Your expert opinio/advice required
 

HI all!

5 weeks today I fell from my mountain bike, fell on my head/face and was unconscious for 10mins till ambulance arrived, Then was in/out of consciousness till hopsital where I was given a CT scan and all Normal.

The past few weeks I have been feeling "dreamy" like living a really realistice dream, not feeling myself at all, I went back to work at start of week 3, but lasted 2 days before breaking down and going home, the following week i made it a full week, but a day looking after my two kids (4 months and 4year) I went shopping with the family and had a break down again... so I continued to wake up not feeling myself, back into the dream...

Now I seem to be able to function normally or so it seems, but when doing things, it doesn; feel like it's how I would carry it out, like i'm on some sort of auto-pilot, and seem ok to others, but it doesn't feel real to me.

I don;t have the headaches, dizzyness, nausea or any other physical sysmptoms, but feel low and get frustrated easily, with some anger....

Just wanna be me again, for the sake of my wife and kids...

Help me. Any advice appreciated

Love and peace,

Dom x

goodness!
 

Oh my, you were unconscious for 10 minutes?

I understand your "dreamY" feeling. When my dizziness might be coming back or my symptorms flare up, I feel like I am in kind of a dream world too -- I don't know how to describe it, but it's akin to light headedness.

I really hope you get checked out by an MD.

Did you have a CT scan? Not that they show anything for PCS, but it would show if there were bleeding ((I think))

It sounds to me like you have PCS --

Check out the vitamnins etc stickie thread at the top. That is one proactive thing you can do to help yourself and then get rid of the stress in your life which means no screens, TV, reading, etc.

I will let others weigh in here.

Good luck

PM

The Vitamin link offers very good information for Brain Health supplementation.

Brainlink.org offers very good information about Concussions and information for you , family and professionals.

There are many things about Concussions, PCS, and mTBI that are possible.

There are many things still being researched.

We have all had some sort of injury, varied degrees of injury and recovery and relapses, happy changes and sad changes.

We are sounding boards for each other, we vent to each other.

We'll listen or we'll sound off.

Let us know what you are doing, how you are feeling, some of our older posters pop in and proffer much advice, some others give their experiences with the newer things out there.

Are you seeing a Neurologist, a Physiatrist, self care, trying things on your own; what rest are you getting; receiving therapy?

10 minutes is a long time being unconscious - did you spent overnight in hospital - with that 'dreamy' state of mind, they let you go home? no observaton?

Was your neck evaluated? Have you any neck complaints?

No one can time a recovery period, I hope you understand that - each head injury is its own injury - everyone of them is different, singular to that person.


Best Wishes......... :grouphug:

Thanks for your replies...

I'm only going by what I was told... Don't remember a thing, and slept pretty much the first week...

I even made it through a kids birthday party today... Screaming kids and music and conversations left right and centre, was tired after it though...

I'm sorry for looking for a timeline... Docs originally said 2-6 weeks! I had a promising career and need to get back to work again and be here fully for my kids...

So I have none of the physical symptoms, possibly tinnitus... But having a few of emotional symptoms but these are getting better, but was in bed at 7:30 pm on a Saturday night lol...

Just been trying to rest as much as poss, sleep as much as poss, hard with a teething 4 month old... Napping on sofa etc... I'm having moments when I feel my old self but then it fades into my other reality...

Just want to be my old self again, realise now I had the perfect life... I was capable, and would throw my hand at anything and was very practical, feel useless... Even ironing a shirt, it doesn't feel like I'm doing it the way I would do it...

Is it still just concussion... Is it my mind playing tricks do I need to put it straight? I'm really trying to keep a positive mental attitude, especially when I see glimpses of me ;-)

As the mother of three boys, I can attest to the difficulty of trying to parse out normal stresses of young children, the aftermath of mtbi/pcs, and the endless doubts from the tracking of triggers to avoid relapses common with pcs.

Your dream state sounds like the brain fog or mechanical motions that we go through with pcs. We often feel adynamic and passive, even though we are doing things, we do it at a default or unconscious state of motion.

You sound like you are trying to return to "normal" (work, home, health), but the slogan "it's a marathon not a sprint" from experienced forum posters should provide advice on going slow and resting often.

