#childhood tbi

[possthrowaway4q]

I've learned/realized a lot about my health issues recently, and I... really need some opinions. Particularly from people with traumatic brain injuries. So I'm gonna share my story.

Major Trigger Warning: birth complications, asphyxiation, seizures, child endangerment, medical neglect

(Sorry this isn't under a readmore I have literally never been able to use them on mobile without breaking the post)

I was lied to about my birth story. I was told by my mother that I came into the world a beautiful and perfectly healthy baby (and in her defense she very well could've convinced herself of this). This is, according to what my dad told me now that I'm an adult, completely false. My mother and I both almost died. The doctors didn't believe she was in labor yet. Called it Braxton Hicks for multiple days. Wasn't until one of them actually checked and saw my head that they believed her. Came out completely blue with the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck and was totally silent when they unwrapped me. Had to spend multiple days in the NICU in one of those oxygen tents. Don't know a lot of the details because apparently it wasn't discussed much. No idea if the doctors said anything about potential long-term issues and even if they did, there's no guarantee my parents kept an eye out properly. Didn't find out until a few years ago that I had hallucinations and frequent vivid nightmares as a young kid and the person mentioning it clearly didn't think much of it, despite me vaguely remembering seeing two separate child therapists around that age. Like, early elementary, I think.

That's not the only event though. Summer between 5th and 6th grade I had a drug-induced seizure. I was being watched by a family member who was kind of notorious for hoarding all sorts of medications. Including ones she was no longer prescribed. She didn't keep everything in their proper bottles either, moving pills between and re-labeling them. Including putting prescriptions in OTC containers. I asked for something for a headache. She gave me a pill saying it was Tylenol - didn't even see the bottle it came out of - and left me be again. Wasn't long before I knew something was wrong. Thankfully, I had my phone in my hand and was able to text her before I lost complete control of my muscles. Dunno how long exactly the seizure lasted, but it must've been at least ten minutes because that's how far away my parents lived and they were there with me when it ended. Remember my dad picking me up and holding me until I could talk and move again. We never did go to the hospital. Idk if it's because we all assumed I was fine once it was over or if it was because no one wanted to get the family member in trouble. Would explain why she called my parents instead of an ambulance, I suppose.

Been thinking about that tonight. Realized I was never really the same after that. I went from all As in school to completely unable to keep up with most subjects. I couldn't think or focus, I was in a fog most of the time, was losing large gaps of time and couldn't remember both short and long term things, and shortly after that was the beginning of my three year long psychotic break. Everyone remembers how the start of middle school is when all my mental health symptoms went into overdrive and I was just. Notably worse. And to top it all off, I always have said that my memory of my past seems to only go back to a few substantial memories in 5th grade and everything prior basically doesn't exist most of the time.

So I guess my question is just... could I have brain damage? Birth asphyxia is bad enough, but a 10+ minute long seizure as a child? I'm pretty sure that's way past the threshold of a medical emergency/when permanent brain damage can start. But every time I mention the idea to anyone, it gets brushed off. Either because I "don't need another thing wrong with me" or "does it really matter?" or because neither thing are your typical ideas of a TBI.

Sure, I've got a bunch of other reasons I could have these symptoms. Even just on the mental health side, ADHD, autism, psychosis, dissociative disorder stuff, and it's been too long for any doctor to say definitively one way or the other if they even take me seriously. But... I don't know, could those have contributed? Hell, could that be the root source of some of it that no one connected to because we never talked about it after the fact? (I even completely forgot for a long time. Didn't think it was a big deal. Didn't really understand seizures at the time.) I can't emphasize enough how drastically my health changed after that seizure. But maybe it was just puberty or the increase in difficulty/stress from going from elementary to middle school.

Surely it's possible though that those things at least exacerbated underlying issues or something? I guess the root of my question is whether the traumatic brain injury community would have me. I don't think I'll ever be able to fully, publicly identify that way, but I still desperately want to know if I'd be welcomed if I tried. Could I really have brain damage or am I just being dramatic or a hypochondriac or something? I just wanna know why I'm so fucked up in the head.

