Hi everyone I'm just wondering if others have been experiencing a recurrance of old symptoms recurring after being in quarantine?

I was spending a lot of time at home in a very quiet situation with not much stimulation, well almost none. I would go out only when necesssry and felt like old s&s were coming back. It was confusing at first because I wasnt sure what was triggering it but I felt it was the stimulation of driving, thinking, more computer time, paying attention, etc that could be causing this.

At home I was mostly fine but nausea was bad for awhile as well as peripheal movement outside of me started to bother me again . The more I stayed at home, then went out, the more the s&s would return. I would really have to work at relaxing with no stimulation from tv, computer, conversations, reading etc. I was usually only driving for a grocery trip or going for a walk as I really wanted to quarantine as, much as possible.

I started having headaches, nausea and inability to understand or even follow some conversations . I think I had conditioned my brain to accept noise and distraction and general functioning in life but when I was quiet for days, then went out and was busy it all came back and it started to made sense. Now I feel better but hardly go out again.

Is anyone else having this issue? Its been 2 1/2 yrs out since the accident and I thought I was doing pretty good till now. As the quarantine lifts I'll be out more and hope that my brain will get conditioned again to accepting "life".

Any comments would be appreciated as it can get pretty lonely living in the PCS world and trying to act normal.

Thank you,

Susie

What is S&S ?

I bet your daily activity level or lack of activity has messed up your sleep.

Get up early so you are tired at a normal time so you sleep properly.

Hi Mark thank you for your reply and suggestion. It has messed up my sleep a bit but not overly so. I'll try to become more aware, I have a pretty relaxed schedule anyway but do practice good sleep hygiene.

I've worked from home for years so this is nothing new, just the quarantine and staying mostly isolated in a quiet environment. Nice to enjoy but I don't think it is working for the brain somehow as it's complaining with my pcs s&s coming up.

S&S is signs and symptoms.

Thank you,

Susie

I'm lost trying to understand what you are experiencing. Every brain injury is different. There are no standard symptoms. Speaking as if your symptoms are understood without explaining them is not a viable system.

Hi Mark thank you for your reply, sorry to be so confusing as we all are different with our injuries and healing. Some of the issues are similar but that fact that we experience these at all is a thread that binds us and that's why we are here...looking for understanding or help.

Before I was at home so much I was doing much better but now that I'm home so much I react to outside stimuli with symptoms that had seemed to only be very mild.

When I'm at home it's quite insular and easy to cope with things and I have relatively little issues with dizziness, nausea understanding conversations that could be detailed and cause confusion and lack of understanding.

I was on the computer at first a lot more than usual and had quite a few issues that came up such as seeing double, rereading the same line multiple times and then trying to understand what I'd read at all.

I remedied this quite a bit by staying off the computer and only going on for about 5 min at time when I had to do something that had to get done. Less tv helps too but it doesn't affect me as much.

Going outside I felt very stimulated and unable to "keep up", speed of conversation and comprehension, driving and making micro decisions etc. It all felt too much and nausea, headpain came back.

I was just wondering if others were feeling this after feeling much better from their original issues to moving forward and enjoying life without as many headaches, nausea confusion etc when they go out of the home. I find I just want to go home where it's quiet and easy.

I was looking for some type of validation that yes this happened to me or no Im not affected at all. I know we are all different and cannot expect same experiences but "in general".

Looking at this now I think that perhaps I was just doing "too much" and may have overwhelmed my brain and it was just complaining. A little disappointing but nevertheless it's a reality for us as this seems to be the "gift" that likes to hang around.

Thank you for reading and wanting to offer help...very nice to be a part of this forum as this is my only place that I can participate and feel understood. I don't have family at home any more and have to "act normal" for work reasons although I have brought in extra help now to do the things I have problems with.

Warm wishes to all

It appears you are trying to do too much. The rereading a line of text is a classic symptom of brain overload. When that happens, walk away and do something different. When you are around multiple voices and notice a need to push or concentrate to follow the conversation, either move away to an area with few voices or ask the people to not talk over each other.

If I go to a restaurant, I need a booth near the exterior walls/windows so the voices all come from one direction. Corner booths are best.

You may struggle with complex sentences when there are other auditory stimulations. This is called over-attending. The brain is trying to attend to too much. Some would call it multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is not a virtue. It is very stressful to the brain. Avoid it.

In the US, The Americans with Disabilities Act requires the employer to make reasonable accommodations for people with our struggles. There is no requirement that we 'act normal.' Reducing auditory overload is a reasonable accommodation.