Hi I have been for counselling and I am confused

I hand been for counselling and told I had a severe head injury as I was in a coma for 3+ days my GP said I had a severe brain injury which is correct or are the terms interchangeable

Thanks

[bikerlifestyle]

yep same thing some people call it head injury, even i call mine both, i use head injury most the time because it sounds less severe and its sort of a coping thing where i try and convince myself its not as bad as it is

but on the official forms i put brain injury so there can be no confusion

but yes its the same thing, i just thing head injury sounds not so bad. which i like

[Hidden in reply to bikerlifestyle]

I agree sounds better

[Hidden]

There's so little known about the brain that it ends up with multiple labels all meaning the same thing. Concussion, head injury, brain injury and brain damage all mean the same thing as far as I can tell, some terms just sound worse than others. If you're in a coma for over a day it's severe head trauma (giving in my case a mild brain injury).

[kel1203]

I understand why it confuses you. They are basically the same thing. I suggest you buy a book from Headway (or borrow from a library)- it's called "Head Injury: A practical guide", by Trevor Powell. The book is very easy to read and simple enough to help you understand the effects of a head/brain injury and it gives you lots of idea's to help you cope with it.

[philstretchdavis]

I always tell people the official title: brain injury. If they want me to exemplify, I tell them " I've had a life threatening head injury". Either way, you will now begin a self re-education process, where you will learn again, how to live your life. It took me 10 years before I started to feel I was over it.

[bikerlifestyle]

titles are misleading

you can have a severe brain injury and recover well, with frw long term issues

you can have a minor brain injury which has a massive impact on your life.

its all about the affects not the title, i wouldn't get caught up on names and titles and just concentrate on how it affects you

thats how i define my brain injury, by its symptoms and long term effects

[lifelonglearner]

Hi - other replies have covered the answer well.

The only thing I'd add is that sometimes you will see, in addition to simple 'brain injury', use of the phrases;

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) , which I believe covers all causes of brain injury, i.e. physical impact to head, illness, oxygen starvation to brain, blood vessel bleed in / around brain, etc.

or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), which I understand to mean physical impact to head, although other causes are pretty 'traumatic' in my view!

best wishes on your journey towards adjusting to your brain injury and eventual recovery of a good quality of life.

[Hidden]

Thanks to everyone for the advice MUCH APPRECIATED

[Flumptious]

I had no fracture to my skull or anything, all the damage was done inside, so I always call it a 'brain injury'. I avoid the word 'brain damage', because it is very negative, although there is clearly lots of damage in there. I am 'blind', with bad co-ordination (so, awful hand-writing now!).

[Perseus in reply to Flumptious]

Do you have blood pressure problems since the injury? A friend who had a head injury and the specialist said it was lucky his skull fractured as it reduced the pressure. My head injury was characterised by abnormally high blood pressure 186/108 at worst from 120/80 tested just before. My sickness notes said Head Injury for two years and then PTSD. I still think it is the physical problems, hallucinations etc, were the bit that was causing the trouble.

[Flumptious in reply to Perseus]

No, I haven't had a blood pressure problem. TBH, I have no idea what my BP is, but I was still on the pill for several years after the accident , and for every re-prescription, they would test it, and say "OK".

[Hidden]

Thanks take a big hug

[Hidden]

Hi

yes it often reaches 202/100

Doctors did not relate my TBI till 49yrs after the event only had treatment for last 6 months

GP is supportive so I will raise this (pardon the pun) when I see him

[Perseus in reply to Hidden]

Because I was tested for blood pressure 120/80 at the hospital just before my injury, I can correlate my blood pressure rise to the injury. It could be coincidence, but I don't think so. It has gone down to 153/92 but it took six years and it can still shoot up under stress.