[strawberrymangosoda]

if anyone wishes to yell at me abt jedtavius...my dms and asks are open HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

anyway. gillions hair is the texture of green algae and he bites things and has a big fatty muscular fish tail and when he switches from breathing with his gills to breathing with his lungs he has to empty all the water out through his mouth and its really gross and hes got claws and scratches things by accident a lot and hes not a very good singer but he does it anyway and pretzel is a therapy animal and his corals will bleach if he doesnt take care of them so they start going pale if he gets sick/hurt and his skin is sort of rubbery and he eats raw fish straight from the ocean with his teeth and he is deeply deeply superstitious and sorta paranoid and on guard 101% of the time because of how he was raised and hes gullible and dumb sometimes but hes not stupid hes just out of his element

[fictropes]

not saying this irl because of the whole 12 week thing but I’m vibrating so need to yell somewhere. I am pregnant ?????

[backspacingmyself]

17/02/2024, 14.30pm

All my dad has ever shown us is problems

[flownintothesun]

"𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓..."

            ⋆ ✰ ⋆ ─── a legacy post for @batteredoptimist dated 28 July 2022.

      𝐌𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐒, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐋 out of him, like the sea itself come like the Devil to collect a soul that he’s unaware he’s bargained with. There are still pieces of him missing, and his mam says to give it time — that things come sometimes when least expected. It’s not the places shrouded in fog that devastate him. More often than not, it’s how ready he is to cry at simple, tender things. He’s been told this is normal too, after nearly dying. That there’s a new perspective on life.

    But Westley isn’t seeing anything in brighter colors — he hasn’t had some massive epiphany. He doesn’t remember if there’s anything at the end of the tunnel, or if there’s a light at all. What he does know is that it’d taken him over a month to come back to them, and now Muriel’s looking at him laid bare while James waits in the other room and it’s like he fucking knew. It’s like he knew what would happen. Westley’s stripped to nothing but his flesh and the scar that one side of his head’d been shaved down for, another that he can’t see on his back, a new one on the thighs that lovers kiss. And another here, and another here. He’s still walking with a limp and needs the bed arranged a certain way to lay on his back.

     No, Westley’s not reeling in an abundance of emotion from the pieces of his mind that he’s missing. He’s — it’s just so much. What Muriel and James must’ve gone through. What his body’s going through. That Muriel can look at him — the jagged and broken edges of a man and call him beautiful....

  And the bastard knew. Thought it through well enough to take the chance in getting Westley undressed alone. To cry in front of one is bad enough. To cry in front of both — when there are days they look at him as though they’re still uncertain that he’s their Westley...

   It’s too much.

  Shoulders heave and shake, and he looks up helplessly at his husband, who draws him in, strong and steady with soothing circles traced into the back of his head, voice low in the place it rumbles through his chest against Westley’s ear, “I know.”

    And he’s almost angry at how many tears he’s held back in worse situations. Why here, why now? When his husbands are trying to love him? When they’re trying to piece him back in to their ever-changing puzzle? He clings onto Muriel, and soon enough, he feels James’s gentle embrace from his other side, gently against his healing back. He doesn’t realize how much he needs them both until he does. And so he lets go of being the strong one, just this once. “Need you both. ‘m sorry, I don’t know why I’m crying. I’m sorry. I love you, I love you.”

    As love surrounds him, he thinks he can feel it then — the certainty of its light. It’s over. It’s really over. They have each other, for good.

    I don’t want to be alone, says some part of him that just knows that it would be the worst thing in the world. Who clings to love desperately, like a child, like the little boy whose father had left him in Zandvoort, confused and broken.

    You don’t have to be, says the arms wrapped around him here, at his worst, when he needs them most.

[dooplissss]

you ever think about how the absolute chaos of this world could only be possible by the fact that everyone has lives just as rich and inwards as you do

[geddy-leesbian]

This isn't even the worst thing that happens to luis that chapter btw :)

:3

krauser just undoing all of the progress they made with trusting each other dont worry abt it

[cripplecharacters]

I have a disabled character (neurodivergence) who is non verbal - which are the most common disabilities that cause people to be non verbal? Autism is the only one I can find and I already have quite a few autistic characters and want to add more diversity in different types of neurodivergence. Ty!

