Small bleed & fatigue

[FWASHO]

Hello

I was in a road traffic accident in July 2019 and I experienced a very small bleed on my frontal lobe. I spent 10 days in hospital as I suffered badly with headaches and nausea. I have had some mild word finding difficulties and problems with focused attention but the biggest issue has been fatigue. I am currently in my final year of my PhD, working reduced hours and 7 months on I have at least 2 days a week where I hit a wall and feel completely zoned out, almost like I'm dissociating and have headaches/nausea. I still experience general fatigue on a daily basis. I know this isn't easily answered but I wondered what people who may have gone through something similar think about my long term recovery? I go from feeling overwhelmed to feeling like I'm not doing enough and striking the balance has been the biggest challenge for me. I find myself becoming randomly irritated and emotional. Any tips and advice would be much appreciated

[cat3]

I suspect you've underestimated the after-effects of brain injury and that your poor brain is struggling with the challenges you're undertaking.

Fatigue is the no 1 issue for most people after any type of brain injury. A damaged brain needs many, many months of recuperation to reach an equilibrium.

I was sleeping 14+ hrs a day for the first year and yet still exhausted after taking on minimal exertion. So at 8 month post-injury you still have quite a way to go.

Overtaxing either brain or body is a sure way to slow progress down, so please respect the fatigue by lowering your expectations and taking as much rest as you need.

Avoid alcohol/smoking and drink loads of water...….. and be forgiving of yourself. It's good that you have aspirations and ambition, but by trying to accept the need to slow things down you can reign in the stress and fatigue.

Good luck in getting to grips with this ; I hope there are better days ahead for you soon FWASHO. Cat..

[FWASHO in reply to cat3]

Thank you, appreciate you taking the time to reply and give advice xx

[cat3 in reply to FWASHO]

You're welcome ! Take care of yourself...😐x

[Sailingqueen]

Hi , I had a fall in July 2019 one of my injuries was a fractured skull resulting in a small bleed on my brain .I was totally unprepared for the after affects that this has caused.All of the symptoms that you describe and more. I am determined not to let this spoil my life but it has definitely changed my life I haven’t returned to work yet ,word and number retention and fatigue are my worst problems I am hoping things will improve with time .

[sethbovey]

Hi there. I had something very similar. I had no symptoms after my fall and after my operation and felt Ok on the whole. That was 2 years ago. I have some small changes but the biggest is the extreme inertia and changes to my emotions. I am a lot better in spirit and reckon I can put up with the changes, because I am alive and can function OK overall. Look after yourself and allow time to recover

[Annie-GBIA]

Hi, my suspicion would be that your fatigue and other symptoms are caused by the neuroinflammatory response still going on in your head.

The neuro specialists and neuroscientists are still on the bench about how to manage this because the research still isn't clear about how useful or damaging the inflammatory response following brain insult is. Some doctors/clinicians say wait two years before tackling this but of course, this understandably isn't really practical for people.

There is a huge amount of research about the effects and symptoms associated and at some point (medically unknown when this is other than to 2-year guess) you will need to address this issue if indeed this is the root of your problems. It might be best to talk to your neurologist (if you have one - if not perhaps ask for a referral) and talk to them about taking omega 3 which is a known neuroprotective and can tackle symptoms without pharmaceutical medication - which we know the injured brain can be very sensitive to.

When symptoms are relieved it is easier to build strategies to cope with any executive dysfunction or cognitive problems.

There is more information about fatigue here - globalbia.org/understanding...

You may also find this useful - globalbia.org/healing-your-...