New here.

The short version of my story is on Christmas Eve 2012 I fell down a flight of stairs and landed on my head. Diagnosed with a concussion, which the neurologist later said was worse than they thought. I landed on the back of my head/my upper spine.

Initially I had a LOT of symptoms. Speech difficulty, dizziness, vision problems, balance problems, memory problems, exhausted by everything, very light, sound, visual stimulation sensitive...couldn't hold a conversation with background noise...shut down with too much noise...couldn't talk with more than one person at a time...that's probably not an exhaustive list.

My job involves counseling, and I am back to work 4 days a week after last week. My stamina is much better although when I get tired I do sometimes get headaches and feel foggy. Conversations no longer exhaust me and I can express myself fine. I tried running on Tuesday and it was a disaster. I still get sound and vision sensitive at times although it is improving. I can walk at least 2.5 miles with no problems. My balance is mostly better.

The thing that makes no sense to me is although I am back to work and have recovered in a lot of ways, and I do drive up to half an hour fine, it seems like once I am driving for more than an hour or driving unfamiliar places, especially on the highway, I get extremely spacey and dizzy.

Does this make sense to anyone? That I could be recovered in a lot of ways and yet utterly decimated simply by driving for too long?

Wow, from the sounds of it you had a very bad brain injury. (I refuse to call these concussions anymore)

You are doing A LOT! Think of it. You are back to work can expres yourself, but still get foggy.

Is there anyway you can car pool or take public transportation to work in order to keep your brain healing in the ways it can and will for awhile?

I am not expert on these brain injuries, but it strikes me you could maximize your time at work and home if you could reduce that drive time somehow.

Take care

pm

Driving is a very stimulating task. You have to watch for cars and pedestrians while multi-tasking (steering and accelerating, braking). Once you get on the highway, these visual stimulations start coming at you very fast.

You are overdoing it. You are putting yourself and others at risk.

Please limit your driving to familiar and shorter trips.

My best to you.

Hi, Mark,

I guess I wasnt clear -other than one or two attempts I do limit my driving to short familiar trips. I did take the long trip as it had been a while, driving nearby hadn't bothered me, I knew where I was going, and I thought it would be fine, but...I had to nap a long time before I was able to drive home. Other than that I get rides if I go new places or far (although I don't do that much). But driving to work is short and familiar, and back roads, so I feel comfortable with that. It's just the longer trips, but I was starting to feel crazy as in so many ways I am much more functional. Thanks for the validation.

poetrymom - sadly public transportation isn't a great option (suburbs). I wish, I would just as happily not have to drive! I thankfully don't have kids, so I usually cook my meals for the week on the weekends to limit my responsibilities once I get home on my workdays. I am maxed out at 4 days a week right now....but I need the income. I'm at some financial equilibrium though so I can rest there for a while.