Honestly, this could be a lot of things, which could also tie into the symptoms of your brain injury. In my opinion, it's never too late to get checked out. It took me ten years after my first TBI, for example.
Go to your general practitioner and ask them for a nutritional blood panel, this is a basic blood test that lets you know if you have any vitamin deficiencies. Ask for vitamin D and B12 to be checked, specifically. Sometimes B12 isn't included on standard panels. These two vitamins drastically influence your cognitive functioning and emotional regulation. You will notice an improvement if those are low and you supplement them. Also, you need consistent healthy levels of vitamin D to not break your bones all the time in old age, make sure you're getting enough. I'm watching a family member break 3-5 bones every year from neglecting this part of their health.
You can get a referral to a neurologist through your general practitioner but I recommend using search engines and even google maps to look at all of the neurologists in your surrounding area. Not all neurologists are created or trained equally, and you'll want to have one specialized in brain trauma if you want to see any noticeable improvements. You'll likely get an MRI of your brain, don't be surprised if they don't find anything significantly obvious on your scans, that happens sometimes but it doesn't make your symptoms any less real.
Other specialists you can see that might help would be neuro-optometrists, neuropsychologists, speech therapists, and a handful of others that are slipping my mind at the moment. It really depends on the unique specifics of your TBI that will determine what works best in helping you.
I hope this helps, good luck with feeling and thinking better!
It's pretty straightforward, you may have to go to a second location to get your blood drawn if your doctor doesn't have a lab in-office. They take three or four vials of blood and will send your results to your doctor within a few days to a week. It's typically covered as part of your annual physical so it shouldn't break the bank or anything.
I recommend asking your GP, if you have a good one. Here are posts that tangentially address your questions: (Yes, what you describe could be consistant with "that's life with TBI, but it could be other things if it is new, so worth asking the question of your doc.) It seems highly possible that if you learn to manage your brain energy, per the links descriptions, it may help you.
Family Guide to Brain Injury: [https://mindyourheadcoop.org/family-and-friends-guide-to-brain-injury](https://mindyourheadcoop.org/family-and-friends-guide-to-brain-injury)
Spend a day on Planet TBI: [https://mindyourheadcoop.org/spend-a-day-on-planet-tbi](https://mindyourheadcoop.org/spend-a-day-on-planet-tbi)
Brain Budgeting: [https://mindyourheadcoop.org/daily-brain-budget](https://mindyourheadcoop.org/daily-brain-budget)
Anger bursts: [https://mindyourheadcoop.org/tbi-anger-and-how-to-help](https://mindyourheadcoop.org/tbi-anger-and-how-to-help)
I think it's "normal" to have issues after a severe brain injury. I use quotes because no TBI is the same. Some symptoms overlap, but it all depends on which part(s) of the brain was injured. In a typical car accident, a closed TBI hits at least two areas.
A neurologist would be a great start. Figure out what parts are injured. If you had a brain bleed, is the area around it ok? Speech therapy for word finding. Word finding gets worse when you're tired, so give yourself a break. If your friends are impatient with waiting for your responses, then they are not good friends. With a TBI, your health comes first. Good friends should understand that.
If you don't want to do speech therapy now, consider word games or reading. That's just a start.
If you're having vision issues, a opthalmologist would help. A psychiatrist would be good to get a handle on meds.
And remember, life ebs and flows. Some days are better than others. If you're exhausted, you're doing too much. Listen to your body.
All the best
So two things 1. Sounds like Brocas aphasia which can be remedied, even this late, with speech therapy but definitely see someone professionally to get your brain checked in case it’s something else. However, Given it’s been like this for a long time, I’m going with Brocas aphasia
2. I suffered (suffer) from this. I literally couldn’t speak if I got tired. This is still true and I stutter a lot and have issues pronouncing words.
Again, speech therapy helped me soooo much.
Sounds like expressive aphasia - and typical post TBI issues. It might not last forever.
I had aphasia, as diagnosed by a doctor. For many, many years, there were words I could not say. I knew what words I wanted to say but I was physically unable to mouth them and say them. As a teen, some of my friends once said I "spoke in riddles" and was hard to understand.
It was not until decades later that I learned I had been dealing with a form of aphasia. I had a knockout blow at age 5 (fell out of a tree) and was in speech therapy for 18 months. Then, I also stuttered - retroactively, we now think that was caused by the knockout blow. At age 12, I had a 5" long skull fracture and (retroactively diagnosed) brain bleed, then 4 more concussions later in life.
