After a super severe head injury, Have no reserve left in relation to my emotions. Causing big problems. Help?

Question

By reserve I mean self-control. Whatever hits the fan is instantly acted out and on. I would prefer not to use strong medicines with strong side effects and depencies. An especially troublesome thing is anger and annoyances, as well as sentimentalities: I rage or bawl at the drop of a hat, stomp out of rooms and job situations that I feel too carried away by to handle a second longer. I watch these scenarios almost as if it is some other person: but they are increasing my sense of insufficiency and depression over time. I never used to be so volitale

Answer 1

There's some good information here from others. I would suggest that you contact the doctor(s) who treated you for the head injury and ask them to refer you for further treatment, telling them the symptoms that you're having. Your description here is a good one.

The symptoms that you are describing are pretty much predictable for those who have had a severe head injury.

If for some reason you're unable to contact the doctors who treated you for your injury, you can ask your family doctor, if you have one, for a referral.

If you don't have one, you can contact your local non-emergency information line by calling 211 (like 911) and ask them for referrals.

I encourage you to pursue help. It's out there for you.

Answer 2

Hi Mrup,

I work with people with disabilities. The other day we had a couple of hours of training with a group that works with brain injury survivors. How old are you? How long has it been since the accident? What state are you in?

I'm sorry to hear about your injury and the side effects you are having. You have to find a completely new way to work out old problems using the uneffected portions. You will have to find a way to re-train your brain... I am a FIRM believer that this can be done. My son is autistic and learned early on to learn new ways to think (his brain is wired differently than most people)...he did it! but it took a while (honor role now, straight A's). While this is not a TBI (tramatic brain injury) it does give hope to making the brain re-wire.

You are lucky because you do know after this happens that you have gone too far...or the behavior was somehow unappropriate. So many people are not so lucky! It takes several years to work through a TBI for the best outcome.

Please, please find TBI services near you. They can discuss the actual part of the brain affected, and work out a strategy to work on new connections in the brain to overcome your emotional responses. Google "TBI" and your state for more resources. Often TBI patients are released from the hospital and are never even told about these continuing resources.

I wish you well! Hang in there.

Answer 3

You don't really say how long it has been since the injury or if you are working or not.
In any case, the first response is true, but it should be noted that traumatic brain injury usually results in the inability to control impulses, especially if the frontal lobe is affected.
Anger management is a good idea. In the meantime you also need to practice relaxation techniques, such as meditation. Sit in quiet in a comfortable position for 20 to 30 minutes a day. Concentrate on your own breathe. Every thought you have should be let go and dismissed with every outward breath, concentrating only an your own steady breathing going in and out evenly.. After 20 or 30 minutes, take a minute or two to re-orient yourself before getting up. After about 30 to 60 days you will notice a difference in your outlook.
The next thing is to take two or three deep breathes and count to ten slowly before taking any action or saying something. Eventually you will only have to do this when you feel anger, but in the beginning to learn the response do it every time. Think before you say something or do it. Talk slowly or act slowly evry time and think about what you are doing. Evaluate it. Is this what you want to do.
Remember this story. A student-monk of Buddhism asked the Master, "Master, when will I know when I have reached the state of nirvana (the goal of the meditative life)."
The Master said, "Men sit and men stand, but the man who has reached nirvana, when he stands, he knows he is standing; when he sits, he knows he is sitting."
How many times have you driven somewhere, and when you got there, you aren't even conscious how you got there?
Impulsive anger is the same. Many times our anger is way out of proportion to the situation. We act without thinking. Traumatic brain injury may make it more difficult, but not impossible.

Answer 4

21

Answer 5

I learned from my doctor recently that severe head injuries can damage the brain's frontal lobes, which regulate control in such situations. There are various non-dependent medications as well as behavioral tactics to address the problem. You should be able to obtain good medical help, since this connection seems to be well-known. Good luck!

Answer 6

If you are aware of what you are doing, you can learn to control your behaviors. Suggest an anger management class would help alot.

Answer 7

You need to see a neuropsychologist that specializes in head injury/trauma