4 ms·

I had a brain injury a few years ago and I literally am not the same person. Be careful with your head, folks. It’s really easy to permanently change your exist

by ttul 5y ago

I had a brain injury a few years ago and I literally am not the same person. Be careful with your head, folks. It’s really easy to permanently change your existence.

dvt 5y ago
My regards, and this is purely out of curiosity so feel free to ignore if I'm overstepping -- how are you "not the same person?" Can you tell what you "should" be like? Did you previously enjoy certain things that you don't anymore? Hoping you get better.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- l8nite 5y ago
  I’m not the parent, but I had a moment where I physically felt something “break” in my brain (stress related), and ever since then I haven’t been the same person. The feeling is hard to articulate, but I no longer connect to my feelings or thoughts in the ways I had been accustomed to. My new behaviors and patterns are somewhat destructive to the life I was building prior to my “break,” and it’s incredibly maddening and depressing trying to balance “good for new me” and “good for the life old me built and the people he loved.” It goes way beyond not simply enjoying the things I used to enjoy any more.
  - kayodelycaon 5y ago
    Interesting. I had a four month long psychotic break. It started mid-August 2018 when I physically felt something snap in my brain. (See my reply to the same comment)
    - sizzle 5y ago
      Would shrooms help you reset?
      - Enginerrrd 5y ago
        I'm pretty pro psychedelics, but you should know it's generally a REALLY bad idea for anyone with a history of psychosis to use them, to the point that I really implore you not to recommend them so casually to someone with such a history. That cohort is at very high risk and the use of psychedelics can really exacerbate the condition and make people less functional.
        kayodelycaon 5y ago
        Yup. I’m bipolar.
      - kayodelycaon 5y ago
        I’ll pass. I’ve already had the shrooms experience and the complete brain reset without them. I’m on antipsychotics and no one is going to let me go off them, including me. I’m never, ever going off my antipsychotic.
  - jmrm 5y ago
    > I’m not the parent, but I had a moment where I physically felt something “break” in my brain (stress related), and ever since then I haven’t been the same person. Same here. I had the mix of a heavy burnout and a broke up a couple of years ago and I'm still recovering. It's curious how I totally had the same kind of "logarithmic" recovery that some other people wrote in other comments here. It might be how the brain reacts to that.
- kayodelycaon 5y ago
  Not the parent commenter, but I have had a complete change of self. After my psychotic break and starting treatment for bipolar, I was a shell of a person. I had the opportunity to become anyone I wanted to be. I picked what I thought my best traits were from my last self and started on a journey of self discovery. I vaguely remember my previous self and he had completely different motivations. The only similarities I recognize are things I decided to keep. To keep this bit brief, my interests changed in ways I didn’t expect. My previous self would never have shamelessly written pornography. My previous self used to care what people thought of him. I don’t. I only care about the consequences of how people see me. This doesn’t make a sociopath because I do care about how people feel. I want to communicate effectively. I try to tailor my actions so other people feel I am listening and that I care, because I do. My previous self wasn’t so explicitly and logically calculating about relationships. My previous self was brutally honest. I try to be kind when confrontation or blunt honesty is necessary. Overall, my maturity increased by about 20 years in the last 3 years. My previous self is a person I’m not fond of.
  - johnisgood 5y ago
    My change was profound, but the cause for it is pretty simple. I was in love with a girl and I tried to be with her but she did not even reply to me. I started thinking about how this happened and how I could have avoided it, I started thinking about in what ways she has changed me for the better... From here I just sort of became a "better" person. Honesty, loyalty, not making promises I cannot keep, and so forth... In some ways being a manipulative prick paid me off more, but I do not mind, I am sticking to who I am now.
- ttul 5y ago
  I just dimly remember being sharper and faster previously. It’s hard to pin down the precise changes more than that. Work is harder. Focusing is harder.
hypertele-Xii 5y ago
If changing your existence requires brain injury, I'd argue the opposite: It's hard not easy. It's not like we can sell brain injuries at every corner store to change peoples' lives.
flycaliguy 5y ago
Same. 2006. (In hindsight) I had some frontal lobe related issues beforehand, so it’s hard to really “blame” one thing or the other. Overall, not worth the insurance settlement. If anything, the idea that I cashed out ended up alienating me from my entire support network. Friends and family, people I’d just met who had been told my story before hand… Yuck. Glad to now run in different circles selected for maturity this time.
johnisgood 5y ago
I have lesions in my brain. It is probably toxic leukoencephalopathy, but no one knows. Some neurologists say it is MS, but we do not know anything for sure. People probably does not or would not believe me, but opiates are the only thing that help with a lot of my symptoms. I do not get messed up on them like others. I get no euphoria. It works for me just like alprazolam (Xanax) does. The problem with benzodiazepines (e.g. alprazolam) is that I get a quick tolerance build-up, and I become tolerant after just 2 weeks, and when it works, it does not work as well as opiates do. Opiates have been keeping me productive and focusing on my future, otherwise I live in the past, I am stuck in the past, and I am an emotional wreck. I had a couple of appointments with my neurologist. She saw me with and without opiates. The first time she saw me while I was being on opiates, she told me how much better I look and all that. If I told her that the difference between the two was opiates, I bet she would approve of its use in my case. In any case, this is what works for me, and I have been through a lot of psychiatric medications without any success. Opiates are not really an issue at all. I get regular blood tests done, I get MRIs done and so forth... everything seems to be fine, otherwise I would not use it. Constipation is the only issue, but I take magnesium citrate for that. I would like to add that I wish I did not have to depend on opiates or anything at all, I would rather prefer that, but this is what it is. I am happy I found something that works for me after so many unsuccessful attempts. I found it by accident, even.
- Croftengea 5y ago
  Thanks a lot for sharing. I hope this is still recoverable condition.
  - johnisgood 5y ago
    Thank you and no problem! Sadly I have been going from neurologist to neurologist, but it does not seem like it is recoverable. There is no way to reverse demyelination[1]. There are some herbs that may help with that, but I am skeptical. If anyone knows something with regarding to this, their input would be welcomed! I know there is a lot of ongoing research on this. For now I take propolis, vitamin D, B vitamins (B1, B6, B12 especially), garlic oil, quercetin, and bromelain. I just ordered CBD oil and this will be my first time testing it. I hope it is going to work for my muscle spasticity. Additionally I ordered Ceylon cinnamon, because I read some studies with promising results. I might as well give it a try. Opiates do help tremendously, but they do not treat all of my other symptoms. [1] First search results: "There's no cure for demyelinating conditions, but new myelin growth can occur in areas of damage".

