Questions about my first head injury
 

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. I just discovered this forum while searching for other peoples PCS stories to see if I can relate. Prior to my injury I did not know the symptoms of PCS and after being released from the hospital, I was still not educated on the symptoms and the healing process! I am a 25yrs old female and this is my first head injury. I know this is long, I apologize!

On July 17, 2013, I was in a bad motor vehicle accident. I was stopped on the highway waiting at the red light with 2 vehicles in front of me. I was rear-ended from behind and from seeing the pictures of my car, I'm assuming the driver was still driving at a high speed on the highway because the trunk and back seat was compressed! From this accident I lost 2 teeth, shattered upper jaw bone (I need a bone graph done), dislocated pinky toe, hairline fracture to my lower spine, multiple scrapes on my legs and right hip, bruised right wrist, fracture on my right cheek and nose, LOTS of cuts on my face and 2 black eyes. I was unconscious and woke up in the ambulance. I had no memory of getting out of bed and leaving the house so I was very confused. At the hospital I slowly regained my memory of where the accident happened. I was in the hospital for 2 days.. I got an MRI and CT scan that came out negative.

The first week after my accident I experienced waves of nausea, I took a lot of naps and would go to bed early, I got dizzy spells and my emotions were like a roller coaster. I would either wake up happy or sad and by evening it would be opposite. I couldn't watch tv or go on the computer because it would make me dizzy. At the time I never knew these were symptoms of PCS because I was never educated on this! I didn't know what was wrong with me so I cried a lot.

It's been 5 months since my accident and a lot of websites say symptoms will clear after 3 months but I don't think my symptoms are gone. Is this normal if this is my first concussion? I still have headaches (like right now) and other times it would come with a really sharp pain where I would have to stop what I'm doing and close my eyes. It would last for about a minute and then it would go away. My short term memory is bad.. I can't remember parts of conversations that I've had with people. I can't remember little things and people get mad at me for that :( . I did poorly on an exam I just did 2 weeks ago! But my main concern right now is how irritable I am. I don't mean to get angry with my family, boyfriend and friends but after 1 month of my accident, I can get so irritated that I snap/yell/get angry. Things that didn't bug me before make me so angry now and if things slightly bugged me prior to my accident, I now get very angry over it :( . I feel bad because my family and loved ones cared for me after my accident.. I want it to stop.. I want to stop getting so angry. I may be missing a few things but these are the main symptoms right now.

I guess my main question is it normal to still experience symptoms after 5 months if it's my first head injury? Will the irritability get better with time? How long has everyone been dealing with PCS?

welcome
 

Hello 13

So sorry to hear of your accident and struggles. NeuroTalk is a good place and this forum is amazing. There is lots of good advice here.

No 2 head injuries are alike and frankly, the dox really don't know that much about how the brain heals. For 5 months post accident, you sound like you're doing really well.

Your irritibility and memory issues sound like similiar things others go through. These things do subside with time, and PCS will teach you patience like nothing else will. Brain healing just plain takes time.

Check out the vitamins thread to see what you can do to help yourself that way.

Your caregivers may need support too and I know on facebook there are some groups for caregives of PCS.

Be gentle and patient with yourself. You have survived a huge accident. The brain slowly heals and you are still in early days of recovery.

Take care

pm

13o0,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear of your injuries. Poetry has given you good information. Emotional lability (fluctuation and over-expression) is very common to PCS. As Poetry said, PCS will teach you patience. It will help greatly if you can educate your family and friends to this condition. They need to know that your outbursts are neither your or their fault. It is the injury. They can help you by watching for signs that you are about to explode. They can stop and try to help you cope.

The Vitamins sticky at the top has some good links at the bottom. Also, you should check out www.tbilaw.com and www.subtlebraininjury.com Attorney Gordon Johnson has lots of good information for injured parties.

You have a serious head injury. It does not matter that it is your first. This recovery will be a struggle but you will come out the other side with new and valuable life skills.

Check with your state Brain Injury Association for Brain injury Support Groups in your area. They are very helpful. Caregiver groups are also important. Tell us your location and we can try to find a group for you.

btw, That crumpled car saved your life. Cars are designed to crumple like that to absorb as much of the impact force as possible.

You will likely need to learn new ways to learn information. Memorizing and processing information, especially for an exam and the stresses an exam can cause will be a challenge. If you are in school, ask for help from the Disabilities Department. You may need someone to take notes or record lectures.

Rest assured that maxillofacial surgeons can do wonderful things. My wife and daughter have both had complex maxillofacial surgery with bone grafts, etc. Their results have been amazing.

Have your friends and family try to watch the "You Look Great" You Tube video series by John Byler. It is about an hour to watch all 6 segments. The link is in the Vitamins sticky first post.

Please feel free and invited to lean on us. There are decades of experience here.

My best to you.

Hello 13oO. Focusing on your main question, I can share my experience and perhaps it will help. My brain injury was 37 years ago. I had severe anger issues nearly that entire time, but had no idea it was related to the injury (physical health problems caused by the accident far eclipsed any psych problems).

I only figured out the anger was related to the injury after committing a misdemeanor threat to someone. The injury had damaged the precise area of the brain responsible for self-control over primitive emotions such as anger, violence, and worse.

The good news is that now that I know the cause (the injury, not me) I can control it, actually fairly easily. It took about two years to develop anger management techniques for myself, but the end result is that I can easily diffuse these sessions when they come up. I credit my martial arts training, and a renewed faith in my spiritualism (I am a Christian). How's that for a combo?

Best of luck with your situation.

Thank you everyone for your response! I'm glad to have found a place where I can relate my problems with others.


poetrymom - Thank you, yes I am surprised I am doing pretty well for the accident that I went through! I will definitely check out the vitamins page


Mark in Idaho - I will definitely educate my family and friends about my condition. I hope they can stop me from exploding.

I googled support groups in my area and my city does have brain injury support groups! I live in Manitoba (Canada).

I did get help from my schools disabilites department for my exam. They gave me an extra 30 minutes to do the exam but I still did poorly. My memory doesn't feel like how it used to be.

I will check out that video too! Thank you for your response.


Kenjhee - Thank you for your response! Sorry to hear about your anger issues but I am glad you can control it. Would you say your anger from your brain injury lasted for about 2 years?



Has anyone been dealing with PCS after a year? If so, what are your symptoms?

It is problematic to try to compare the concussion symptoms of different people. Every concussion is different. The progression and regression of symptoms often gives most experience with a wide range of symptoms, just not in the same way.

You need to learn new study habits. Your old memorizing system will not work. It helps to use two or more senses to memorize. Read the information (visual), say it out loud (auditory) and write it down (tactile). This should help you memorize information. It creates three different memory indexes of the same information. It should help.

Also, you may find that certain times of day are better. It may help to be in a quiet and visually bland room. Get some ear plugs. The yellow foam cylinders are my favorite. Blocking out ambient sounds will help your brain focus.

I lost my photographic memory and had to learn new ways to retain information. It takes extra effort but you can do it.

Let us know how else we can help.

My best to you.

No, the anger issues have lasted 37 years, with the last 2 being more in control.