What I wish someone had told me in the first year after my TBI (surfing accident)
I my TBI from a surfing wipeout 16 years ago - the kind where you know something's wrong the second you surface. What nobody prepared me for wasn't the injury itself, it was everything that came after: Major post concussion syndrome, fatigue that doesn't look like "tired," the way friends stop checking in after month two, and how hard it is to explain to doctors that you're not okay even when scans come back clean.
A couple things that actually helped me, in case they help someone here:
• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy — Most of my post concussion syndrome symptoms greatly improved after this therapy. .
Finding one person who got it - not a support group necessarily, just one person who didn't need the injury explained to them every time.
I ended up channeling a lot of this into starting a small nonprofit (Strength In Pain Foundation) tocused on IBI survivor support, partly because I couldn't find resources like this when I needed them.
Not trying to sell anything here — just wanted to share what worked in case it's useful to someone still in the early, confusing part of recovery.
What helped you? Genuinely curious what other people found, especially anything that isn't the
"standard" advice.