TBI(2)
Laura Horton
3/24/2010 4:43:14 PM
This article has been helpful and I hope once I print it out and take it to my son's psychiatrist he maybe of some help. My son, 18, began having emotional and behavioral issues about 3 years ago but about a year ago the systems have worsened. He has experienced at least 6 concussions and a year after he stopped playing football he told me that the reason he wasn't getting back to the huddle in a timely manner was because he wasn't sure where the huddle was. After the guys on the team would holler for him he would know which way to go.
After the last concussion from wrestling was when everything started. My son states that he is very anxious, like in a mania state then he gets angry, once he gets angry he explodes and wants to hurt himself, he says that it makes him feel better if he hurts himself. He then goes into a deep depression state. It is very hard to watch your son bash his head into poles and 4x4's or the driveway as hard as he can or hits trees and break his hand which required three pins being drilled into it and a cast for 5 weeks. He has also stated that he is tired of feeling this way and would like to end his life. This is not something a parent wants to hear.
At this time, he is heavily drugged with 600 mg of Seroquel and this isn't helping that well. I'm at my wits end and I can't get any medical professional to want to help for TBI. He has been diagnosised with Bipolar and Intermittent Explosive Disorder but I feel deep in my heart it's because of the many concussions that his behavior has to do with TBI. One reason being is that no one in my family or his father's family has it. I need help and I don't know where to go to get it. If there is a clinical trial for TBI I know he would be willing to participate if there is a way to help him.
TBI
Lynn Schreiber
2/15/2009 11:21:34 AM
This article was so helpful for me. My son, 19, began having serious emotional and behavioral issues about a year ago. After being in and out of adult psychiatric wards and diagnosed with everything from bipolar to schizophrenia (though he never fit the absolute criteria of either).
Then a neurologist looked at my son's case. He interviewed my son and learned that he had been hit in the head with a swing when he was 4, hit in the head with a shovel when he was 7, took numerous blows to the head in taekwondo, and just 5 months before all the issues began was in a bicycle accident w/o helmet that threw him over his handlebars, landing him on his face; visit to ER said concussion but did no MRI.
The last year has been a nightmare. My son is very high functioning yet has serious and often bizarre symptoms, but it's hard to find literature on a case like his. Most everything I read focuses on people with TBI as a result of really catastrophic accidents, so it's hard to compare. My son looks perfectly normal and has no external injuries, yet his TBI, while it maybe considered "mild," is actually quite serious and affects his life and the lives of those who love him. This article addressed exactly what we experience and I wish I could find more like it.