OK so I had an argument with my dad and hit the top of my head real hard on a concrete wall. I instantly felt numbness like feeling in both my arms and legs and partial numbness on the right ride of my face. The numbness went away in 2 days but Tinnitus started the next day followed by light and sound sensitivity in the following week. Its been 3 months today since all this happened. I must say life has been a total wreck and every single day is a struggle for survival.

I am an extremely introvert guy and never had any friends in my life and have been always super depressed and very unmotivated throughout my life even before my accident( I was diagnosed with mild depression after the accident anyway). I never went out and always felt like killing myself for not having any social life when I saw others having a time of their life on social networking sites. I have always been in my own company since my early 20s and liked to be alone mostly and avoided social situations because of my depression and felt awkward in social situations and was never able to keep any job for more than 6 months because of lack of desire and enthusiasm.

My fiancee of 5 months left me after the concussion. I immediate family members are upset with me and feel I am not pushing myself enough and making excuses for not getting out of the home( It feels terrible when they say this, I have given up trying to explain them how its like). I am burdened with expectations as I am 27 years old and should be earning and starting a family by now as per our Indian culture. I left my job and everybody in my family looks at me like I am a loser expect my parents who have stood by me all the time. I pity myself all the time cursing every god in the universe.

This incident has further put me into major depression. I cant go out because I cant walk for more than 1 km at a stretch and have to walk very gently talking baby steps with cushioned shoes and always foam earplugs in my ears. I cant drive or travel at all because my head has become very sensitive to even minor bumps on the road so I prefer to walk. These small road bumps make me feel very uncomfortable on the top of my head and its difficult to explain the pressure feeling. On a better day I walk a little more and Tinnitus is louder the next day. I feel drained easily and I have slowed down a lot and taking things real easy. I am not even working at 10% of what I was.

My health is deteriorating and I am putting on weight. My 2 major complaints are Tinnitus(seems to have soften than before but still fluctuates a lot) and head sensitivity to road bumps which holds me back from going out. My hearing is normal but I suspect high frequency loss which may be the cause of Tinnitus. My neuro put me on citicoline, Levacecamine, Resveratrol, B12 suppliment which I am on right now. I must say I am feeling little improvements every week except for some setbacks here and there. I wonder if I have taken oral steroids in my first week for Tinnitus ( None of the Ents prescribed it in the beginning) .

I am feeling miserable at this point. I have ruined my life and good health.I have no friends, family support, no relationships, major depression, no job, no knowledge of whats happening around me, no interest in anything and no desire to learn anything, no health, no money. I have hit rock bottom in life and feel so frustrated. Tinnitus is driving me nuts all the time. Sorry for being so negative, i cant help and feel crap. And pardon me for my bad English and long post. Please give your suggestions. Thanks for reading

First... HI... and I am so very sorry you are going through this!

You are unfortunately in good company... most of us have been in this deep depression that you are in..

Good news, you have the support of your parents... that sometimes is some of the best support you can get...

Can you get out more than once a day to walk.. maybe not as far but just more often?

I have put on about 50 lbs since my accident... my guess is it is do to depression... this week i have tried to start eating 5 servings of fruit and 5 servings of veggies per day with some lean protein... yes, i know it does not sound as good as pizza or take out... but hopefully it will help me have a more positive outlook if my body can feel better..

Have you looked into a support group in your area? a group of people who have the same issues... it sounds odd but sometimes having someone validate your feelings and symptoms is a great help for your metal state...

Again, I am so sorry you are having to go through this... please use the people here that have been here a while.. they are VERY knowledgeable and can offer you a lot!

Galaxy,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sounds like it has been a rough time.

Have you had any diagnostics and treatment of your neck ? The initial numbness suggests a neck injury. Getting help with your neck may help with the concussion symptoms. Some gentle traction and mobilization may be worthwhile.

Are you being treated for the depression ? Likely, it would be helpful.

Hi Mark,

I have seen 2 neuros and 2 ENTs so far. I had a brain MRI which was negative. Hearing tests have been normal upto 8khz and Otoacoustic emission test was negative which indicates no cochlear damage so none of the ENTs were serious about any potential treatment and keep reassuring me that Tinnitus would go away with time. I tried piracetam and Gingko for 20 days but no luck.

