Hi. I'm new on this sight and was wondering if anybody suffers with brain overstimulation and what can help it. Thanks.
Overstimulation: Hi. I'm new on this sight and was... - Headway
Overstimulation
Written by
Ragdoll15
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
64 Replies
•
Yes I do, but I don’t know what helps it. Just leave the room? Small bursts of it,
Thank you!
Hi. Yes, I suffer from sensory overload that causes everything to shut down. Then I am unwell for several hours.
The worst things for me - noisy environments (I can't filter stuff out,) bright lights, groups of people talking, tv, (I can't take all the picture movement and endless background music,) lots of visual stimulus (eg. all the patterns and colours in a supermarket,) and anything where I get pushed to divide my attention.
I also have hyperacusis and very loud high or low sounds cause pain in my head and a horrible adrenaline rush.
I haven't found anything that helps really, I just try to avoid the things that affect me the worst. I very occasionally use sunglasses and earplugs to help, but I know that can make things worse if you use them s lot.
I am considering asking my GP to refer me to audiologist.
How are you affected?
Thank you for your reply. I find supermarkets are the worst as there is no easy escape, I might try dark glasses to try and dim the bright lights. I guess there is no easy solution other than avoidance, it really is awful because it limits any enjoyment of social life. I also suffer with tinnitus and get adrenaline rushes. Take carel
My local Morrisons supermarket does a "quiet" shopping time once a week, first thing in the morning. I think it's aimed at autistic people or those with autistic children. Unfortunately I can't ship them as I am unwell first thing every morning. It could be worth your while to contact customer services in your local supermarket (s) and see what they say.
The other thing which you probably do anyway is to go shopping when children are in school (horrendous in school holidays,) and when the shop is generally quieter (relatively.)
Good luck.
That seems very considerate of Morrisons to do a quiet shopping time. I rely on my daughter to go shopping with as I don't drive anymore because of this awful problem. I suppose I could always shop online but I really don't want to lose contact with the outside world, it's so difficult.
Yes, it's finding a balance. If I retreat too much I lose confidence and feel horrible. If I do too much my fatigue worsens and I get sensory overload and shutdown which is hideous. It's massively frustrating. I also find that because my cognitive functioning is ropey and I still want to do more than I can manage, I sometimes plan to do more than I actually can do.
Sometimes I just can't believe how noisy and busy the world is and I can't believe I used to filter it all out without even realising it.
I feel like you. I can't get used to not being able to do all the things I used to do. I just can't get used to the way I am now, it can be very lonely.
Yes, it can be very lonely, I agree. If I didn't go to my local Headway once a week I would never talk to anyone. I have tried joining a couple of local groups/classes but the chattering/noise and the fear of shutting down in a situation where nobody would understand what is happening terrifies me. I am still searching for some kind of social activity that I could attend.
People have said I should try volunteering. I would love to but because day to day my health is unpredictable, I can't be reliable (I hate that.)
I also really miss the social side of having s laugh with colleagues at work together with the intellectual stimulation my job gave me.
Sorry to go on, it's just really good to share things with someone who understands what you're talking about.
I'm with you in all you say its sad not to do the things you used to enjoy, I find it hard just having a friend round Also no one can understand just what it's like to suffer these symptoms. Its good that you go to Headway, I am thinking about contacting my local branch for help and advice.
I go to groups at my church but sadly I am finding it more and more difficult but I do find it comforting to be with people who really care and will not judge you.
I hope you find some group or hobby that can help you, I think voluntary work would be difficult as you say. Good luck!
Do see if your local Headway group is right for you. Mine has been a lifeline for me. It's amazing to be with people who don't need everything explaining and who don't doubt your symptoms or experiences. It's also the only place outside my home that I feel safe because if I become unwell they know what I need.
Marnie, I can't tell you how sorry and "relieved" I feel to read your post. I sometimes think I'm going mad and wondering whether I was making things up and here you are writing exactly my symptoms.
