Que Sara Sara

When I was 5 I was at my babysitters house playing outside with the other kids. It was winter and she had a nice hill to sled on. I finally got ahold of one of the orange sleds. I was excited because they were faster. Apparently I had gotten new boots and was showing them off, looking at my boots, whatever the case, I was not paying attention. There was a huge old tree in the middle of the hill. You wanted to go to the left of the tree so as not to hit the house at the bottom of the second hill. I missed the tree, but went right. I was sledding on my stomach. I had no time to stop. I hit the cement foundation of that house head first, smashing my prefrontal cortex against my skull and immediately passed out.

I woke up a 3 times that remember: outside, where I puked, in the house, where I puked, and at the hospital, where I puked. I had a major concussion and TBI: Traumatic Brain Injury. However, that was a diagnosis I gave myself, because the ER doctor said it was a minor concussion. My GP later said it was major. I remember very little if it.

Considering our memory, executive functioning, balance, and so much more is situated in the front of the brain, it is no wonder that my memory is so horrible, my balance is terrible, and my adhd often hits me very hard. I’m not saying my case is worse or anything, and I’m certainly not bragging. I mean, who really brags about having a severe deficit in daily functioning?! I am saying that I thing the injury compounded my autism traits and adhd.

As you can see, the injury to my Frontal lobe effects so much of my asd and adhd related traits. However, there is a whiplash effect to a brain injury, and this means that when my brain hit the front of my skull, it also probably hit the back nearly as hard, and maybe even the sides, injuring more of my brain than “just the front.” I have problems in multiple areas and it’s hard to say what is more asd/adhd and what is more from tbi. At 44yo, this all kinds of mixes together into one big alphabet soup that also includes hEDS, and other things.

I am by no means a doctor or psychologist (though I did a paper on my family in my Abnormal Psych class and got an excellent grade! xD), but I have done some research and I know my on body (most of the time).