Head Injury

I was born by Cesarean section after my mother endured a traumatic labor of 52 hours. As preposterous as this sounds, it was confirmed on my birth certificate. The doctor who rescued me from midwives predicted that I would struggle throughout life because of the stress. I had vision and hearing troubles early on. I was slow in comprehension and memory. I struggled with confusion between reality and imagination. I had a heart murmur. But eventually I grew stronger and smarter. I quickly began gaining weight at puberty and never stopped, and developed asthma that was never treated. I got my GED instead of graduating, and I never finished college. My dream of being a famous doctor was dashed when I couldn’t master prime factors. While battling debilitating migraines, I rotated through a handful of ungrateful suitors, until I found the love of my life who accepted my marshmallow form and crazy mood swings. We celebrate our 25th anniversary this year.

During the time in between, I struggled being a Christian in public school where everyone else’s rights were more important than mine. I felt alone and abandoned that there was no one else like me. All my shortcomings and failures seemed center stage, even among relatives. I was diagnosed with depression at 16, anxiety at 19, polycystic ovaries at 25, miscarried at 27, first child at 28, bipolar at 30, second child at 32, suicidal at 33, diabetic and third child at 34, and he was diagnosed with Cerebral palsy. I had my fourth child at 36 and miscarried again at 37. My youngest son was diagnosed on the same day with Type 1 Diabetes at eleven months old and nearly died. My oldest daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes a year later at nine years old. We began homeschooling that year after she got out of the hospital with a virtual school.

The following year my second son began home schooling and the same year I lost my father to Parkinson’s and diabetes. The year after that my third son started homeschooling. The next year my husband sustained a head injury and became disabled. Within the following five years, my oldest son was diagnosed with ADD, I developed GERDs and high blood pressure. I was diagnosed with Spectrum Bipolar with mild epilepsy. All the medications led to a metabolic shutdown and six years ago I developed lymphedema. Last year I was diagnosed with gout and now I’m hobbling about with a cane and applying for disability, while homes schooling my youngest two sons. The older one graduates from high school this year. The oldest kids graduated from high school a few years before, but COVID delayed their college plans. Then their medical issues interrupted their career plans.

Sometimes life seems hopeless. Sometimes I want to just cease to exist. But then an amazing thing happens. I begin seeing my children’s smiling faces, hearing their sweet voices and a stirring in my heart inspires me to get up and face the day. They are my jewels. And they are the reason God gave me life, so that they may live for Him.

Hi, my name is Bill, username: @aurora_bill. I'm here because I am going through some tough times. I have suffered from chronic pain caused by a head injury that I had 20 years ago. Most of my physical issues are headache, muscle tension and pain, exhaustion. I have also been bi-polar since high school (many decades). Depression has been the worst part but as I have gone on or off certain medications there have been bouts with mania.

#MightyTogether #BipolarDisorder #Migraine #Depression

I joined here to push myself and give myself a voice among people who might hear me.

I am a writer whose voice was scrambled by a head injury and chronic illness… Everything in my life has been scrambled if we are honest😂…

But, my writing is something I need to get a handle on because it’s the one thing I can still do one the days that I can’t move and can hardly breathe…. It’s the thing I feared the most in losing..

So, we’re starting somewhere.🤷🏽‍♀️

So, yesterday I had a list of things I wanted to get done, but I only completed one.

I did my laundry… ✔️
The cold and pain kept me from moving so that was my biggest accomplishment.

Today, the goal is:

✔️folding and putting it all away.

I want to do other things but that will be the biggest thing.

So far I have:

Eaten Breakfast ✅
Taken all my meds ✅
And I am about to take my breathing treatment..✅

We shall see how the rest of the day goes…

Wish me luck 🥰

#Asthma #ChronicIllness #TBI #Jointpain #ChronicFatigue #AnkylosingSpondylitis #Depression #ADHD

Hi, my name is Blue. I'm here because I need help with no muzzles traumas my head injury 50 years ago and living in an alcoholic home it’s causing me a lot of distress I need support

#MightyTogether #ADHD #PTSD #Fibromyalgia

I’ve been dealing with a migraine since I received a head injury at 15. I’m almost 25 now. That’s almost 10 years of finding migraine medicine, body getting use to the amount and starting all over again. That’s 3-4 headaches a week, that’s migraine attacks lasting anywhere from 1-3 days. That’s migraine side effects of nausea, pain in my legs, anxiety, light sensitivity, that’s depression. I’ve been taking medicine in the evenings but sometimes it doesn’t fully help to where the headaches or migraines don’t show up. Sometimes I have to take 600mg Ibuprofen everyday on top of the normal meds I take to try and prevent anything in the mornings. Light headaches I can try catching it in time and vaping some CBD liquid but sometimes a migraine attack suddenly shows up or I wake up in the morning (like today) and it hits. It’s exhausting and I’m debating what to talk to my doctor about because I don’t know what to do and it’s affecting my mental health but I haven’t talked to her about it yet. I’m so depressed lately and worried my future boss doesn’t like dealing with my health issues when I have to call in work (like today) and go to the doctors. I’m worried she won’t fully hire me on for my internship and job training… I’m tired of the pain of the headaches and migraines and everything that goes with that and I am just tired of the feeling it leads to depression and being unhappy…
Also having to try and find a new neurologist since my old one doesn’t work there anymore. It’s just all so discouraging…

"It's all a lot right now." I don't even want to know how many times I have said that lately. Everyone in my inner circle right now keeps telling me how impressed they are with how strong I've been, but I definitely don't feel that way most of the time. I feel like I am barely staying afloat, have been a prisoner in my own body (moreso than normal), and have been forced to stay in my home as if it were the early days of the pandemic. Dealing with all my chronic conditions and now this injury over the last couple of months has definitely been overwhelming. I feel awful so many days and there is nothing I can do about it most of the time. The head injury I sustained has been super challenging as everything in my body seems to have been injured with it and/or my conditions have just revved up in symptoms as a result. I feel so helpless with everything. I can't be there for my students since I'm not allowed to work, I continue to not speak with my family (see past posts for details on that one), my best friends live in other states, and the timelines of everything are draining in themselves. I have no idea if/when I will be able to return to work before the end of the school year and in what capacity. I have been doing/will be doing various therapies. They are exhausting. For someone who lives in a permanent state of tired anyway, this has made me feel robotic. Everything overall is a lot right now. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!

Im still healing from this concussion… spent a couple of days offline. Still minimizing screen time although that is hard for me (I’m sure it is for many of us!). Driving is also a challenge if I travel for more than locally in my town. Definitely trying to take it easy but it’s hard when I have a tendency to put pressure on myself…. #CheckInWithMe #Depression #HeadInjury