43 years post TBI~lasting ramifications?
 

I have recently been put under the care of a neurologist at the request of my physician. We have exhausted every reason for me to be suffering from "near syncope", which is a fancy way of saying that I almost pass out or actually zone out at inopportune moments, such as driving.

I have had 2 major concussions: :eek:

1. I was dropped on my head at around 2 years old. According to my mom, I sounded like Donald Duck and was disoriented. I was taken to the chiropractor and nothing else was done.

2. I smacked the base of my skull into a breakfast bar at 18 years old. I wasn't taken into the ER or the doctor's office. I saw stars and felt pain in the front of my head in addition to the obvious pain in the back of my head.

I have many different problems that I never attributed to these traumas:

1. Light sensitivity
2. Sound sensitivity
3. Near syncope
4. Dyslexia when tired
5. Lack of coordination
6. Balance problems when tired
7. Orientation problems when I am tired (also presented when I was pregnant all the time)
8. Easily disoriented and nauseated on carnival rides or winding roads (if I am not driving).
9. Depth perception when it is dark

This covers the major issues.

I would love any feedback, comments, and support. This is a scary journey. I am banned from driving and have been told that I either have epilepsy or a brain tumor. :eek:

Kanna,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to here you are struggling.

Your near syncope sounds like the petit mal seizures I had in high school. I would lose awareness of my environment for a few seconds. I was put on phenytoin (Dilantin) and switched to phenobarbital after my gums swelled up. I went off the meds after 2 years and was fine.

I had an EEG but it was inconclusive.

How often do these events happen ?

How long have you been experiencing these other symptoms ?

You say 43 years post TBI. Does than mean you are 45 or 61 ?

Age can cause symptoms to start to manifest.

You may benefit from a comprehensive hormone assessment. You'd be surprised what poorly cycling hormones can do to cause strange symptoms. If you are in the US, https://www.womensinternational.com/..._referral.html can be a good resource to find a women's hormone specialist.

The carnival rides and winding roads issues is something I understand well. A recent thread listed some research about C-1 and C-2 instabilities being contributors to dizziness. Many of us have subtle upper neck injuries, often undiagnosed for many years.

Please feel free to tell us anything. We have heard it all. We are here to support you in your struggles.

My best to you.

Age clarification - I am almost 45 (the 29th).
Symptom clarification - I have been having "zone outs" as long as I can remember. My mom states that she has also noticed my eyes spasm on occasion. I don't even notice the eye thing and she says that I have done it since I was 2. The episodes of the "zone outs" varies each day I can have none or I can have 30-40. My symptoms vary due to levels of fatigue and stress, mainly.

When you snap back in, are you aware that you've zoned out? Do you feel disoriented?

After my TBI I started to suffer absence seizures. I, as you say, would zone out. When I regained awareness of my surroundings, I'd be really flustered because it was like, for example, people seemed to have just appeared or disappeared out of thin air. The seizures never lasted long, and usually I was unaware.

I say usually unaware because, occasionally, I had a type of seizure where I knew what was going on around me, but I couldn't speak or move.

At first I thought I was going mad. I posted the symptoms here and Mark from Idaho suggested absence seizures. I mentioned it to my doctor, and sure enough, that's what was happening.

Tegretol (carbamazepine) has proved effective in controlling my seizures and I am allowed to drive, again! I live in the boonies, so although I'm restricted to short trips, in familiar areas, getting my license back was huge.

With the frequency you have them on your bad days, I would be bet that a good EEG protocol, possibly sleep deprived, would show what is going on. Hopefully, the neuro will get some good diagnostics ordered.

Yes, definitely. Given the frequency of your seizures, I can't imagine how you're managing. I hope you get a diagnosis and a treatment plan that helps get things under control.

The seizures, for me are usually a fraction of a second. I have learned some great coping skills. I am great at catching back up in conversations. When I was younger, I didn't talk much unless it was people who knew me.

Most of my seizures go unnoticed by me and those who don't know me very well. It is the longer ones that are noticeable unless you know what to look for.
Most tired days, I just didn't go much of anywhere and didn't go far. They also didn't happen when I was driving. My licence has not been taken away from me because I caught it before it became an issue. What brought to light my problems was starting school after having my life fall apart. The program I am in is high stress and the head of the department had me taking an insane workload. I was taking the 3 hardest classes all at the same time. I talked to other professors and they were amazed that I was getting the grades that I was getting because it would have been impossible for most students.

I'm confused. If they last for less than a second, how much can be missed ? I wonder if you are instead having momentary lapses of memory where you are not having an absence seizure but rather, losing track of what was happening from a memory perspective. I have memory struggles and can easily not know what just happened.

What do other people observe when these events happen ?

If you memory is not storing information properly (as is my problem), it can appear to be a loss of awareness.

I do very little driving due to this. I can easily lose track of vehicles around me. If I am driving a vehicle with lots of feedback, it helps to keep my attention to the task. As I have said to some, I can forget I am driving.

The fact you can succeed in school is a tribute to your abilities and determination.

It is amazing how much can be missed. Especially, if I am having a series of them. I do have longer ones where I can miss quite a bit of what is being said. I think that my mind is just doing a normal wandering thing but I miss everything and if I am thinking of anything, my mind goes there, while my body is still in the middle of the conversation (or car).

As for the diagnostics, I have had an initial assessment by my neurologist. I have one diagnosis of ADD. I have also had a sleep deprivation test, which I will get the results of on Friday. A week from Monday, the 28th, I am having an MRI.

My family has always thought that I was flaky but they are now realizing that I am quite intelligent and my issues have been holding me back. It wasn't understood when I was going to school to be both gifted and special ed. They didn't know what to do with me so it was remedial classes for me. I was beyond bored.

You can also have a mind that is easily distracted. It is similar to ADD but not the same. The injured brain can struggle to filter out background issues/stimulation. This can cause the mind to quickly get off on a tangent. One word in a conversation can redirect the mind or a visual stimuli can do the same. One can be in the middle of a conversation and see something across the room and start focusing on that and lose track of the conversation.

My neuro said it was different from ADD in how the brain processes thought.

Your description sure sounds like what I experience.

Was the sleep deprivation test an EEG with a sleep cycle that you had to stay awake all the night before ? Or is it in a sleep lab for a sleeping disorder ?