Im worried
 

I was involved in a slip and fall where I suffered a depressed skull fracture on the top/side of my head. The Dr said it wasn't worth the risk to operate when I was in the ICU. This was in Oct 2013. I work as an auto technician and have found that sometimes when I look up a certain way I get so dizzy that I must grab something to hold before I fall. I get headaches from the air tools which are loud (rarely happened before accident) I am worried that there may be long term affects that will prevent me from functioning normally.

Wow! Sorry to hear about that!

To put things in perspective, I too hit my head in October of 2013. My injury was not nearly as serious as yours, and yet I am still having problems on occasion. I get tired very easily, even doing simple things like cooking and putting away laundry, and I cannot work out as much as I like to because it causes headaches when I get carried away.

I say all of that to say this: if I'm still experiencing problems at two months out, and my injury wasn't as bad as yours, then what you are describing may very well be normal for someone two months out of an injury like yours.

Can you focus on finding work-arounds for your symptom triggers? That angle that causes the dizziness... is it necessary? For the loud noises, have you tried ear plugs?

I hope you see improvement on these symptoms soon.

RyGuy,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

First thing, you need to start wearing ear plugs. They will cut down the high end of noises. I like the cheap yellow foam cylinders. Air tools can be a problem for anybody's ears. Also, get your upper neck checked out buy a specialist in upper neck injuries. You may be exacerbating an upper neck injury when you look up causing the stumbling.

It might help if you slow down your movements, especially when you need to look up. If you work as if your neck is injured and you need to move it slowly, the slower movements might just solve your problem.

You are still early in your recovery from such a trauma to your brain, skull and neck. Take it slow.

Let us know how you are doing and anything we can do to help.

My best to you.

Hi and welcome to NT.

My TBI was in November 2010 and also included a skull fracture; mine did require surgery. I still have occasional vertigo but I have gotten better at recognizing activities that set it off and making adjustments.

Your injury was relatively recent at TBIs go; your vertigo symptoms may improve, or you will develop ways to work around it.

A big thanks to you all. Finding this site and seeing your helpful replies takes a little weight off the shoulders. I will keep all these ideas in mind and try each one to see what helps. Thanks again and may you all be well. Ryguy.