posts on hope and healing

[rriioottrriioott]

Originally Posted by vini

Please use this thread, to post success story's of your or people you know, or have heard about, that have recovered from TBI PCS to give hope and encouragement, to suffers and there family's

Thank You

reading this thread gives me great hope in my recovery from PCS. i'm 17 and i've been struggling continually since i was 14 years old when i got my first concussion. having chronic migraines sort of covered up the fact that i had PCS.

it wasn't until december of 2012, 4 concussions later, a psych eval, being told i'd never play a contact sports again, and turning down three universities for soccer had i finally been told i had PCS.

Due to the fact that i often lack emotion due to my PCS i never really grieved about loosing the thing i was most passionate about. most days i do experience a lot of hopelessness and depression, but reading that people have overcome this is exactly what i needed to hear.

I have an appointment at UPMC, yes where the Pittsburgh penguins and the Steelers all get treated for my PSC and chronic migraines coming up this month. i actually can't wait. thank you everyone for giving me hope again.

[dancingcavalier]

Originally Posted by rriioottrriioott

reading this thread gives me great hope in my recovery from PCS. i'm 17 and i've been struggling continually since i was 14 years old when i got my first concussion. having chronic migraines sort of covered up the fact that i had PCS.

it wasn't until december of 2012, 4 concussions later, a psych eval, being told i'd never play a contact sports again, and turning down three universities for soccer had i finally been told i had PCS.

Due to the fact that i often lack emotion due to my PCS i never really grieved about loosing the thing i was most passionate about. most days i do experience a lot of hopelessness and depression, but reading that people have overcome this is exactly what i needed to hear.

I have an appointment at UPMC, yes where the Pittsburgh penguins and the Steelers all get treated for my PSC and chronic migraines coming up this month. i actually can't wait. thank you everyone for giving me hope again.

Just have to say, you're one tough cookie and an inspiration in and of yourself! Best of luck at UPMC!

[Awarded]

Hi
I am desperately looking for skull fractures that included an open wound and success stories, or even risk % of getting meningitis after initial treatments are over-down the road. I feel 'normal', a week later, except I can't live with this constant fear
The neurologist that treated me at the hospital , was just not someone that would talk about anything but immediate present treatment, and after reading several information sites on skull fractures that include an open wound, I am plain scared, and this is affecting everything in my life, including the relationship with my husband, who just wants we to assume I;m fine and have life go on as before. If I even bring up my fears, he just does not cope and even with draws, which makes me even more depressed

[StormE1]

Most of my 5 major concussions (where I was unconscious for half an hour or more, up to 2 hrs at age 7) occurred before I was poisoned at age 39. I was working at a horrendous job, and had a "nervous breakdown" and was referred to a doc for disability unemployment. What I got was 23 psych meds in 18 months by 12 different 'semi-retired' psychiatrists. Every time I got worse from a med, a new doc would try his favorite on me. I suffered severe brain damage, going from a "gifted" IQ of about 145, to a "let's instititionalize him" IQ of about 65.

I withdrew from the medical system for the most part and began a "self-directed rehabilitation program"; just doing what it took to improve what i had lost: counting, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, knitting, etc., to 'reboot' my brain. I was tested formally by a Cognitive Psychologist 5 yrs later and found to have substantial losses in all areas of recall (except for significant losses in 'Retained Learning'), Spatial Manipulation, Math, and 'Administrative Cognitive Functions'. It is a miracle I survived on my own, mostly by the retention of my Verbal Abilities and my innate drive and determination to persist and prevail. My scores ranged from 85 to 100, where 100 is considered "normal".

In the 15 yrs following the damage, I regained another 15 points by dent of unflagging self-rehabilitation efforts, volunteering as a peer representative and attending the Rehabilitation Model Training as California changed it's Mental Health Services delivery system. There is no need to list the many challenges I encountered, the abuses by doctors and other caregivers for failing to be "compliant". In the end I am glad that I did it my way!

What i found that really made the difference in how well my brain recovered, it's Plasticity, was a auditory technology called Holosync. I was fortunate to get a grant to buy most of the program from an agency called CenterPointe. It is a series of CD's that you listen to with stereo headphones, and it feeds a different beat into each ear, which causes the brain to try to rebalance itself.

In the seven years that it took me to complete the course, i have regained another 20 IQ points! My obsessive thoughts and actions are gone; I have no panic attacks. I still have PTSD for authority figures and doctors in particular, but that is just sanity, from my experience!

I urge people to believe in the ability of the brain to reroute, reuse, retrain, rebuild, and generally rehab itself. And it doesn't hurt to have a little help.

StormE1