I wish I could have looked things up earlier but for the first year I struggled to use the computer. I couldn't read and absorb what I was reading. I was confused all the time. I could answer yes or no, but not when given a choice (tea or coffee?). All I had had was a hit on the head, I still can't understand how it could have lead to such havoc in my life.
There is one part where I am much better now and that is the visual stimulus. The first medical person I spoke to who seemed to understand me was at Moorfields. She explained that all the visual stimuli you mentioned are types of migraines. This is not what I had considered "migraine" but she explained that it was used as an overall term and recommended Candasartan. This is mainly a blood pressure drug but is also used for headaches. A few days later I walked into my local supermarket by myself (something I rarely did) and my eyes wandered over to the clothes. Before I knew it I had picked up 2 nightdresses, one with vertical stripes and one with horizontal stripes. I bought them and wore one that night. I suddenly woke up screaming at my husband - YES I had been shopping, looked at clothes and bought STRIPES. I hadn't realised what I had done - I couldn't believe that after just a couple of days on the drugs there had been a change.
I am not cured yet but it is so much better.
I went away for the weekend a few months later and forgot to bring my pills and within 2 days the visual problems were back.
Four years later I still have problems - background noises, bright lights (FL-41 lenses are helping but avoid the cheap immitations), I zone out with large groups of people but I am managing smaller groups now but not cross-conversations! I can work a bit on the computer, watch a little television so long as there is not a lot of movement.
It is so difficult to find anyone to give sensible advice. My GPs are very sweet but utterly useless when it comes to Post-Concussion Syndrome (or whatever you want to call it). I'm trying to find a neurologist who specialises in it but there are not many around.
I t was really good to read your post. Even though I know my difficulties came from my brain injury, it is still comforting (in a weird way I think you will understand,) to be in contact with someone who has experienced the same things. Whenever I have to try and explain this stuff to a 'normal' person, they can never imagine the impact these symptoms have on our day to day lives.
Because my injury was caused ( almost four years ago,) by a surgeon who then denied it, I have never had any support or assessment of my difficulties, (except for a neuropsychologist diagnosing me with PTSD.) I am waiting for a neurological rehabilitation appointment but it's not until July!
Can you tell me what type of medical professional you saw at Moorfields?
BTW, I gather from your post that you live somewhere around London? I grew up southwest of London and I still miss being near the capital (I live in Somerset.)
All the best.
Marnie I'll get back to you tomorrow - exhausted now. Thanks for getting in touch 
Hope you feel rested soon.
Hi Marnie
I saw Dr Sui Wong at Moorfields
moorfields-private.co.uk/co...
She recommended Candesartan 4mg tablets which have helped my vision. She also recommended FL-41 lenses. I have tried 4 different versions, 2 were from USA, eventually finding the best shade for me at my local opticians. FL-41 are supposed to be a specific colour but there seems to be a huge variation. The American ones were very pink/red which exacerbated my reaction to red lights. The UK ones are more orange/brown and I find more calming. It reduces my reaction to LED whites.
She also recommended riboflavin 400mg and magnesium 400mg.
I hope that helps
Overstimulation is one of the things I am getting used to. When I'm home I can control what's going on around me. Turn lights off when they are too bright. Turn TV off. I can manage TV and music on low volume. Going out though is really difficult. Being out I find I can manage longer than an hour. All the noise, lights and hustle and bustle makes me all jittery and I get unbalanced.
I also have noise sensitivity and tinnitus. Some mornings I wake up and everything is unbearable.
I have been using earplugs when it's bad or when out in a particularly loud or busy environment. Limiting situations that cause over stimulation. Having plenty of down time and if I do get over stimulated I find a dark room and quiet resets me within 30 minutes.
I think you just have to try and work out what works for you. Good luck.
Yes, I also get unbalanced which is scary because I feel I might fall which I have on one occasion. It does make life so hard and people do not understand. Is yours caused by anxiety? Take care!