Hello asker!

So, here's a couple of reasons people might be nonverbal, and I am including physical disabilities as well as neurodivergence.

Developmental Apraxia of Speech, also known as Childhood Apraxia of Speech or Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia, is when from birth the person has trouble planning to move the body parts required to speak (so like, lips, tongue, jaw, etc). It can improve with speech therapy in some

Apraxia of speech is the more general category for the above. This can be acquired, especially from strokes or traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

Dysarthria, which when total is referred to as anarthria, is when there's a neurological injury to the physical muscles that are needed to speak (again, lips, tongue, jaw, etc). Problems with swallowing are common too, since this has to do with muscle weakness rather than motor planning like apraxia of speech. This isn't a physical injury to the muscles, but rather to the brain part that controls them. It can be caused by genetic conditions, traumatic conditions (like strokes or TBIs), cerebral palsy, and more.

This means that generally speaking, conditions like Cerebral Palsy, Traumatic Brain Injury, and strokes can potentially cause a person to be nonverbal, whether due to the above reasons or others.

Intellectual Disability, whether it co-ocurrs with autism or not, can also cause difficulty speaking or an inability to speak. Intellectual disability is a condition that generally causes difficulties with things like reasoning, learning, and problem solving as well as adaptive functioning, which are skills used to navigate life – social, language, communication, practical, etc.

This isn't meant to be an exhaustive list, but generally they are not completely uncommon.

Here is another previous post we've answered, too!

Hope this helps!

– mod sparrow

[disasterfandoms]

Dating Jason Hayes || A Seal Team Headcanon

Requested: Nope! Just felt like writing Jason :)

TW: talk of death, talk of TBI, talk of war

A/N: Jason is such a complex character that I hope I do him justice. Thanks for reading!

Jason may be a stubborn pain in the ass, but he treats you as if you were the only person in his world.

He can't and won't talk about his work, despite the fact that that's what drove Alana away. He refuses to bring you into his trauma, into what he sees in his head.

Jason would take you on trips, whether out camping or just staying somewhere on the beach. He wants you to feel loved, and that you're cared for. He doesn't mind you being at the apartment, but he prefers to be away from that space, especially because of the memories there.

Bringing you coffee the mornings where he has time before a spin up, as almost an apology for his job and being away from you for days.

At least, should he not have time, he will send a message so you know he won't be around.

Meeting Emma and her boyfriend, getting along with her and being accepted.

Learning about Philidelphia sports, and especially about hockey, so you knew what on Earth he would talk about after he watches a game.

Getting to know the team, and especially Ray, as he and Jase are best friends.

Kissing Jason would be full of passion and urgency, no matter the situation. He kisses you as if you were his oxygen, and he'd been under for too long.

Jason taking you to Bravo barbecues, and constantly keeping you close. It's not that he doesn't trust you or the others, he just wants all his free time to be with you.

Going on walks with him and Cerberus, in a comfortable silence. Those walks are one of the only times you can feel Jason relax, as if the beach clears his mind of everything except the present.

Being with him during his TBI treatments, playing puzzles with him and helping him through any side effects he may have.

Him eventually opening up to you about Alana, and his childhood. He's not one to talk about anything, so it meant a lot to you that he was willing to give you everything he could.

[bajablastflavoredsaxreed]

Hi there hello i have decided to write out all connections my brain has formed between the mechanisms and tma(gp) so here we are. please add on if you have anything i live on this shit

-disastrous effects on my spotify wrapped

-mysterious tapes

-opening doors to apocalyptic events

-tim who blows things up (and fucking dies doing it)

-jonathan sims (and his naming conventions for characters he plays)

-frank voss playing characters who could kill me

-tim ledsam (having problems with Eyes)(do you see what i did there)(because. because gunpowder tim’s eyes got burnt out. but also bc. the character he played in tma gets avatared by jarchivist via the Eye)

-jessica law (playing a character trying and failing to be a person who is also associated with dolls and who has an unwaveringly cheerful voice)

