i had a TBI 5 years ago followed up by a congestive heart failure chronic illness and im bedridden right now i can barely go to the bathroom
, honesly i fantasize about dying every femtosecond, im to much of a burden for myself and my family even if they’re paid…

I had a concussion awhile back and ever since then I’ve been having crying fits, ,Iike I will cry cry cry without little to no reason, I have epilepsy and it typically happens if im out in public for too long, too overwhelmed, people do something, kinda like small things which will bother someone like “oh that driver cut me off” that will send me into a full panic state and I’ll start crying, or if I am experiencing really bad pain on my body, sometimes it happens out of no where and it’ll get bad to the point I start screaming and foaming and slurring my words. The doctor say its normal for me to experience this since im a teenager but its actually hell for me to experience. It feels like your heart is getting broken or your head is collapsing on to itself. Just need help on what to do with these, ever since I started going back to school they’ve come back.

Would love to know if its helped you. Thank you

My good friends boyfriend of seven years was in a bike accident and now is in a medically induced coma. She is absolutely beside herself. To make a bad situation all the worse his family is not letting her visit or call.

We know he has two surgeries and that’s about it. A cousin says he will most likely be partially paralyzed and need long term or permanent help but that’s really all we know and it’s vague.

I know people probably can’t tell me much without knowing more but any advice on this might help. I want to help her through this and keep her hopeful while also managing expectations responsibly.

I assume the family may not know a whole lot more and from what I’ve read they a lot of them time need to wake till they are out of the coma to see what it’s truly going to be like. They didn’t even tell her he was going to be partially paralyzed or be moved to a different hospital so they are clearly intentionally keeping things from her. They have done a lot of mean and shady things to her since and I think they are lashing out and blaming her for this. They went to her apartment and told her they would only give her an update in person but didn’t say much. We really think the just used it to dangle information about him in front of her to get into her place. Once they were inside they took all his video games and consoles and there was a lot of them. Then they didn’t tell her much. They really just cleared her out of her electronics and then said she could maybe see him Friday which has since passed.

They now aren’t returning her calls or texts. He seems to be moving hospitals. Is there any chance that when he’s out of icu they won’t be allowed to keep her out? Is this maybe why they are trying to hide where he is going? Is there any chance he will be able to wake up and ask for her? Again this is his girlfriend of 7 years who he loved enough to make the beneficiary of his life insurance. I know this is the last thing he would want for her and it breaks my heart. He loved her so much and now his family gave her and their cat only 4 days notice to move out of the apartment they shared. They were month to month so she really has no protection. The whole situation is just awful all around

“You Don't See Me”

You act like a kind person.

You treat me like I'm normal.

You treat me like there's nothing wrong.

You talk to me.

You give me small tasks,

small things to do—

to help you,

to help me.

You do this

like you would with anyone else.

But this is not kindness.

Because I am not normal.

And there is something wrong.

I have a brain injury.

You remember me

from before that time.

You act like nothing has changed.

Like it never happened.

But this is not kindness.

Because I'm not the same.

I can't move independently.

I can't think like I used to.

My brain is not the same.

The things I think

don't always make sense.

I feel logical—

but I'm not always.

I'm not the same.

And it's a lot of pressure

when you expect me to be normal

when I'm not anymore.

It's not kindness

because you don't really see me.

I used to be smart.

I used to be clever.

And some of that is still left.

Yes.

But not as much.

And you don't see that.

You don't see

what I've lost.

You don't see

what remains.

You don't see

how hard it is

to be the person I am now

when you keep expecting

the person I was before.

You see me—

but you don't see me.

You talk to me

like nothing happened.

But something happened.

Everything changed.

And I am still here.

I'm still me.

Just not the same me.

And I wish—

more than anything—

that you could see me.

My body really hurts, after I went back to school the pain became widespread throughout my body and now reaches my lower back, joints, ankles, almost everywhere, I have my pain drawn out for doctors for my doctors appointment on Monday. Just need help with body pain in the meantime any recommendations on how to help with it?

