such as hydrocephalus or Arnold-Chiari Malformation. Chiro can make these things worse, especially Chiari. Please do this first!!

Good luck, and please let us know...

LIZARD

Hi Kristen and A big welcome to you and your hubby. So sorry things are rough for you both right now... Looks like the others have directed you in the right direction. take care and again.