I have a feeling it is anxiety. I have my first counselling session on Tuesday. It's so hard to adjust to it all.
Good luck for Tuesday, good you are getting help!
Hello there. My symptoms are similar to Marnie’s and have not improved after 5 years. I’ve seen 2 audiologists neither of whom could offer any advice other than wearing noise cancelling headphones. As I hate having anything covering my ears, that’s not really an option for me.
My condition is not hyperaccusis; it’s more a case of being unable to filter out noise or distractions. It’s as if my brain actively seeks out the thing that I want to avoid and then the internal battle to focus exhausts me, leading to shut down if I can’t get out.
I avoid noisy places and large groups of people, I phone ahead and book quiet tables in a corner and away from speakers if possible, I constantly ask if music can be turned down or off and I sometimes have to leave.
For places and situations which I can’t avoid or control ( trains and railway stations are some of the worst), I use acceptance and commitment therapy techniques to stay calm. That definitely helps.
And I hope this helps you. Good luck
F
Thank you. I feel the same as you, it certainly takes away any quality of life. Five years is a long time to suffer with it. Mine has been about a year and seems to be getting worse. Today I went to a church lunch and really thought I would faint. I just want my life back!
I experienced this for about 9 months. I didn't recognise it at first, only when I saw a specialist Neuro-Psych. I found with hindsight that most of the over stimulation was internal. It was the brain attempting to file information, but finding the filing system was broken.
Within your own home you can control things to a point. But if you live with family, they have to live their lives as well.
You need to explain what you are experiencing, and come up with a joint plan. I found that a blindfold and ear defenders helped me. You may find other props help.
In public, try to make sure you are with someone you trust, take little steps. Nine years on I still have problems with babies crying, unfortunately you can't avoid them. If I am caught off guard, my reaction can be less than sociable, for the most part I can cuss and scream inside.
With hospital, Drs, etc, well health care, explain your problems before you get there, sometimes this can mean you are fast tracked, given an appointment to avoid busy times, or you are given somewhere less stimulating to wait. Explain what may occur if adjustments aren't made. It might be better to get someone to advocate for you, that can be calm and collected when they explain your situation.
Unfortunately for me ultimately medication was the answer to alleviate most of my symptoms
Try not to stress over it, easier said than done, but you can get stressed over the potential stress you may or may not experience, that just becomes more of a handycap, because you start to avoid things. It is a learning exercise, and there are few reasons to think that your brain will not learn to manage.
Thank you for your help. I must make an appointment to see a neuro psychologist but I believe the waiting list is very long. Probably will have to go private as I need some help. The thing that I find hard is many people talking at the same time, I feel I want to scream. It's awful living like this. Do you mind saying what meds you are on. Thanks!
You should be able to get an appointment via the your care team, especially as the way you describe it, sounds very much like I struggled with, I got seen when I did ask for help very quickly, I was in crisis, it sounds like you are at that point or very near.
I know it is a bit of a post code lottery as to what services and how many people they have, but I would certainly mention that you are in crisis.
I had a melt down in a hospital because there were so many voices, banging, babies crying, it was an emergency appointment, not because of my head, but nursing staff responded very quickly to get me somewhere to calm down. It was stressful enough because it was an emergency, and involved my sight, I had gone blind in one eye, but give the care staff there dues, after that first appointment, they arranged for me to attend a satellite clinic for further treatment. Luckily I regained my sight.
I know when I was in Kent, the services were well integrated so crisis was managed well.
Where I am now, services are disjointed, I went into crisis, several times where I live now, mainly because of the GP playing with meds they shouldn't.
Sorry this is a long winded way of getting to medication. My specific medication, I won't share, I wouldn't want to plant ideas, but some of it treated my sleep, some my mental state, and some corrected, metabolic imbalance.
I started out rarely taking a paracetamol, to needing enough pills to rival a rattle snake. But that is what I needed. I was a RNMH, before my brain broke, that's why I wouldn't suggest specific medication, everyone is different, therefore what works for me, maybe completely different for you, and that is if medication is right for you, sometimes talking therapies can be effective.
