Epidural Hematoma

[wifeofbraininjured]

Hello there I'm new to this group and am hoping to get some advice. My husband suffered a TBI a little over a year ago while playing basketball in the driveway with our sons. He fell and hit his head on our driveway. He fractured his skull and suffered an epidural hematoma. The doctor performed a craniotomy a week later to remove the hematoma. He was symptom free for several months but now his headaches have returned and his dizziness also. He was given amitriptyline 25 for his headaches but that doesn't seem to be working. Any advice?

[Kirk5w7]

Hi there are other medications he can be prescribed for his headaches. Ask for a change, im taking pregabalin. Ok

Janet

[wifeofbraininjured in reply to Kirk5w7]

Thank you for your recommendation! Will give it a try! Any thoughts on the dizziness?

[Kirk5w7 in reply to wifeofbraininjured]

Not really, i still get bouts of dizziness its because his brain isnt interpreting the messages from his eyes and his inner ear, sorry the right terminology escapes me, BI you see). This was how it was explained to me and he could do with physio to help those messages get reconnected. I saw a vision therapist privately because i was getting nowhere with the NHS.

Janet x

[wifeofbraininjured in reply to Kirk5w7]

Thank you again!

[SillyPhil]

It's early days yet. Further problems/changes may become apparent. OR maybe he'll make a remarkable recovery. I still get headaches after 20+years. Lots of rest when tired needed. And don't let him battle to be the person that he once was as he could be setting himself up for disappointment. You both need to adapt to and accept the changed person that he now is. I wish you luck x

[wifeofbraininjured in reply to SillyPhil]

Thank you

[cat3]

25mg is quite a low dose of Amitriptyline and 200mg is the maximum daily dose. So, as your husband has endured those first 6 weeks of assimilation, perhaps he'd consider asking for an increase to see if it helps before changing. I always found the initial period of side effects a struggle when trying different antidepressants, but I stuck to 2+50mg daily of Amitriptyline for over 15 years before the SSRIs became available.

Just a thought..... hope your man finds something to ease his headaches soon ; I have Codeine Phosphate now for the headaches and Prochlorperazine (Stemetil) for dizziness. Cat x

[wifeofbraininjured in reply to cat3]

Thank you, Cat! Will forward your advice on to him!

[paulmac99]

hi sorry to hear about your husband i would of thought amitriptyline was to help him sleep as i took cardiac arrest in 2013 where i hit the floor very hard i now suffer short term memory loss as well as long term memory and finding life a struggle constant mood swings i don't have headaches as such but they prescribed 100 mg of amitriptyline a day to help me stay calm and sleep if i were you i would go back to the doctor and get something suitable for his headaches. { ps i hope he feels better soon}

regards paul

[wifeofbraininjured in reply to paulmac99]

Thank you Paul. I'm sorry that you are going through all you are going through, that has to be very difficult. Amitriptyline was found to help with migraines as sort of a "side effect". It did help my husband for a little while but then the headaches came back. But after seeing your and other's comments, perhaps he needs a new medication or higher dosage. Hopefully he will see his doctor within the next couple of days and I can give an update. I appreciate everyone's help here, thank you.

[paulmac99 in reply to wifeofbraininjured]

thank you wifeofbraininjured i'm pretty sure its going to be a long healing process for us all and trial and error on the medication side i really hope you can get it sorted and help with the migraines let us no how you get on.

regards paul