by ttul 5y ago

I had a brain injury a few years ago and I literally am not the same person. Be careful with your head, folks. It’s really easy to permanently change your existence.

dvt 5y ago

My regards, and this is purely out of curiosity so feel free to ignore if I'm overstepping -- how are you "not the same person?" Can you tell what you "should" be like? Did you previously enjoy certain things that you don't anymore? Hoping you get better.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
l8nite 5y ago
I’m not the parent, but I had a moment where I physically felt something “break” in my brain (stress related), and ever since then I haven’t been the same person. The feeling is hard to articulate, but I no longer connect to my feelings or thoughts in the ways I had been accustomed to. My new behaviors and patterns are somewhat destructive to the life I was building prior to my “break,” and it’s incredibly maddening and depressing trying to balance “good for new me” and “good for the life old me built and the people he loved.” It goes way beyond not simply enjoying the things I used to enjoy any more.
- kayodelycaon 5y ago
  Interesting. I had a four month long psychotic break. It started mid-August 2018 when I physically felt something snap in my brain. (See my reply to the same comment)
  - sizzle 5y ago
    Would shrooms help you reset?
    - Enginerrrd 5y ago
      I'm pretty pro psychedelics, but you should know it's generally a REALLY bad idea for anyone with a history of psychosis to use them, to the point that I really implore you not to recommend them so casually to someone with such a history. That cohort is at very high risk and the use of psychedelics can really exacerbate the condition and make people less functional.
      - kayodelycaon 5y ago
        Yup. I’m bipolar.
    - kayodelycaon 5y ago
      I’ll pass. I’ve already had the shrooms experience and the complete brain reset without them. I’m on antipsychotics and no one is going to let me go off them, including me. I’m never, ever going off my antipsychotic.
- jmrm 5y ago
  > I’m not the parent, but I had a moment where I physically felt something “break” in my brain (stress related), and ever since then I haven’t been the same person. Same here. I had the mix of a heavy burnout and a broke up a couple of years ago and I'm still recovering. It's curious how I totally had the same kind of "logarithmic" recovery that some other people wrote in other comments here. It might be how the brain reacts to that.
kayodelycaon 5y ago
Not the parent commenter, but I have had a complete change of self. After my psychotic break and starting treatment for bipolar, I was a shell of a person. I had the opportunity to become anyone I wanted to be. I picked what I thought my best traits were from my last self and started on a journey of self discovery. I vaguely remember my previous self and he had completely different motivations. The only similarities I recognize are things I decided to keep. To keep this bit brief, my interests changed in ways I didn’t expect. My previous self would never have shamelessly written pornography. My previous self used to care what people thought of him. I don’t. I only care about the consequences of how people see me. This doesn’t make a sociopath because I do care about how people feel. I want to communicate effectively. I try to tailor my actions so other people feel I am listening and that I care, because I do. My previous self wasn’t so explicitly and logically calculating about relationships. My previous self was brutally honest. I try to be kind when confrontation or blunt honesty is necessary. Overall, my maturity increased by about 20 years in the last 3 years. My previous self is a person I’m not fond of.
- johnisgood 5y ago
  My change was profound, but the cause for it is pretty simple. I was in love with a girl and I tried to be with her but she did not even reply to me. I started thinking about how this happened and how I could have avoided it, I started thinking about in what ways she has changed me for the better... From here I just sort of became a "better" person. Honesty, loyalty, not making promises I cannot keep, and so forth... In some ways being a manipulative prick paid me off more, but I do not mind, I am sticking to who I am now.
ttul 5y ago
I just dimly remember being sharper and faster previously. It’s hard to pin down the precise changes more than that. Work is harder. Focusing is harder.