Your first step is to contact your care team and spelling out in technicolour what you are experiencing. Say it as it is, if you need to scream, then that is what you do, the care staff you speak to, will probably say calm down, but they need to know what is happening within you, and the only way they'll find out is from you.
Please keep in touch, let me know how you are getting on, I haven't worked out if you can direct message on this platform, but I got an email saying that you had commented to my reply.
Small comfort, what you are experiencing, many have got through it, but they need the right help, pride has no place in solving it. And private services, aren't always good, they are there to make profit.
Thank you for your help. It's so hard to get help here (UK) the waiting lists are so long. I haven't got a care team, how do you go about getting one? Feel I need some medication but I seem to be over sensitive to them and get bad side effects from them. Will ring my doctor tomorrow and say I need more help. Take care!
Hi again. This whole discussion is very interesting. It seems that the services available are different in different areas.
It took me 18 months to even get referred to a neuropsychologist and several more months before I had an appointment. After that I wasn't offered any follow up treatment, but she recommended that my GP refer me to local services regarding my severe and chronic stress levels. I ended up having to wait several more months and then I was sent to the head clinical psychologist at my local mental health services to be assessed and treated for PTSD. I have had about 12 appointments so far, (assessment and preparation,) and I have just had my first actual treatment. I was hoping that this might help with the severe and unpredictable anger that I have had for over three years. I don't know yet if it will, but it is wonderful to have someone who understands trauma to listen to me.
Because I have had lots of contact and assessment regarding my mental health, I know that my noise sensitivity is not a product of anxiety. I shall try for an audiology appointment next.
I recently got my GP to refer me for an appointment with the local neurological rehabilitation service. I have not been offered any kind of assessment like that since my injury. When the appointment arrived it was for NEXT JULY. I saw my doctor this last Friday and he is going to write to the CCG and ask about other neuro rehab places I might be able to be referred to. I hope that works, especially as the hospital where I have the original July appointment is the hospital where I suffered the brain injury in the first place.
It really gets to me that I have been left to fight for each and every assessment/support etc. that I have accessed. No one had offered me any services, I have had to push for them. I didn't even know about the existence of neuropsychologists until I did my own research. I have never had any kind of care team. To get funded to attend my local Headway group I had so much trouble and delay (even having a social worker who told my advocate that I didn't really have a brain injury,) that I only got a decent social worker after I asked my local MP to intervene.
Apologies for rambling!
Well done for fighting to get the proper treatment. I think it's dreadful that you have had to wait so long. My story is very much like yours. I have had to research for the right treatment. I also didn't know about neuropsychologists until I researched the internet.
. I have a brain injury but they keep on insisting that's it's just anxiety. I know different. I don't want to say too much but a hospital gave me the injury. It does make you wonder what's going on? Take care and keep fighting. I am going to.
Have you got hold of your hospital records? That might help to clarify things. If you apply for them they have to also explain any difficult medical terminology for you.
No not yet, it was three years ago so hope it won't be to late.
Sorry my assumption that you have a care team.
There are two ways, 1. Get an appointment with your GP, he/she may prescribe something as a stop gap, the GP can refer you to the Neuro team. 2. Probably less certain, your local council will have a contact for the crisis team, this is probably the route you may have tried.
The GP will at least get the ball rolling, I know some GPs, you almost have to pre-book to be sick, if they offer you a triage call, accept it.
A third route is to approach the generic mental health service, you can usually self refer via their crisis desk, but they are generic, and brain injury is very different even if the presentation is similar. Wish I had been taught this as a student.
I have to explain this whenever I attended hospital appointments. They should treat everyone fairly, but brain injury tends to not scare general services, where as if they just get the MH, they seem to treat you like you are going to pull a psycho on them.
