I had a road traffic accident in December 2018. I sustained a number of injuries including a bleed to the brain also known as a traumatic brain injury. I had to learn how to do everything again, from talking and eating to being able to stand up and walk. I am now about 80% recovered but I still have restricted balance, my speech is slightly affected and my left side is noticeably weaker.
Just looking to speak to people who understand and have went through the same thing.
Hi Finvola and welcome. I think most people here can identify with your issues. Few brain injury survivors escape the after-effects, the commonest of which are heightened emotions, short term memory loss, fatigue, headaches, inability to cope with excessive stimulus (noise/bright lights etc), balance problems & more.
I still struggle with balance after a brain haemorrhage in Dec 2011 and it's the bane of my life. I can veer off course when walking as my legs no longer obey commands from my brain, so getting to the shops and back is exhausting from the concentration required for staying on course, but I still refuse to drive such a short distance.
Are you having any therapy to help with the speech and hemiplegia ? I've enclosed a link which might ring a few bells and offer a bit of extra information & reassurance :-
google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q...
-- and you'll find the Headway helpline's tel no on at the base of the final page. We're always here to talk m'love so hope to see you again soon....
Cat x
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to me Cat. I am getting physio every couple of weeks but im not doing any speach therapy, however I am easing myself back to work 1 day a week as a receptionist and I do think this is helping with my speech x
One day a week is quite an achievement after such a short recovery period. And I couldn't agree more that, though it can be a lonely feeling after the safety of rehab, finding our own personal knack of getting to grips with each new issue, befitting our own particular lifestyle, is really important.
You're doing great Finvola ; long may your progress continue.
See you soon…..x
Im so glad you think so I was worried that maybe im taking it too slow and should try doing more days. I think one of biggest pushes for me is my friends. Im only 23 and so are my friends so there full of life going out and going shopping and even though they don’t put pressure on me to attend I want to do everything I used to with them out of a fear of missing out. So in a weird way I have them to thank for keeping me active haha x
Hi there, nice to meet you. 25 year veteran of TBI here. As Cat so eloquently says, most here will share the experiences you describe, my self included. Talk more whenever you like and somebody will pop up to have a chat...
It is very reassuring that I am not the only one. Thank you
I seldom post on here but understand what you are saying. After I had a horrendous car accident I am so tired and have lost my vocabulary, balance is restricted. Good luck in your recovery. Do t give up as your will get better and adapt
Hi and welcome.
You have done remarkably well to get that much recovery in such a short term.
Look forward to sharing all your experiences of the recovery roller coaster
all the best on your journey
Thanks so much. I think I was too stubborn not to try and get back to my old self lol
Whilst not being fully into the Astrology scene, my start sign is Carpricorn - the goat !
The stubbornness not to give in was essential to me but a lot of the medical professionals felt it was a barrier to accepting my injury. However, for me it was I knew I was injured but wanted to get back to as close as possible to where I was before. Strangely, nobody said how far or little recovery I could make.
What we have found is the huge disparity of rehab and aftercare across the people on the forum. Some had great support whilst in hospital but then discharged and left to their own devices. Others like the walking wounded group had no help, rehab or assistance at all.
I was in a rehabilitation centre for 5 months and while they helped me progress massively, I feel that the safe guarding held me back by not letting me do certain things. Thankfully I got weekend leave which allowed me to come home at the weekends and it was there i was able to progress
I had a closed concussion and the GP told me to take paracetamol and go home and sit in a dark room.
My balance was so bad that subsequently I fell down the stairs hitting my head several times on the way down. They took me off to A&E on a spine board and then after 5 hours sent me home.
At one point in A&E they did check that my eyes could follow a pencil - that was the end of the rehab 
No way! Thats a disgrace oh my God. Do you mind me asking where this was?
Swansea.
I live in the neighbouring health board which doesn't have an Head Injury support.
The team in Swansea have to take patients from the furthest westward point in Wales to Mid Wales to Bridgend on the South coast of Wales about 3,000 sq miles.
Quite rightly they prioritise the most serious cases first, then the walking wounded from their own health board. As you can imagine with the number of people getting injured all the time quite a few of us slip through the net.
Sadly it is quite a common theme amongst forum members.
However, if you are overweight, have diabetes, want to stop smoking - there is almost unlimited support and resources. Have a head injury really is a strange world.
That is truely awful. Im from Northern Ireland and as we are a much smaller scale there are less that fall through the net but size shouldn’t be an excuse!
The odd thing is that since our pre history when we started carrying clubs people were getting head injuries.
