The unknown

[becky41060]

It's been 6 years since my tbi, my memory is short, my temper is short, I suffer from severe anxiety which adds to my daily collection of tablets, I often wonder what to expect next as I now never feel I can be what I left behind..

[Fificakes2]

It's been 7 years since mine and I feel similar. It's so hard to move past the big trauma of brain injury accident. I like writing my feeling down.

[Ghost-on-point]

Atleast you've found "Us" , Cat & more folk to Learn from.

It's Great Headway head vacation!

I'm the Happy Crazy one

[cat3 in reply to Ghost-on-point]

'Happy Crazy One' That made me smile Ghost ! x

[cat3]

Becky, to move on with your llife you must let go of what's behind. I wonder whether you've had counselling to help you get control of your emotions and learn to like the person you've become since your brain injury.

Short term memory loss is something most BI-ers have to get to grips with. It's 5&1/2 years since my brain haemorrhage and, though I still get frustrated at my lack of word recall and poor conversational ability, I've become better at coping emotionally so swear each time it happens, then let it go.

And of course there are various aids to help with remembering important dates, appointments etc., which many folk find invaluable. What works best for me is writing essential dates/times/events on my dressing table mirror in black marker. (cleans off with acetone !)

Do you have medication for your anxiety or any type of therapy ?

Please stay around m'dear and hopefully gain some hope from how it's possible to achieve a better quality of life.

See you later, Cat x

[sospan in reply to cat3]

"so swear each time it happens, " - Ladies don't do that, now do they

[cat3 in reply to sospan]

Who said I'm a lady ? xx

[sospan in reply to cat3]

One of the "first ladies" of the forum ......

[cat3 in reply to sospan]

😚 xx

[Hidden]

My TBI was in 1989 - so that would be (calculates) 28 years ago...wow!

It has been a long journey including marriage (my accident was 10 days before my wedding which took place three months later), depression, successful career, two children, undiagnosed hypoventilation, memory and fatigue problems, having to give up work, debt, depression, being dumped by my family, going on oxygen, ongoing financial problems, severe memory issues (probably from the damage done by years of hypoventilation rather than the original head injuries) and happy pills!

In other words the TBI has impacted and will always impact my life and those of my nearest and dearest. Reading the experiences shared by others on this forum and elsewhere suggests that it is probably unrealistic to have any expectation of 'getting back to normal' after a severe head injury. Rather it is about assisting one's brain to adjust/cope/compensate - to a different normal. Oh and being kind to oneself rather than critical. Still striving but accepting too. Of course many are not so lucky with head injuries and that is worth remembering.

Take care!

[sospan]

With my temper, I found useful is stepping back and trying to work out what I was feeling. Sometimes it was frustration, sometimes it anger that just builds up and needs to vent. These can be quite positive to let go and then once vented can allow you to move on and calm things down

Sometimes it was the anger to just pummel a particular person into the ground just because you wanted to see them hurt. That is where it can be physically dangerous and harmful to a lot of relationships.

Most of us have experienced episodes of all of these "rages" sometimes we can work it out ourselves however, many of us need specialist help to develop techniques to work out what we are feeling and how to deal with it.

It won't harm to talk to someone about it.

Concerns about the future and what we have lost is very common and natural. After my injury I lost a 40 year career, a huge amount of money and a lot of personal skills and my personality. I no longer have an issue over the loss. However, I still struggle with what career I can have going forward