[Theta Z]

Hello and much appreciation to all in the TBI and Post-concussion syndrome forum who have posted here. This really seems like a true 'community site' where Members do show up often and with great answers and genuinely helpful info, links, etc. Thanks for all that you do here! I hope to be of help also.

As a newbie to these kinds of forums & chats, I am slow to catch on to just where I should post my introduction and how all of this works. So, here I am.

Like so many, I was 'just fine' until 2008 high-speed, high-impact, rear-ended auto collision; totalled my car, spun us 360 degree and then another 180 degrees. Thanks be to God that we are as well as we are.

With a 'trauma-ed brain', I was supposed to just take the ER's very few words and trust I'd soon be okay again, right? They handed me at discharge a 4-page blue xerox copy of (I was unable to see/read it at the time) "Concussion" and "Post-Concussion Syndrome".

I thought, "Hmm. Interesting. No one in ER *said* either of those two words to me." No verbal directions for self-care. Clear CT scan.

Lots of posts on here about *vision*. Oh my, yes. I am still dealing with that.

I finally got 'better enough' to be able to get-it-together / research enough finally get an appt. to see next month (a 7 hr drive away) an actual neuro-ophthalmologist/opthologist (sp?). In this entire state it seems that there are only a 2-3 and I live in the "land of none". So I am counting my blessings, yes.

That's likely enough about me for now. I look forward to interacting with you on here and to sharing helpful info and guidance. Sincerely, Theta Z.

[mhr4]

Theta Z

Welcome and I'm sorry that life has led you to this site. Have you looked into other areas of rehabilitation? One that might be of interest to you is vision therapy. Another is LENS neurofeedback or Z score neurofeedback. When you have a chance, I would encourage you to google these (or have a friend or loved one google them for you).

Good Luck.

[Mark in Idaho]

Theta Z,

Welcome to NT.

I'm from Alabama, although I haven't been back since Feb 1955. I was born the month prior in Mobile. I tell people I did not like the humidity so we left when I was six weeks old. Actually, my dad got transferred to Vermont. So, my earliest memory is falling on my face in the snow the following winter. That is a memory that will wake you up.

What kind of symptoms are you still struggling with?

Have you had any upper cervical chiropractic work done? NUCCA.org has a referral feature. Others swear by this. The Doctors TV show did a segment on Nov 25th.

Are you having any cognitive/memory problems?

How about noise and bright lights?

Hope your trip to the neuro-ophthalmologist (spelled correctly, thanks to spell checker) goes well.

[Rrae]

It's great to have you !
Sorry to hear of your accident tho...... You are very strong-willed and this is
inspiring.....

You'll find many caring folks everywhere here at NT!

Rae

[Theta Z]

Thank you each and all for your genuinely warm welcome here.
Truly appreciated, more than I can say. I have been terribly isolated and socially disconnected since injury.

Funny --- (not really) --- how it is that people you've known for 5 years or so suddenly go "unavailable" when you need people the most. I really did not turn into some horrible monster of mood-swings post-injury. I just really was alone and needed genuine physical help re: transportation/doctor appts. and a "good mind" to help me organize (ha!), pack, move/ relocate across-the-Bay.

Rrae: And where 'smack dab middle USA' are ya located, may I ask? And thank you for your acknowledgement that I seem strong-willed! Thank you, thank you! Yes! That's the "me" that I have known! Thank you for acknowledging that is still with me! Bless you!


mhr4: I have not yet been able to obtain sources/providers of neurofeedback in my local geographic location. (Not a very progressive area, sad to say.) I do know the value and benefits that neurofeedback can offer to our condition(s) / improvement. Thank you for your helpful suggestion and reminder of same! I'll keep trying.

Mark in Idaho: What kind of symptoms are you still struggling with?

Have you had any upper cervical chiropractic work done? NUCCA.org has a referral feature. Others swear by this. The Doctors TV show did a segment on Nov 25th.

Are you having any cognitive/memory problems?

How about noise and bright lights?



Symptoms I'm still struggling with are:

1. Vision, as I mentioned; specifically, double-vision (diplopia); blurried-vision, visual acuity changes that 'change' seemingly minute by minute; and most disconcerting is exotropia (turning out of my right eye to the right), not all the time, but especially under stress, when I'm tired or over-extended or my brain is overloaded and on "TILT", as the great old pinball machines used to say! (It's amazing how many medical providers have no clue as to what that means when I say that.

