My daughter and I both have been to counseling. On advice by her Drs and counselor, I have acted in a supportive role in order to let her figure things out on her own. They told me that she wouldn't want to be in the house all the time either, etc. So I went with it...

Now, over a year later, she is worse than ever. She rarely leaves the house, refuses counseling, often refuses meds, refuses to go to school, etc... She has panic attacks when she is out and about around people. Now, ironically, I am told that I should have made her go to school and be out and about that she isn't capable of figuring things out on her own.

That's why I am posting here. Has anyone had experience with frontal lobe TBIs with these issues and what helped?

Her IQ is 112, WAIS working memory 95, processing speed 132, verbal comprehension 107, and perceptual reasoning 107.

Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function:
Initiate 71 (98%)
Working memory 79 (>99%)
Metacognition index 77 (>99%)
Global Executive index 72 (98%)

Neuropsych stated that her executive functioning was intact but application was deficient. But at the same time stated that all cognitive deficits were resolved.

Auditory delayed 117 (87%)

Rey Osterreith low average
delayed recall 14 (18%)
MMPI-II not done
digit span subset 8
logical memory II-recall 14 (91%)

Rey Complex figure:
Immed recal 45 (31%)
Delayed recall 41 (18%)

SSRIs have made her nauseated, we have tried Buspar without success. She refuses meds (she will wear the clonidine patch) which includes any nutritional supplements. Can't even get her to take a multivitamin.

Directly after her accident she definitely had difficulty with social cues, would make a face and ask me if it looked like she was mad, sad, etc. The counselor worked with her on that aspect. She has a degree of paranoia of people talking about her, if someone laughs thinks they are laughing at her.

She has agreed to try counseling and school again and will start school again in a couple of weeks. Her first goal is to make it through 5 minutes a day before she runs and then that time will be increased as tolerated. I am praying that after that first day, she will go back and keep trying. With other programs, she refused to go back after that first day.

Anyway, I appreciate all the wonderful comments, and if you have more ideas let me know. Please tell me this gets easier....

I only skimmed the previous posts so if I repeat what might have already been said forgive me.

Basically on the school part, is this regular public school?
It could be just too over stimulating for her still.
Have you thought about trying an online school for her?

My dd used one for getting a few final credits and the one we used let them proceed pretty much at their own pace. A few hrs here & few later in the day even late at night if that is a good time.
Does she do Ok on a computer for short times?

this is the one we used but there are many others available ,some are free if linked to your state school districts -
http://www.connectionsacademy.com/home.aspx

PS - just read that it was tried already... maybe at a later time, or maybe it was the way that particular school software was set up. I noticed some use small fonts and only a narrow portion of the screen.

How did she get the original injury?
car accident , fall , sports.. ??

We did try online, but states she can't work from a computer. The school she will be starting is a school for students that have not been able to attend public school and needs more in depth counseling, mental health professionals, etc. She went to a night high school for a short time and then tried just going to public school for 2 hours a day.

One very small frustration such as having to wait to talk to a teacher, and she's done and won't go back. If a student makes a rude comment, or if a teacher tries to push her to participate, she runs out of the school and won't go back. They have provided areas for her to go calm down by herself, but she refuses to use them. She will call me hysterical and tells me she has to leave right now, that she can't and won't stay. If she has no way home, she takes off walking home...

I am sorry to hear of your struggles. It sounds similar to a friend of mine who was hit by a car and left comatose for 3.5 weeks. He has some OCD like responses. he makes mountains out of molehills.

Her above average intelligence but poor delayed recall is a tough symptom to live with. It feeds her behavioral problems. Has she tried to learn any work-arounds for her poor memory issues. She has good intelligence and should be able to use her intelligence to deal with her memory struggles.

It sounds like a real problem since she does not want to participate in her own recovery. Have they tried to use her favorite activities to get her engaged in life? A recreational therapist may have some ideas.

I wish I could offer more. Have you been to a support group for yourself? The camaraderie of other caregivers should be helpful. The ability to talk about daily struggles and have others who understand can be a great relief.

Hope you can find a good support group.

My best to you.

I don't know a lot about TBI's so i hope I'm not being insensitive on this issue or ignorant. I also don't know much about 18 year olds other than I used to be one (my kid is only 4.)

Seems she is not feeling in control of her life. Things changed that she didn't want. she will have to make these decisions on her own to gain control over what happened to her. You may need to just let her fail awhile and not push to fix it. See how that plays out. She may turn around. However, wth TBI she will need some help with that by presenting options (let her pick which one to pursue) to her and support - much support, when she is ready.

I can recall being in a situation without a TBI -but a situation where I felt trapped. One day I realized there are unlimited options in this world. (I think after reading the book called the option process or something like that.) You can choose just about any option in life. There are so many. You control your life, not the other way around. Even with disability this applies. You just have different tools to use to get to where you want to go. Maybe she doesn't see her options clearly. Find out what she wants and then ask her how she will get there. With that you can support her thought process to make it happen.

Best wishes to you.

sorry your family are going through this

as mark said, frontal lobe injurys don,t heal in as much that the brain repairs the damage but work rounds can be achieved lack of motivation, head aches, problems planing, personalty achanges are all caused by the injury

so all I can add is art type activities games that challenged her weaknesses but are fun a head injury groups run these type on programs but she should be accompanied this will help her build up some stamina for more formal schooling

its a long hard road I am still on to over come the damage a head injury suport group will help you and your child there is a list on the sticky at the top of the page

my best wishes to you

Yes Mark we make to much or did when he was under 18 to qualify.

We made to much when he was under 18. It makes a difference how
much you make. If you make to much then you can't qualify.

So I was under the impression that this young lady is over 18.

So I was quoting for a over 18 child.

Donna

Thanks for all your posts. I have requested meeting info from a support group for myself and am working on SSDI. Clonidine is out now, she took patch off last night. She was extremely irritable and agitated on it. So I will get with Dr again today to see what to do next. She has a headache today and her vision is "weird". (Her words). Usually excedrin migraine helps her headaches.

"weird vision" is something my daughter struggled with as well. Much less severe injury than your daughter. I'm sorry you're going through this.

I believe you mentioned she was using prism glasses. Has she gone through a course of vision therapy? That was truly a God-send for us. My daughter managed to continue in regular school, but she was having a lot of panic attacks, headaches, nausea. Tried Elavil but that gave her heart palpitations and other symptoms. The vision therapy really helped her re-establish her place in the world (literally, not figuratively). Once that straightened up things seemed to improve minute to minute.

Again, it seems as though your daughter's injury was much more severe. I don't mean to minimize anything...just offering a possible help.

I also think that because each injury, and so then each recovery is
different there is no way a doctor. Can no exactly what is going
to work or not. I hope that you can locate a very supportive group
there locally along with this one online.


I also think it sounds like you might want to see about working through
her depression as much as the TBI right now. I know it sounds weird.
But it sounds like that has taken over.

I really feel for you. If you would like to private message me. That would
be fine also.

Donna