-morally dubious characters becoming immortal and inhuman technically through their own choices but considering the circumstances that the choices were made under puts their autonomy and free will into question

-queer as hell

-tumblr-based fandoms

-extensive lore

-individual stories told with an overarching metanarrative throughout installments

-archivists

-others tragic stories told with an unnerving sense of glee

-twists on tropes found within their respective genres

-slam poetry-esque prose on occasion

-big ass polycules in fanon

-jonathan sims playing a tired grumpy nonbinary coded character who needs to Know things

-lovecraftian inspiration

-childhood trauma

-gay computers

-alexander j newall is there (to varying degrees obviously lol, he does show up like once in TBI)

-cults

-allusions for days

-british

-supplemental additions outside of the main story that add to the world and characters (fiction on the mechs website, what the ghost episodes and mag fluff:epiphany)

-great music (sam jones i owe you all of my worldly possessions)

BONUS: these are siblings. to me

[dracopaladin]

She’s built like a linebacker. She had a deeply troubled relationship with her mother. She has a lot of difficulty in social circumstances due to a childhood TBI. She’s so very horny. She knows how to dismember a body. She plays solitaire. She’s an ally to the LGBTs. She’s done a few kidnappings. She’s even brunette. I didn’t say a name, but she popped into your head, didn’t she?

[acearohippo]

Don't mind me, just rambling

Sometimes, I see childhood!Wei Wuxian and think "wow, the untreated ADHD is really powerful with this one". And then I see him post ressurection as mo xuanyu and go "wow, he really be suffering from that lack of oxygenated brain" and then I pause and think.

"Wait. holy crap... Did mxtx purposely make him TBI (traumatic brain injury) -coded?? Did she understand that, as he wouldn't be in his original body, the ADHD wouldn't've followed him, but mxy being legally dead for who knows how many minutes (aka, no oxygen/blood flowing to the brain) before the soul of wwx completely merged, WOULD cause a whole load of similar symptoms but with less executive dysfunction??"

Because if that was on purpose, I am blown away at the attention to detail. And if it wasn't on purpose... I'm still blown away at the difference! Not to mention, the more stable he became with support from Lan Wangji the less debilitating his symptoms were to him.

And I was already shook by Lan Wangji, Jin Zixuan, and Jiang Cheng's autism-coded personality clashes. It's not often we see (accurate) portrayals of when two (or more) neurodivergent characters clash, usually there's more emphasis on solidarity vs neurotypicals. There's no "trauma-bonding", no "coming to a truce through marriage", no "I hate socialising, you hate socialising, let's avoid it together". And it's accurate, because when stuff goes down and they need to work together, there's no hesitation because the expectation is that- well, they need to handle the shit that hit the fan. And when all is over and done with? They don't fall under the societal pressure to bond with each other, there's no need. They did their jobs, they're good.

Mxtx is just really damn good at writing complex characters with complex neuroses. I ain't even touch how you can almost always tell who's the "coded" ones in her stories and they're not all the same character archetype. It's glorious.

[bestworstcase]

Could a person get a new semblance?

If a semblance is the manifestation of a person's soul, could a person change so completely from who they were when they unlocked their semblance that it changes internally?

If not, then why?

generally my sense is the answer is “no,” with the possible exception of something like a severe TBI resulting in a complete break in continuity of the self (e.g. on the level of phineas gage)—because of:

ren’s semblance.

the schnee semblance.

during the beacon arc, ren is established to be a very quiet and serious person who doesn’t express his emotions except in very small, subtle ways. a bit later we find out that his semblance allows him to mask emotions, hiding people from grimm, which flawlessly reflects the person he was at beacon. then, through v4-8, his emotional walls start to come down in tandem with an ever-growing degree of pressure putting stress on his existing model for how to deal with problems until he snaps and begins to alternate between lashing out and gravitating toward a perceived authority figure to tell him what to do—he’s erratic and emotionally volatile bc the box he keeps his feelings inside is disintegrating and his childhood fear of making the wrong choice, doing the wrong thing, is rearing its head again.

