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?

Missjta,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. You have found a good place.

The symptoms you describe are all common to Post Concussion Syndrome. I have experienced just about all of them, starting after my first brain injury at 10 years old in 1965. It sounds like you have been left to take care of yourself. I doubt feuding parents ever take the time to understand concussion symptoms.

First, some questions for you. Are you taking any medications/drugs ? How is your health otherwise ? What kind of living situation are you in ? Married, kids, job, etc.

These will all help us understand the stresses you are living under. Stress is a big factor in concussion symptoms.

After telling us more about yourself, you should start by reading the Vitamins thread in the sticky at the top. The injured brain needs more nutrition than an uninjured brain.

It will also help if you can get your hormones tested by a bio-identical hormone specialist. You can find a referral at this link : https://www.womensinternational.com/..._referral.html Brain injuries can wreak havoc on hormone balances.

Please don't get discouraged. Once you learn to understand what is going on with your brain, there are ways to improve your life.

My best to you.

It seems terribly cruel that you experienced such an awful injury, and then got made fun of it. I can't relate to your childhood injury, but I can relate to being mistreated by your peers and spiraling into depression.

As a kid, because I had undiagnosed ADHD (Inattentive type), I was made fun of constantly and called dumb. It destroyed my self esteem and left me depressed from age 11 to 17. I did poorly in school for many years because i believed what people said about me and was too depressed to care, plus i struggled with organization and time management, so I would accidentally miss assignments. I also struggled taking tests and would often run out of time before i had answered all the questions. That in and of itself contributed to my demoralization. I have also experienced depression on and off since then. It wasn't until my second year of college that I was diagnosed with ADHD and started taking medication, which helped me tremendously. It was not until grad school that I finally was able to request extra time for tests.

PCS has similarities with ADHD, and depression also shares symptoms with PCS. Depression and PCS are also often comorbid. It does sound like you have PCS, but I'm not discounting the depression as playing a major role here. It makes the PCS symptoms so much worse, and even on its own, without PCS, it can cause many of your symptoms.

In the end, you just have to deal with the reality you face and address the symptoms you have, regardless of what caused them. I think you would be a good candidate for antidepressants and possibly an ADHD drug to help with your cognitive function, as they are often prescribed for people with PCS. You are dealing with symptoms that are similar to those of an ADHDer, so it makes
sense that similar treatments might help you. I understand that you have no current medical benefits, so these medications are harder to obtain, but you could look into it to see if there is any assistance offered for people in your situation. Therapy can also be very helpful in dealing with PCS symptoms and depression, so I'd look into that too! Depending on where you live, there might be a TBI support group you can join.

As for less costly help, I've found this board to be very supportive. I also think some of the same things that have helped me with my ADHD could help you too, so if you let me know more about the problems you are experiencing, I could maybe offer some suggestions to help you. I found that I was incredibly reliant on some of these coping mechanisms when I was dealing with the worst of my PCS.

When I developed PCS, it was like my ADD symptoms had just gotten worse, though later on, after my third concussion, I had symptoms that were actually the opposite of ADHD me. Thankfully those have subsided, but I always have to float through life in a fog. That's just what it's like to be in my brain. But medications and behavioral modifications can help, and I think they can help you too.

I've recently had some difficult life changes and my PCS brain has not been able to cope well. I think a brain with PCS is less able to cope with stress and so it is more suceptible to anxiety and depression. My husband has struggled with this because usually i am his rock, but i just have not been able to withstand the amount of stress that has been thrown into our lives so I've been pretty depressed recently. The best way I've found to deal with depression is to fight it tooth and nail! Apathy is depression's best friend. The more you succumb to the weight of your depression, the harder it can be to get up and get out of it. So even though it's so hard sometimes, try to focus on the positive and do things you enjoy (even if your current enjoyment of them is somewhat limited).

Good luck finding the help you need to cope with all of this. This board can be a good place to turn when you need to reach out to people who will understand your struggles. Let me know if I can help!