More on fatigue.

[Wazza84]

Hiya all.

Just read this article on fatigue after brain injury and thought I’d share 😁

bbc.com/future/story/201608...

[ErinSAH]

Thank you for posting this, fatigue is something I still suffer from a lot. It’s just a pity there is no cure or any reasoning to it. Just rest and trying to manage symptoms really...

[Wazza84 in reply to ErinSAH]

Hiya ErinSAH

I’m 7 years on from my haemorrhage and fatigue just takes over me when ever it feels like it.. but the article made a good read 😁

[ErinSAH in reply to Wazza84]

That’s strange, I had my haemorrhage 7 years ago too... April 2012

The foggiest, blurriest most tired 7 years of my life, haha...

[Wazza84 in reply to ErinSAH]

That is strange my haemorrhage was April 8th 2012... I don’t remember a thing about it but my close family fill me in.

[ErinSAH in reply to Wazza84]

Mine was April 28th, just 20 days after yours. I was on my own in the UK when it happened, I remember bits. I don’t think my bleed was as big, spent a month in hospital.

[Wazza84 in reply to ErinSAH]

I spent 1 year and 22 days in hospital.. 4 month in Salford hospital & the rest in Trafford hospital.. it’s all a blur.. my cousin showed me some videos of me when I couldn’t even talk when I was rehabilitating and it was bizarre to see me doing things I have no memories of. But in a much better place these days 😁

[ErinSAH in reply to Wazza84]

Yeh me too, 7 years on 😊

But what a remarkable story and recovery xxx

[lcd8]

Thanks! This is an excellent article. I really wish that more people understood that fatigue is a really common part of having a BI.

[Wazza84 in reply to lcd8]

I thought it was a good article too & thought people on HealthUnlocked would appreciate it..

Some/most people think fatigue is just being tired but it goes beyond tiredness..

[lcd8 in reply to Wazza84]

Definitely. Its a different thing. But a relative of my husband recently died of a brain tumour. Despite my problems neither he nor his sister could understand why the relative slept so much during his illness.

[Wazza84 in reply to lcd8]

Sorry to hear.. I definitely didn’t understand until it affected me personally, now I try to explain what fatigue after a brain injury is like.

[bexx87]

I still suffer from fatigue (18 years on) when i over stretch my mind and body *yawn* but over stretching phyiscally and mentally makes me me

I was told when you sleep it allows your brain to do a overall system health check and replace anything damaged like blood cells, it allows all the things you learnt, converstartions youve had during the day ect to all be files away hence why you are more likely to have weird dreams because your brains filling away everything and there are different phases of sleep where your brains does different tasks

Sleep info

sleepfoundation.org/article...

This is why we need more sleep as our brains are coping with navigating the world plus spending time on re routing neuons that a non brain injury person

Learnt about it in a cbt group thearpy session

[Wazza84 in reply to bexx87]

Hiya Bexx..

I fully get this.. when I do sleep for a full night I feel refreshed in the mornin and start to “do things” but by midday/early evening fatigue hits hard especially if I’ve been exposed to bright light i.e supermarkets.. I seem to be affected by light and loud noise..

[Miss_B_Haven]

Thanx! I have shared it on facebook so maybe some of my friends and fam will gain a greater understanding as I have.

[Wazza84 in reply to Miss_B_Haven]

Hiya...

Hopefully they’ll understand a bit better but I doubt they’ll ever know the true affect of fatigue 😔

[Miss_B_Haven in reply to Wazza84]

Agreed. And doesnt that just add to the fatigue sometimes?

I find incoming info to be mostly manageable, but outgoing , where I am explaining and trying to get understanding (on any topic) more tiring.

Interestingly enough, verbal is harder than keyboarding. I wonder why that is?

[Wazza84 in reply to Miss_B_Haven]

You’re so right... so much easier to type it out. I find most things tiring these days.

[Miss_B_Haven in reply to Wazza84]

What are the things you do to recover? For me it is mostly quiet that I need. preferably outdoors. Definitely away from florescents!

[Wazza84 in reply to Miss_B_Haven]

I tend to lay down in a darkened room with ear plugs in, it really recharges my batteries..

[Froggiefrog]

Fatigue, is, I am sure, many would agree, complex and with many route causes. Though trying not to stress over it, I know I will have the job of explaining this to a stranger next week too. My wound infection stings, so my sleep is poor, leaving me exhausted. I have to actively think about things that my brain could do on 'auto pilot', such as navigating, decisions, planning etc...which is exhausting mentally. I have to manage exposure to continuous noise and deal with people's ' You were sick, you had two ops, you're out of hospital' - you're fixed!' mindset.

The trips I take, daft nonsense I create and challenges I set myself are all a part of taking responsibility for my own well being, something I see as central to getting to wherever I can, health wise. In the perfect world, there would be a better understanding of individuals and how brain injury can affect them individually...but the world isn't perfect, so we are left with tackling issues like fatigue, memory problems, information processing difficulties and post surgery issues in the hope the people, or person, we need to, 'get it.'

