I fell off of a chair at work. I was trying to hang decorations for a baby shower we were having. I fell on my head and was unconscious for over 8 min. I was taken to trama center and admited to hospital icu for a week. I am now suffering from post concussion syndrom. I have trouble walking and am using a walker now. I have trouble hearing, I now have some hearing loss.

I have vision problems, headaches, concentration problems and problems with thoughts from brain to communicating. I cant smell and everything taste like metal. I feel like everything is in slow motion. This is just crazy. When can I expect for to get better?

It is going on 6 weeks with no end in site. I am off work and am home bound since I cant drive now. I really want my life back and need some hope. The doctor is hesitant to send me for any kind of therapy. I am getting some physical therapy for the walking.

I did have vertigo but with one treatment for that, it went away. He says it is just going to take time. I want to be admited to a brain injury program so I can get some consistant therapy so I can get better quicker. Does anyone have any suggestions, answers or can relate.

Hi and welcome, and yes I can relate.

I'm a TBI survivor; my symptoms didn't include problems with vision, smell or taste, but did include concentration and communication deficits, and I was also not able to drive due to physical problems and deficits in spatial processing. My in-patient therapy included occupational and speach/cognative therapy, sounds like occupational and speach therapy may be of benefit to you.

Recovery does take time, and 6 weeks isn't all that long in recovery from brain injury. It was several weeks before I knew what year it was, let alone the month and day. I was able to return to work part time 4 months after my injury, and full time 3 months after that.

I learned a new sense of gratitude for surviving my accident and for all the support I received. I wish you a speedy recovery and that you come out the "other side" with a renewed spirit, despite the current challenges.

I sustained a concussion in July '10 in an auto accident. It came with a rare complication that Dr.'s were unable to diagnose for six months and in that time I became much worse instead of any better.

I was unable to work for a little over a year after the initial injury. I couldn't drive regularly for an even longer amount of time.

That was 20 months ago and I'm doing much better than I was. My Dr. believes I will make a very good recovery! But she wasn't even able to tell me that until recently.

Brain injuries are very complex and each one is different. So, each recovery is different too. Experts think that younger people (think 20-something's) are able to recovery from concussions the best and fastest and then people younger than 40 (I think) and people older than that are probably the worst off... but anyone can still make a full recovery! Or anyone in any one of those age groups can be forced to deal with permanent deficits or impairments after just a single concussion. There is really no way to tell - brain injuries can take a long time. I have read that some people have PCS for a long time and then suddenly wake up one day all better!

Maybe your Dr. doesn't want to get you into therapy because he thinks rest will provide you with more benefits at this time.

Many people here have noticed that they actually start to improve once they really started giving their brains serious breaks and stopped pushing too hard to do what they expect them selves to do before their injuries. If you continue to rest and give your brain a vacation from stimulation (TV's, Radios, Reading, etc.) then it might not have to work so hard to heal and you'll make a faster recovery.

A brain that is trying to heal itself takes more energy in order to do so - so anything you do to take away that energy will prolong its healing process.

Cognitive functioning takes energy to maintain. So anytime you start to feel tired or fatigued it's a signal that you're using more energy than your brain wants you to. Reading might make you feel fatigued, or watching TV, or exercising or really anything since almost everything takes our brains' energy to do it.

Try to make sure you eat as healthy food as possible. Allergies, MSG, caffeine and alcohol are not good substances for a healing brain. Neither is stress and anxiety. They all release toxins in the brain that will hinder it from healing faster.

Now I know from personal experience that it's difficult to not stress out when your brain isn't functioning the way you have come to expect it to your entire life. And I know that it's difficult to hope that it will just get better without actively pursuing it - but that's probably the best thing you can do for your brain right now as much as possible.

Make sure you take all your vitamins and minerals, especially a good B-Complex and Omega Oils because those are really important for good brain health. And there are other supplements that you could experiment with as well, and there are a lot of links and thread on this forum to lead you to which ones - just make sure it's ok with your Dr. first.

I'm sorry you have to deal with this; I know how tough it is.

kkupka,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear of your injury. I can understand your frustration.

I went through similar frustration back in 1965. I was frustrated that the first would not let me out of the hospital, then they would not let me go back to school. I found out years later that it was because they could tell that my brain was till struggling. My speech was slow and sometimes slurred.

There are symptoms that are obvious to the doctor but not to you. The doc would not want to push your brain until it has finished regaining a minimum level of recovery. As EstheresDoll said, he is probably not wanting to push your brain too fast.

Brain injury recover takes three things.

Time

Rest,

Quiet,

and number 4, more time, rest and quiet.

Try to be patient. Anxiety is counter to brain recovery.

My best to you.

Thank you so much. I for sure have new understanding of gratitude for all the help I have received. I know it is going to take time and each brain is different so everyone heals at a different pace. Patience is not something I have a lot of. I will have to have faith and hope that I can heal. I like what Lightrail said about a "renewed spirit". Thats what I am shooting for. Thanks everyone

Hey, sorry I didn't see your post yesterday...I would have responded sooner.