hypertele-Xii 5y ago

If changing your existence requires brain injury, I'd argue the opposite: It's hard not easy. It's not like we can sell brain injuries at every corner store to change peoples' lives.

flycaliguy 5y ago

Same. 2006. (In hindsight) I had some frontal lobe related issues beforehand, so it’s hard to really “blame” one thing or the other. Overall, not worth the insurance settlement. If anything, the idea that I cashed out ended up alienating me from my entire support network. Friends and family, people I’d just met who had been told my story before hand… Yuck. Glad to now run in different circles selected for maturity this time.

johnisgood 5y ago

I have lesions in my brain. It is probably toxic leukoencephalopathy, but no one knows. Some neurologists say it is MS, but we do not know anything for sure. People probably does not or would not believe me, but opiates are the only thing that help with a lot of my symptoms. I do not get messed up on them like others. I get no euphoria. It works for me just like alprazolam (Xanax) does. The problem with benzodiazepines (e.g. alprazolam) is that I get a quick tolerance build-up, and I become tolerant after just 2 weeks, and when it works, it does not work as well as opiates do. Opiates have been keeping me productive and focusing on my future, otherwise I live in the past, I am stuck in the past, and I am an emotional wreck. I had a couple of appointments with my neurologist. She saw me with and without opiates. The first time she saw me while I was being on opiates, she told me how much better I look and all that. If I told her that the difference between the two was opiates, I bet she would approve of its use in my case. In any case, this is what works for me, and I have been through a lot of psychiatric medications without any success. Opiates are not really an issue at all. I get regular blood tests done, I get MRIs done and so forth... everything seems to be fine, otherwise I would not use it. Constipation is the only issue, but I take magnesium citrate for that. I would like to add that I wish I did not have to depend on opiates or anything at all, I would rather prefer that, but this is what it is. I am happy I found something that works for me after so many unsuccessful attempts. I found it by accident, even.

Croftengea 5y ago
Thanks a lot for sharing. I hope this is still recoverable condition.
- johnisgood 5y ago
  Thank you and no problem! Sadly I have been going from neurologist to neurologist, but it does not seem like it is recoverable. There is no way to reverse demyelination[1]. There are some herbs that may help with that, but I am skeptical. If anyone knows something with regarding to this, their input would be welcomed! I know there is a lot of ongoing research on this. For now I take propolis, vitamin D, B vitamins (B1, B6, B12 especially), garlic oil, quercetin, and bromelain. I just ordered CBD oil and this will be my first time testing it. I hope it is going to work for my muscle spasticity. Additionally I ordered Ceylon cinnamon, because I read some studies with promising results. I might as well give it a try. Opiates do help tremendously, but they do not treat all of my other symptoms. [1] First search results: "There's no cure for demyelinating conditions, but new myelin growth can occur in areas of damage".