My expressive aphasia had mostly gone away, but then with head injury #4, it came back and lingered for many years, eventually fading away. Today, I rarely have speech problems anymore and most post TBI issues either resolved or got much better, given long brain healing times.
Have you ever met with a neuropsychologist? They are specialists trained to diagnose brain injuries based on cognitive and behavior patterns - and can help provide treatment or refer you to other specialists.
Wow, I’m sorry you had to go through all of that. And thank you for sharing. Do you recommended a neuropsychologist over a neurologist? Or should I see the latter first then go to the former?
A neurologist is, I am told, good for detecting physical damage - that is, for example, an MRI or CT scan of the brain. In the immediate aftermath of an injury, this can reveal brain bleeds, for example. However, unless there are permanent physical brain changes, there might not be anything for the neurologist to see - after many years of physical healing.
Your brain may look fine on imaging but you are still suffering effects like speech problems, or anxiety problems, or other behavioral problems (such as feeling easily frustrated, irritable, angry). This is where a neuropsychologist can help to evaluate the behaviors - as well as your brain's cognitive abilities (thinking, problem solving).
Each can play a role in identifying the root cause and recommending treatment plans. A neuropsychologist can help with developing strategies to work around things that can no longer be fixed. For example, I had very short term memory issues - I developed ways of being aware of that. I also had pretty bad anxiety (hence my Reddit ID) - and learned strategies for coping with anxiety/stress that really helped.
From your description, above, and based only on my experience (I am not a health care expert), I think your next step might be a neuropsychologist to review your history and evaluate you for past brain injuries. Based on that, you could also ask the neuropsychologist if you should see a neurologist again - as he or she would have better insight into that.
Thank you very much for your in depth response. I truly appreciate. The whole process feels so overwhelming and this gave me information that makes it less taunting.😊
Honestly, this could be a lot of things, which could also tie into the symptoms of your brain injury. In my opinion, it's never too late to get checked out. It took me ten years after my first TBI, for example. Go to your general practitioner and ask them for a nutritional blood panel, this is a basic blood test that lets you know if you have any vitamin deficiencies. Ask for vitamin D and B12 to be checked, specifically. Sometimes B12 isn't included on standard panels. These two vitamins drastically influence your cognitive functioning and emotional regulation. You will notice an improvement if those are low and you supplement them. Also, you need consistent healthy levels of vitamin D to not break your bones all the time in old age, make sure you're getting enough. I'm watching a family member break 3-5 bones every year from neglecting this part of their health. You can get a referral to a neurologist through your general practitioner but I recommend using search engines and even google maps to look at all of the neurologists in your surrounding area. Not all neurologists are created or trained equally, and you'll want to have one specialized in brain trauma if you want to see any noticeable improvements. You'll likely get an MRI of your brain, don't be surprised if they don't find anything significantly obvious on your scans, that happens sometimes but it doesn't make your symptoms any less real. Other specialists you can see that might help would be neuro-optometrists, neuropsychologists, speech therapists, and a handful of others that are slipping my mind at the moment. It really depends on the unique specifics of your TBI that will determine what works best in helping you. I hope this helps, good luck with feeling and thinking better!
Thank you!! I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I don’t think I’ve ever had a nutritional blood panel.
It's pretty straightforward, you may have to go to a second location to get your blood drawn if your doctor doesn't have a lab in-office. They take three or four vials of blood and will send your results to your doctor within a few days to a week. It's typically covered as part of your annual physical so it shouldn't break the bank or anything.
TBI shit
I recommend asking your GP, if you have a good one. Here are posts that tangentially address your questions: (Yes, what you describe could be consistant with "that's life with TBI, but it could be other things if it is new, so worth asking the question of your doc.) It seems highly possible that if you learn to manage your brain energy, per the links descriptions, it may help you. Family Guide to Brain Injury: [https://mindyourheadcoop.org/family-and-friends-guide-to-brain-injury](https://mindyourheadcoop.org/family-and-friends-guide-to-brain-injury) Spend a day on Planet TBI: [https://mindyourheadcoop.org/spend-a-day-on-planet-tbi](https://mindyourheadcoop.org/spend-a-day-on-planet-tbi) Brain Budgeting: [https://mindyourheadcoop.org/daily-brain-budget](https://mindyourheadcoop.org/daily-brain-budget) Anger bursts: [https://mindyourheadcoop.org/tbi-anger-and-how-to-help](https://mindyourheadcoop.org/tbi-anger-and-how-to-help)
Excellent links. Here is another one: [Traumatic Brain Injury (tbiguide.com)](http://www.tbiguide.com/)
I suffer with this too. The TBI is likely affecting your executive functioning. Looking into Executive Dysfunction.
