Ptsd?

Here's one for all you psychologists out there...
Just getting this off my chest.

I think I may have a form of PTSD, even though I was evaluated twice and both times told I was just burned out of living in Hungary.
The core issue is the car crash I was in that nearly took my life in Dec., 2012. Both medical evaluators had very poor medical / personal skills.
More details here: http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=40114
One BIG thing I learned through all this is that a person can have physical / psychological problems, but this is NOT an indicator of being weak spiritually (little faith). I was hit in the head pretty hard, resulting in a coma for 6 days with multiple skull fractures, destroyed jaw, and loss of 16 teeth.

Since my accident, my wife said I am a different man. I'm more ready to fight over things - not with her necessarily, but situations. I continue to struggle with my speech since half of my mouth is not usable (severe damage). I work around jet engines and loud hydraulic pumps and cannot communicate well. So that gets frustrating for me also. I've developed a hatred for my job... but I'm doing what I wanted to do. I gave up an office / management job so I could have less responsibility and just change tires, service fuel, and fix stuff like a monkey. But I still hate it, and I cannot explain it. Last week I felt depression covering me. It's numbing. One of the areas that identifies PTSD is negative feelings or attitudes.

So since I'm doing the type of job I want, and own an awesome V-Max that I can ride to work, I can identify that I'm VERY BLESSED. Yet there is something wrong in the head. There is an option to make a third appointment for an evaluation in Budapest. My wife really wants me to go and maybe get some treatment.
I hate reading, but I'm reading the Bible, morning devotions, and started reading a Christian book about handling emotional problems.

Thanks for listening. :confused2:

Lotsokids said:

Here's one for all you psychologists out there...
Just getting this off my chest.

I think I may have a form of PTSD, even though I was evaluated twice and both times told I was just burned out of living in Hungary.
The core issue is the car crash I was in that nearly took my life in Dec., 2012. Both medical evaluators had very poor medical / personal skills.
More details here: http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=40114
One BIG thing I learned through all this is that a person can have physical / psychological problems, but this is NOT an indicator of being weak spiritually (little faith). I was hit in the head pretty hard, resulting in a coma for 6 days with multiple skull fractures, destroyed jaw, and loss of 16 teeth.

Since my accident, my wife said I am a different man. I'm more ready to fight over things - not with her necessarily, but situations. I continue to struggle with my speech since half of my mouth is not usable (severe damage). I work around jet engines and loud hydraulic pumps and cannot communicate well. So that gets frustrating for me also. I've developed a hatred for my job... but I'm doing what I wanted to do. I gave up an office / management job so I could have less responsibility and just change tires, service fuel, and fix stiff like a monkey. But I still hate it, and I cannot explain it. Last week I felt depression covering me. It's numbing. One of the areas that identifies PTSD is negative feelings or attitudes.

So since I'm doing the type of job I want, and own an awesome V-Max that I can ride to work, I can identify that I'm VERY BLESSED. Yet there is something wrong in the head. There is an option to make a third appointment for an evaluation in Budapest. My wife really wants me to go and maybe get some treatment.
I hate reading, but I'm reading the Bible, morning devotions, and started reading a Christian book about handling emotional problems.

Thanks for listening. :confused2:

Click to expand...

FWIW I agree with your wife, make the third appt, if you hook up with the right counselor it could turn your life around. Good luck.

My Brother-in law is a nurse at a local hospital. When he started out, he was working with head injuries patients. He never discussed specific cases, but he would tell us about definite personality changes. Also, head injuries take a tremendous amount of time to heal. Another opinion is always good. The biggest thing is to not go inward. Talking about it and getting help is huge.

I was in a severe car accident about 16 years ago, and sustained a head injury. Absolutely possible that you could be suffering the after effects still. Another evaluation would be a good idea, certainly. Keeping the Faith always helps, too. Sometimes a Higher Power will listen to you, and send down some help. My faith in God and a lot of time spent praying and re-evaluating my life had a huge effect on turning around a mood of black despair due to what happened to my marriage earlier this summer. Life is good now, thanks to His help - but I still get a bit of vertigo occasionally from the head whack I got in that car crash.