My injury is similar to your's. What part of your brain was hurt and bled? Mine was in the left frontal lobe...one of the most important parts of the brain that controls a lot of executive functions. Go figure. It sounds like we struggle with the same things, too. I have trouble putting my thoughts into words...my speech is just terrible.

I suggest that you find some doctor's that specialize in brain injury ASAP. Don't wait...that was my mistake. I thought I was getting better on my own...and then everything came crashing down on me 3 months later. I didn't seek help until then. I'm 9 months into my recovery...and things are actually worse than they were early in my recovery. I think a lot of it has to do with stress, anxiety and the fact I didn't seek help until months after the injury.

Find some good doctors, search online for a brain injury support group and maybe a center that helps people with brain injuries.

I wish you the best of luck on your road to recovery.

Nick

I am not sure where the bleed was in my brain, I am not sure if the told me. They could have told me but I have forgotten. I fell backward so my guess is the back part of the brain? Not sure. Our symptoms do sound very similar. I have not heard of too many people having walking issues though, I wonder whats that all about.

I had trouble walking the first month of my recovery. I needed a walker in the hospital the 3 days I was there, or someone to help me to the bathroom. When they released me I spent most of my time in bed the first few weeks...it was hard to walk and everything just hurt.

I'm not a doctor but I'm sure you will be recovering your walking ability soon. Your going to hear this a billion times during your recovery, but, everything takes time. Try not to spend too much time on the computer or watching TV...your brain isn't healing when its being used. I made the mistake of playing video games, browsing the web and watching TV throughout my recovery. Big mistake.

Good luck, keep in touch.

Nick

I forgot to mention...I was assaulted from behind. I was actually hit in the back of my head. My brain bounced off the front of my skull...and gave me a frontal lobe contusion and hematoma. So, just because you hit the back of your head, doesn't mean that's where the damage occured ...

...I find it strange they didn't tell you where the bleed occured. Maybe you should head down to the hospital and pick up your medical records. That way you can have a better understanding of your injury.

BTW, if your going to pick up your medical records...tell them its for Social Security Disability. They should give them to you free of charge.

Also...speaking of Social Security, you should probably start an application with them just in case. I made the mistake of thinking I was going to get better fast...and didn't apply until things got rough in December. Now I'm disabled, broke and awaiting approval for a SSI check when I need it the most.

If you miraculously recover and go back to work before they approve you...you can always cancel your application.

Good luck and keep in touch.

Nick

The complication I mentioned in my previous post is called increased intracranial pressure or iicp for short.

It may have further damaged my brain after the initial injury.

After the initial injury I was able to walk, but not as fast as I was before the injury. After only a few weeks or a couple of months (I can't quite remember, but I have it all written down in an extensive journal) I was unable to walk without assistance and even that was very arduous. I remained that way for several months until the iicp was relieved with a spinal tap six months after the accident that caused it to occur.

Then for several weeks I had to walk with a walker and used work-arounds I was taught in the hospital to maneuver stairs, curbs and the like. (The spinal tap wasn't done correctly and caused more complications and because of it I was hospitalized for almost two weeks.) I think my muscles all atrophied from the several months of not using them and I was not expecting that. You see, the iicp caused me to be in such severe pain for so many months and that's a part of why I think I was degrading and unable to walk - I thought once the pain went away that I would be able to walk with no problems, but I wasn't able to at all. I was also very dizzy and had a lot of trouble determining space - like a room seemed a lot larger to me than it actually was and that sort of thing - so it was hard for me to reach for things and that sort of thing and that went away after the spinal tap too. Although the dizziness remained and comes and goes, it's nowhere near as bad as it was.

But even though I'm nowhere near the person I was before the accident, I'm still doing a lot better than I was just a year ago. And I'm hopeful that I'll continue to improve. My Dr. recently gave me a very good prognosis, but she wasn't able to do that until recently and the accident I was in was 20 months ago! Brain injuries just take a long time to recover from.

Before the accident, I was a very independent, practically hyper-active and very healthy 33 year-old. So I had no use of a walker before the accident.

So, who knows what cause you to need to have walking issues... it could have to do with the damage in your brain from the bleed, or the PCS, or maybe the bleed caused iicp and that made you need a walker or ... ? have your Dr.'s explained to you why you need a walker? Have you asked them?

Anyway, other people have walking issues too. Every head injury is different, but at the same time, we can all relate with one another and our symptoms are similar.

I've had a great deal of speech trouble since the accident I was in too - I even went to months of speech therapy and that helped me. It's been getting better on its own too.

As has everything else. It's just painfully slow for me. I am not a patient person and I had 33 years of being a very capable person so this has been very difficult for me. I imagine your path of recovery won't be a day in the park either.

Just try to keep calm and carry on.