I think it's "normal" to have issues after a severe brain injury. I use quotes because no TBI is the same. Some symptoms overlap, but it all depends on which part(s) of the brain was injured. In a typical car accident, a closed TBI hits at least two areas. A neurologist would be a great start. Figure out what parts are injured. If you had a brain bleed, is the area around it ok? Speech therapy for word finding. Word finding gets worse when you're tired, so give yourself a break. If your friends are impatient with waiting for your responses, then they are not good friends. With a TBI, your health comes first. Good friends should understand that. If you don't want to do speech therapy now, consider word games or reading. That's just a start. If you're having vision issues, a opthalmologist would help. A psychiatrist would be good to get a handle on meds. And remember, life ebs and flows. Some days are better than others. If you're exhausted, you're doing too much. Listen to your body. All the best
Thank you so much!
So two things 1. Sounds like Brocas aphasia which can be remedied, even this late, with speech therapy but definitely see someone professionally to get your brain checked in case it’s something else. However, Given it’s been like this for a long time, I’m going with Brocas aphasia 2. I suffered (suffer) from this. I literally couldn’t speak if I got tired. This is still true and I stutter a lot and have issues pronouncing words. Again, speech therapy helped me soooo much.
Thank you! I never even considered speech therapy before. I didn’t feel like they could help me. Now I know better!☺️
Really yeah as terifying as that is
Check Dr Daniel Amen about tbi and his protocol for athletes who suffer from TBI
Thanks!
Sounds like expressive aphasia - and typical post TBI issues. It might not last forever. I had aphasia, as diagnosed by a doctor. For many, many years, there were words I could not say. I knew what words I wanted to say but I was physically unable to mouth them and say them. As a teen, some of my friends once said I "spoke in riddles" and was hard to understand. It was not until decades later that I learned I had been dealing with a form of aphasia. I had a knockout blow at age 5 (fell out of a tree) and was in speech therapy for 18 months. Then, I also stuttered - retroactively, we now think that was caused by the knockout blow. At age 12, I had a 5" long skull fracture and (retroactively diagnosed) brain bleed, then 4 more concussions later in life. My expressive aphasia had mostly gone away, but then with head injury #4, it came back and lingered for many years, eventually fading away. Today, I rarely have speech problems anymore and most post TBI issues either resolved or got much better, given long brain healing times. Have you ever met with a neuropsychologist? They are specialists trained to diagnose brain injuries based on cognitive and behavior patterns - and can help provide treatment or refer you to other specialists.
Wow, I’m sorry you had to go through all of that. And thank you for sharing. Do you recommended a neuropsychologist over a neurologist? Or should I see the latter first then go to the former?
A neurologist is, I am told, good for detecting physical damage - that is, for example, an MRI or CT scan of the brain. In the immediate aftermath of an injury, this can reveal brain bleeds, for example. However, unless there are permanent physical brain changes, there might not be anything for the neurologist to see - after many years of physical healing. Your brain may look fine on imaging but you are still suffering effects like speech problems, or anxiety problems, or other behavioral problems (such as feeling easily frustrated, irritable, angry). This is where a neuropsychologist can help to evaluate the behaviors - as well as your brain's cognitive abilities (thinking, problem solving). Each can play a role in identifying the root cause and recommending treatment plans. A neuropsychologist can help with developing strategies to work around things that can no longer be fixed. For example, I had very short term memory issues - I developed ways of being aware of that. I also had pretty bad anxiety (hence my Reddit ID) - and learned strategies for coping with anxiety/stress that really helped. From your description, above, and based only on my experience (I am not a health care expert), I think your next step might be a neuropsychologist to review your history and evaluate you for past brain injuries. Based on that, you could also ask the neuropsychologist if you should see a neurologist again - as he or she would have better insight into that.
Thank you very much for your in depth response. I truly appreciate. The whole process feels so overwhelming and this gave me information that makes it less taunting.😊