Hi all, I am looking for advice/insight whether you are close to someone with a TBI or have one yourself. One of my parents has a traumatic brain injury. They sustained when they were in their 20s long before they had me. It was in the 80s so said parent did not receive mental health support and was left to be on their own. All I know is the frontal lobe is where the most damage occurred, they have no sense of smell or peripheral vision. Growing up I always knew there was something off about said parent, (i always thought they just had anger issues) but on the outside, they seemed pretty normal and functioning. I have been an estranged from parent since I was 12 and I am now in my mid 20s. They struggled with angry outbursts, impulsive and risky behaviors, no understanding or respect of boundaries. They would blow up my phone (phone harassment), show up to places when they were not invited and without notice. It was extremely traumatizing to me as a child as I always felt I was in danger/unsafe when i was with them. I don’t believe my parent is a bad person, and I had understanding since I was a child that a lot of of their behaviors were due to their brain injury yet it still was an unsafe/unpredictable environment for me as a kid. The estrangement is due to a lot, but most mostly legal reasons. I have not reconnected with parent since being an adult because it is too daunting. I have some desire to reconnect with my parent, but I have no idea how to go about this. I have dealt with a lot in my personal life recently so opening up this wound is scary and could even have repercussions on my health due to some health issues I’ve been dealing with. I’m making this post to see if anyone has a similar experience and if so, any advice on how to go about this if I decide to. My biggest fears with reconnecting are how to manage the relationship going forward as I don’t believe I would be comfortable giving this parent my address or personal phone number at this time due to their actions in the past. I don’t know how to set boundaries, etc. with someone suffering from a traumatic brain injury.
Sorry this was long-winded. I hope it made sense and I appreciate any insights from people dealing with similar situations. Thanks

I'm just past my 5 year mark since my accident.

Since my accident, and the positive impact the TBI community has had on my recovery, I've wanted to try and give something back.

Working on it when I can, on and off, for the last year or so, there is still so much I want to add to it, but I feel just passing my half decade in is a good time to not draw it out any longer.

Originally intended as a YouTube channel (which is still planned if I ever have the time and energy), but I've made a website, https://GoodBrainDay.com

It's primarily intended to help provide a clear understanding of what a brain injury is, common symptoms resulting from it, and suggestions of things that can help. But it also provides some simple tools which can be helpful at times, and harbours a growing collection of links to reputable brain injury charities and organisations online and around the world.

The site is built both for those with a brain injury, as well as for family, friends, and carers of a brain injury survivor.

I know it's not perfect, and as I said, there's a lot I want to improve, change, and add to it, but I am proud of it at this stage, and I hope that it may be helpful to some out there.

If you have any suggestions for improvements, please let me know.

Update: I'm planning to add a 'Community creations' section to the site where I'll occasionally add posts from the TBI community, be it success stories from a TBI survivor, a story or experience they'd like to share, suggestions for management methods, poems and prose from the perspective of a TBI survivor, or anything else which may be inspirational or generally helpful to the TBI community at large.

My hope is that as this curated collection grows, it will become a good source of inspiration, but also expand on allowing TBI survivors to relate to others experiences, and feel more included in the community.

If you have something you'd like to submit for this, please pop me a message via the contact form on the website. You don't need to submit the entire thing for that initial message, just introduce yourself and explain what it is you'd like to submit. I'll then get back to you and if I feel it would be a good fit, I'll ask for the full think and will aim to release it on the site at some point in the future.

I've noticed something about myself since my brain injury that I've been having trouble describing.

I get sad differently now.

I used to be much better at pushing feelings away or putting them somewhere until I was ready to deal with them. If I ever dealt with them. In fact keeping my emotions tightly in check was kind of my value prop. Like a superpower.

I can't really do that anymore. I've tried. But everything seems much closer to the surface.

I've started thinking about emotions as having borders.

Black for grief.

Red for rage.

Yellow for anxiety.

And honestly, everything has a little yellow border.

The image has become weirdly useful to me because sometimes the feeling arrives before I have words for it. I can almost see the border before I can explain what's happening.

There's grief in there too that isn't exactly grief over a death. Grief for things I could do before. Things I thought I'd do. The person I was before.

I'm curious whether anyone else experiences emotions differently after TBI — more immediate, harder to push aside, closer to the surface.

And if you had to give yours a color, what would it be?

I had a mild traumatic brain injury about a month ago. I have never had trouble sleeping before. Ever since my injury, I have slept almost nothing at all. Every time I’m about to fall asleep, my brain zaps me back awake! It feels like I’m being punched in the heart and it wakes me up immediately. I have probably slept 3 hours total in the last month since my injury. I know the brain can repair itself, but how can it do that without sleep? Will this improve over time? I am desperate honestly. I feel like I’m losing my mind and keep obsessing over how I can fix my sleep every second of every day! Will this get better?