Your brain suffered trauma-even if the MRI, CT scans are clear. Each person's response will be a unique journey onto itself of juggling the demands of others and self-care.

The vitamin list, L-tryptophan, walking, ear plugs (even with children around), sun glasses, much rest, no multi-tasking, daily notes/schedules, prism glasses and small daily challenges have helped.

You will need to find professional and personal support to help you through this time. I think I would be back to work in 3 months-and now at 10 months my long term disability was just approved.

This forum has been so instrumental in my keeping hope and finding great advice. Be well!

Seeing a knowledgeable specialist is a good idea.

Rest (physical and mental) is a key component of recovery. This includes not only good-quality sleep, but also quality relaxation and stress-free time during the day. Your brain wants to recover; rest and low stress will give it a chance to do so.

Many people also find good nutrition and/or appropriate supplements (for example, vitamins, fish oil, curcumin) to be helpful.

Dom,

Its ok.

You are experiencing alot of what happens with concussions and PCS/mTBI.

Really read that Brainline link, it offers quite alot of information.

Try to check thru the threads, there are others with more information about Executive Disconnection Syndrome, etc. which may also be some of what you may be experiencing.

You sound to have a good team of folks working with you - Neurologist, Physiatrist, PT, OT, Speech Pathology, NeuroPsych.... keep them involved and actively working with you as you can.

<< Yes it is a Concussion, and PCS - it is thought that the Brain's Plasticity allows for a process of reworking pathways, remodeling (if you will ) the injured axons to reroute the signals of what is to be a new response pathways, it will take time, time , time - flashes might be part of that, won't be consistent, will be different, can be confusing - who knows........no one really.....its one of the reasons you will hear everyone saying: REST, free of stimuli, REST.

You cannot rush the process, thus berkeleybrain's slogan note " its a marathon, not a sprint" .

Best Wishes............ :grouphug:

Dom,

Actually, the research shows that there is no direct connection between length of LOC (Loss of Consciousness) and severity of the injury. Ten minutes does sound like a long time but the medics were able to arouse you when they arrived. I would not worry about those 10 minutes.

You are still early in your recovery. Being anxious about your mental senses is not productive. Try to find some very simple stimuli to keep your brain active. I suggest activities that are limited by manual functions. The hands have a limit to how fast they can function. This speed is very appropriate for an injured brain.

Playing card games (Solitaire) or other games with more manual effort than mental effort will be good. Crafts can be helpful. Learning to knit or sew can be beneficial. The objective is to do things that are not impacted by this mental fog.

Watch the "You Look Great" You Tube video series listed at the bottom of the Vitamins sticky. It will help you and your family understand your condition. Take life slow. Don't try to push through the fog. Instead, find activities to be busy with even though you are in a fog. Try to find activities that change often so you do not feel stuck on autopilot.

And, please feel free to share anything with us. There are lots of great people here.

My best to you.

Hello DomRidd
 

Hello and Welcome to Neuro Talk. You found the best site for information and to help you through the TBI injury. I am sorry that happened to you. Many folks here have this injury. All varry with symptoms, duration, and therapies. I hope alot of folks will chime in and try to help. I have read alot of posts about this, but do not suffer from this myself. I want to greet you, and say a warm hello, and to tell you there is always hope for a full recovery. There will be alot of ideas to help you through this. The dreamy like state has been mentioned many times as a result of the TBI. Welcome to this site, and feel at home. Since it is a holiday weekend, there may be a little delay with alot of people responding to you. I hope you get well soon, so that you can continue to be feeling normal for your family. ginnie:hug::grouphug:

Dom,

From my own experience in the UK, doctors have little sympathy or understanding of the consequences of a head injury. Have a look at the Headway site which have local support groups. Also have a look for the UKabif they have quite a lot of information.

Open spaces, crowds, bright lights, kids, tiredness, emotions are quite common things we all find difficult. We also find that symptoms come and go as we are on the road to recovery.

It truly is a rollercoaster - so hold on tight :winky:

Thank you, good to hear from someone from UK, and thank you to everyone that is showing support and giving great advice...

