Living with a Traumatic Brain Injury, Seizures and PTSD (and life for those that love you).

The life long effects of being attacked with a baseball bat at age 19 also affects those who love you for the rest of your life. This is a true story.

When I was 15 I was diagnosed with Bi-Polar disorder. And that diagnosis turned out to be quite accurate. A few years later age 19 I experienced a Bipolar manic episode that involved believing that I was a supernatural being imbued with the secrets of the universe and brought to earth to save all mankind. There are nuances to this that I will expound on later, but for now just know that the episode lasted several weeks. I was treated with Haldol and as cliché as it is, I was not taking my medication properly. As I was homeless and not in a position to manage myself. This condition and my corresponding behavior led to a physical attack on me by two Neo-Nazi skinheads with baseball bats. They beat me so severely that my skull was cracked open with pieces of it found later in the E.R. in matted hair and blood on my hip. Similar to the magic bullet in the old JFK story. And had they not discovered it I would have had a plate put into my head. But instead, thanks to finding that piece, they were able to sew my skull back together. And the bones grew back into each other over time.

This is the prelude to a life of mental illness that I have had to manage as best I can throughout 3 failed marriages and life in 5 different states.

The event described above is the lead up to a lifetime of a post head trauma seizure disorder that includes PTSD and residual chemical imbalances. I never again thought that I was a supreme being but I sure did find myself able to sleep for days at a time with no memory of even getting up to use the bathroom.

I will continue in the next entry fleshing this out, but what I am referring to is a seizure disorder where the full Grand Mal seizures only occur while I am asleep. It means that every time I lay down to rest I have to wonder if I will wake up.

Let's start there in the following entry .