Adult Life after a Traumatic Brain Injury

Regarding stripped emotional filters, give yourself time and space to recover. If the world is crowding in on you then find escapes into books, TV, music, exercise, or wherever you feel safe. If someone is confrontational (a low bar with TBIs) then back off rather than engaging. Find people or TBI counselors that you can talk with about what you are going through.

My filters are all in place. The emotional filters took 1.5 years, and corresponded to completing my dissertation and graduating with a PhD. I realized that I was beating up on myself for not doing well enough, and it didn't hit me (so to speak) that I accomplished a lot under difficult conditions. To recover from TBIs takes a lot of mental, physical, and emotional work and one doesn't always see how hard it is until it is in the rearview mirror.
The only lasting damage from my TBI was minor balance (damage to left inner ear), possibly slightly suppressed smell and taste (olfactory bulbs), and some aphasia: finding and remembering words and numbers. Considering that I wrote papers as a research scientist, it isn't bad enough to limit me. The longest recovery was driving and tasting beef, getting back to 100% on driving took about 8 years because I could see the subtle differences between before and after. Driving is surprisingly complicated, juggling a lot of info and stimuli at the same time.

Hi, @kayabbott - I'm sorry to hear people at work were calling you "drame bamaged" and "brain dead" 31 years ago or so after your moderate TBI. It's understandable you felt gut-punched each time this occurred. Kudos to you for telling a person who was saying things like this to you that you were going to contact HR.

I recall you said your TBI recovery took 8-10 years. Do you feel like your emotional filters are back now? If so, how long did it take for this to happen? Do you have any other suggestions for relating to others when you feel like your emotional filters are stripped after a TBI?

My emotional filters were stripped after my moderate TBI 31 years ago (took a few years to rewire my left temporal and basal frontal lobes). I withdrew from people because I was vulnerable. I wasn't in a relationship, but a few bullies and clueless people at work would joke about me being brain damaged, or called me "drame bamaged" and "brain dead". Each time I felt like I was gut punched. It stopped after a year when I told the bully I was going to contact HR. I was able to get caught up on work and finished my PhD during that year (so I wasn't much fun to be around anyway). Amazing what we can accomplish even when we are a few neurons short of a full deck.

I was quick to anger at any little trigger. For example, if she questioned why I had done something I would yell or cry for no apparent reason. I felt like I was falling apart. No control over my reactions. I know they affected my spouse in that she was afraid to talk to me, she was fearful of my reaction to he and she was afraid I didn't love her anymore. It almost destroyed us.

Hi, @lanieg - I'm guessing that others who've experienced a traumatic brain injury to various severities can relate to you with going through mood changes. What types of mood changes did you experience after your 4 concussions? How did you feel these mood changes affected your spouse?

I've had 4 concussions since 2014. The mood "changes bothered me the most bc my spouse was the affected one. Over the years they have lessened in frequency and intensity. What we did during the hardest time was to agree that I would go to a quiet place where I could just be. That would reorient me and I could join my family again. That might be harder with children, I know. But explain it to them and it might calm things down.
Blessings to you and your family.

Some of your symptoms do sound a bit like hyperesthesia . After my TBI 31 years ago I was very sensitive to noise (less now) and some odors (perfume); brain trauma can damage the filters we use to shut out irrigating noises and such (including hubby slurping soup....AAAHHH). Here are some links in case any are useful: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1564487/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK563125/ https://www.webmd.com/brain/what-is-hyperesthesia

In the hip replacement surgery recovery room (August 27, 2015), when I woke up,(groggy from the anesthesia) I was covered in sweat. My first night out of the hospital (in the "re-hab center), I woke up in TERROR at 3am, with severe PRESSURE in my head, dizziness, slight frontal headache, ringing in right ear [my nervous system was reacting to vibrations of the wall in my room from an oxygen concentrator up against the wall in the adjacent room=first symptoms of CENTRAL SENSITIZATION SYNDROME--hypersensitivity to most all sensory stimuli: sound, light, smell, temperature, motion/ vibration, touch/pain etc. As days progressed, I had neck pain/upper left jaw pain, difficulty concentrating. unable to focus on a task, (BRAINFOG) excessive sweating episodes, waking up in the middle of the night with "linked" severe pain in HEAD and "new hip", (not knowing what was triggering what). I had vision problems/blurred vision, had several falls, difficulty swallowing/choking, difficulty with abstract thinking (unable to continue with my garment design & implementation endeavors), unable to get restorative sleep, PTSD episodes---- most all this continues 9 years post-op!! With the post-op rehab process, I was so hypersensitive, physical therapy was NOT effective/too much hip pain. [Surgery team discounted my symptoms/refused MRI/refused to schedule my 12 month appt at 12 months post-op, & abruptly departed in February 2017/denying my symptoms] 2nd opinion orthopedic MD diagnosed "severely eroded gluteal tendon at the attachment point in March 2017 (but too much pain to proceed with PRP). 2nd opinion hip surgeon commented " trauma to the SPINE". TBI neurotherapist Phd [author of book: Understanding Mild traumatic brain injury] diagnosed MILD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY April 2018, but retired shortly thereafter & not replaced. Neurologist diagnosed post-traumatic cervicogenic headache, basilar migraine in Feb 2018. Chronic centralized pain diagnosed Nov 2019. Behavioral optometrist diagnosed "Post-trauma vision syndrome" in Nov 2021. ENT MD diagnosed hyperacusis in April 2022 . [new PCP in Nov 2018, verified (in April 2023 "most all symptoms lead to "AUTONOMIC DYSFUNCTION/DYSAUTONOMIA"); 2d opinion neurologist diagnosed "Functional Disease of Central Nervous system", & PPPD (motion hypersensitivity) May 2023.

Hi, @cd8 - hi, and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. This is indeed the correct group, the Traumatic Brain Injury support group in a discussion called "Adult Life after a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)."

You mentioned an initial injury to your spine during a traumatic hip replacement surgery and then symptoms of a dysfunctional nervous system. Will you tell a bit more about what types of symptoms these were?

Fortunately, I had only a MILD TBI, followed by symptoms of dysfunctional nervous system....now 9 years since the initial injury to my spine during a traumatic hip replacement surgery. Is this the appropriate support group?