It's a weird one... I sit here as me, I can see it's me, I'm typing(probably not as precisely as i once would - keep hitting caps lock instead of a) but I feel odd, like it's not real like all I've done today is one big dream,

I got up and got my 4 year old ready(luckily my wife had dropped my 4 month old earlier to her parents) took her to nursery, we chatted and stuff while we drove, all normal things, i then went to tescos, but stopped in to see my brother on way, his wife and kids were just leaving for school, so snuck up and surprised them all, went in to see my brother chatted and then got on, drove to tescos, parked up and did a £56 shop, went home, put shopping away, made wife some lunc who collected on horse back(she works with horses) tidied up house, fixed dishwasher and loaded, had a good hours sleep on the sofa at lunch and then got up to tidy more...taking it steady an slow...

but now it feels like was that all reality? Did i really do that? And if I did, why doesn;t it feel like I did... Am I really doing it, why if I can do all these things, then why don't I feel like myself... It's so strange I can text and chat to friends on facebook and come across perfectly fine, I can go to kids parties and be totally fine.. so How am I doing this and not feeling myself... thats the big head twister...

On good news i got some Omega3 and multivitamins as suggested, and I woke up from lunch nap, like it was all a big dream... soon realised the dream wasn't over...

This is the strangest thing I've ever encountered, but also feel that I'm gonna be like this a while longer, so accepting this and getting on with what i can...

Also went to the crash site, no flashbacks or memories at all...

Thanks for listening all

I get it --or did
 

Yes, that odd reality feeling, like doing activities, yet I am kind of watching myself do them -- I had that too before when I tried to be at work with this post concussion thing.

Then I had happy dizziness and laughed a lot -- even if things weren't funny.

Anyhow what you described with all the activities you did -- maybe that brain fog or whatever, but I have felt it too.

I hope you can get some time off work to really heal though.

pm

Hi Dom
Really feel for you, I have had the same experience also.
It does get better though, I am 10 1/2 months in now and if some one told me back then how long it was gonna take I would not of thought it possible.

I am also in the uk and my own doctor was clueless, luckily I saw a second doctor who is really understanding and patient and she diagnosed me 3 mounths later.
I had no scans but did pay privately for a neurologist appt. he said I was suffering from post trauma migrain with aura..

I suffered no headaches at all until 3 months in but fortunately they are now far and few between.

Reading your post; the bit where you got your 4 year old ready then drove to school, did some shopping etc, well hold up there !!!! even I would struggle with that right now, and I am nearly 90% sympton free.
I think maybe you are trying to do too much still, and carry on as if normal, well things are not quite normal yet but they will be if you just try and slow down a bit. Do you have friends and family that can help ?
I imangine with young children it must be very difficult for you to get lots of rest but I found things like yoga, reflexology really helpful, I did not like taking medication but found a change in diet also helped, no caffine, sugar etc, check out the vitamins thread above .

I wish you well, and hope things improve for you.

Cx

I have to do what I can... My wife works and too much for her to look after two kids and work... Luckily we have both sets of parents helping out as much as they can...

Tell me, does this feeling actually go or do you just get used to it/adapt?

I find concept of time hard to grasp, lose track of it easy and never feels like time it actually is...

Also C(sorry you didn't put full name)

Can I ask what she are you, how long where you out for? Did you get any glimpses of normalness, if so, when did they start?

One of the things that I fell foul of was trying to live "a normal life" much like I did before and try and push through it. All it was doing was draining precious brain reserves that are needed for recovery. Whilst we feel like we are doing fine - we are not performing at the level we think we are.

We have all experienced people pulling out in front of us when we drive down the road. And you sit there in shock or fuming thinking why did they do that, after a few near misses I realised that I was that person and that whilst I though I was fine, I was a clearly a danger to myself and others and stopped driving. Similarly when you see someone slow being slow or struggling when out in public it is a difficult thing to think - am I that person?

It took me many months to change my lifestyle to a low enough level that I can still do things and get the rest needed to recover.

Trying not to be a superhero and struggling on was one of the hardest bits to deal with.

All the best

Well I'm having an MRI scan later today... Is this gonna tell me anything...

Find symptoms worse in morning...

Have had glimpses of myself again... Had moments of just feeling right, but it goes, and I'm still very irratable, and slightest stress gets me wound up...

Sometimes MRI's can show up the damage. However, apparently a lot of the scanners we use in the UK don't have the intensity to show up the fine detail required.

