Thanks for all the comments.

Mark, lumosity does have you enter your age and education. I think that is what upset me the most is that compared to other people my age I am now below the 25'th percentile overall and for speed I am below 14! I wish I had done it before the accident so I could compare but I know it would not be this low. I agree that any improvement doesn't mean my brain is healing but maybe learning new ways to do things. Still improvement!

StupidRugger, are you back doing cognitive things that you were doing before the accident (work, school) and not noticing any problems? Are you where you think you would be compared to others your own age in Lumosity? What surprised me the most is that I thought I was doing well cognitively too and boy was I surprised when I started trying to do mental tasks and learned that I'm nowhere near where I was before.

I re-read the title I gave this thread and it's really bad... I think I just wanted to see if other people had somehow discovered that they have problems that they didn't know they had. It seems so strange to me that I can not be aware of things I'm having issues with. Makes sense though that the brain is injured.. it may not know it's injured.

My job is fast paced with short deadlines and lots of multi-tasking required. There is lots of noise and bad lights. Many interruptions. How will I ever get back to that?

For some reason I woke up feeling anxious today and can't seem to shake it. o.k. no more worrying about work at the moment. My current task is to relax and focus on getting better one day at a time.

Thanks for listening to me rant. I hope you are having a calm day.
CC

< Lumosity? What surprised me the most is that I thought I was doing well cognitively too and boy was I surprised when I started trying to do mental tasks and learned that I'm nowhere near where I was before. > What is Lumosity?

Just found this group. Slow speed motorcycle accident. Decided not to wear my skid lid that day coming home. Hit my head and ended up ICU out for a few hours. Gold Wing was totaled. Checked myself out early and got staff to take me home, very confused. Started cognitive rehab shortly after and the testing showed me what I was missing and the tech gave me work a rounds which were great. Otherwise how do you know~!! She was actually a speech therapist at Tampa General Hospital. They told me no improvement after a year. Now 3 years and still see some improvements once in a while. Still cannot enjoy a novel and I was a book worm. Short term memory problems makes it not fun anymore. I think my technical work and being on the computer so much helps. I used to play games and cards but don't enjoy anymore.. again short term memory problems. I now realize what a good brain I had as seem to be reminding staff all the time. If I had only had my helmet on, I would have walked away from the accident. Florida passed a no helmet law and its amazing to see how many NEVER wear one. A group called ABATE lobbied to change the law. We do stupid things at times and regret for a lifetime.

tampasailor,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. At least you did not become an organ donor. But a Gold Wing is not quite a donor cycle.

The 'no improvements after 1 year' indicates that they are way out of date in their education about mTBI.

The reading things may be that you can not follow the multidimensional plot lines and keep track of all of the characters. I can't read fiction at all. I had to cancel some magazines because the editors started gearing the articles for a feminine reader. Too much complexity in descriptions causes my brain to go on 'pause.'

I do fine with technical reading because the different pieces have a logical pattern they fit in. I bet that if you consider these things, you will understand what your specific limits are.

Please feel free to introduce yourself and tell us about your current struggles. There are lots of good people here. You can start your own thread if you have some questions to ask. Just click on "Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Concussion Syndrome" and it will take you to the index page where you can "Post New Thread"

My best to you.

Hi Tampasailor!
Lumosity is a website that has "games" that you use to improve cognitive abilities like memory etc. I wouldn't recommend them for anyone still suffering acute PCS symptoms but once you get to the stage where you want to try to improve your abilities it's worth trying.

From the lumosity website:

You have the power to improve your brain

Scientists once believed that mental ability was fixed after childhood. But over the last few decades, neuroscientists have discovered that adults’ brains are constantly changing – growing new neurons and connections – in a process known as neuroplasticity. Lumosity takes advantage of the brain’s innate neuroplasticity to help shape it into a more effective, powerful organ.

Instead of teaching specific skills that may only be useful in specific areas, Lumosity targets core cognitive processes that underlie performance in many different areas. These processes include memory, attention and other abilities that are critical in the real world.