Alright. I am making a third evaluation appointment now. Emotions are not right. Very difficult days recently.
Goofed up psyc and riding a V-Max is a bad combination. It produces the aggressive outcome you ask for. :confused2:

Park the bike till you gat a handle on the problem...

FUCK THE Drs. For mental health find a good Strain of Sativa, for physical pain use Indica's.

Medical marijuana WORKS!

You know your own mental/emotional/psychological landscape better than anyone else. Someone whos scope of practice may not include diagnosing or treating your specific injuries might be of limited use and lead to "Sir, everything checks out fine, theres really nothing more we can do." MRIs and CTs are not always a conclusive tell for the extent of a head injury.

I would not rule out a top drawer psychiatrist and/or neuropsychologist with experience in head injuries. Being a geriatric nurse I have worked with very few head injuries outside of falls, but I do know that some head injuries arent "cured" in the traditional sense so a treatment plan may include a lot of symptom management during the healing process. Occupational therapy is another discipline that may have some helpful tools. A multidisciplinary approach is ideal IMHO, there are just too many psychical and psychological complexities possible with this sort of injury not to have a interdisciplinary cooperation. I really hope this 3rd time helps and the resources are available where you are. It sounds like you are blessed to be able to work and ride, and your wife is still by your side. Your in my thoughts and I'm pulling for the right professional to help pull the right players and treatments together for you.

There have been documented cases of head injuries occurring from crash's of 15 MPH.

People have had damage to their frontal lobes (where their personality lies), and they come thru the wreck/injury a completely changed person.

Here is from a very good site.

The frontal lobes are considered our emotional control center and home to our personality. There is no other part of the brain where lesions can cause such a wide variety of symptoms (Kolb & Wishaw, 1990). The frontal lobes are involved in motor function, problem solving, spontaneity, memory, language, initiation, judgement, impulse control, and social and sexual behavior. The frontal lobes are extremely vulnerable to injury due to their location at the front of the cranium, proximity to the sphenoid wing and their large size. MRI studies have shown that the frontal area is the most common region of injury following mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (Levin et al., 1987).

https://www.neuroskills.com/brain-injury/frontal-lobes.php

I am still suffering similar dark days from a work injury much less severe than yours. A dry-erase white board fell off the wall and hit me in the head. I have had a lot of really bad days/weeks/months over the last two years. I was really angry, quick to blow up, and felt like I was always failing at something. Get a referral for neuropsych, and try some anxiety meds. I'd go the medical herbal route if I could, but I'm a teacher and Virginia says no way either way. Check out neurotalk. It's a great forum community.

twistedmax said:

FUCK THE Drs. For mental health find a good Strain of Sativa, for physical pain use Indica's.

Medical marijuana WORKS!

Click to expand...

Take this with a grain of salt but here are my observations as a nurse. You are largely correct, it can be highly effective, often more so than traditional treatments for a decent handful of diagnoses. Also keep in mind I have seen patients use it who were never marijuana users before but tapped out of the SE (side effects) of traditional medications, or where traditional medications were of limited effectiveness. My following argument ignores recreational use, or doctors that are only there to help people get "medical use" cards. This is a powerful and effective treatment, appropriate for many patients with varied diagnoses, but not for everything or everyone. Like any medication it has its place in treating conditions but it's not a magic bullet. With a head injury I would move that if possible it should be tried under the supervision of a competent physician experienced in therapeutic effects and contraindications of medical marijuana. I have no idea what the local laws or resources for this are where the OP resides. Also consideration should be given to any medications he may be taking currently. I know that Marijuana doesn't tend to clash with much but it should still be considered. If the OP works in aviation and is subject to drug screenings that might be a deal breaker too. There is no effective way to mask it in the urine and it could remain for 60-90 days for regular users.

http://www.medicalmarijuanainc.com/traumatic-brain-injuries-medical-marijuana-research/ This is just one piece of reading but a ton if information exists. Gotta love the information age!

