Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Concussion Syndrome For traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post concussion syndrome (PCS).


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Old 08-18-2014, 10:31 AM #1
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Default For those of you that no longer work...

Did you make the decision to leave or did your doctor finally say... "I am sorry, you will never recover from your cognitive impairments.. you will not be able to return to work"?
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The Start: MVA, t-boned, on 1-12-14 (my sons 5th birthday) and did not think anything of it.. my back hurt on site but everything else seemed ok. Lost about 10-12 hours from about 3 hours after the accident to the next day...Experienced terrible brain fog for over a month, plus intense headaches, nausea, dizziness, cognitive difficulties, disorientation, no short term memory, depression and just an overall hangover feeling daily.

Current Situation: I'm about 7 months in and my local neurologist has waived her white flag and therefore I am headed to Dallas to be seen (I have family there). The headaches are still daily. I have nausea, dizziness as well.

Drugs I have been on- Vicodin (off), Naproxen (off), proanolol (off), topamax (off), cataflam (off), Midrin (off), Flexeril (off) and now Namenda XR (off), Nortrptylin (off), Verapamil (off)

Therapy- Osteopath, Vestibular and balance therapy, fuzion/soft tissue massage, acupuncture

Drs- ER (no help), GP, Chiropractor, Neurologist and Osteopath
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Old 08-18-2014, 10:45 AM #2
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I had to stop driving in most situations. No congested traffic or busy metropolitan areas. My wife had to drive me to my remodel jobs but that got too rough on her so I finally had to apply for SSDI.

It's a tough decision. My NeuroPsych Assessment was a big part in the decision.
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Old 08-18-2014, 10:48 AM #3
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Mark- what did your neuro psych show? How long after? I know you have had multiple different head traumas but just trying to assess what my REAL chances are of ever going back to work... can the therapies that they recommend really help?
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The Start: MVA, t-boned, on 1-12-14 (my sons 5th birthday) and did not think anything of it.. my back hurt on site but everything else seemed ok. Lost about 10-12 hours from about 3 hours after the accident to the next day...Experienced terrible brain fog for over a month, plus intense headaches, nausea, dizziness, cognitive difficulties, disorientation, no short term memory, depression and just an overall hangover feeling daily.

Current Situation: I'm about 7 months in and my local neurologist has waived her white flag and therefore I am headed to Dallas to be seen (I have family there). The headaches are still daily. I have nausea, dizziness as well.

Drugs I have been on- Vicodin (off), Naproxen (off), proanolol (off), topamax (off), cataflam (off), Midrin (off), Flexeril (off) and now Namenda XR (off), Nortrptylin (off), Verapamil (off)

Therapy- Osteopath, Vestibular and balance therapy, fuzion/soft tissue massage, acupuncture

Drs- ER (no help), GP, Chiropractor, Neurologist and Osteopath
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Old 08-18-2014, 11:50 AM #4
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My NPA at 1 years showed severely limited short term visual and auditory memory and slowed processing. I had it repeated at 5 or 6 years with the same results. For me, it was a slow progression over decades that was accelerated by an injury on Jan 16, 2001.

Many on NT have seen recovery take a year or more but then were able to get back to a more normal life.
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Old 08-18-2014, 01:49 PM #5
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I am still deemed "unable to return to work" by my family doctor.
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1 year post-concussion caused by a high-speed MVA.
Driver to driver head-on. I was stationary and the other vehicle hit me traveling > 110 km/hr successfully breaking my sternum.
Diagnosed with chronic neuropathic pain, PTSD, somatic symptom disorder, depression, anxiety. I suffer from daily headaches, 24x7.
Meds: On prescription medication for neuropathic pain, breakthrough pain, anxiety, depression and sleep disorder.
OTC medications used to try and keep headaches in check: acetaminophen and ibuprofen.
Treatments: Physio (declined since May '14), RMT (declined since Feb '14), Psychiatry CBT (since Nov '13), Pain Clinic Nerve Blocks, Botox and Lidocaine Infusion (since May '14), SLP (since Aug '14), OT (since Sep '14).
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Old 08-18-2014, 02:07 PM #6
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Stopped work myself and Dr said to leave until better.

I could not get anything accomplished, I'd burst in to tears, forget everything, severe headaches, had spells of not knowing where I was, getting lost on the way to different areas, it was so stressful and made everything worse.

I have been told I'll never be the same, on good days I think..blah, blah, I'm going to show them and on other days I'm a bundle of tears.
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Old 08-18-2014, 07:01 PM #7
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So my test on Friday was for a test that is being conducted as part of a brain study... saw the neuro today and she is ordering another one... should be interesting... she after seeing me for 20 minutes said that there was no way where she saw me going back to work anytime soon... really getting nervous...
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The Start: MVA, t-boned, on 1-12-14 (my sons 5th birthday) and did not think anything of it.. my back hurt on site but everything else seemed ok. Lost about 10-12 hours from about 3 hours after the accident to the next day...Experienced terrible brain fog for over a month, plus intense headaches, nausea, dizziness, cognitive difficulties, disorientation, no short term memory, depression and just an overall hangover feeling daily.

