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Hello anyone who reads this. Frankly I'm new to this site and I am also pretty new to the TBI community. I'm reaching my 4 year mark of my new TBI life and I have so much to learn. However, something I've learned on my own and through basic research is that it is critical to have your hormones checked after your injury. I recently found out through my lawyer that my neuro surgeon told me and her in the beginning of this, that I had several hormone inbalances. I was not in very good shape then and I forget as quickly as I was told. My doctor felt that because I was so new to my injury it would be imprudent to give me any therapy for these hormone issues due to my frontal lobe damage and problems I was experiencing with anger and emotions. Years went by and after some simple Google searching I realized that some of my problems could he at least helped with hormone replacement therapy. It's not a cure for TBI. It can help you with your fatigue, sexual dysfunction, deppression, emotional issues, and your physically health. If you read the studies as I did regarding the effect of hormone replacement on tbi, it basically just helps alittle, wich in my case is more then anyone has offered me in terms of feeling better. I have personally only started with testosterone replacement therapy and so far all it has really done is help me with my sexual problems and I feel alittle better physically. From my reading and conversations with providers, I've found that HGH, adrenal glands, and cortisol are the main hormones you should have checked. If your a woman then you need to look at your estrogen levels. Men it's testosterone. Insurance, from my experience, doesn't cover the cost of the actual replacement hormones. Testosterone is somewhat affordable. Adrenal insufficiency, if you find out you have it, can be treated with steroids, that your primary can perscribe. Cortisol I believe is helped by injections, Wich you would have to pay for. Again, I'm not a doctor. I'm just a TBI survivor who is finding these things out almost 4 years into my injury. I wanted to post this because for whatever reason, know one told me about this until I was way into my TBI. My neuro doctor brought it up in my first month when I was literally a shell of myself. I remember the night I got hurt, but as far as my initial treatments from my brain injury, I barely remember any of it. If you are in my situation and know one ever told you about hormone issues after TBI, then please go get your levels checked out. I'm not sure but your primary should be able to send you to a lab to have basically everything I've mentioned checked. I personally haven't had my adrenal glands or my HGH or cortisol checked yet. It's my next step in the process of doing what I can to live a better life. I can definitely say that after two months of testosterone injections I feel a difference. My pain is the same, my deppression hasn't changed, and I still feel like shit every hour of every day. However, like everyone else living with this disability, I am optimistic that perhaps over time my testosterone therapy will help at least make my life alittle better. I've gained 50 pounds since I got hurt. I'm told that the testosterone will help me lose some of this bed weight but, you still need to exercise along with it to actually make that change. HGH replacement therapy is very expensive and I can't afford it sadly. Of course i still haven't actually had mine checked so it's possible my HGH levels are normal. From my reading I've found that 80% of all men who are diagnosed with moderate or severe TBI will have a combination of these hormone deffecienties. Those numbers drop in cases of less damaging brain injuries or concussion problems. In my case I have a very bad moderate TBI and I have a real problem with fatigue. I hope to get all of these hormones checked and if I can afford it, I'd like to have any problems treated. I'm hoping that at some point I'll be able to afford the HGH therapy as because I'm a 35 year old man chances are I'm already experiencing low levels of HGH. HGH problems are very typical in moderate and severe brain injuries. Like testosterone, HGH replacement has the chance to help you lose weight, lower deppression, help you regain muscle mass lost from being bed ridden, and also can generally help with your self confidence and overall sense of feeling good. In my case, although it's embarrassing to admit at 35, I have lost my libido completely and also suffer erectile dysfunction due to my injury. Since I started testosterone therapy my libido has returned to probably 25% of what it was. Also my erectile dysfunction isn't cured but its better then it's been since I got hurt. I hope this helps people on here and I'm sorry if this is somewhat concentrated more on men then women. I can only talk about what I'm experiencing and a women's body is just very different then mine. Good luck with all of you and if this helped one person it means so much to me. I love all of you other survivors and I'm pulling for all of you. My handle on here is " slobo421" if anyone wants to reach out to me please feel free. I don't do anything I used to do anymore lol and I'd be happy to have a conversation with anyone on here. I am not a expert of any of this but if you have any basic questions please ask....

I had a severe TBI on August 21, 2020. It was from a motorcycle accident and I wasn't wearing a helmet. I suffered a sub-arachnoid hemorrhage, subdural and epidural hematoma, and had a craniotomy. I was off work for about 15 months and then returned. After a few months back at work I was demoted from my lead position. Here it is 2-1/2 years post accident, and my neurologist just took me back off work until I have another neurocognitive assessment done, which isn't until August 17th. I have been struggling at work. I used to be a self-starter and on top of everything. Now, I need constant guidance, have trouble following conversation and my working memory isn't that great. I just recently assembled a chicken pen frame. When I read the reviews on the product most other people that commented mentioned that it took them 30-40 minutes to assemble the frame. It took me 2-1/2 hours. I am a maintenance mechanic and very mechanically inclined (or used to be). I don't know what my future holds regarding employment. I am new to this online community and don't know how active these forums are.

Did you have your assessment done?

Hello Danny, my son is still struggling, 15 years later. A 4-wheeler accident at 17. I don’t have much advice except what tends to help my son lately is hope, reimagining his life. He was young, but very talented in writing, music and art. A lot of it came back after about 5 years, and was even better than before. He had another wreck at 27, cervical neck sprain….that changed everything to even worse. He is now practicing a new art, tattooing. I think it’s good that it’s not something he ever tried before, but related to his past interests, because he can’t compare it to how well he did it before. I don’t know if it will ever come to actual income, but just spending time doing it and dreaming, envisioning the possibility has helped (with counseling). He rejected counseling until 6 months ago. It really is helpful. It can be very depressing. Glad you reached out. I’m new here, wish I could have found a TBI only community right after 1st wreck. I think things would have went a little better with (easier accessible) support. Best wishes!

I meant hello Tim.