What can help with irritability and insomnia

I had a moderate TBI 30 years ago, including damage to my left temporal and frontal (emotions) lobes. Regarding insomnia, your insurance may cover a sleep study. Meditation helps some with irritability and insomnia. When I can't sleep I count forwards and backwards from various increments of numbers. Redundant boring stuff helps. I don't remember numbers so I figure that is good for rewiring. Irritability? I'm a bit of a loner so I just retreat to my hobbies and interests. If the irritability and insomnia are new then it would be good to get evaluated by a neurologist for see if there are contributing factors (in my case, polyneuropathy).

@football84, welcome. I hope you saw the helpful post from @kayabbott. I'm also tagging fellow TBI members like @sundance6 @hevykevy @gregd1956 @ricj @lanieg to add to this discussion.

@football84, can you share more about your experience with irritability? I can imagine this is affecting your relationships or interactions with others. What approaches do you try to not irritated or have a short fuse?

>>>--- TBI Accident ---< >>--- What's gone? ---< >>--- How about Mental Problems? ---< >>--- How about Pysical (sp?) problems? ) ---<

Daggone it. It deleted of what I wrote, Shoot...

One big problem I have is telling the difference between similar faces especially under stress. Not good with similar looking twin daughters.

Another big issue is yelling at people when I am upset when a calmer approach would not alienate them nearly as much. I;ve heard my approach referred to as the “May the light of a thousand burning bridges light the way ahead” approach. These issues mean my daughters no longer speak to me much and that my son only listens when he feels like it.

I also have bad hips, knees ankles, a compression fracture in my T12 vertebrae, a pair of bad shoulders,

My memory is good, sometimes slow, but I work on it. Names and faces usually take quite a few tries and then my lower back is always in pain.

My hands and hand writing are another challenge.

I have tried Anticonvulsants, SSRI’s and Lithium for irritability — however these are starting to impact my kidney’s / liver, etc. This has lead to a course of rhubarb root extract to help with the impacts(recommended).

Having served in the USMC as a platoon commander I just don’t usually have time in my mind for a “diplomatic approach”

More on my story —

There was permanent damage to my left temporal and basal frontal lobes in the accident 30 years ago. Temporal evidences as harder to find words and remember words and numbers (although I wrote for a living so had work-arounds). Frontal lobe damage was that emotions were quicker and closer to the surface, and smell and taste took about 8 years to totally rewire. Rewiring is slow and takes a lot of effort. There were no other physiological problems. Mental problems...I refered to it as the year from hell (technically 1.5 years). Trying to get back to who you were and dealing with people that give you 3 weeks to recover is emotionally wrenching. It is important to have friends that allow you to heal, particularly with a head injury your world shrinks and so much that is going on around you is missed. I learned a great deal during my recovery, about myself and how the brain works and rewires.

I don't know if it would be helpful, but my TBI was 30 years ago. I had just finished the intro for my doctoral dissertation, went rollerblading, and woke up in ER. I documented the stages of recovery of my head injury while writing my dissertation. I'd be glad to clean it up (haven't read it in years) if you think it would be of use to others. I finished my PhD and was a research scientist. Rewiring is easier if you live in your brain.

I think it would help. I am doing a zoom meeting for concussion legacy foundation this week and that is another resource I have found.

My husband is also an engineer, and has a rather explosive temper (thankfully infrequent). I don't know if anger management classes would help, but yelling at people is an effective method for pushing them away. Hair triggers aren't good for guns or people. After my head injury my emotions ran close to the surface and the usual controls were on off. Consider stepping away from conflicts rather than the commander approach. https://www.biausa.org/public-affairs/media/brain-injury-and-deficits-in-initiation