Hi all,I am aware that after a frontal lobe TBI emotions get confused but is this usual 4 years down the road??
After a TBI in early 2018 my Husband displayed something of a personality change and having read a lot about his incident we understood what to kind of expect.
He would manically laugh or suddenly cry and we knew it was part of what might happen.
The laughing stopped completely along the way and the laughing became once in a while.
However, now he tends to break down crying randomly. He isn't particularly sad at the time, wont be thinking of anything upsetting at that moment and it stops as quick as it starts.
He does suffer with depression and is on Sertriline. His GP feels after 4 years this won't be to do with the brain injury, I am not convinced.
Is anyone else experiencing this?
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Hipchick09
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Hi Hip, the GP doesn't think this is to do with the brain injury, so what does he suggest it is due to? An injured brain does recover to a degree, but it still remains injured. There can still be changes even after four years as a consequence of the original injury.
Other area's that can effect mood maybe hormonal changes, these are more prevalent following a brain injury.
Also your husband is currently treated for depression, this may need to be adjusted, changed, or be combined to stabilise the depression.
If it doesn't have one cause, then there must be something else going on that needs to be found and resolved.
Sounds just like me! I suffered a TBI in 2008, also frontal lobe. I made a "full recovery" as it seemed around 5 years after but it has all come creeping back within the last 5 years. I now also suffer from depression now too. I have recently been reffered to a neurologist to find out what's going on. I have been told it could be due to scar tissue on the brain, and like any scar tissue, this can impact alot. I too can only describe it as feeling emotionally dysregulated. Numb, but then random outbursts. Plus going from one extreme to the next.
The family doc will want to rule out other things as it is due diligence.
Because, you can have more than one thing go on at a time.
A lot of family docs don't know bi that well - they don't get much time in on it during their training.
I would suggest giving Headway a call and ask if there is a neuro psychiatrist in your area, or one that does zoom appointments, that you can ask your gp for a referral to. Also ask what they think about it all.
People with bi's can have different reactions to medications than one might expect. You can also of course check with a pharmacist about this - a bi literate or bi interested one is someone you can also ask Headway about.
Everything with a bi is slightly different because it depends on what part of the brain is injured. Impacts on emotions are not uncommon. Mine are different and it's been coming up on 15 years ish for me. Things also do change over time, as the brain heals, as different pathways form. It is also true that often automatic systems can be effected - such as hormones, parathyroid, heat/cold regulators, etc etc -- and it can take a while for the impact of those not regulating as they used to to show up. It can get complicated.
Also check with the pharmacist about side effects. I looked up the antidepressant he is on and euphoria and spontaneous outbursts of laughter is one side effect. It may be possible, in his case, he gets the crying instead? Something to ask about.
(It is not my intention at all to give any medical advice and you need to check with a pro - here is the link I found that mentions the emotional outburst sometimes linked:
Four years is still relatively recent in terms of healing time for bi, though it is true a lot of people have healed up in that time - perhaps other than a few things that linger. A lot of people continue to heal, but more slowly, for years, and residual stuff sticks. Healing doesn't stop at any certain time. It's a long journey, no one really knows how it will go for a particular individual - the pros just kind of have their best guess - and there aren't many pros with a ton of open minded experience. BI is something still relatively unstudied and unfamiliar to a lot of people .
In other words, you are not wrong to consider the bi as involved in what is still going on. What the medical people think is something else.
Anyway, the neuro psychiatrist is the person who understands brain injury, mental health, and medications, and would know how it all fits together and how the anti depressant fits in to it.
Hey there HipChick09, I had a severe frontal lobe injury in 2008. It had a slight effect on my emotions, but I can say that I've been diagnosed with depression also and have been on antidepressants for a few years now. The depression originates probably from my TBI but definitely from the effect of the TBI where I lost my career and had personality changes X
I'm not sure about your partner's particular case, but I will share my situation with you. I had a brain hemorrhage 2.5 years ago (I found out later that this was due to a ruptured AVM) I underwent several neuro surgeries and now have a shunt to regulate the pressure on my brain. I have been told that this should be thought of as a TBI. I was on keppra and my GP prescribed sertraline both of which I have since stopped. I suffer the same as your partner but now find out that this happens twice a day EVERY day and I can do nothing about it apart from take myself away from everyone. My wife thinks I am being funny towards her and this is difficult, my doctor keeps telling me I should go back on sertraline, but whenever I try I get severe side effects so will not persist with this. I sympathise with you and your partner, I have no answers that help (neither do the medical profession in my experience). I am about to try daily meditation to see if this helps
tbi was the same. Cried too! Five years later felt emotionally baron!!! Even death of both parents, 10 years later didn’t raise a tear?!! Spent the next 20 years rediscovering many emotions, thankful that it made me unable to develope depression!! Takes a long time to pick n choose desirable emotions!! Good luck!!
I'm not sure about your partner's particular case, but I will share my situation with you. I had a brain hemorrhage 2.5 years ago (I found out later that this was due to a ruptured AVM) I underwent several neuro surgeries and now have a shunt to regulate the pressure on my brain. I have been told that this should be thought of as a TBI. I was on keppra and my GP prescribed sertraline both of which I have since stopped. I suffer the same as your partner but now find out that this happens twice a day EVERY day and I can do nothing about it apart from take myself away from everyone. My wife thinks I am being funny towards her and this is difficult, my doctor keeps telling me I should go back on sertraline, but whenever I try I get severe side effects so will not persist with this. I sympathise with you and your partner, I have no answers that help (neither do the medical profession in my experience). I am about to try daily meditation to see if this helps
Tel your GP they need to go back to school 🏫 as with brain 🧠 injury the person will never go back to life as before and will be left with everlasting problems the brain can't be fixed it's damaged and through time it starts to make different conecectins [pathways] in the brain. every day is different good days bad days it's a lifetime injury I am 13 years since my injury you start to become more aware [acceptable] of your injury but sometimes it doesn't make it any easier. A know this doesn't sound good or make it any easier, but tel your husband he is not alone and what he is going through is normal as everyone on here will tell you .don't give up try to accept the new life as for his depression a hate pharmaceutical giants as I am on a lot of meds for depression 😢, but one a would suggest is quetiapine a feel that one in particular is helping and even improving my memory.
Thank yo alfogor your kind support and information.I always read up about his injury and its a clear pattern. GP's need to understand that it isn't their field and reckless answers do not help.
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