Technology is advancing and pragmatic observation supports the assertion that medical marijuana does work very well for many things. There is research on which active ingredients of the plant work for what indications. I can see medications based on this plant which are devoid of THC (the ingredient that causes the high and failed piss test). We may even see it within our lifetimes but this sort of thing takes many years with FDA et al. This is why I believe it used by folks that one would not consider traditional marijuana users.

Sorry this is a long post but it's a loaded subject which I have been watching from a medical standpoint. IMHO it is absolutely worth consideration if nothing else helps him manage symptoms.

Works for me!

I got an appointment scheduled for Wednesday.
I did a little more research on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). I found this picture describing basilar skull fracture, which is what I had. I put it together with pictures from my recovery maybe 10 days after the crash. Guess where the frontal lobe is? Yep, right at the fracture area.

I've had several severe accidents with head and many other injuries. I feel similar to you in that I am willing to fight in a heartbeat. Life is day to day and my head (thoughts) have been a mess since I was 16, 48 years ago. I cover a lot of it up and just keep it inside. I've had a sleep disorder since that accident and my Mom told me that I had really changed mentally then too.
Can't give you any advise as I don't feel qualified but I know that a good Wife helps a lot. Get whatever help you can, wherever you can find it brother. Prayers for you.

PTSD: I think you likely have in some form or another.

Dave

Ill also throw my hat in the ring with maijuana as medicine. 11 yrs ago i had a rough bike accident that gave me a pretty nasty concussion. I was exhibiting personality changes and increased aggression. I didnt know if it was a side effect of my increased physical conditioning from PT (my guy was a real ball buster but he was a GREAT PT) or something else. I asked him about it one day during therapy and he said unless im using steroids its a likely byproduct of the concussion. I know, hes not a head dr, but he still knows a ton more about the body than i ever will. He said hed read about and know people personally that would use marijuana to help mellow out their aggression once or twice a day and gradually they stopped using as things got better for them. I figured what the hell, why not. 6 months of 1 or 2 times a day and i was much better. Not talking about getting baked out my gourd, just a couple small hits at a time. Just food for thought.

Through hooliganism and sports I've had easily over a dozen concussions. I've struggled with depression most of my life. And I've struggled with a temper for just as long. I've taken anti-depression of all stripes, I've taken a lot of recreational meds of all stripes. I've read a lot into the brain and head trauma.

A lot of good advice here. I'll just add this:

Think of treating the mind like you would do physical therapy on injured shoulder. There is no ONE exercise that you can do. You'd do different exercises that rebuild range of motion and others that rebuild strength. Same with the mind. There is no ONE thing that can do it. Gotta hit from different angles.

Exercise is one of the best medicines. Like most human beings I've yo-yo'd my weight all my life. So with the years I've struggled with my mind and the years I yo-yo'd... I saw one thing that was always consistent: The happiest years headwise were the years I was in great shape and exercising pretty much everyday. It's no coincidence that having a healthy body helped with a happy mind. But its also the hardest medicine to take because when you're head isn't right, its hard to get motivated to do the exercise. Even if you're at your target weight it's still important to exercise. And I re-iterate it makes ALL the difference in the world for your mind!

Make sure you're getting enough sleep. And make sure it's a good REM sleep. The brain does some pretty miraculous things when we're in our deepest sleep. The most important thing it does is go into a very impressive "repair mode" at a cellular level.

So wrapping up. I agree with the advice here. See another professional. And always approach this in layers. Continue to seek out profession help, consider possible medication, exercise, good sleep. On their own they wont do much, but combined you'll get the results your seeking. I'm sure of it!

My wife will back up Kronx on his exercise recommendation.

It took her over 10 years of juggling medications to find a combination that works for her.

The past 2 years,she has added exercise to her daily routine and was just telling me the other day that she considers it as important as the meds.

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I just returned from Budapest where the psychiatrist told me she was 100% positive I have a form of PTSD from my car crash. I have meds that I will try. We'll see what happens.

I'm glad you went to get another opinion.

Good luck brother, I hope that things will improve rapidly for you.

Everyone here is rooting and praying for you.

Good luck. My thought are with you.

Doug