so he now has to figure out a whole new way to handle his emotions, and by that what i really mean is how to live and take action without disconnecting himself from what he feels. this is a dramatic reversal from the person he was at beacon. when he lets himself feel, ren turns out to be someone whose emotions are actually big and loud and overwhelming; he’s someone who shouts when he’s mad and cries when he’s upset and blurts out a list of things he loves about nora when she tears herself down.

and what happens to his semblance? it turns inside out!

masking emotions -> revealing emotions that other people are trying to suppress.

concealing people from grimm -> tracking people based on “spikes of emotion”

but crucially when this happens, ren doesn’t lose his original emotion-masking semblance. if anything, that seems to grow stronger: in 8.13 he masks a huge crowd of terrified refugees for what seems to have been a fairly long time—without jaune’s help.

so semblances can and do radically change, but they do so by diversifying. you don’t lose the ‘old’ semblance—the you you were remains a part of the you you are now—but instead grow whole new branches.

this brings us to the schnee semblance, which is a) hereditary and b) by a wide margin the most versatile semblance in the story. telekinesis, speed, summoning of aura constructs, time dilation, and the glyphs are solid enough to use as shields and floating platforms. why? it’s hereditary. the sheer range this semblance has represents an accumulation of many different individuals who grew and changed in ways that branched the shared semblance in a new direction, and then—because this family takes so much pride in their hereditary semblance—taught their relatives how to do the new trick too.

basically, i don’t think it’s possible to manifest a ‘new’ semblance that replaces the old one because the semblance itself has boundless, branching potential; you manifest new forms and new pathways. the semblance is more of a toolbox than a tool.

[disabilities-disabilities]

Disabilities refer to impairments that may limit a person's physical, cognitive, sensory, or mental abilities to perform tasks or participate fully in everyday life. Disabilities can vary widely in nature and severity, and they can be temporary or permanent. Here are some common types of disabilities:

Physical disabilities: These involve impairments that affect mobility or physical functioning, such as paralysis, limb loss, or muscular dystrophy.

Sensory disabilities: These include impairments related to sight, hearing, or both. Blindness, low vision, deafness, and hearing loss fall into this category.

Cognitive disabilities: These affect cognitive functions, such as learning, memory, problem-solving, and comprehension. Conditions like dyslexia, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and intellectual disabilities are examples.

Psychiatric or mental health disabilities: These involve conditions that affect a person's mental well-being and functioning, such as depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

Developmental disabilities: These typically manifest during infancy or childhood and impact physical, learning, language, or behavior development. Examples include autism spectrum disorder and Down syndrome.

Chronic illnesses: While not always considered disabilities in the traditional sense, chronic illnesses such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and fibromyalgia can significantly impact a person's daily life and functioning.

Acquired disabilities: These result from injury, illness, or other factors later in life, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), stroke, or spinal cord injury.

It's important to recognize that each individual's experience of disability is unique, and it's essential to consider their specific abilities, challenges, and needs. Additionally, the concept of disability is evolving, with a growing emphasis on accessibility, inclusion, and the social model of disability, which focuses on removing barriers to participation rather than just addressing impairments.

[spicyraeman]

What are some of the effects you hc the zaithisk actually has on lae'zel? Can't imagine the fight back out of the creche was fun with all the after effects of just being in it

Effects immediately after the zaith’isk? Lae’zel is Fucked™, she’s bleeding from the eyes/ears/nose, seeing double and stumbling around, she's lucky (or unlucky) that she doesn’t just vomit and pass out the moment the zaith’isk blows up. A potion and a healing spell are enough to ease some of the pain and disorientation so she’s not completely useless in the fight out but the damage is already done and only a tadpole will fix it.

As for long-term effects, the biggest ones are frequent headaches and memory loss, she's also a bit slower to speak or act. The headaches can be lessened with potions and spells but they often lean into migraine territory and make it difficult to concentrate and lights and loud sounds fuck with her a lot. The memory loss and brain lag are def the most frustrating for her though, there are times were she ‘gets lost’ or has trouble remembering things from her childhood that should be easy to remember

Overall just kinda leaning into moderate but not quite severe TBI symptoms