I just experienced one of the worst days ever!

I had to ride a bus (passenger van) for an hour and then fly from Orlando to home (3 hour plane ride) and it was a horrible experience to say the least.

My head hurt excruciatingly and the disorientation was so severe I was stumbling. My husband took me by the hand and lead me everywhere. I also became so fatigued walking through the airport and getting through TSA that I had to continually sit down or I would have fallen down.

I was so exhausted and my head hurt so bad that I was close to collapsing. I was hoping I would just sleep on the plane for the 3 hour ride - but no such luck.

Then took a taxi from the airport to home which was another 45 minutes!

All I could think about was getting home and crawling into bed - but sleep eluded me even then. I went to bed at 7:00 PM thinking I was so exhausted I'd sleep all night but I was awake by 9:00 PM

(Yesterday) The day after was not much better. Today seems to be somewhat improved - still have the headache but the disorientation is better. I have vestibular therapy and speech/language therapy later today. P/T tomorrow.

I told my husband he was not my favorite person any more - I wanted to stay home but he refused to let me stay by myself - hence the 2 day car ride to Florida to drop our son off at college and subsequent air travel adventure back home - uuuggg

Oh boy,

I can remember those days. I feel so sorry for you. In the early stage of my recovery, I was flying from Idaho to Phoenix for an hour than on to San Antonio then driving to Comfort Texas. We were stuck at the back of the plane on AirWorst. I was visually overstimulated by all of the heads I saw every time I looked up. The airports are loud. My brother's house in Scottsdale was a zoo. San Antonio traffic was chaotic. I ended up having to hole up at our motel room in Comfort with my music for a day to get settled.

I am fortunate. Over 17 years, my wife has learned to recognize the environments where I will likely be over-stimulated and is quick to ask if I am doing OK. Just the other day, we changed tables 3 times at Red Robin trying to find a table that would not cause me to struggle. She knows that if I am struggling, she will have to sit and eat her meal across the table from a corpse.

Maybe your therapist can help you dissect the trip and inventory the over-stimulation so you can help your husband understand. Once he knows how to recognize over-stimulation, he will become your favorite person to be in public with.

I request the airline ticket counter assign me an aid for getting through TSA. It is a mandated program. I tell the airline agent that I need to avoid the chaos of TSA and they usually can help me do that. I have been denied boarding once and they tried to deny me boarding on two other occasions because of how I react to the chaos at TSA.

It is best to request this assistance 24 hours before your flight. It is part of the Access to Air Carriers Act, the airline version of ADA. Your husband cannot access the alternative path through TSA. The airline agent can.

My best to you as you recover.

How long since your concussion that has caused your PCS?


I remember those days. The good news is it does get better. I'm still not Overly enthusiastic about crowded places though nowadays I don't shy away from them. I recognize what's going on and remind myself I know how to handle things.

Give yourself a pat on the back though, I could not have accomplished what you did in the first couple of years after my accident.


Bud

I got my concussion Sept 20th - so not that long ago in PCS world.

My husband is actually very perceptive, kind, and accommodating - which is why he would not let me stay at home by myself for 4 days as he was concerned for my safety. I was teasing him about not being my favorite person anymore.


He had called ahead to the airline and received special accommodations on the plane - such as early boarding and seats in the least noisy and least turbulent prone section. So now we know about the TSA thing as well - thanks for that tid bit - every little bit of knowledge helps.


Thank you both for the encouragement.

Ya, sept 20 is pretty recent.

It fantastic to have support from your spouse.

I missed 10 months of work and another really rough 2 years and my wife had more faith in me than I did, I thought I was faking symptoms till I found this site.

Bud

Hi Blue Sky

I think I flew too soon after m injury and went from seal level to 3580 or so' to visit my daughter. I seemed to be ok the next day after flying there but coming back I had a terrible few days with full blown symptoms. It was suggest that flying was the issue but not sure that it wasn't all the activity of being with family, grandkids etc. I empathize with you and hope you feel better.

Susan

If you went to 3,580' you must have been in a small plane?

Noise can be bothersome in smaller planes.

I also had to limit grandkid time sometimes, even their little voices grated on me something fierce and I'm nuts about them! I would take longer trips to the bathroom for a few minutes of silence.

No problems any longer.

Hi Bud

Yes, Calgary is higher but plane was small. Totally agree about the grandkids, love them so much but need small doses.

I'm going on a larger plane next week to Mexicos so a little worried but it will be pressurized.

Susie

You will do much better on a bigger plane.

Been in little planes my entire life and didn't have any interest at all in flying for 2.5 years after my accident, the wind noise was way to much for my system to tolerate. I was able to handle a jet pretty easily before I had any desire to get back in a little one.

I am just fine now with grandkids and planes fortunately.

Bud

Thank you Bud, yes looking forward to trip with my daughter and 2 grandkids.

Best