Yet fast forward to today, we are still so far away from accepting, let alone treating the effects of Head Injury
Hello!! 🤗 I'm also from Northern Ireland, believe me I fell right through the net! I've had to find (and pay for) my own help with concussion treatment/management suffering on my own for seven months before someone actually responded to my calls for help (even Causeway Headway didn't respond). Causeway Hospital didn't want to know and my GP sent me away with antidepressants. She also allowed me to stop taking them after a month not informing me of the consequences of doing so. I went sideways through the net screaming for help!! But hey ho... 😊🙏
Hi Finvola, my TBI was December 1st 2018. Like yourself I had to relearn everything, it is a slow process while your brain reprogrammes and finds new pathways. Your symptoms mirror mine, I do a number of memory games at home plus home physio on my weaker side, both have improved significantly. By far the most difficult thing to overcome is the fatigue, I ensure I take regular 'slob breaks and try to keep to a regular routine. I am fortunate that I have a very supportive husband. I keep my mindset positive, despite the TBI I know how lucky I have been, and that in its self keeps me positive. I am approaching the 1st year anniversary of the accident, I am a survivor and I will continue to get better and stronger. I hope you continue to do so too
I was in an induced coma from 1st December through to just after the New Year. I then spent 2 weeks in the step down unit before being transferred to the rehabilitation unit, I spent another 4 months in there before they let me escape😂.
All told I was in hospital 6 months bar a day. The rehab unit were brilliant, when I first went in I couldn't walk, had no use in my right hand side and had no continuous memory.
That is crazy how similar our injuries are. I too was in an induced coma for 3 and a half weeks. Fortunately there was no surgery needed but I did spend 5 months in a rehabilitation unit to learn to do pretty much everything again lol I got weekend leave which allowed me to come home at the weekend which really helped me progress
Unfortunately I had to have a craniotomy as the bleed was so bad. I did get home leave though, early April was when they first let me go home for the weekend, my husband did sneak me out a couple of times beforehand, like you it helped immensely with my recovery. I still don't feel complete yet and am still nervous that things may go wrong but I do feel myself getting better. It sounds like you are making a really positive recovery and well done you for returning back to work so quickly. Can I ask which rehabilitation unit you were in.
It is very normal to feel nervous after all its not even a year yet. I had no choice but return to work one day a week being at home all day was driving me mad haha. Im from Northern Ireland so I was in Musgrave rehabilitation centre in Belfast.
Welcome, Finvola. I hope you find the input from contributors to this part of the site helpful and useful. There is a wealth of insight and experience to draw upon, some of which, although not all, will be particularly relevant to you.
Im really enjoying it so far. Because im only 23 most of my friends and peers don’t understand but here I feel people really get it as they do have had similar experiences
Good to hear you are having a positive experience. Some of what you have to come to terms with would be a struggle for many to understand, regardless of their age, if it is outside of their life experience. You are, of course, far more than just a brain injury and the consequences of it, something that the people closest to you will either understand, or hopefully come to understand. You certainly have a lot to contend with, but, as one who strives to take a similarly positive stance with his own issues, I am sure this positivity will prove to be a valuable asset both now and in the future.
I couldn’t have put it better myself! I can either sit and cry about what happened which will achieve nothing or get up and move on with my life with a positive outlook.
Dear Finvola96,
First of all....Welcome, to our 'Forum'. I haven't read ALL, the replies, that you have received- I'll admit- so maybe some of my Comments might have been said before.
You already know that you have had a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), most of which, are 'Percussive' in nature- in other words your Brain has impacted your cranium, almost certainly by a Physical Trauma of some kind. Examples, of this, include Road Traffic Accidents, Trips/ Falls and even a 'Knock' to the head. (I met a man, through Headway, who was in a Wheelchair as a result of falling....off a curb and hitting, the back, of his head.)
This Isn't the only, possible cause however. My Brain, along with Heart and Kidney Damage, was caused by Vasculitis- an Auto-Immune Condition (basically your own Immune System 'Attacks' you. Yes, every bit as bad as it sounds, only more so.) Other Diseases can cause Brain Damage, as can, Parasitic Bites and- as we all now know- can eating 'Prion' infected meat. You don't say, in your 'Post', how you received your Bain Injury but, I strongly suspect, a TBI.
Whatever the cause the 'Symptoms' can be quite similar- obviously, in the case of a TBI, you won't have other Disease complications 'JUST' Dis-orientation, Dizziness, Lack Of Co-ordination, Memory Problems...…!
Do you attend a Headway Day Centre, or Support Group? If not it is worth, at the very least, considering. There is, very likely, a Waiting List so the sooner you do contact them, the better, as it were.
Lastly and I know that, I speak for us ALL here, I wish you the VERY BEST Finvola. Please DO keep 'In Touch' our thoughts- and Prayers- are with you.
Kindest Wishes
AndrewT
Thank you so much Andrew. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to me. I got my head injury as a result of a car crash were my car hit a tree. As a result of this my head shook so rapidly the brain ruptured and bled. What happened inside my brain was similar to what happens to a brain in a stroke.
I also wish you and anyone else who has reached out to me all the best
A bit about myself
Sometimes I hate myself
Brother in ICU following brain haemorrhage 12 days ago... preparing myself to fly out to see him
Brain injury or not?
Two years and I'm still about!
