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ON JULY 31st 2014 I fell off my bike, landing helmet first on the side of the street.
At the time I knew I didn’t feel quite right, but I didn’t have a scratch on me so I just thought to myself :”I’ll be grand. I’ll get through work, get a good night’s sleep and I’ll be back to myself tomorrow.”
Later that day I found myself sitting in front of a doctor being diagnosed with a severe concussion. I would later discover I had suffered a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as post concussion syndrome (PCS).
What is a TBI?
Like anyone else in my shoes, I didn’t really know what a TBI was. Is it serious? How long will my recovery take? What can I do to get better? There were so many questions.
But unfortunately there are no black and white answers. Everyone’s brain is different.
Over time I identified my most severe symptoms; what makes them worse and eventually what helps to ease them. But it really is a waiting game at the beginning. Which is extremely difficult. So my first piece of advice is to be patient.
What are the symptoms of a TBI?
My most obvious symptom initially was the pain. I had a constant, pounding pain in my head. So I started to keep a headache diary to help identify if there were any triggers for making the pain better or worse throughout the day.
I noticed that I needed sleep, and lots of it. The more I slept the less severe the pain was. My brain needed time to recover.
I struggled to concentrate. From work, to socialising, to doing my food shop. My brain couldn’t cope, causing the pain in my head to amplify, leaving my brain exhausted.
I became very emotional. It wasn’t a normal day if I didn’t cry at least once, be it from the pain or the overwhelming feeling of trying to cope with something I didn’t fully understand. I became extremely anxious and struggled to leave the house. Everything in the ‘outside world’ seemed to make my symptoms worse – noise, light, concentrating, the list goes on.
An invisible illness
I had to stop working. I couldn’t socialise. I felt isolated, alone and clueless. My symptoms were all invisible, so how could anybody begin to understand the turmoil I was going through everyday?
How do I explain how I am feeling to people and expect them to believe me when I look absolutely fine, maybe just a bit tired?
I felt like I was falling to pieces, but I knew I needed to stay positive. I would learn to manage this illness. I did everything in my power to find what works for me and my brain.
5 ways I manage my TBI
This is just some of what I have learned throughout the last four years of my recovery.
Linda Collins documents her journey at patiencelivingwithabraininjury.com where she also shares more tips for recovering from a TBI.
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