I was admitted a few years back, and kept in, unnecessarily because my now ex wife said I had mental health problems, it wasn't a happy outcome.
Just after she left I had an accident, I explained the difference to the ambulance crew, a very different experience was had by all.
Also contact Headway, they can help you, or even advocate 08088002244.
Just thought, another route is again via the council, social services have a crisis team.
Hope this gets you the help you are looking for.
Very interesting post.
I was actually under my local mental health service when I suffered the brain injury. I had been getting a lot better, so when I started to develop problems about 7 months after the injury (because no doctors would believe what happened to me or check my medical records and I had no guidance or help,) I asked several times for support and got exactly NOTHING. After a while longer I told the psychiatrist I was having suicidal thoughts. I was then discharged from the mental health services without any help or support. In fact I wasn't even told I was discharged, I only found out when I rang up to ask why I hadn't been sent a new appointment! It would be funny if it wasn't do appalling.
Apparently you can have a life altering brain injury that plunges you into a frightening and unfamiliar world, but you should just get on with it and not need help.
When I trained, we were not taught anything about ABI. Would have been handy, as we had a few patients with ABI, which we knew about, but only treated what presented as MH. I don't know if their treatment would have been different.
But what I have unfortunately had to learn through my own problems, it would have definitely changed some of the care plans I prescribed.
It is shocking that a service, even if wrong, should just discharge you without referral to the right service, especially if you express suicidal ideation.
I know some patients, when I worked community, would almost go into a panic when discharged, but we always were careful how we discussed discharge, and sometimes would extend the service if there wasn't an appropriate follow on.
Where I live now, there are no long term teams any more, all the community teams, whether physical, MH, even LD are crisis teams, there is very limited community services, as for getting an assigned Social Worker, they don't exist.
When I was PIP assessed, many of the questions were about services, they didn't accept that there were no services except crisis.
I know that feeling of just getting on with life. Luckily although I am relitively stable at the moment, I know that there will be a time when things will need to be reviewed.
I've got to admit it worries me. I know there isn't a cure, at least not anything in the near future, and that over the past six years deterioration has increased. I know next time I'm asked why things have changed, they won't accept I've got older!!!
I was hoping the GE19 would have turned out better for the NHS and social care.
Well I've rambled too much, I hope you are coping better now.
I did some training as a student psychiatric nurse back in the eighties (giving my age away,) at the time when all the big psychiatric hospitals were being shut down and people were going to be 'cared for' in the community. Even then the community services were never funded properly and things have now deteriorated even more. When I spoke to my GP about having been discharged from mental health services whilst having suicidal thoughts, he showed me a letter on his computer that said that one of the reasons that I was discharged was because of staffing numbers. When this (or any other government) fund NHS mental health services properly, they won't have to treat me - I shall have dropped dead from shock.
Age is but a number, me, I'm nine, if you only count from the hicup.
Let's hope it isn't shock that carries you off.
I remember community care and the closer of the hospital's, could never work out how it was cheaper to contain two people in the community with 14 staff, when you could run a ward for 30 or 40 with that many WTEs.
Well we will carry on regardless.
I have a FB page WE ARE THE NHS, if you believe in the original foundation of the NHS.
Take care
Thank you for your detailed advice I have madea note of it all. I'm going to contact headway as I believe they are a good source of help. I take it that you are employed in some capacity in the medical field.
So sorry to hear what you went through. It's scary that can happen just on someones word, life just does not seem to be fair as I've found out these last few years. Hope your accident was not too bad and that you are now getting on with your life. Take care!
I haven't been able to work since my brain hicupped.
I thought a couple of weeks, then a couple of months, I'd pickup where I left off, never happened, I was retired off.
Yes before I was a RN(MH) specialist, Lead Nurse in a London MH Trust, don't be fooled by the fancy words, like the hospital I was originally admitted to, visits from Trust Director's, from both Trusts. The nurses were terrified of me, lol.
Even GPs read that on my notes and are all of a caffuffle. 
