I wonder how many people here have taken advantage of their Brain Injury Association if their state offers it?

It took me a year and the prompting of my last neurology Dr calling them first to actually connect with our Association.

If you have not done so, please give it a try. I was in deep denial about my brain injury and wish I had called many months sooner.

They sent me a packet with helpful information based on things we discussed in my initial conversation. They hooked me up with the proper psychologist that I just finished NeuroCognitive testing with (one who is very familiar with brain injury, post concussion, etc). He was VERY validating and I await my report.

This psychologist referred me to a Sports Medicine Dr in the same building to hopefully help me understand what I can and cannot do physically and guide me in that way. He said that even though I work with horses and don't compete or play in other sports, that I need to look at my injury as sport related anway. Horses are at least as dangerous as playing football and in some cases worse.

I have a contact at the BI Association that I can call with ANY questions. She tries to help me either make sense of something I experienced or helps guide me into better practices to help make life easier.

How I overdo things and am always retriggering my symptoms because of that is more obvious with their help. It's a work in progress and I still find myself overcommitting to other people only to back out again later. Wow, do I hate having to back out of things because I was not as ready as I thought! Note to self: don't DO anything that involves committment to others, keep life simple for a long time. Doing nothing is not something I'm familiar with, so lack of activity won't be an issue.

I've had more validation and help in the last couple of weeks since calling the Brain Injury Assoc than I've had all year!

Anyone else have good experiences with their BI Associations?

Even I made the mistake of not contacting them in the beginning thinking I will be ok in few months. I contacted them after a year and they are the best. Since they can clearly understand our struggles much better than doctors. They assigned a case manager and he told me the right things and didn't even doubt my struggle since their job is to see people like us five days a week. Even they are puzzled with each case because of its uniqueness in terms of symptoms/disability.

He told me if I can't work from home part time, he makes sure he get my disability as soon as possible since they also have attorneys helping in this process. When I tell him about all the meds/therapies his word of advice "Be cautiously optimistic". Now I always think of that when I try anything new.

I agree! Getting in touch with your state brain injury association is a must. The amount of resources (many free!) that they have to offer are incredible.

Another thing to try is attending their annual conference. This is a great way to attend a conference on brain injury and connect with other survivors. It will help you feel less alone!
Jena
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