People deal with adversity in many ways...not many in the way I do, but that's me being me. I COULD be angry about being asked to make it to a centre near Waterloo for 0900 on a working day to be 'assessed', but I choose instead, I just see it as slightly odd...and in many ways almost funny. 'Your appointment will be at our assessment centre in Hampton Court- in the centre of the maze'...Might as well have said that in their text!

[Wazza84 in reply to Froggiefrog]

Hiya..

I agree fatigue is very complex especially (it seems) after a brain injury. I feel fatigued after reading and writing to yours and other people’s replies.

[SillyPhil]

Yup. I had my accident in Jan 1998 and get horrible fatigue every day and have to sleep to recharge my brain

[Wazza84 in reply to SillyPhil]

Hiya..

21 years on and you still suffer with fatigue.. seems to be a lifetime disability after a brain injury😧

[SillyPhil in reply to Wazza84]

In my case it seems to be so BUT I have known of others who HAVE improved. There is always hope. Maybe you will be luckier than I. Good luck x

[Wazza84 in reply to SillyPhil]

Thanks SillyPhil, I could use some good luck haha.. my fatigue seem to of got worse after radio-surgery back in 2013, I’ll have to see what the future holds 😁

[Leonard68]

Hello Wazza84, I had a RTA in 1979, where my spine was forced up into my skull, my spine fractured my skull,not the schoo bus driving over my head-wearing crash helmet . I then had meningitis, now have epilepsy and other health problems. I sleep approx 12 hrs a day,I usually have a good 8 to 9 hrs at night then within 2-3 hrs have to go back to bed. I read on my medication leaflet,that my medication can make me tired,so I asked my Neurologist can he reduce them,he said,`Are you having less seizures,David?`, I said yes,his reply was `In that case why reduce your medication?`

[Wazza84 in reply to Leonard68]

Hiya Leonard68

Your accident sounds horrific, I can’t even imagine what you’ve been through.

The medication I take (modafinil) has the opposite effect and perks me up in the morning for a few hours then fatigue takes over, if you’re comin off meds surly it can only be a good thing 😁

[Leonard68 in reply to Wazza84]

Believe it or not, I have no memory of my accident,or being in hospital,only found out after I`d been out of hospital about 2-3 weeks,I had a bad dream of having a RTA, my mother could see there was something wrong,she asked whats the matter,did not want to tell her,but she kept on,I lost my temper,and Yelled `I dreamt I had a motorbike accident`,she looked at me at said `You have had one`,I replied I haven`t so she said `Think very carefully how you answer this questio,are you telling me you cannot remember your accident or being in hospital,at this point,I was like a volcano to erupt,she said calm down and look in the mirror,the moment I saw my reflection,I knew my life would never be the same.The right side of my head had all my shaved off,there was a very large Y shaped scar,and in the centre of it a dent in my skull,where they drilled a hole in my skull to put a valve in to release the pressure.Thats the first I knew I had,had a motorbike accident,the last pint of bitter I had cost a MASSIVE 42p

[Wazza84 in reply to Leonard68]

That must of been bizarre having no memory of the accident but seeing physical scars, I don’t remember a lot but I didn’t have a horrific accident 😧

[bexx87 in reply to Wazza84]

All i remeber is one minute im walking to school and the next i am being wheeled down a corridor into a childrens ward, my mum filled in the gap turns out i cant remeber 31st jan - 28th feb as i was in a coma and alot of things happened like my lungs collasping and my period starting on top of my brain swelling so i have scars on my ribs where they had to re inflate my lungs and i hate looking them when getting dressed or in the shower or if i have a itch on my rib took me a while to be able to touch my ribs (i also hate pillow fights which it a normal sleep over thing when your a teen and i dont like watching boxing which my ex made me watch and when people say can i pick your brain aka can i ask you a question) and i hate it when my period starts as they are all physical reminders

[Wazza84 in reply to bexx87]

What happened to you Bexx?

I was horrified when I felt the 2 little holes in my head where drains were fitted.. even to this day it feels weird to touch them.

[bexx87 in reply to Wazza84]

I was hit by a car approx 30ft in the air

[Wazza84 in reply to bexx87]

Ouch!

[bexx87 in reply to Wazza84]

It kinda left a massive dent in my right frontal lobe (see profile pic mri was taken at my 10 year anniversary)

[Wazza84 in reply to bexx87]

Don’t think I can see it 😬 how did you get a copy of your scan?

[bexx87 in reply to Wazza84]

I was part of a research group when i was 13 about teens starting puberty with brain injury

[Wazza84 in reply to bexx87]

I’ve seen my scans while with my neurosurgeon but always forget to ask how to get a copy 🙄