All I want is to feel Normal, healthy, and happy.

It's been a year and a half since my injury. I use to have headaches that were more noticable but they've gone down a good anount. When I get stressed out i feel like the pains in my head become more noticeable or start up. One other thing I feel dosn't help the headaches/ head pains I'm going through is being on my phone& watching TV. I've had such trouble trying to stop both theae habits, I know that instead of cutting them completely out of the equation I should just cut down the time I'm on the computer,Watching TV, or on my Phone. Will making the change and cutting down the amount of time i spend on eletronic really help my headaches go away completely? Also I've been drinking, a habit I find extremely hard to stop. I'm 21 and all my friends do for fun is drink and because I get very bored I go out with them but i always end up feeling that it can't be good for the recovery I'm still going through.

The last thing that I feel like is not helping the headaches is STRESS. I had a falling out with my first love and it's caused depression, anxiety/ panic attacks. I'm stressing out at times like a mad man. This can't be good for any sort of recovery right?


Another issue that i've been going through is my smell has become distorted. Instead of smelling the actual odor that is present I smell these odd smells that I havn't been able to compare to anything I've ever smelled in my life. It's like Instead of smelling pizza I'll smell soap. Like my nose is playing tricks on me. I work at a restaurant where food is around at all times. I can't say that i've ever smelled anythong even close to the delicious scent of food that I'm sure everyone else smells. I'm going to washington DC in 2 weeks to THE SMELL AND TASTE CLINIC. The doctor there is suppose to be a speacialst in smell disorders. It's very exapensive, about 6,000 dollars. I wonder if I'm making the right decision spending money on this. Getting my smell back to normal is so very important to me.

Please... Advice and help. I'm 21 and my parents arn't beong much help. What should i do to fix this problems I'm still going through with my PCS.

Hi! Welcome! Thank you for sharing yrour story! Did your headaches go away in their own? Did you do any kinds of therapy or medication?

Others here can help you more than me though.

Thanks

5322,

You have plenty of things you can do before spending $6000 becomes a worthwhile expense. Drinking, carousing, visual stressors and such all need to be ended or reduced to next to nothing. Working in a restaurant is a high stress activity.

Unfortunately, your skateboarding accident may have all but ended a lot of your fun, at least for the time being.

I doubt you will ever return to normal until you are willing to spend an extended period living a very abnormal, quiet and protected existence. There just is no quick fix to brain injuries.

5322
I, too have a 21 yr old with PCS who is going on 2 yrs. There are loads of things you can do to help yourself.

First try to string the good days together.

My daughter has had luck with acupuncture and an osteopath for her headaches.

Check out if you have florescent lighting and change it to incandescent. You might want to check into different screen tones. (blue works best for her).

Check out the sticky that tells you what has helped others.

PCS can on and on...please reduce your partying. I know it's hard and you feel isolated...one day at a time.

Keep us posted...we care

If I'd been 21 going through this, I know I would have made some bad decisions! You may be more responsible than i was at your age. i hope that you are!

You need to stop abusing alcohol for the sake of your injured brain. If you have to drink, have one or two and that's it, but it's best to quit until your symptoms resolve. That said, I actually found that having a Guinness helped my headaches sometimes because it's as if the very taste of my favorite beer helped alleviate the stress causing my headache, but I never drink more than two beers or else I feel horrible the next day. My body is just not ready for that! It may never be and I'm okay with that now.

Anyway, I also had a smell issue when I was more symptomatic but nothing as severe as yours. I just would have bouts of super-smelling or smelling bad odors that weren't there. I wouldn't shell out $6000 yet. Proper rest and eliminating alcohol could provide the opportunity for your brain to truly heal. Do that before you throw that much money at the problem.

Good luck to you. Try to eliminate as much stress from your life as you can. Be boring for a little while. Your brain will thank you.

I forgot to say, stay off your computer/phone as much as humanly possible. Learn from my mistakes. I spent too much time on the computer despite feeling eye pain and had a HUGE setback. The doc I saw said it could take me 1-2 years to recover, if I ever can fully. (I am getting a second opinion!) My situation is different than yours but the lesson still holds--if your head is in pain when you are doing something, that means you should stop what you are doing or else you run the risk of making yourself much much worse. You will find that if you listen to your body and rest, you will be able to gradually up your activity levels.

Hello and welcome to Neurotalk

Everyone here gave you really good words to live by, and I hope you heed it and take recovery seriously. You only have one brain and you can help it along if you take the strength to do so.

Check out the vitamin stickie at the top. Those vitamins and supplements will help you along with good nutrition -- fruits, veggies, and limit or cut out msg.

Alcohol and brain healing are really just opposites. At this point in my recovery, I can tolerate a little alcohol, but not much and I don't want to set myself back or stay stuck and never go forward. I don't want to relapse either. If you read through these threads, you'll find that people can and do relapse from OVERdoing thing or stress....you name it.

Recovery, for me, meant life changes too. I had to leave my job for a time to let my brain heal. You might not be able to do that, but you can give your brain rest. It needs that, and lots of it, to heal too.

Here's wishing you well in recovery.

Sincerely,

pm

Not to pile on, but to reiterate what poetrymom and others have stated, abstaining from alcohol will be important for you to make progress. I suggest reviewing the following articles.

http://www.msktc.org/tbi/factsheets/...c-Brain-Injury

http://www.tbicommunity.org/resource...Spring2008.pdf

You own your recovery process. I agree with Mark there are a lot of things you can do to improve your symptoms before spending $6k for a smell and taste clinic. Lifestyle changes (more quiet rest, no alcohol, less computer media time) are likely to be much more effective in improving your symptoms.

Best to you as you recover.