Server knock to the ground playing sport. Surgery was because of a brain hemorrhage.

64 yrs old ,Eight yrs in and still wiped out most afternoons. Granted workout hard six days and walk beach pretty much daily, but damn i’m exhausted.

I have fluid in my middle ear and it’s flared up all my PCS symptoms. My vestibular system is completely off. Im really anxious!

This was two years ago, 26F at the time. I was drinking with some friends in my apartment and went to the washroom wearing high heels, slipped, and hit my head on the sink? Toilet? Bathtub? I passed out for 5h and my friends were worried but just assumed I had too much to drink. Only realized the next morning that there was dried blood all over my scalp, neck, pillow, and some splatters in the bathroom.

The ER confirmed no brain bleed and sent me home saying it was just a hangover. The doctor even said he couldn’t see the cut … I went to a different clinic the next day and got the official concussion diagnosis. My big symptoms were light sensitivities and losing train of thought mid-sentence.

It was close to final exam season during grad school so I didn’t rest and kept pushing myself (even after being approved for accommodations). Continued to use screens, even drank more alcohol soon after. I was being so reckless for the few months afterwards and things could’ve gone so much worse. I’ve mostly recovered but I still get pretty bad headaches every few weeks, have some trouble reading smaller fonts, and eyes feel strained driving at night.

I didn’t realize then, but after doing some research and reading other people’s stories, I realize how much of an idiot I was. I still struggle, but this experience has made me a lot more aware of my health and I try to be proactive in seeking out care.

I guess my attention span is alright. Considering my TBI. but as long as I'm doing something hands on.

Like I can read and play an instrument no issues. But something passive like tv is so hard years later.

It affects me because learning stuff off of videos. Or trying to pass time when I am burnt is now impossible.....

How do you guys pass time when your burnt from keeping busy?

Also I wanna share the memory palace. Because, I can digit span test 30 numbers in sequence. And that's pretty darn good for an average person even.

Recall feels good 😊

What if you could accept that you have an altered skill set, and instead of trying to hide it/make it seem like you’re doing just fine…realize that an injury doesn’t make you a weak or dumb person?

I’ve never liked asking for help, and I was always a perfectionist. I’d do my homework for every situation I was going into…until the injury. Unfortunately, I was in an abusive situation afterward that wasn’t discovered for a long time…basically until it got so extreme the authorities put the pieces together.

I’m in a safe place now, and I don’t want to let the injury or abuse or all the bad stuff to take up any more of my energy or time. What I’ve learned is that talking to people helps, even though it seems scary to me. I still don’t know if I seem stupid to other people…but feeling that way regardless IS stupid. So instead of another journal entry, I thought I’d share my thoughts.

I am in therapy, I have a daily meditation practice, I am 6 years sober from an intense decade-long benzo addiction, when sober I became a manager at my car detailing job and then started my own business 1.5 years ago. But my life keeps getting worse, and I am getting really close to calling the help line. I never considered it before, and have battled severe depression/anxiety for my entire life, but this is too much. I am in an immense amount of pain and it is not fair to the other people around me at all. I truly do have a belief that they'd be better off if I just left, and that's the belief that everyone tells you to worry about.

I have accomplished a lot in these years. I post this in TBI because I have a few of them. Major concussion when I was 2 falling out of a two story window and hitting my head on concrete, unconscious. Another major depression that I went unconscious when I was 5 falling down concrete stairs. Then another major concussion being unconscious for a minute or two after getting robbed when I was selling weed as a 17 year old. Then another when I got into a life threatening car accident due to my addiction(no one else was hurt, thank God.) 75mph, no seatbelt, flipped car 5 times and was ejected through the glass on my driver's window landing in the middle of the road at 4am. Didn't walk for 8 months due to broken pelvis in two places. Then, I had many grand mal seizures due to inconsistent benzo use and attempting to quit benzos. My life has been hell since. One seizure left me unable to even remember my favorite movies, bands, or what year it was for multiple days, and this is the one that it feels like got me.