Irritability, to the point that argument came become very intense are quite common. Strangely coupled with this often comes lack of emotion or detachment.

I found setting a routine helped a lot especially to give you time to settle in the morning.

Let us know how you get on with the MRI and results.

Hi

just to answer some of your questions.

yes its normal to get irritated easily, I found little things would anoy me, they still do but I now find i can deal with it better since taking up yoga.

The feeling does get better with time, to some degree, you do adjust to the new you, and you start to know what triggers certain symptons.
For me I had to avoid emotional stress, that included happy and sad emotions, just could not handle letting go of emotions, really weird, but am better with it now.

Could not talk on phone to people as they would stress me out just chatting about nothing, or so it seamed to me....

I hit my head in June last year, a beam fell on me whilst we dismantled our old garage, I did not pass out but I felt a wave of ripples go through my head and down my body.
I was fine for 2 weeks, then wham, all these weird things went on in my head and I kept having paninc attacks, went to Dr. and finally I was told it was PCS.

the first 3 months were the worst, and I suffered deresssion/anxiety and had therapy for this.
By 6 months there was a slight improvement in my symptons and by the new year things were improving weekly. I put this down to complete rest and the star of my yoga.
To date I am almost there ,but if I over do things they come back, but not as bad.

I also suffered from noise and light sensitivity, I still do a bit now, but i wear sunglasses and use earplugs. I also had eye test and have colour tinted glasses for computer work and reading, they really help a lot.

I did have a sence of normalness that came and went, at round 3-4 months in, I found it would come for a while then go, but over time I started to find that it stayed longer and longer and soon it was a case of feeling normal with the occasional weirdness hanging around.

I am female and just turned 60 years young, I was so full of energy before this but am slowly getting back to my self.

I know you can get through this, you are much younger and I think if you have a possitve attitude to life this will help.
there is a link on you-tube called ...you look great...its about an hour long, but in 5mins. sections .... take a look at it and also get your family and suporters to look as well, it will give you invaluble info on PCS/TBI

Good luck to you let us know how you get on, I'm not sure the mri will tell you much, but at least it will rule out things...


Do take care and remember rest rest rest is the only way,


Carole xx

Thank you Carole x

I finding it hard today, after not having a bad day yeaterday where I felt alot more myself... Even comtinplated going into work Friday if I take things easy... Gonna have a strict rest day, no taking kids to nursery, no tv/computer/iPhone...

Went and had an MRI scan today at Salisbury, nearly fell asleep in it trying to keep really still so the images were as clear as poss, prefer they found something to explain this craziness...

Nothing feels real sometimes, like sitting in hospital and having an MRI was happening to someone else and it was reality... Felt really odd... Keeping PMA and feel I will be at this stage for a while and I have to look on bright side...

So it's a tough call between do you get back to feeling yourself or your brain accepts the new you as an you.

Ticket machine at hospital nearly got it... Wanted £2.50... Put in £1.50 and it wouldn't accept my last pound coin, with a queue of people... Grrr nearly flipped! Haha... Gotta laugh. Luckily man had a pound swap.

Greetings...

I hope you are all well, or as well as you can be.

Just to say I'm 1.5years after my accident and I'm feeling loads better! I am controlling my behavioral and emotional effects better or they are subsiding along with the feeling of dreaming. I still get the "how did i get to this point feeling" but generally feel totally myself and here as normal.

I also saw a counsellor that helped me my anger/emotions and made me realise it wasn;t my fault and to move forward.

Whether this is just getting used to it and taking it as norm or getting back to my old self, i'll never know, but laughing more, happier with my new self and very grateful that i'm still here to enjoy my life to the fullest I can.

It took it's toll on my relationship with my wife and my poor kids have been through an emotional rollercoaster, but they are getting over it and happy having their daddy back and my wife her husband back...

I still get shivers when i hear "head injury" knowing what I went through and feel for people like Michael Schumacher and Jules Bianchi that will never live a life like they had before.

So thank you God, and thank you to this forum for doing it's part of being here when I needed it!

It takes time people, the brains a very complex thing, rest hard and do what you can in you're own time... I'm back doing everything and luckily have my career and life intact.

Take care people :)

Dom