Also, I have what seem to me to be needle-like "shooting pains" in my eye.

2. I also still have cognitive dysfunction, especially re: cognitive executive function. While I can *now* recently focus/ concentrate on my computer, research on the internet, etc. --- I still cannot "organize my way out of a paper bag", truth be told! (Seriously, I have mail, business/financial paperwork that I have simply been incapable of dealing with whatsoever for over 15 months now! It's embarassing.

3. I lack the capabilities of planning, logisitics, sorting, sequencing. Mail, paperwork, filing, planning, financial planning & management are the bane of my existance! I simply am unable to "keep up" and just "do it".

Of course, it doesn't help that at this age, I am now 10 years a "midlife orphan" sans surviving parent(s), any family whatsoever, no significant other, no children, and far too long distance from lifelong friends to assist.

4. I have been able to READ again in recent months ---yay.
I do however experience great difficulty in "following the lines" of text from one on the next. (Same problem trying to read the lines on my bank statement.)

I also do not *remember* the text which I have just read, thus have to "go back" constantly and re-read text until I "get" what I already read. "Retention" is also --- well, nill.

5. Memory remains a great problem, e.g. I can recall in great detail something from 50 years ago, yet I cannot possibly tell you what I did yesterday nor what is "on my calendar" for this week.

6. I also still have great difficulty and super-stress with driving.
(Seems likely PTSD-?)

While I am better now than I was, for over a year, I still have great anxiety, panic, fear, terror with driving --- and especially at night now. (The auto collision happened after-dark, and my vision seems ultra-blurred / double-visioned at night, with the lights, etc.)

On the *positive report*, I am pleased & ever so grateful to be able to say that it is only in very recent weeks that I have again begun to feel at all like 'my self' again. Alleluia!
[ Wow. I had felt "zeroed out" in terms of feeling at all like my self, the me whom I 'knew' to be me. It was terrifying to me.]

7. I noted with great interest, Mark, all of your posts/info re: upper cervical/NUCCA treatment. Unfortunately, alack, alas (!) the NUCCA site offers no such providers in all of AL or even nearby Pensacola. {{{{{ S-I-G-H }}}}} Let's face it: I am simply in all-of-this "An Outlander". ;-}

7. Re: noise and bright lights: Yes! I am still super-sensitive to both! I cannot 'cope with' either! I dread beyond belief the weekly trek thru Wal-Mart for Mr. T., my "elder care Light" charge! I 'braved' going to a matinee movie theatre last week at invitation, and had to go out to the lobby to request that they turn the sound *way down* for not only my own traumatized self, but also my friend's 93 yr old mother, who screamed aloud: "Turn it down!" ;-} Gotta love her! What a Truth-Teller, plain and simple!

8. Also, prior to the rear-ended MVC, I had been working out daily x 5/week and walking several miles. I have only recently (in the past few weeks) been able to resume working out, under the precise direction/ prescribed exercise program of a graduate/masters degreed Sports Physiology fitness coordinator. It has made a *great* deal of improvement in my well-being and positive state of mind, I am happy to report. Alleluia! Yay!

9. I seem to have now no capability whatsoever for *planning* for my life, my work (??) , my older age, my financial well-being/or security. I just have no capability to wrap-my-mind-around-all-that and all required! (Like several of my more quite severely TBI'ed acquaintances, I seem to have become quite 'childlike'/ innocent (ignorant/oblivious-??) in that regard. Scary!
God bless you, Mark, for having been 'delivered' from Alabama at the blessedly young and tender age that you were!
(I assure you, that the "reality change" from Boulder, Colorado to Gulf Coast South Alabama at *my age* has been quite a reality sandwich which I have yet to digest in now over 5 years!
Bless your Dad and your heart for getting you outta here, Dear! ;-) Yay!

Much, much great appreciation, respect and thanks to ya'all for responding here. Truly. And I cannot thank you enough for your input, interest, inquiries, suggestions and encouragements.

Sincerely with respect and appreciation,
Theta Z.