hi jake

it is good you have a handle on you condition and recognize the causes of it, its true many different things can set off the fight or flight response I think my PTSD was delayed by 5 months when I kind of woke up to the fact I have a tbi and sketchy memory,s of how I got it, its unpleasant but I tend to be able to talk myself down and avoid or limit the situations

kind regards vini

I just joined this site today and I am not sure if this is the place to post this or not. I fell on the ice on Christmas morning of 2008 on my way into work. Later that day I went to the ER at my local hospital. I had 2 skull fractures and two bleeding spots, one on my frontal lobe and one on my temporal lobe.Had Xrays and a CT scan. Spent the night in ICU, where the staff allowed me to dehydrate( had an IV line but no fluids) Next morning they hydrated me and gave me another CT scan and sent me home. My neurosurgeon said I could go back to work 3 days later although I had an extreme headache and he did not perform any sort of neurological test on me. He relied solely on the X-ray and CT scan to tell me I would be fine, just don't lift anything over 50 pounds. Went back for another CT and again, no exam. Then I went for an MRI with contrast. It was incredibly loud and painful. I was not told about how much it would aggravate my headache etc. The neurosurgeon then pronounce me fit to return to work with 50 pound weight restriction, once again without any sort of neurological test( check my pupils, memory, strength etc) I then went to a neurologist who diagnosed me with PCS, gave me an anti-depressant( I think it started with and A) and Darvocet for pain. I am still not able to this day to sleep well, concentrate or feel like my old self. I have experienced headaches on a daily basis, I feel confused and disoriented a lot of the time. I have poor short term memory and I am easily frustrated and angered. I sometimes have ringing in my ears and feel worn out and out of place when I go out in public a lot of the time.My libido is very low and i have blurry, out of focus vision and at times double vision when trying to read. As far as reading books goes, I have given up on that, although I used to be able to read 2 or 3 books a week. Most of the time I feel like I am in some sort of daze or fog. My girlfriend has been very supportive but after nearly 6 months she is getting tired of the whole situation. I was 50 years old when I fell, I am now 51 and my employer was kind enough to fire me from my job 2 months after it happened, even though I am still on Worker Comp. Even if I was physically, mentally and emotionally well enough to work , I am sure it will be difficult to find a job, given my age and the fact that I am probably considered an health or safety risk now.I hope I have not gone on too much, but after reading some of the posts here I feel like there are finally some people who can relate to what I am going through.

Mark in PA,

You are having a normal experience with Work Comp. Do you have access to your own doctor? Have you talked to a Work Comp attorney?

I would strongly suggest finding a Work Comp attorney who understands head injuries. Head injuries are very hard to get handled in a Work Comp situation. Does your employer have a disability program for employees?

Ask an attorney if your firing should instead be a "laid off due to disability?" This starts a clock for Social Security Disability. Some states do not allow an employer to fire an injured worker. Check this out with the attorney.

Also, find a brain injury support group and go with your girl friend. You both need to understand what is happening. Download Dr Glen Johnson's TBI Guide at www.tbiguide.com

Print it out and have anybody close to you read it.

Regarding attorneys, you might want to check with a personal injury attorney. Since you were going into work, this may not be a proper Work Comp situation. Employers try to use Work Comp because it protects them better by limiting the benefits to the injured employee.

At your age (over 50), Social Security considers you to not be retrainable. If you cannot return to your last job, then you may qualify for SSDI.

I am 54 and now on SSDI after a Work Comp head injury in 2001. Work Comp in California is a nightmare. The Governator (Ahnold) has made it very difficult for the injured to get legal representation. I hope PA is better.

Hang in there, you may be in for a long ride. The best you can do is wait and try to relax. Stay away from alcohol and other toxins while your brain tries to heal.

btw, Could you go by Mark in PA rather than Mark G? It confuses my brain damaged mind because I am also a Mark G. Just go to your profile and change your screen name. I see Mark G and think it is me. I quickly correct myself, but....

PTSD is not a chemical imbalance that goes away as Jake has tried to say. It is more like a physiological stripping of the gears in the brain due to the almost Obsessive traumatic thought patterns. The various anxiety syndromes are the common outcomes and even some more serious problems like delusions.

In my opinion, most PCS subjects have generalized or specific anxiety disorders brought on by the trauma and lack of strength of the brain to understand and correct for the symptoms.

I have suffered from PTSD without a concussion. I have studied it for years. I see a comparison but not a direct link. Soldiers often get PCS and PTSD from a single event or close events. The PCS does not cause the PTSD. It only makes the brain more susceptible to PTSD since the clouded thinking makes it difficult for the brain to understand the ongoing traumatic situation. This looping thoughts of the confusion surrounding the ongoing trauma results in high levels of stress with the stress chemicals poisoning the brain and leaving damaged brain cells. This results in the PTSD.

