Difficulties with Noise after Brain Injury

Difficulties with Noise after Brain Injury: Kelly Part Twenty Six

While each TBI Voices story is unique, one of the purposes of this initiative was to describe in subjective terms, common deficits, so that the pattern of disability after brain injury could be best understood.  I turned my interview with Kelly to some of those issues such as difficulties with noise after brain injury:

Now, the one deficit that you clearly identified is that you have major problems with, sensory overload, particularly   difficulties with noise after brain injury or very noisy places.

Yes.

Talk to me more about that.  Restaurants, can give you problems as far as difficulties with noise after brain injury?

Only if there’s children in the restaurant.

How did you deal with working in a restaurant?

I was a door greeter, so I’d didn’t have to go into the restaurant itself.

What happens if there’s children in the restaurant.

Well, if I’m going in as a consumer, I’ve asked not to be placed near seated children.

Is that a difficult thing to do?

Not really.  Of course, it gets frowned on if I’m with family.

What about children in your family?

They’re basically grown: one’s 16 now and one’s 20.

What is about children and difficulties with noise after brain injury that bothers you?

The crying, the demanding, just the, the noise.

When you go to a restaurant at a busy time, there’s always almost an overwhelming amount of background noise.  Does that cause you trouble, too, or is that almost white noise for you?

It’s pretty much white noise.

What other situations do you have problems with noise?

The ones I’ve told you about are the prime, the prime ones.

What issues do you have with,  multitasking, staying up, keeping your attention, jumping from thing to thing?

As long as I’m able to define what my task is and I can set a goal for each task, then I’m able to work that task.  And they come drop another one on me, I’ll have to work it in to how I’m going to  work it with this task.  And if they don’t coincide, I will tell somebody, they don’t coincide with my abilities.

Next in Part Twenty Seven – Natural Hormone Replacement Stabilized TBI Moods

By Attorney Gordon Johnson

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