LostCanadianGirl33

[ecleary63]

Sept28/15 I was hit on the top of my head with 3-3.5kg frozen ham. Was in a -18 freezer so could not have lost councious for long,15/20 min unaccounted for. Took 2 weeks for the headache to go away, another 6 before I was up and headache free for longer then 3hrs. Noise sensitivity/mental fog lasted until the end of January 2016. I attended physiotherapy as my left arm and side of neck were in pain. Went through 13 Dr's trying to get an answer. The general consensus was "..just wait you ll be fine". I lost 15lbs (on a frame that cannot afford it) and started sleeping only 4 hrs two weeks after the accident. That stopped in February. Still have not gained the weight back though. Can now watch an entire movie ALL the way through. Remember what someone told me over two weeks ago now. Ongoing issue would be my lack of interest in intimacy,sex,friends and my menstrual cycle is still weird as I just finished my 3rd one in 7 weeks and the first one was 7days of stop/start. Hoping to get some feedback on levels of normalcy for this as I am done with physical visits to Dr. You can only be laughed at so many times. Or asked if you like your job. Or not belived when asked about lifting. I work in a seriously physical job and am a small woman(5'4" &sigh 😧105lbs now) So apparently that means I can't lift 75lbs? Fascinating. Slowly coming back to me after over a year and wondering how much longer?

[steve55]

eclearly well obviously something wrong. serious bang on the head, you need to go to your gp not take any shit and tell him you need to know whats going on indide.

has the noise intollerance gone away, i suffer from it, i dont take shit from anyone, mind you i only go out at the weekends with my wife.

15/20mins is long time in that environment your small, ive worked with small women, theyre nice most of the time but they can be real ankle snappers.

i had an abi which affected the sap in the pencil........its all gone, but this will have something to do with periods and the fall in your oestragin levels.

dont forget dont take shit head scan blood tests etc .

steve

oh and i forgot.......welcome to the group

[cat3]

Hi Ecleary. Have you seen an endocrinology specialist by any chance ; they wouldn't laugh at your issues 'cause brain injury commonly affects hormone production resulting in menstrual disruption.

See your GP and insist on a 2nd opinion from an endocrinologist.

[Hidden]

Hi are you in Canada?

I agree get back to your doctors

[sospan]

HI and welcome,

Don't worry about being short my wife is only 4ft 11 - a bit like concentrated orange juice - a lot crammed into a small volume and what she lacks in stature she more than make up with verbal volume !

In the UK we do have a lot of guidance on what is expected "reasonable" to handle by yourself this is normally around 25kg or -55 lbs with varying limits depending on how it is being carried.

Back to your symptoms, from the people whom have posted on here, it is quite common that symptoms develop long after what can be a relatively simple bang on the head. A lot of it seems to be because the post impact headache masks a lot of the symptoms and when that subsides you notice other pains and grumbles.

What doctors quite often fail to take into account is that not having a concrete diagnosis "just wait you will be fine" Doesn't help as they never say if the symptoms haven't gone in "x" weeks come back. This adds a lot of stress which is the last thing you need when trying to recover. Hidden stress affects sleep and again this hampers the recovery process.

Have your doctors given you any medication or things to do ?

[ecleary63 in reply to sospan]

Still doing physiotherapy therapy stretch as my left arm sustained serious nerve damage. Lying on my left side will cause my arm to fall asleep. Still! Have actually given up on Dr's. Was given anti-inflammatory drugs no painkillers as I work with power equipment and WOULD not be able to safely run anything. Ironic no? However that was Dr#5 I belive and he was not working at clinic for my followup. Sadly this was a work accident so here in Alberta. Noone wanted to take a WCB case. Hence the multiple Dr's as I kept getting shuffled. One actually told me that I am A.D.D. Getting hit in the head evidently had NOTHING to do with my lack of concentration skills or emotional control. I can finish a book now though. Horay for me😉

[Gaia_rising]

Hello ecleary63 , and welcome to the forum.

I agree with what others have posted, in that you DO need further medical investigations, brains are complicated things, and there's no 'absolute' time-line or recovery process, we all repair differently, it depends on the nature of the injury, and the area of the brain that was injured, amongst other things. We do have a lot of medics fob us off with 'wait and see', but you have such a range of after-effects that aren't stabilising, you need assistance, or at least advice.

I'm with you on the weight-loss issue, I lost somewhere in the region of 42lb after my haemorrhage, 'no physical cause' according to the various tests, so it's broadly being attributed to stress. (I couldn't afford to lose all of that, either, but I'm 5'8" or 9", so had a bit more to spare to start with.)

The menstrual issues and intimacy/desire are likely linked, it 'could' be that the loss of body-fat is impacting on your oestrogen levels, or it could be linked to your head injury, either way, it needs looking into, because it's disrupting your life.

I smiled at your 'being told how much you should be able to lift' reference, I was disproportionately strong before my BI, and used to demonstrate that by lifting and carrying men heavier than me, I've grown out of that now. My weight loss and muscle atrophy since my BI mean I'm more likely to work out ways of using leverage, and lower-body strength to move things than attempt to clear-lift them now, but I get by.

Have a browse through the publications you can download via the Headway site? For some of us, adapting to life post-BI, it's a long process of joining the dots, and looking for answers ourselves.

[comanchero]

Hi ecleary 3 Welcome to the forum try to contact Dr John Posey who happened to be on duty when I was brought into hospital at Tulane medical centre New Orleans after my TBI I think Dr Posey is one the foremost Nuerosurgeons in the world contact him to see what he says it may help all the very best John