Any PTSD from a concussion is due to a pre-existing anxiety problem that prevents the rational acceptance of the injury. People do not just become stressed out worry worts from a concussion. The stresses that existed prior to the concussion (perfectionism, work-ahol-ism, over-work, prior trauma, depression, GAD) are only made worse by the concussion.

There is a syndrome that some call PTSD. It is the concussion subject who refuses to accept that their brain has been injured and by this refusal, they over-stress their brain into a PTSD like condition.

We can choose to accept our symptoms as real and work with them for improvement or we can fight them and over-stress our brain and get worse. I choose the former.

BTW, This stress reaction to concussion appears to have a link to a grasp of reality. Those who can accept reality do better. Those who fight reality have a life of stress and do much worse.

The serenity prayer says it well.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Hey guys, thanks for the posts. As I mentioned in my last post, I thought I was recovering from the PCS, but then I started to feel 'wrong' again, but without the physical symptoms of PCS - headaches, dizziness, etc etc etc. The depersonalization sounds very familiar. I think I will have a talk to my GP about that one. I am also getting a referral to see a psychiatrist (??), someone who will hopefully know about bit more about the human brain.

Any more advice on how to 'come out of the fog'??

starting here and working backward, I made several unsuccessful attempts to change my User name but no dice. Sorry.

I do not use any drugs other than Pamelor (nortriptalyn) and darvocet as prescribed by my neulogist. I dont use alcohol or any tobacco products and I have been a vegetarian for well over 20 years. I was in excellent physical condition until my injury.

SSI here is a joke, just not funny. I have already spoken to SSI regarding some assistance. I have to be out of work and completely unable to do any sort of work at all in order to get SSI. I can apply for DSS( disability security income) but over 90% are turned down and then you need to hire an attorney to plead your case. I am also ineligible for SSI because I make too much on Comp.

At my age and with my condition I may not be trainable but they can try to force me to do some work that I have done in the past. I have had several well-paying jobs in supervisory/managerial positions. But again, at 51 and injured the chances of scoring a decent job are minimal at best.

I have an attorney who handles the majority of Comp cases in this county and she seems to know what she is doing.I can not sue for personal injury in this state as I was on Company property and going into work at the time of the accident. I guess it is the Commonwealth's way of protecting employers. I have contacted several personal injury attorneys who said the same thing, I have no grounds to sue my employer or the corporation other than Worker Comp.

MY girlfriend found this site while searching for info on PCS. She has read may of the posts and she is the one who told me about this. I will look for support group locally but in the meantime this will have to do. Thanks for the info and the reply. Best of luck in your recovery.

Mark G in Pa

hi mark
PTSD
although I agree with much of what you say I beg to differ on one point, people I think can develop PTSD if it manifests as fear of or anger at a pacific situation, if it is associated with there injury event

I suffered with de personalization for several years. Started as a teenager, and got through it . It was at time maddening and very scary, but I made it through just fine. There were times when episodes would recurr, but they always pass. You must not think over and over in your head. You must relax and do new things and think positive things in your head, and you will get better.
Well, about a month ago, I fell and suffered a concussion. I would say it was moderate. I was way out of it intoxicated when I fell and hit my head. Now the depersonalization has come back. Has anyone ever experienced this?

I am not sure if any one can help. I suffered a concussion at the end of April. Had nausea, dizziness (especially when I turned my head or too quickly), severe headaches, and sensitivity to light and noise. I could not even sit down and read for the 2 months after the accident. The doctor kept watching and said I should get better with time. Over the next couple of months some of the dizziness subsided along with the nausea never completely going away though. The headaches went down to about 4 days a week so he started me on Topomax and sent me to a Neurologist. I tried explaining the to Neurologist that my neck was hurting and about the headaches and that my arms were going numb he said that I was experiencing anxiety attacks and go back to work and he upped my dosage of Topomax. I did not agree with his diagnosis of anxiety because I was going numb with some positioning on my head, but he would not listen. I went back to work though. I was sent back home after a short while because I was not functioning at the same level I was before the accident. A new neurologist sent me for a MRI of my neck no herniations thankfully, but I do not understand why the numbness in my arms when I am pulling things and the pain when I am bending my neck forward. I am back at work, my quality of life is not great. I am tired have trouble staying asleep because I will wake up with my arms numb and pain in my neck. I still do not concentrate very well. I want to try to go back to school in September I had been working on my Master's degree and had to take the summer off because I could not read or concentrate. Any advice on the neck pain or numbness?

Happier,

Do you have access to a good physical therapist? Especially one who understands Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS)? and is good at neck mobilization?

Most head injuries also have a neck injury component. A chiropractor may also help. Take you MRI files if possible. A Physiatrist (under Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine in the phone book) may also be good.

GP's and neurologists are just about useless with most head injuries.