Current Situation: I'm about 7 months in and my local neurologist has waived her white flag and therefore I am headed to Dallas to be seen (I have family there). The headaches are still daily. I have nausea, dizziness as well.

Drugs I have been on- Vicodin (off), Naproxen (off), proanolol (off), topamax (off), cataflam (off), Midrin (off), Flexeril (off) and now Namenda XR (off), Nortrptylin (off), Verapamil (off)

Therapy- Osteopath, Vestibular and balance therapy, fuzion/soft tissue massage, acupuncture

Drs- ER (no help), GP, Chiropractor, Neurologist and Osteopath
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Old 08-18-2014, 08:41 PM #8
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I made a decision myself. I used to do kids B-day parties either at our facility (I owned the business) or at any place of client's choice within our radius.

Obviously, handling a child's B-day party is a mission impossible after an injury like ours. Plus I couldn't handle any phone conversations, noises, anything that has to do with handling finances, computer, etc, etc. I still can't do most of these things. So, I had no choice, but stop working
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2002 - hit my head on a washer door while doing laundry. Recovered in 24 hours (was 7 months pregnant at that time)
2005 (maybe 2006) - kitchen cabinet (it took me ~ 1 week to recover)
2009 - refrigerator shelf, recovered in 1 month
summer, 2011 - metal rail, the life-changing concussion. Black out for ~10 minutes, spent ~2weeks in bed (wasn't able to even use a bathroom by myself). Made a complete recovery in 2 months.
October, 2011 - washer door again. Recovered in 1 months.
March, 2012 - kitchen cabinet again. Suicidal depression. Was diagnosed with OCD. Severe anxiety. Was completely recovered in 4 months, celexa is a magical pill.

After that I managed to go almost 1.5 years without a concussion! Was at a completely symptom-free stage, started volunteering at my kids' school again. I was living a happy life. Then,

August, 2013 - fell down the stairs, broke my ankle badly (my surgeon said that he literally has never seen anything that bad ever before and he's been practicing for more than 20 years).
September, 2013 - my son was hugging me and we bumped into each other. Result - complete return of all of my symptoms., no improvement with time. Severe depression again.

7/7/2014 - hit my self on a metal shelf again while trying to clean.


I'm not clumsy. It's just the floor hates me, the tables and chairs are bullies and the wall gets in the way.
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Old 08-18-2014, 10:41 PM #9
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I was told I would probably not be able to teach (university level). I taught one course last semester. It was very tough and I did not do much else but prepare, suffer, make mistakes and lie in bed when I came home (my poor children. )

but I wanted to prove them wrong. Don't give up. It is a very hard struggle but I see progress in bits and pieces.
Take care!!!!
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What happened: Legs pulled forward by a parent's hockey stick while resting at the side of the rink at a family skate....sent me straight back. I hit the back of my head (with helmet) on the ice, bounced a few times, unconscious for a few minutes. September 11, 2011. Off work since then…I work part-time at home when I can. It has been hell but slowly feeling better (when I am alone☺).

Current symptoms: Vision problems (but 20/20 in each eye alone!) – convergence insufficiency – horizontal and vertical (heterophoria), problems with tracking and saccades, peripheral vision problems, eyes see different colour tints; tinnitus 24/7 both ears; hyperacusis (noise filter gone!), labyrinthian (inner ear) concussion, vestibular dysfunction (dizzy, bedspins, need to look down when walking); partial loss of sense of smell; electric shocks through head when doing too much; headaches; emotional lability; memory blanks; difficulty concentrating. I still can’t go into busy, noisy places. Fatigue. Executive functioning was affected – multi-tasking, planning, motivation. Slight aphasia. Shooting pain up neck and limited mobility at neck. Otherwise lucky!

Current treatments: Vestibular therapy, Vision therapy, amantadine (100 mg a day), acupuncture and physiotherapy for neck, slow return to exercise, magnesium, resveratrol, omega 3 fish oils, vitamins D, B and multi. Optimism and perserverance.
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Old 08-20-2014, 05:28 PM #10
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From the time of my injury I was told by dr to limit myself to 10 hours a week and spread that time out. At results of 2nd neuropsych test 2 years after wreck the neuropsych told me to apply for disability immediately.
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My life has been interrupted by PCS (Post Concussion Syndrome) aka TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) due to a car wreck April 13, 2010. It can go back to normal any day now!
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