few people talking at once or a room of people
 

I am not sure but I think that when I'm talking with more than one person I'm tired out...I notice I start yawning. I don't have a problem understanding conversation, but I just feel weird. My head starts hurting, my neck. Example...dinner with my family - no problems keeping up talking with everyone. I remember in the early months, I would eat and leave the table. I'm sticking around longer..even doing the dishes with the kids, but not symptom free.

Anyone else feel like this still?? (I'm at 14 months)

I went to a friend's house the other day -- few people over 10 or so....and I felt awful after a few hours..but only talked to one person at a time.

Yes! I can only handle 1-2 people at a time, otherwise I am mentally worn out. Must be a sensory thing....frustrating as it limits my social opportunities outside of family. If I am around alot of people it is as though my brain just has to tune out all of the excess "noise". Frustrating!!

Same here. I can talk to only one at a time. If I have to concentrate on even 2 I get aches and dizziness like I am spacing out and drifiting. In the beginning I can't even talk to one person. Going on for 2.5 years. Most frustrating as Nolefan mentioned. Limits any Social and even family activities.

too much stimuli and I'm out. I do tend to get very tired, very quickly. I have started taking ear plugs with me when I go places. My husband understands I'm not ignoring him, I am trying to drown out some of the excess-and I wear sunglasses even more-too much sunlight...I feel like a vampire.

Oktoberfest has been a beast this year. The only way I have coped (hubby is a big fan) is with friends who understand what I'm going thru and ear plugs.

I have been putting up with this for about 15 years. Since three concussions ago. I struggle even with my ear plugs, sometimes.

Tonight, I went to Chili's with my wife before Brain Injury Support Group. The echos and one noisy young lady telling her friends and the whole restaurant that she was pregnant about did me in. In went the ear plugs.

At support group, you can watch as 4 to 8 pairs of eyes roll back while two or three or more go on and on about a subject with a bit of over-talking. Some participants are much more tolerant than others. It is funny to watch the reactions of some. One gal even stands up and glares at those over-talking each other. The moderator will step in when it gets out of hand but he can tell when the few interested parties are functional with their dialogue (trialogue, quadralogue)

btw, My wife gets great support at support group. She really enjoys connecting with other caregiving wives especially. She is taking on a mentoring older woman role since she has been living with varying degrees of my PCS for 31 years.

Yep. I am doing much better in a lot of ways, but I still get headaches after spending a long time in meetings at work with lots of people present and interacting.

I also got one the other day in a meeting where one person went on and on and on (rather angrily, so it was also emotionally stressful), and I have been exhausted ever since.

This concerns me greatly as a teacher since my typical work setting requires not only being in a room with a lot of people but also being responsible for most of what is going on. I'm very fortunate that my school is letting me work in a mostly one-to-one program this year.

wow...I never would have thought....Now it makes sense... I do get tired trying to follow a bunch of people talking at once. I guess I never thought too much about it. Thanks guys!!!

I just want to think that its not my brain that can't handle it.

I was in a noisy restaurant and I did fine thru it..but felt awful for 2 days afterwards.

I had a friend over chatting for 2 hours just now...and I feel ok...just wondering how that is going to pan out for me later -- but like I said it was ONE friend over. I have symptoms, but no worse than normal.

Is this why I can't tolerate tv for too long...is the constant conversations keeping up with -- not the bright tv screens etc.???

Do you just get tired and feel headache come on --or other symptoms? I get this weird feeling thru my body and sometimes my teeth start to tingle, jaw area, back of head hurts down my neck.

ONE more thing -- do you have any suggestions for me other than earplugs -- going to a family function on sunday for a few hours. ANY ideas? I can't really go for a walk as its going to be cold out this weekend (and might look too rude).

For the family event, can you ask ahead if there's a quiet place you can go if you start feeling overloaded? When I went to a family funeral, they also arranged not to have background music to reduce sensory input a bit. Other than that, I just took my pain meds preventively, excused myself when I got overwhelmed, and planned to have a few bad days afterwards.

did you have a few bad days afterwards?

My problem is I usually don't feel so overwhelmed (maybe I'm so happy to be out I just ignore all the symptoms??) I just suffer for days afterwards.

Yes, I did have several bad days afterward. But we also had a long car trip and several days of family interaction.

I usually don't feel that bad in the moment, either. Not sure if adrenaline keeps
me going or what. But you can also plan to pace yourself -- take a few minutes out every hour no matter how you feel, for example.

I also found I had to weigh carefully how I wanted to spend my energy. If I go to the visitation, I probably won't have energy to eat supper with everyone, so which is more important to me? If you're up front with people about your limitations, most of them will at least try to help.

well just as an update -- I went to the family party. We left the house about 3pm..and were home by 7:30. I didn't feel myself by any means, but I wasn't in a slamming headache.

I put in earplugs (and trust me it was NOISY) -- I listened to ocean waves on my ipod on the half hour ride there and back.

I was exhausted when I got home...and not tolerant of much. I went to bed early (took half an ambien).

Monday morning..woke up like I have in the past few weeks...no worse. I had to take my son to the dr (half hour away) for a fractured elbow recheck...and did ok.

Today I exercised a little...yapped on the phone too much and had to do some short errands.

I feel like crap!! Guess its making its toll on me now.

Yeah, I usually have to take it extra easy after a big exertion like that. I'm bouncing back more quickly now, but a few months ago a big day like that would put me flat on my back for a week.

Glad you got to get out and see the family, though!

well today i decided to just do whatever I wanted and not think about it.

I went to the bookstore, went shopping for over an hour plus drove half hour in each direction...ooh and got the truck washed (thanks to 17" of snow in october in NJ)

I don't even feel that bad. I'm posting about a book

I've not been able to tolerate alot of noise from the beginning. I can only deal with one noise source at a time and forget about a room full of people...I know I will definately be having a pressure headache sometime in the near future. Or start snapping at people.

I actually printed out something that Mark said and gave it to family and friends. Now they know if I need to walk out of a room, it's not something someone said..just me trying to ground myself.

Amazing what I don't realize the symptoms I exhibit until I read it here that someone else has this symptom and I think....um yeah that's me too. And here I thought I was doing so well!

WTRPK..what kind/brand of earplugs do you use? I definately need to get some and would really appreciate some advice.

I've still got a headache and worse symptoms from a noisy meeting held in a pub yesterday afternoon. I know it'll take a couple more days of making sure I don't get too much multiple noise stimulation to recover.

It's very hard to avoid noisy environments.

I have to say no to lots of social events so that I don't expose myself to this without getting time to rest and recover in between. It helps to be really open with people about your symptoms, even if it does feel to you like you're 'moaning' about your poor head. And take lots of breaks by going outside, or a quiet room.

And I do yoga, even just 10 mins of lying with an eye bag on and focusing on my breathing, which helps so much.

earplugs are by etymotic -- about $20