Hey everyone,

So, I'm writing on here to see if I can get some clarity if a concussion caused my depression and other mental health problems.

I was in a severe car accident at the age of 12 (I'm 31 now), which caused me to have a traumatic concussion, stitches on my forehead, and 2 major surgeories on my left leg. I was in a cast for 4 years, in a wheelchair for 1 of those years, and crutches the rest of those year. Needless to say, I couldn't walk without crutches for 4 years.

Before the accident, I was a always happy, athletic, energized, organized, had amazing grades in school, was able to focus, study, learn, and have dreams and aspirations for the future.

However, after the accident, I experienced severe depression for the first time in my life. Students who were once my friends made fun of me for years. I switched 4 different junior high and high schools, in the hopes of finding escaping people making fun of me for having a big scar on my forehead and walking with crutches.

I wasn't able to focus in most glasses, and I even ditched classes many times, or pretended I was sick and missed school days. Back then, I thought it was just because I'm "dumb" or not as smart as other students. I did end up graduating high school, and even started community college, but again, I couldn't focus.
I was also working part time in retail during college, which made it harder to find time/energy to study. I ended up dropping out of college, because I thought it was a waste of time and pointless to be there, since I couldn't focus. I ended up finding admin assistant type jobs, with low pay. I'm still in the admin assistant career field today, since I unfortunately was not able to obtain a college degree.

Thinking back now, I strongly believe it was my concussion that caused me to mentally spiral down, feel depressed, unable to focus... since I never had those issues before. But how can I be sure? And is there anything I can do about it?

One thing I'd like to add, besides the accident/concussion, I grew up with my parents always fighting and moving out/moving back in... so I did have a stressful childhood, which could've added to the depression and stress.

I feel as though I have no hope for improving my mental health and advancing in life! As I'm getting older, it seems my symptoms are getting stronger. Here are the symptoms I'm feeling:

-depressed
-slowly starting to get anxiety/panic attack symptoms
-fatigue
-slightly nauseated at most times, for no apparent reason
-lowered sex drive
-motivated and wants to fix my life, but I don't think my brain has the mental capacity to do so
-moody (not bi-polar, don't worry)
-can't focus / poor memory
-have trouble holding a nice long conversation without losing my train of thought
-have trouble finishing a long sentence without trying my hardest to focus on not forgetting a word I'm about to say
-sometimes when I talk a lot, my head suddenly gets really light headed and I feel a sudden dull pain on a point of my head (sometimes left side, sometimes right side)

Note: my average resting heart rate is 49 beats per minute. My average resting blood pressure is 86/52. Yes, they are on the low side. I'm not sure if they were this low before the accident? Interesting though, both my parents and ALL of my relatives have normal heart rates and blood pressure. I'm the only one who is low like this.

So my questions are: has anyone experienced what I've been through? If so, what happened and what did you do to get help? I really want to live my life and be happy, but I feel as though I'm barely surviving. Is there ANYTHING I can do to get help? I'm thinking of contacting a free clinic in my area, as I don't have medical insurance at the moment. Are there any holistic or at-home remedies I can do to help this?