Brain Injury Support Group
Traumatic brain injury occurs when a sudden trauma causes brain damage. TBI can result from a closed head injury or a penetrating head injury. Symptoms of a TBI can be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the extent of the damage to the brain. Outcome can be anything from complete recovery to permanent disability or death. A coma can also affect a child's brain.
As a parent of a TBI patient who has since his injury has become addicted to opiates I am so frustrated as to what to do. My son who is 24 just can not keep himself off the drugs. Any stress does him in. He is not covered on any health insurance other than the county medical which does not cover much. The kid needs a dual diagnosis rehab who understands TBI. Where do we find that ? And how do we get him there without the financial backing ? He seems like he is going downhill, he cries for help but I dont know what to do . His injury is all frontal lobe, so he is extremely impulsive and makes horrible choices. He has memory issues and cognitive issues and has anger problems. He is being treated with mood stabilizers (Depakote) but I dont think they are helping.
Any advise is appreciated.
I want to help him but dont know how or where to turn.
thanks, pam
Any advise is appreciated.
I want to help him but dont know how or where to turn.
thanks, pam
Kelly
Forgot to put the address in.
Fortunately, my son has insurance. He gets it because he is deemed totally disabled and gets ssi. One would therefore think that as long as we found a program, he'd be good to go. We weren't able to find a dual bi/alcohol program, but we found a good sounding residential program. He was even court ordered to attend it (after 2nd DUI) -- and then the program denied him -- because of his tbi.
I soooo wish I had an answer for you. My son's injuries are also mostly frontal lobe too, and his judgment, decision making, impulsivity, etc are shot. We have had some luck with geodon and celexa for the impulsivity. He has been sober for 6 months now, too. Unfortunately, he has now decided he doesn't need the medication anymore, so now we're fighting that battle... And I am terrified that he will go back to where he was before with the anger, hugely bad decisions, running with some pretty scary people...
All I can offer you at this point is empathy, I'm afraid. I feel that at this time, ther just isn't available anywhere the type of help our sons need. .. Unless we had unlimited resources, which most of us don't have.
I am sending you a friend request and many hugs. You are not alone.
Best,
HayMom
I did check out the website ,http://www.biausa.org, sent a email asking a few questions. The website itself really did not answer what I want to know. Why is everything so dang hard ?
I guess plugging along will have to do for now. I am just getting exhausted and frustrated with our so-called medical community. Frankly speaking....they suck !
hugs...pam