Anyone have any experience with Amen Clinics and did they help after your TBI? I’ve been hearing a lot of about Dr. Daniel Amen and I’m curious if anyone has any experiences with treatment at their clinics, aspect scans etc.
TBI survivor of 5 yrs. I’ve overcome so many obstacles and yet new ones crop up when I try to work out but the biggest struggle has been depression. I had always had it, even prior to my injury but it was manageable with good diet and exercise and meditation. I can’t workout the same, haven’t meditated since the injury and I’m really struggling.
I can’t complete tasks that I start. I have no motivation or energy. I have two kids under 7 yrs old and my partner is burnt out. He has to deal with a wife who lost her body, health and mind to TBI. I’m sad or angry most of the time. My son has special needs and I’m constantly triggered by him. Noise and lights trigger me. My whole family is emotionally disregulated it’s affecting us all.
I feel like a failure. I know this isn’t my fault but knowing that doesn’t mean anything if you’re the whole reason your family suffers.
My marriage is falling apart. I’m falling apart. My kids are falling apart. Home has not become a safe space that it should be. Emotional outburst, dysregulation, tantrums fights, despair, and inner turmoil. I know my family would be better without me and it’s a brutal truth. I hate myself because of all of this. I don’t know how to pull out and get better truly better for me and my family’s sake.
Typical people with depression are recommended going on medication. A problem with that is I’ve been gaslit by a lot of medical practitioners and I worked with someone years ago and I was put on Lexapro and it made me manic. I gained a lot of weight and when my kids were a lot younger, I struggled with scary thoughts of hurting us all. I recognized the signs of what I felt was not healthy and I reached out to relatives to help me to come because I was afraid for my safety and the kids safety and no one would come and help me. Not my parents, or my in-laws, or my husband. No one knew what to do with me. They wouldn’t made the time to relieve my so I could check into a clinic or the hospital so I was always alone with my kids and my mental health. I went off that drug cold turkey. I got a part time job that turned into full time and I felt like that saved me. Gave me a purpose again doing what I love.
I was very much alone and suffered, but I pulled myself out of that so I know I can do it again. But I’m definitely afraid and traumatized of taking medication. I know I need to go on something, but are there any tips, advice, suggestions, natural lifestyle, therapeutic, or medical drug recommendations that you fellow TBI survivors have tried? I would love to know as much as I can from real TBI survivors like me that have tried things. What works for you, what to look for or look into etc.
I just wanna pull myself out and give my family a fighting chance to survive. Constantly feeling broken and feeling the weight of that how much pain and suffering it causes not just me but my children and my husband is just so tremendous and I feel so ashamed because even though this was an accident It wasn’t my fault. I’m still causing so much pain for everyone. It’s literally paralyzing.
Any mothers with TBI out there?
I am a different person now, with different behaviors. I miss who I used to be and I struggle with this new identity. I am not the mother I choose or want to be. I am not the partner I choose or want to be. I am not the person I choose or want to be. I want to be better. I want to do better. I have to be better. I have to do better.
Please share some hope with me. 🙏🏼
Sincerely,
TBI MOM