I havent had any neck evaluations. I am seeing my neuro tomorrow and will talk about it. I hope he will think about it seriously and will not send me back telling me its just a minor concussion and will get better with time.

I am also seeing a phychiatrist who gave me some antidepressants. My neuro told me to wait for sometime and not take them and see if his treatment is working.

I'm so sorry that you are going through this, Galaxy.

I had similar feelings during the first month or two of my concussion. I cried constantly and was like, "Why me? Why does God hate me so much? My life is over." I mean, I really felt like it was over and I had nothing to offer anyone.

Thankfully, that got better with time. I'm 6 months in now, and I feel a little bit better each day. My doctor originally said I'd recover within a few weeks...then a few months...and now he's saying a year or two. Recover fully, that is.

As far as your walking goes, I am up to 1.5 miles a day now. I used to struggle to even walk .25 of a mile. I would take 5 or 10 minute walks, very slowly. Now I do 1.5 miles in less than 30 minutes. For me, that's a huge improvement.

You're on the right track with your meds and supplements, it seems. I think you will continue to improve. I think I had a big improvement around 4 months. I'd have to check my journals.

Do you have an iPhone? I have an app called Map My Walk. It makes it easy for me to increase my mileage by just a little bit each day. It keeps track of how far you walk and how long it takes. That keeps me from overdoing it.

Thank you for your encouraging words. I am sorry for your struggle and hope you continue to improve further. I am still trying to figure out what happened. I am overwhelmed by the experience and I am somewhat denying that I had a trauma and things have changed. Really hard to accept. No doctor has been able to tell clearly what's happening to me and that's scary. I am trying to maintain a good diet and eating lots of fruits n veggies. I don't run or even bump/jar my head. I am avoiding all uncomfortable situations and really listening to my body and taking plenty of sleep n rest. You can say I have withdrawn myself from the life totally and just go for small walks. I will look into the app you suggested, seems helpful. Thanks

Stressing out over tinnitus is a losing game. There is no rhyme or reason as to how and why we get tinnitus or when it may resolve, if it ever does. I have had tinnitus for over a decade. It gets very loud sometimes then, without any changes, it will lessen. A glass of cold water can trigger an increase in volume.

The best way to deal with it is to try to ignore it. The PCS brain tends to get obsessed with little stimulations. Trying to refocus on a distraction can be helpful. Sometimes, music or other background sounds can help.

I would not hold hope the stuff your neuro has you on will help with your depression. They are mostly memory aids. A broader B vitamin supplement might be worthwhile. L-Tryptophan and L-Theanine may help, too.

Hi Mark,

I went to my psychiatrist today. She asked me whether I feel that nobody understands me I literally broke down and started crying like a baby in front of her. She has prescribed risdone mt 0.5(risperidone 0.5mg) and nexito 10(escitalopram 10mg) each once a day for 7 days . I am afraid they will give me bad tinnitus spikes. What can I expect after taking them as I have never taken any antidepressants in my life? Any ideas?

Wishing you courage as you heal....and you will, but it is slow. I found it was helpful to focus on getting through each hour, and not looking beyond. Have a very short term plan - what do you need to do to manage the hour? And then another hour. And so on.

I would sometimes venture out for a short walk at night because it was quiet and dark. I definitely felt brain injured peering into lit houses (not like a peeping tom!!!) as I walked lonely through the darkness.

Now I can walk in the day!!!

Hang in there. Hour by hour.

If you can beat this brain injury, and you will, you will discover incredible inner strength that perhaps you never realised you had. And you can make a good life with that strength. You will know what and who are important.

Take care.

I'm sorry you're having such a rough time of it. I'm still kind of new to all of this too (7 months in) so I don't feel like I have any good advice. I do know that in the last week it has helped me immensely to come here and see that there are other people that are experiencing so many of the same things I am. I don't feel like I'm going crazy anymore and that's a relief.

I hope you find some comfort here and that you start seeing improvements in how you feel.