[Canadian Sig]

Howdy all. Stumbled across this site while looking for more answers on TBI and PCS (I was diagnosed with both).

I was wounded in an IED strike on a foot patrol in Afghanistan in Apr of 2011. I suffered a nasty concussion (my 4th or 5th) and also some shrapnel penetration ect. Of course the shrapnel healed quickly but it seems that my head did not. I was throwing up after the strike, couldnt see out of one eye and had a loss of consciousness (also damage to one of my ears but that's not part of the TBI ect). So here I am 18+ months post injury and I suffer brutal headaches that are localized behind my Left eye (I also had trouble for close to 8 months being able to know left from right after the hit). I am currently taking amnytriptalyn and gabapentin daily as pain management but still have pain and now just spend 1/2 my day feeling "stoned".

Anyway, I am just happy to have found this group and this resource. Thanks for the opportunity to learn.

CS

[thedude58]

Welcome! I too stumbled across this group recently and I've found answers and great support here. Thank you for your service in Afghanistan! Be sure to check here often and ask questions...
Jamie (Ontario)

[Concussion]

Welcome, and Thank you for your service.

Take your time, in recovery, and browsing the boards.

Check on posts that are stickied - there are many with good information.

Many of our Gurus are there to help.

[Mark in Idaho]

Sig,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Thank you for your sacrifice.

It sounds like you should be asking for some imaging to see if you have a further issues, such as behind your left eye. Sounds like you had quite an experience.

Regarding the Right and Left issue, I and others have had the same problem. It is most common during times of stress or a need to respond quickly. I will respond with the opposite but as soon as I hear what I said, I realize I said the wrong direction and correct myself.

Please feel free to unload and tell us about your struggles. Lots of good people here.

My best to you.

[Kristara]

Welcome to NeuroTalk/ PsychCentral! I think we all pretty much stumbled upon this place looking for the same things. Thanks for protecting us youre brave!

i always just look at my hands for the one that makes an "L" sad but true i get teased a lot for it obviously lol never actually thought about the TBI causing the deficit for left and right but it makes sense now, don't remember ever having the issue pre-injury.

Good luck with those headaches they're a you know what to get rid of, did you have a brain bleed on the right side? A long time ago a neurologist told me (as i remember at least) that when you have a TBI the synapses get messed up there which is what causes the pain in that particular spot since your brain actually cant feel pain at all and that its almost next to impossible to completely get rid of the pain in that spot since i guess you cant fix the synapses (short of heavy duty narcotics that make you a zombie and then you just cant feel anything lol) idk if he just got tired of my complaints about meds not getting rid of the headache and just made something up or if thats true but i'd like to think a neuro wouldn't lie to me

[Canadian Sig]

Thanks for the welcome all. Has been a crap few weeks with some serious "backtracking" on the pain front. I have had worse pain in the last 2 weeks than I have been in 6 months. The Doc has pulled me off the Gabapentin to see what effect that will have. I have to say that I am damned sick of the dance we seem to be on in that we seem to just keep guessing and throwing more or different pills at it.....makes soldiering tough.

[Kristara]

expect that dance to take a life time lol, neurontin (gabapentin) was a pretty good med as I remember it, didn't eliminate my headaches but eased the pain but i think it stopped working after a while not sure. The elavil (amitriptyline) made me truly psychotic lol scary stuff.
Lyrica also helped slightly but my weight gain on it was absurd and unacceptable since it only brought my headaches from about an 8 to a 6. There's about 227 million meds they can try some are amazing and some cause more awful side effects than what its suppose to fix. I still stand behind my theory that they have a book called "Doctoring for Dummies" I'm sure it just has a list of problems then lists a bunch of meds to try for that problem.