Me now, I'm the same as anyone with a few problems, no better or worse, just I have certain knowledge, comes in handy at times.
Let me know how you go.
I also thought I would make an uneventful return to work. Nope. I hate not working. I lovef my job and I miss it every day (nearly four years on.); I started work when I was 16 and only had a break to go to university in my mid twenties and to train as a teacher a few years after that. Once you leave the world of work it is a terrible shock. Especially as I couldn't then pay my mortgage.
I was lucky, because of how I was retired, I qualified for my full pension, but it didn't save the house we had at the time.
I'd worked damn hard to achieve where I had got to, and I wasn't finished where I wanted to go. Wasn't meant to be.
That Neverland between becoming ill, being retired, and then never having a school night again, very abstract.
Unfortunately I didn't decide to move to where I am now, I wasn't well enough to understand, but strangely I was well enough to get a mortgage, go figure? Hate that phrase, "go figure", but couldn't think of something better.
I thought I was moving to the Midlands, maybe Yorkshire. The Angel of the North was a give away! I wasn't in Kansas any more. Lol. It is what it is.
Such a lot to adjust to. It's impossible to even describe a small percentage of the changes that happen to anyone who hasn't experienced it. The world has changed and you have changed. Disorientation. Wonder if the Scouts do a badge for it?... (Nope, must be thinking of 'orienteering!')
Headphones and calming music to start or a favourite band. Sod the phone telling you it is too loud drown the world out. I listen to rock now which calms me strangely.
I pretty much do it all the time even on my own, except when doing things...need almost quiet to complete tasks. More so on my own, but even when with my wife I have had to do so. Baby shrieks...aaaagggghhh.
When out and about and I always have a spare set of cheap headphones in my bag of tricks in case I forget my better ones.
I also have hypertension which makes me like a duracell bunny. The sleep clinic offered me tablets which calm me. Cannot remember the name but they work as best they can.
Glad I'm not the only one that the cute lickle baby can reduce to aaaagggghhhh !
I agree regarding babies crying!!!! I think nature gave them vocals that can't be ignored so that their parents wouldn't switch off from them, but for people with noise sensitivity the sounds are downright painful.
I was accused of throwing a dinner knife at one little person in a restaurant, when I really wasn't well, by my loving ex wife.
Reality was I dropped the knife rather than bash my head with it.
She never accepted how I had been effected, and the symptoms I exhibited. She thought I made it up. Lovely woman she wasn't.
Peace and harmony exists now, me, two mutts, three fish, and a dragon, even if it was one of the mutts that put me in hospital, the stupid great lump 😀
It sounds like you have had a very eventful time.
Sounds like a good idea having the headphones to drown out other sounds, I must buy some. It's sounds like you are coping well with this problem. Well done!
I have also started wearing my Daffodil necklace and spreading the word!! I find it helps even if it is just my brain thinking so.
Thanks for all responding to my post.
That a good idea!
I agree - but my constant losing stuff because of my memory means I now have a backup one!!
Oh I have 2 of everything...lol.
Some feel bad wearing them as it draws attention. I like it and spreads the word. It also gives me a chance to speak with people as well.
My solutions to help with overstimulation are:
1. if you can identify the triggers, then work out your maximum time and do 5-10 minutes less. Or if it is just 5 mins, then do 2-3 mins at a time. Do things like computer time, watch tv, being out with people and places in small doses over the week. If you do something one day, try and do less the next or following day.
2. breath focused meditation - initially using an app llike headspace but now I often do a few minutes to calm myself or a whole travel journey. Focusing on the breath coming into the body often feels like it is breaking up the overstimulated areas of my brain!
3. travel on public transport or in crowds with a peak capped hat you can pull to your eyebows. This allows your eyes to absorb less light and images and to close your eyes with out people staring obviously at you. Also walk slowly and use hand rails so you don't get rushed to make visual decisions.