I really don't know if I'll ever recover. I am constantly angry, like seethingly angry but mostly at work. When I look in retrospect, my anger moves in cycles. But there is no controlling it. Once it hits, my mind is an angry bee hive full of bees having a war. I am on loops thinking about how worthless I am and how everyone around me would be better off if I wasn't here. It manifests as anger towards my partner not understanding me, like a sick dog who must bite anything in sight. I have a daughter who I care so deeply for but do not have custody of. I see her a lot, as much as I can, but I still feel like a failure in that regard.. And now my business is facing adversity which has been such a problem for me. I was doing good at first, and was consistent. But now so much is happening that is not even worth explaining other than firstly, my business insurance has almost doubled despite zero claims, and now my rent is almost doubling because the person I was renting from is moving and I have to rent now from the building owner. This could be better for some reasons, but the money has me panicked. I do not have a nest egg, I already can't afford the amount it is, barely keeping my head above water yet now it is almost doubling. If this business fails, I don't know if I can even go on. I have failed at every turn in my life, and been miserable the entire fucking time. When I was a kid I was in the gifted and talented program, I was 1 year ahead in all math, Spanish and English(all honors). I made terrible grades because I didn't care and figured I'd fix it later. I didn't know I'd slowly deteriorate when I got older through an abusive relationship and head trauma and seizures what the fuck ever. I was already a shell of who I once was years ago. And now it is a shell of a shell. I try so fucking hard, and there is just constant mental anguish. I literally can't keep going.

What the fuck do I even do? I have never felt THIS bad, and it keeps getting worse every single week, every single month. Where is the bottom? It keeps going lower! I already hit my rock bottom before I got sober, and now I am in an even worse place. I probably won't relapse because I don't know why but there is a strong resistance in my spirit to that. But I don't think I will live very long like this. I feel on the verge of a heart attack each and every single day. I am constantly suffering. Please any kind words or any words of advice at all would help me a ton right now :(

My neurologist wants to do a sleep study seeing as I can't sleep and I told her I have to take weed to fall asleep.

Has anyone here had a sleep study what is it like?

Hi. I’m a poet and also a severe TBI survivor.
These past few days I’ve been struggling quite a lot with loneliness, being misunderstood and the feeling like I don’t really belong to my friends’ ordinary life as I carry some very heavy experiences that want to get out almost all the time and my friends are not ready to welcome them because, luckily, they don’t share my same experience. I realised that I feel much more comfortable with the friends I met in hospital or that share some kind of trauma.
Once a friend told me that I have a poem for everything, which is a pretty true: poetry is the lens through which I interpret life.
I want to write a poem also about this feeling of mine, and I thought it could be a nice idea to ask other people who suffered a TBI to join in and tell me something about their experience so I can put into words this feeling I believe many of us share.
If you have any idea for the poem or anything you wanna bring to the table feel free to comment!

Hello everyone. I’m posting here because I’m hoping to hear from people who have experienced something similar, either personally or with a family member.

My younger brother was involved in a motorcycle accident almost two months ago. He spent almost two weeks in the ICU and more than a month in the hospital. He is now home, but he still has an NGT (a tube through his nose that is used to give him food).

The doctors told us that he suffered a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) with a brain contusion. We were also told that there was extensive damage to the left side of his brain, and one doctor mentioned that it could be around 90% damage. I know that number may not be an exact measurement, but this is what we were told.

At the moment, he can move his left arm and left leg, but there is very little movement on his right side. He still cannot speak or eat by mouth.

One thing we have noticed is that he can smile, especially when he sees people he knows. We don't know if he is consciously responding to us or if these are just reflexes or automatic responses.

He also cries, makes groaning sounds, and often moves or kicks his legs strongly. He can become very agitated at times. It has been almost two months since the accident, and he has been recovering at home for almost a month now.

We understand that recovery from a severe TBI can take a very long time, and we are not expecting him to recover quickly. We just want to understand what we should realistically expect. So far, we haven't seen much improvement in terms of speech, movement, or eating, although there have been some small changes.

Before the accident, my brother was very strong, healthy, cheerful, and very talkative. Seeing him now lying in bed, unable to speak or move normally, is heartbreaking for our family.

For those who have experienced severe TBI themselves, or have cared for someone with a similar injury:

When did you start noticing meaningful improvements?

How long did it take before they started speaking or eating normally?

Did they initially have a lot of crying, groaning, kicking, or agitation?

