u/RG3-PO_

I can’t remember what I’m supposed to do it’s been 15 years since my moderate TBI. I had a resurgence of all my old symptoms that I had when I first got hurt in the car accident.

I need help with what to do now. I have an increase in my irritability and impulsivity. With a decrease in my short term memory, having difficulty concentrating/maintaining attention and some slight aphasia.

What do I do to help with these symptoms?! Does it just take time? Is there specific therapy I need to do? I wish I could remember but I don’t and I really need some help!

For context two of my friends “Jack” and “Maddie” have been in a FWB/hook-up with each other whenever they are in the same city type thing for about 3 years now. Neither one wants to commit because Maddie is a travel nurse who is still enjoying moving around the country for work and Jack doesn’t want to settle down and likes hooking up with multiple people at the same time.

Ok so for the story now, some of my guy friends and I (27F) have always wanted to go to Alaska to visit the different sights there and go exploring. We recently decided to make the trip a reality and started planning out dates, excursions, and all the things we wanted to do there. As of now, it would be me and 4 of my guy friends one of whom is Jack.

My friend Maddie who is currently travel nursing out in California (we all live on the East Coast) somehow found out about the trip. She was starting to ask questions about who was going and if she could also come. Jack then proceeded to ask me if I would maybe be okay with not going on the trip anymore because he “wanted to just have fun and not be tied down” and he knew that if I went Maddie would definitely want to come but if I didn’t go then she wouldn’t want to come anymore as she would be the only girl.

I have always wanted to go to Alaska and I don’t want to miss out on this trip with my friends because of some petty FWB drama between Jack and Maddie. Would I be the ass hole if I told Jack I was still going to go and that he’d just have to just deal if Maddie also decided to come? I don’t want to cause problems and create drama but I also don’t think it’s fair that I might have to stay home just so he can avoid the drama with Maddie. Am I being selfish if I still go?

Okay so long story short I suffered my TBI back in 2011 in a bad car accident. Broke all the bones in my face, it was a whole thing. Since then I’ve worked really hard to improve my symptoms and developed strategies to get around my deficits for the most part.

Unfortunately a week and a half ago I pushed my body through 4 days of heat exhaustion which left me insanely dehydrated and overall not well. I ended up in the ER for 3.5 days with a vestibular migraine that left me unable to sit without feeling like I was rocking in a boat and unable to walk without feeling like I was trying to balance on a really tippy floating doc. Since then the balance issues have mostly resolved themselves but all my symptoms from when I first got my TBI came raging back! Lack of impulse control, difficulty concentrating, difficulty tracking things move, headaches/migraines, low energy (physically), sensitivity to light and sound and some unsteadiness.

My main problem is that anytime I try to do anything I start getting a headache again which usually turns into a migraine. I can’t really read because my vision gets blurry especially on screens, when I try to walk around my eyes/forehead start hurting because of the movement. So doing basic tasks has become really difficult and I also have ADHD so sitting still not doing anything is really hard for me.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do next? I have booked some vestibular physical therapy appointments but I don’t think it’s that. It’s more that my TBI symptoms have returned and I need to treat that and I forget what type of therapy that is or where to go for it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!