well I'm sure that you have your good days and your bad days...sound like today is a bad day. Just take it one day at a time. I don't really know how you feel, I'm a caregiver to my fiance, so I can only imagine. I hope that you start to have more good days than bad, and can see improvements. If it's only been a year, I'm sure that things will continue to change and heal, especially as they start to learn more about the brain. Stay hopeful, and tomorrow will bring another day. I hope that you feel better. If you need anything I will listen.

Thank you for your reply. I am sure it hard to be a care giver to someone who is ill or recovering... May you keep heart and strength. I go through cycles of mourning. This one has laster longer than a week. My husband is a great support and He is so glad i lived. I struggle with the fact that I lived to have to live with so much disabilities. I am am labeled high functioning, I am mouthy and can articulate how i feel and what i think. My biggest frustration is the lack of therapy. Insurance will not pay for anymore therapy and i so desperately need more. I am coming to the point i will probably start paying for therapy out of my own. I love the spell check in this program. The other frustration is not being able to drive. I have been to sick to care about driving until now. I am inches better so i want to get out and take care of life. I have a good group of freinds and family that help me get about. I go down the list till i find someone that can take me on errands. I do not get upset when people can not take me, i understand they are busy too. I just want to do stuff myself. Just run a quick errand or take myself for coffee or an antique mall to just browse at my leisure. My whole life is different now. My goals and dreams are all upside down and i am still trying to sort through what to do. My husband says my job right now is to just rest and heal. I was such a busy active person and and i miss that. I love taking on huge jobs and getting stuff done fast. Now i have a few simple goals for my days. I took a creative living class that helped me a great deal through some of the worst mourning.
just thank you bunches for replying and listening so much. chi

I have a brain injury. I too have the overstimulation problem. (noise,activity etc) I was unable to get any therapy either.

I have learned to help my brain myself. There are lots of things you can do to teach your brain to work again.

Even with sight difficulties, I am sure you will be able to come up with ways.

I had to re learn math. I began with counting.
Read as much as you are able.
Sort things.
Put together any type of puzzles.
Crosswords and other word games.
Logic puzzles like Sudoku and others.
Practice memory games. There are many on the internet but anything that exercises your memory is good.

Anything to exercise your brain.

I found this exhausting, but it is worth it. Kind of like exercising your body. Start slow and gradually increase.

Research and work on helping yourself if you can't get professional therapy.
And above all, give yourself time.

Yes, I am doing as much as I can to help my brain relearn and to be dynamic. Numbers issues are a pervasive issue for me. I am able to to count to 30 now and working on to fifty. I am crocheting a simple shell stitch shawls and a couple of simple crochet projects. I also have a "smart Talk" machine to help me relearn vocab and pronunciations. I have taken an active path to trying to recouperate. I have also relized that while I have problems with numbers in the big picture for me anyway, i let got of it and not let it have so much power over me. So what if i can not do math. I just ask for help. But at the same time I want the independence that comes with being able to do math. I am taking things better today. I lost my ability to paint, that was the most devastating of all. So i decided rather than kill myself trying to relearn math I would pick what was really important to me and that was painting. I was accomplished at drawing and painting before my accident.
I paint different now but i am also freeier. I can tell myself hey a brain damage person painted that, referring to myself. But mostly what i like about my new way of painting is that it tells my story. Every stroke tells the truth. Thank you so much for replying. It is so comforting to have someone to talk to that knows too. Chi

Hello to all. I just found this website on a search for support groups. I have to say that it sounds like you're doing the right thing by keeping the stimulation going. I am 36, had a stroke two years ago, and have had six embolizations and just did Gamma Knife Radiation surgery here in St. Louis. For the summer after my stroke I had some difficulty walking/balance problems, so I went through a summer of physical therapy. There are up and down days. I have been through hundreds of hours of counseling. Because of problems with short-term memory and concentration, I have not returned to work. My wife is somehow able to handle me. Glad I found this group and willing to meet others.