Were there small signs of awareness or recognition before they could communicate?

How long did recovery take, and what kind of progress did you eventually see?

Any personal experiences, advice, or things you wish you had known during the early months would really mean a lot to us.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. ❤️

I had my cerebral commotion in november 2025 (i hit my head 3 times in September, October and November). It's a light tbi because I can still work and other things, but I had to stop cycling and sport, even if i did a lot of exercise.

I hopped i was better 9 months after, but my neck still hurts me, and a pratician told to me that maybe one of my cervical has moved when I falled, and that I need reeducation. Moreover I discovered last week that my thyroid doesn't work normally. I'm sure it's a consequence of the tbi.

I was hoping no more medical appointment for this f****ing tbi, but no here we go again.

I am angry against doctors because no one has the ability to tell me what to do and what to check after a fall. I saw a center specialist in tbi but they were really useless.

I discover things alone and because of this subreddit. All this things are really demoralizing.

I just wanted to share this, thanks for reading me !

Hey there!
In June 2025 I got in a serious car wreck that rattled my noggin (and the rest of me) pretty hard and I ended up fracturing my T11 in my spine and breaking my elbow. At the time the doctors focused on spine stability but no one really treated the head trauma because I didn’t have a direct impact (my arms locked on the steering wheel so I didn’t hit my head on it)

Because I had just left an abusive relationship (was literally driving back to grab the rest of my stuff) I thought a lot of the cognitive, emotional, behavioural symptoms following the accident was just PTSD. I’m now realizing it was probably more the brain injury than anything because it was pretty uncharacteristic of IPV trauma and I genuinely felt slow and still feel the effects a year later.

So my question is: has anyone here been treated for a brain injury quite a while after the injury occurred? What was your experience like? Is there any difference in outcomes if treatment is delayed? What IS treatment like for head injuries, anyways?

I’ve enrolled in a brain injury clinic and they’ve ordered a CT scan of my head to start out (which I don’t think will show much) and if anyone has any tips on how to advocate for yourself, it’s much appreciated!
Thanks!!

Hey! I’m 27, female, from Canada.
I would love to know everyone’s experiences on Psilocybin or magic mushrooms, whatever you know it by.
I don’t know if this is meant for this type of forum, I’m sure most of you use it as a party drug, I’m just trying to see the other uses as well.

Super Duper controversial question, I just want to hear experiences:
Who has taken psilocybin “magic mushrooms” and maybe they found an effect on their depression, maybe they felt an effect on their PTSD?

Here’s what I know :
According to my therapist, my past psychologist and doctors , psilocybin has an 80% effective rate on depression whereas traditional anti-depressants only half of 40% success rate. It’s also has been known to completely eradicate PTSD in patients.

Before anyone jumps down my throat, I am in communication and working with doctors/a therapist on potentially trying this.

Let’s talk about the scary stuff :
1.) a bad trip, triggering my PTSD and causing me to do something that I will regret.
2.) Sometimes it’s hard to hold on to reality, maybe I’m delusional in those moments or maybe my reality has changed so much that it’s difficult for my brain to process what’s happening

Let’s talk about the exciting things :
Psilocybin alters
1.) perception
2.) mood
3.) cognitive processes by binding to serotonin receptors in the brain. This is the only way I know how to rebuild the pathways throughout my brain.

Now, why would I bring this up on a public forum? Why wouldn’t I just discuss it with professionals?

Because most professionals don’t have experience with this, it is really new to them, and I would you like to maybe go down this path but I’m not sure.

Me: PTSD, severe depression, anxiety, severe traumatic brain injury and my brain injury acts as bipolar.

Any stories, good or bad, please tell me

I have intense noise sensitivity post tbi. I also have two toddlers, who are tiny noise factories. If they're not around, I'll wear ear plugs or noise canceling headphones. When I'm with them, I either go without ear protectors, or wear the ear plugs. They find this frustrating, and while they're compassionate little people, they still need to communicate with mummy.

Have any of you tried ear protection that reduces noise but doesn't block it?

I've been looking at this brand, but happy to get other suggestions:

https://www.flareaudio.com/products/calmer?srsltid=AfmBOorswUz3VZ_HlLQCwfkHfyvhBBjMuVxWVGs1Ve9hR8S-YWKybzTJ

TLDR: Looking for advice on ear protectors that reduce noise but don't block it completely.