4. daily light exercise. Walk.. in a park or off the beaten track somewhere away from too many people. Gentle yoga at home from an app like 'yoga international'. Tai chi, pilates or just move about, swing your arms, stretch your arms over head. Again start gently and for short amount of times like 5 or 10 minutes.
5. Acceptance of the new brain situation. Make small life changes, little by little. And find the joy in allowing yourself to do much less than you used to and that's ok and pleasurable. I am now allowed to just sit and look at the trees!
I suffer over stimulation too and my brain shuts down and it can appear as if I am having a stroke or a fit. After fighting to get every appointment after a concussion 2.5 years ago, I luckily found myself with a neuro-ontologist. He diagnosed me with vestibular migraines and also saw my brain and neck MRI (unseen by anyone else for the previous 9 months). Which was very lucky as he saw a compressed spinal cord from the concussion and helped me get to see the right person to await surgery to try and relieve the compression.
Good luck and know we are all here and understand your situation.
Your list is very good and well thought out. I do similar things to you, but my fatigue means that I am still trying to find a way to get out to exercise as I can't get out of bed several days a week. My GP is referring me to a personal trainer!!!!! (Laughs uproariously.) 😵😀😁😱
Great advice, you seem very organised. I know what you mean about your brain shutting down. I always feel like I'm going faint or even die. It's so awful, I do feel for you. I hope you surgery comes through real soon. It's good that we can all share experiences on here as it does help to talk about these things as it's hard to talk to family or friends because they do not understand.
Having read the post so far I can relate to some of the symptoms and experience with the NHS, concerning support.
Whilst I can have problems with some noisy environments, mine is primarily visual, supermarkets, busy road, railways stations etc.
As it comes on making sense of the world becomes difficult, I have to stop walking for the world to jump back in place and my balance is very poor, in fact I've been mistaken as being drunk.
I've a frontal lobe injury and measured abnormal attention some research has revealed attention is integral in processing both auditory and visual information and this occurs in the frontal lobe.
So after 18 years that's it, so for me it's about avoidance of certain environments and activities.
When my daughter was living in Leeds I would visit via Manchester Victoria or Piccadilly station. Walking across the concourse at Piccadilly and I'd be overwhelmed and exhausted, Victoria with it's big open space and I'm fine.
My bleed was in 2002 and my first contact with a ABI service was 2007 and by that time I had severe mental health problems due to stress, prior to that 3 Neurologists and a psychologist had told me I had no symptoms following my bleed. As the ABI service didn't have a Neuropsychologist I was directed to the mental health team, following the assessment They said as it was too specialised for them to help, as I moved I experienced this opinion a further two times.
My current GP practice initially informed me there wasn't a ABI service in Greater Manchester (GM), when I gave her the procedure for a referral to Salford I informed her it's in GM.
Whilst I've had brilliant service at some points I firmly believe that I wouldn't have mental health problems if I'd been seen by the ABI team following discharge.
I agree with you about supermarkets they are the worst possible place for me. I think it's the lights and so many people coming from all directions, I always feel like I will faint and cause everyone to stand and look at me. I also have bad balance problems like you.
Sorry that you have been having so many problems with diagnosis, I am also going through this and have been let down badly by the nhs they just don't listen and try to put everything down to anxiety. Of course I have anxiety who wouldn't after being stressed out trying to get a diagnosis. It's so hard to fight the system when you are feeling unwell. Take carel
I used to suffer from this in the beginning but I trained my senses by applying the noises around me everyday and increasing the exposure.
So for instance I would put the radio on very low and then increase each time so that my ears would get used to it.
The tv I could only watch for a short time, so I tried to push myself to watch a little more each time.
Also I realised that the exposure when I was tired was much worse. So if I’m out in the evening, I always take a short nap before going.
So it’s good to just have some ‘time out’
Hope you get a chance to read my book ‘room 23 surviving a Brain Hemorrhage’ it’s on audio book too. I wrote this to help others.
Not what you're looking for?
Moderation team
headwayukPartner
