Hello everyone,

It's my first post here, so sorry if it's not totally up to standard.
I have been reading some posts around the website and it has helped me to understand a bit more about what's going on at the moment, but I'm still very much lost.

I had a fall on Aug 01st, and landed on my back, breaking a left back rib. I heard the crack as it happened. Also, when I was going down, I hit the right top side of my head on the frame of the door, you know, the sharp edge - that was the first bang, where I managed to get a 2 inches cut on my scalp. After hitting the door frame, my neck Twisted and I also hit the floor with the back of my head, where the cranium ends, flat out on the wooden floor (and this was the second bang).
Everything went foggy for a while. I was home alone when it happened.

Somehow I managed to call a friend and the ambulance service (can't remember exactly what rapper, there's some gaps here in my memory I can't fill).

When the paramedics got to me, they placed the neck brace on my neck and put me on the stretcher. They took me to the ambulance and straight to a hospital in the Uk. They took some X-rays, stitched my head and sent me home with paracetamol and ibuprofen for pain management.

I had some terrible pains on the following day, so much so that I couldn't move to even ask for help. I was staying in a friends house, but she put me in one of her guests room upstairs, and disapeared for most of the day. I couldn't breath properly because the rib, my head, neck and back was so painful, and the headaches started hitting me, and I must say I never again since the accident had a day without headache.

I went back to the hospital 3 days after the injury, they changed the medication to paracetamol 1000mg + tramadol 100mg - 4 times a day.
They also did a head CT SCAN and the result was normal, they didn't find anything else. The doctors at this time said that anything else I needed it would be related to pain management, and I should contact my GP for that.
The same night I got back from the hospital, I fell again going to the bathroom, but managed to hold my upper body straight and avoided another bang to the head.

I fell again because I have been feeling my legs wobbly since the accident. Also, my other symptoms are headache, dizziness, nausea, esporadic vomiting, buzzing in both ears (but right one is worse), light sensitiveness (been wearing sunglasses since the fall), I also have been dropping things around the house and broke a few dishes already, confussion when comunicating (have been answering people in Portuguese without knowing I'm doing it), difficult in writing down my words (it has been taking a long time to do this post) and also feeling quite emotional and depressive about myself, my situation at the moment and the future.

I went back to the GP on the beginning of the week, to complain about the symptoms worsening and new ones showing up, and her take was that this was happening because I wasnt resting as much as I should to recover from my fall.she said I should lay down in the dark, all day long, just go to the bathroom, and I would feel much better in a week, ten days. After I started feeling better, I should still stick to her advice and keep myself in the dark for at least another week, and that it would give the brain plenty of time and the ideal environment to recover. No phone, no Internet, no iPads, no books or tv allowed during this time. She said if I didn't do something this dramatic, I would manage to get even more symptoms and some of them could last for years, or maybe I would need to leave with them forever.
She mentioned that I was pushing my brain after the accident by staying in the computer, etc, and that could make me worse and even give me seizures in the future.

You must have an idea of how I felt when I left the surgery. She was happy for me to stay in the tramadol and paracetamol, but all the punk advice was not expected at all.
I got home and spoke to a couple of close friends about it, and one of them oferred to take my dog away with her for a while, maybe with that helping me to concentrate on spending as much time I could sleeping in the dark room. the other friend offered to come around and manage my emails, and sort it out things around the house, cooking my meals, etc... Until I feel better.
The night after the visit to the GP, with all the new info and excitement, I went to bed quite early, had a good sleep and woke up around 2am with a violent nose bleeding. It eventually slowed down, but after a couple of minutes repeated again and again.

I waited until the gps surgery was open, got there and was the first attended. My GP was really concerned about my symptoms and my lack of proper good rest, and called the hospital and organise by phone for them to see me back in the a&E, and she also asked them to repeat the head ct scan, as she thought maybe they were overlooking something. This last bit happened today.
I spent the whole day in hospital, they repeated the head ct scan, did some blood tests, and I was admitted to the neurological ward to wait for the results. When the doctor came to see me first time, I spoke about my symptoms and what the GP sayed about worsening symptoms while using the computer, and that I should spend all the time inside this dark room in bed to recover without further symptoms, etc...

The doctor went bananas e called a neurosurgeon to speak to me. They said I should go back to the GP if I have further problems with my mTBI. When I asked them what should I do to make things better, they said I should be stronge and deal with the pain, as it will be with me for a while, maybe 3 to 6 months, it all depends on me... They sent me home with paracetamol and tramadol, same dosage as before, didn't explain why I had the bleeding and how I could cope to the other symptoms like sleepiness and vomiting ( I was wondering during the day if they could send me home with some meds to help me with this problems, so I would be able to sleep better and have a more smoth recovery from the mTBI.)

Sorry for the long thread, just feel lost, don't know which one to listen to now...

The GP that gave me the especific advices on how to cope and how to get better, she said also that she had concussion herself 10 years ago, and her concussion lasted for 4 weeks, doing what she said to me to do as well. She was very concerned with the fact that I could have this horrible headaches for years to come, and how would I be able to cope with work, etc...

The doctors at the hospital said they couldn't do anything to help me, I should be stronge and learn with the pain, and I could go out tomorrow and have my normal life back, maybe resting a bit more, but I could stay in the computer, etc, and eventually, in 6 months maybe, the symptoms would go away.

I need help with all this info that has been thrown at me on the last few weeks.
This is my first head injury, I'm scared, and don't know who to trust as the advice I've got is so different.
I'm feeling very frustrated about it all, and all this on top of the headaches and dizziness and the light sensitiveness, etc...
What to do? Whom is speakim better sense?


What are you guys with more experience on situations like this have to add to it?
Any advice will be very much appreciated.

I am a photographer, 30years old, self employed, and cancelled my sessions since the accident until the end of the month. I can't live with the symptoms while working, or the insurance won't cover knowing I'm unfit to work.
Also there's the problems with the flashing lights. And I definitely couldn't afford to cancel everything in the 6 months to see how I'm gonna be when we get there....

So lost, so confused, so frustrated...

I'm sorry for such long text, hope it all makes sense

Can anyone here help me to understand what is going on?!

Many thanks