[ItalianSaint]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone here has any experience in mental illness follwing TBI and how to deal with the situation?

I have a lot to say so I will try my best to keep it as short as possible.

Concussions have been a common occurance throughout my life. When I look back I do notice some changes that occured after some of these although thay were never enough to take away my ability to function within society such as working, socialising etc. That was until nov 2001 when I was beaten up by three police officers in the cells. One of the hardest things for me to deal with has been the fatigue that I suffer. I tried hard to continue in my job which was highly physical but after about a year and many days off with excruciating neck and back pain I had to give it away. I still work but only a few hrs during the winter time.

So because the incident was the police people want little to do with it. It took me about a year or two to even get some CT and MRI scans done myself which I had to pay for because the doctor did not write down in his records that I blacked out in the incident when I told him. They came back negative. In 2007 I went and payed for myself again neuropsychological tests where he was under the belief I had a TBI and wanted to try me on dopamine agonists to help with the apathy. I'm not sure what anyone will make of this but I never got to try them because by this time I was diagnosed as schizophrenic because of beliefs I had developed about perscution type thoughts which are basically opinions I have formed about why so many people have ended up dead around my life since this started. I do not share much else in common with schizophrenics. So basically now I am constanlly threated to be placed under the mental health act if I do not take my resperidone injection which just makes the fatigue worse. I spend a lot of my life asleep.

[Mark in Idaho]

Italian,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. What a rough experience. I can understand everyone limiting the reports. This is common 'protect the police' behavior.

It sounds like you may be struggling with PTSD, rather than schizophrenia. There are a lot of overlapping symptoms. The paranoid like thoughts can be a big part of PTSD. Have you asked about PTSD and treatment for it ?

[Brain patch]

I agree with Mark. This sounds to me like PTSD. I have both traumatic brain injury and PTSD. Can you get on Medicaid or whatever your state offers insurance wise for people who cannot afford insurance? It sounds like you need to definately get some counceling after the trauma you have received at others hands. Especially at the hands of people who are supposed to protect us. This makes the trauma worse and lends to paranoid thoughts. Because these are the people who are supposed to be the trustable ones. You may also want to consult an attorney. Good luck to you.
Much love,
Brain

[ItalianSaint]

Thanks for the replies.

PTSD? Yeah maybe but not so much from the incident which was like 12 years ago. It doesn't bother me as much as the people who died since. What I wasn't clear about in my first post was the beliefs I have developed because of this about how I believe I was targeted by some radio stations and targeting does happen to people from other places of media etc. The point is the psychiatrist I see regards most of my thoughts on these matters as delusional so I'm never going to be treated for PTSD. I'm treated as mentally ill.

When I ask my psychiatrist why I don't suffer from other problems that schizophrenics suffer from like voices etc, he say that he has caught it just in the nick of time where if it wasn't for the meds I take I would be hearing them right now. The last time I saw him he started going on about how I have a chemical imbalance in my head so I said I want to go in for tests for it. Then he started to explain that they can't actually do any tests for it so I called him delusional. Heh.

From what I can gather serious mental illness such bipolar, schizophrenia can follow a head injury. But then why would it take presidence if it is a symptom and not the actual cause. I am from New Zealand btw and I am pretty much forced to take these drugs for the rest of my life which changes nothing but makes my fatigue(which is not part of schizophrenia) worse. The neuropsychologist was right when he disagreed on my taking anti-psychotics as it just knocks me out again.

[Brain patch]

Italian saint,
I think you should talk to the people in the PTSD, bi-polar and schizophrenic category's on this site and see if they can understand where you are coming from a little better. Your posts are a bit confusing to me but I know there are people on here that would understand and be of more help. I would post in these category's and see if you can get someone who is understanding your thoughts. Try to give a bit more detail about what is going on with you, what treatment you are having and details on when you started having symptoms and what exactly those symptoms are. Good luck. I wish you the best. I can see you are having trouble with disjointed thoughts.
Brain

[ItalianSaint]

Originally Posted by Brain patch

Italian saint,
I think you should talk to the people in the PTSD, bi-polar and schizophrenic category's on this site and see if they can understand where you are coming from a little better. Your posts are a bit confusing to me but I know there are people on here that would understand and be of more help. I would post in these category's and see if you can get someone who is understanding your thoughts. Try to give a bit more detail about what is going on with you, what treatment you are having and details on when you started having symptoms and what exactly those symptoms are. Good luck. I wish you the best. I can see you are having trouble with disjointed thoughts.
Brain

I already take part in a schizophrenia forum so I don't have a need for that.

My symptoms were firstly fatigue, probably because of irratic sleep patterns in part, which resulted in being unable to continue in my job. I had always taken pride in being a hard worker. After that I got extremely angry and sat there blasting my radio. It was then that I started to notice my life was being followed by the radio stations I was listening too. After that two accuantances of mine, an elderly couple, were vicously knifed to death a couple of blocks from my place among other murders, my gf got raped on the way back from the pub, my cat got beaten up, friends had killed themselves and then I got beaten up again in a home invasion. I decided to leave the town and shifted back to my hometown after selling my home. The same stuff happened all over again. Murders started happening again one was people who are kindof related to me who do a drive-by and a little baby girl ended up being accidently shot dead while sleep in the front room, a girl I went to school with was bashed over by a guy from the town I shifted from and was killed through head injuries, out of 5 people I was hanging around with two ended up dead from suicide and so many killed themselves that month in the town that it was written in the newspaper and the families of the dead get together yearly to remember their loved ones. I made a connection between the stuff that was happening and the radio stations and because of that and my views on things like 'gang stalking' I am diagnosed as schizophrenic. Srry if this doesn't make much sense to you but I just got my two-weekly injection yesterday so I'm always a little detached from reality for the first few days. I guess my only hope is suicide or leaving my country and going to a place where you have freedom to choose how to treat your own body and mind.

[Mark in Idaho]

You said, "I guess my only hope is suicide or leaving my country and going to a place where you have freedom to choose how to treat your own body and mind. " That list is getting smaller and smaller.

Where do you live that is so violent ? I don't want to assume Italy.

Metropolitan areas have the highest levels of stress because they suffer the most from the larger economic problems. Areas with lower population densities may be best.

Do you have access to vitamins and supplements where you live ? Check out the thread Vitamins and Supplements. Getting your neurochemisty balanced works better with good brain nutrition.

The NeuroEndocrinology thread may be helpful, too.