Anyone have a success story post tramtic brain injury?

I pretty severely injuried my brain. I basically completely lost my blance center. Anyone else have any  correlated experience? Did you go back to hard (14- V10+) after?

I can still climb but at a greatly amended  ability

Many years ago (1993) Gleed Toombes in SLC had a severe head injury and brain trauma resulting from a fall in Yos.  I didn't know him then, but he is fully with it, and doesn't seem to be limited athletically by the injury.  The docs who treated him have flown him out to their hospital several times to show residents an example of best possible outcome from a brain injury that severe.
Best of luck, and best of treatment, to you.  

From what I understand it takes 1-2 years to recover, and can take even longer to fully recover. See Kevin Pearse. It just depends on how bad the injury was.

I am a year out from injury 1 and things are much worse

I had a TBI years ago - most of the symptoms were better after ~6 months, one in particular lingered much longer to the point where I was coming to terms with it being lifelong. 5 years later, it fully healed as well and no problems since. I don't know if that will be discouraging to know it can take that long or encouraging to know that it's never too late for your brain to keep healing and recovering, but that was my experience. One thing I learned from my second TBI last year is that every injury and recovery are very different, and that seeing a concussion specialist and getting PT for the TBI makes a world of difference. I wish you the best, and hang in there!

First, F*(# man!  sorry, you're dealing with this.  Things do get better so hang in there.

I def didn't and don't climb hard so I can't speak to that only to recover back to what I considered hard after suffered my own TBI in 2010.  I can say from all the research and rehab I did- it is an individual journey and there is no real solid timetable nor roadmap.  Em Cos is dead on with each one is different.  
The brutal part for me is while one can easily see the strength and mobility coming back to a muscle or joint after injury, it's a lot harder to see the tangible results of your brain getting better.  

You mention balance have you had a VNG/ENG Test?  

Not to play doctor over a message board, but since it happened to me have to share one potential concern.  I was also having bad balance issues, and after months of spins and attributing it to the TBI it turned out to be nerve damage. Even though I could do some things I couldn't do anything well and just felt like my balance was off.  A VNG/ENG revealed one compounding issue and after rehab and plenty of PT to really work at very basic balance work then step up my balance with focus challenges I was able to get back to climbing well again.  

Thatbis really good info. Part of the problem is its work comp relatedsk it takes months to years years for me to get care

Hey.

My TBI was in 1999. The TBI was bad, but the month and a half of TIA's afterwards really dinged my language center (or at least speedy access to it). I started religiously doing crossword puzzles and such - it really helped reroute those connections. 20 years out and I still have symptoms, but with enough caffeine I can kinda hold my own in conversations.

I think the other folks in this thread are right on:

1. You get to be the captain of your own ship - come up with your own challenges in addition to what your doctors prescribe. It can't hurt.
2. Your brain has much more plasticity than you'd imagine.
3. Stick with it. It's hard, or maybe impossible, to see the progress from inside. You probably didn't climb V10 a year after you started climbing - head injury stuff is just as challenging.

I got a TBI in 2011.  Hyperbaric chamber therapy is great.  It is used on Vets who have head injuries from Iraq and Afghanistan.  Some were vegetables before the therapy.  It’s not FDA approved, so not insurance covered, but I believe in it.  I had 40 hours of it and think it helped a lot.  A charity paid for it for me so I don’t know about cost.

10 years after TBI.  I lost my balance and sense of smell for a year or two, and I had to relearn balance, but I still get vertigo or the spins maybe once every other month, but rarely think about it now.  
My strategy was to push hard on lots of different kinds of physical activity to force my brain to relearn balance. Oddly getting dehydrated also seems to bring on the spins.

Thanks for the help and encouragement.

I am doing hyperbaric i am starting fifty sessions.

I lift heavy and still try to climb but its a challenge to my ego to have so little of my previous abilty left.

I get the spins and the impluse to wretch about 3-10 times a day. Its nice to know hyperbaric was so therapeutic. 

BillS wrote: There’s a time for personal responsibility and that would be on your employer if this happened at work.  If you’re trying to find medical care and not getting it, it doesn’t sound like you have talked to a lawyer yet.  I would guess the reason is they know full well a TBI that is taking years to heal is a huge liability and they are doing all they can to cover themselves, hence the delay.  Am I right?  Go interview lawyers, at least 3, ask around for good ones - because you’ll have your pick and you don’t want the wrong one - then go take care of yourself.  

That said I agree there is no time table and everyone is unique, so go find things you can do today that you enjoy and go do them, as life is to short to sit indefinitely in the holding pen.

Bill,  you have assumed some things. I took it a little personally. That is not helpful 

I have an attorney. He is considered to be one of the best in the area. He is very aggressive in advocating for his clients.
My case is very complex,
Even with a attorney things take months.
I have all ready spent over 20 grand on my own. I sold my van, all of the equipment i received from sponsors, which i have since lost. I had to say no to multiple 6 figure jobs.
Yeah life is short... so are my funds, time, and support.

I am asking people for their experience if its pertinent to my own.
There are so many scams in the world that prey on sick and desprate people. I dont have the funds to buy snake oil.

I am hoping to vet  whats out there.

I appreciate that your concern came from a good place.
However, most people act like money doesnt matter.

Money always matters. 

Hyper baric thearpy is about 6k for 50 treatments... the minimum is 50 to see thearputic value.

6k is alot of money. Its not like my other bills stopped because i lost my job. Full workers comp benefits are 30% of my previous earnings. Full disability is less than that.  I get neither. My temp disability is basically nothing. 

I worked for years to break into my career. That network is dead.

I d prefer if i have to take on debt to pay for care, that i do so strategically.

Thank you for elaborating and understanding how that could generate some frustration.

Thank you for posting at all.

You should get in contact with Austin Howell https://www.mountainproject.com/user/106997170/austin-howell

He had a significant head injury (head-first aid fall), with loss of equilibrium as a result, and returned to climbing at a reasonably high level.

Not an injury, but a stroke at a young age
https://www.climber.co.uk/articles/climbers-voice/mikey-cleverdon-a-classic-comeback.html

SLC local crusher's story about coming back from a very similar accident:

https://www.outdoorresearch.com/blog/article/the-jedi-mind-tricks-of-climbing-back-from-an-accident

He's done some pretty bold FA's since, often ground up slab.

26 years after traumatic brain injury, I still get vertigo. I've figured out how to live with it and still do most of what I want to do, maybe more cautiously.  I think short term memory isn't what it was like before the injury but really can't tell after all this time. Play lots of video games and do puzzles, that's the best thing for retraining your brain, IMO. You may have to learn how to concentrate all over again, mental stamina builds up slowly. Lots of different physical activities (running, hiking, cycling) where I  increased duration  each time I went out helped with concentration. The coordination of my eyes looking at the world as I moved along, the physical rhythm of moving, etc, seems to rewire the brain. Or at least it did for me.