Hi all

I'm new to the forum and very happy to have found it. Such a wealth of information that I can relate to! I'm very thankful.

I suffered a concussion 5 weeks ago now and it has been a bad rollercoaster of a ride ever since. My injury occurred at a party when I was spontaneously picked up from under the knees and toppled over backwards more than 7ft hitting the back of my head. I had bad appraisals for the first week and pushed through which had negative affects the next week. Then I improved largely for a week but then declined again (despite trying to do all the right things).

All the up, down, up, down after this relatively short but confusing period has peaked anxiety and emotional instability in me tenfold. I now understand this is a common stage and symptom, but getting others closest in my life to understand this and the habits of PCS in general is the problem I feel I'm now facing..which is causing me more stress.

Can anyone advise or share a good resource on how to communicate what this is and what I'm experiencing aimed for others, namely employers and friends/family - not particularly parents or partners which I don't have. No one I know has ever experienced concussion like this and I get the impression my boss and closest friends are confused and believe I'm feeding them misinformation because they see me improved one day then appear dopey, depressed, teary and flighty the next.

I feel like one of the key things for recovery is having good supportive people around me (because half the time I feel like a lost and vulnerable 4 year old, even though I'm 26 years on from that)! I think until they understand more, I won't really get that support I crave, and I fear I'll continue in this lonely downward spiral. I really struggle speaking coherently alot now, so any resources around this would be fantastic. I've searched as best as I could for something compact and concise tailored to this but no luck.. even in the other threads here.

In appreciation of your anticipated support,
Tamara

Hi Tamara,

Sorry to hear about your injury. I can relate to your challenges & just recently got the best explanation @ vestibular therapy. She used the term 'flooding' and subsequently I found a website which describes how we feel compared to non-injured :brain injury-explanation.com

The section on Invisible Consequences should be helpful to you.
Don't push yourself- it only drags things out & delays recovery.

Take care,
Grace

Hello FuzzHead,
Welcome to NeuroTalk

I think it's like that for so many conditions... if people can't "see" it then they just don't understand what's going on.

I really liked the site that _Grace_ posted. I like the way it's set out.

There is also info. in the first post in the Vitamins Sticky at the top of the forum here.

This one included...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Xso4qGdlI
You look great - Inside a TBI

http://www.brainline.org/content/201...u-to-know.html
Lost and Found - What Brain Injury survivors want you to know.

Don't fear a downward lonely spiral as you say... think positively and rest your mind as much as you can.

Welcome, Tamara.

I just want you to know that you aren't alone struggling with this "lonely downward spiral". Seek out as much support as you can. Over time I have gotten better at explaining, but I have also gotten better at accepting that people will not understand a lot of what I'm going through. Check out the references Grace and Lara gave you - they helped me. Keep us posted.

Julie

This is helpful to me as well. Thanks!

Thank you Grace, Lara and Julie!

From the brief watching and reading I did thus far they are great..exactly what I was hoping was out there! Now just to decipher and work out what I should send to who and when. Ah too much in my current state at the moment. Symptoms have knocked me sideways today.

Best wishes all and thanks again