Anyone suffer brain injury and having issues working in IT?

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SRussell

Active Member
Oct 7, 2019
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Six years ago I developed a wicked case of insomnia. In the end I have to take two Serotonin upticks and two benzodiazepines just to fall asleep. Failure to take the medication will leave me awake for 72+ hours.

Four years ago I developed a bad brain fog. I am slow to recall events. I produce bogus data; not sure if I am storing bogus memories or I am recalling random bogus memory.

The last two years I have started to have visions that I know do not exist. Eg. I would swear I saw a Black Ford F150 making a left turn. My wife comments it is not a truck. I double down and swear it is a truck; it was a black Trailblazer. Today, I swore there was a dog behind my friend.There was no dog around within the house. I really don't know how to tackle this. I have been through four years of x-rays, CT, CT with and without contrast, MRIs. Last week I had almost two dozen scans and like the previous four years nothing is jumping out. To say I am disappointed is to put it mildly.

Back in the day I worked on Sun Microsystems, Veritas Clustering, EMC Storage, and a large array of Sun Midrange systems. After that I pivoted to Red Hat and earned my RHCSA and RHCE. I have read through the manuals for Ansible, OpenStack,...

I am missing huge gaps of knowledge. I am debating starting my homelab over and relearn everything. It is so hard to concentrate and it feels like I take a week to absorb something that should take at most a few hours. E.g. I spent almost three days learning subnetting. And, that is at least six hours each day.
 

CyklonDX

Well-Known Member
Nov 8, 2022
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No.

You should get doctor opinion from this point

From my "Dr. House", knowledge
When have you first noticed those, were you taking medications? If you have had was it prior or post vaccination?
It could be early onset of Alzheimer, vitamin deficiency, blood cancer, brain cancer, mass in brain.

but try following for a month see if you see any differences
get 1000mg of niacin, 1000mg taurine, magnesium 500mg, B1 100mg daily, D3 5000 iu, and 40mg melatonin with 300mg aspirin before sleep
try fasting for a week, and switch into red meat diet for a month. Skip sugars, drink more water, and go for a walks in the sun.
 
Last edited:

amalurk

Active Member
Dec 16, 2016
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Not a medical doctor but benzodiazepines can cause hallucinations and I would ask your medical providers if your long term use of those medications are now possibly making things worse.
 

Wasmachineman_NL

Wittgenstein the Supercomputer FTW!
Aug 7, 2019
1,881
621
113
The only thing that gave me brain injury is me overclocking random hardware /s

Seriously though OP, see a doctor. Asking people on STH to diagnose you is not a good idea.
 

SRussell

Active Member
Oct 7, 2019
327
152
43
US
The only thing that gave me brain injury is me overclocking random hardware /s

Seriously though OP, see a doctor. Asking people on STH to diagnose you is not a good idea.
I am working with several doctors. I was interested if others have any impairments and what solutions they use.

I am working with low priority break fix. I do not trust my performance to work in an enterprise setting with oncall.
 

Peter Blanchard

Active Member
Jun 30, 2022
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I suffer from some cognitive issues. Partly due to age, partly due to medication, partly due to mental health issues.

It's not helped by the realisation that in the past I've done "genius" things but not for several years.

It's good that you've kept working. I've not been able to hold down a (data analyst) job for years.

Benzodiazepines are evil. They are less good than the Z-drugs for sleep etc. Neither should be used long term. Benzos are highly addictive to say the least.

The balance between sleep/mental health issues vs cognitive function re medication is hard.

The most important thing is not to beat yourself over what you can't do and see what you can do as a victory. Every day.
 
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SRussell

Active Member
Oct 7, 2019
327
152
43
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I suffer from some cognitive issues. Partly due to age, partly due to medication, partly due to mental health issues.

It's not helped by the realisation that in the past I've done "genius" things but not for several years.

It's good that you've kept working. I've not been able to hold down a (data analyst) job for years.

Benzodiazepines are evil. They are less good than the Z-drugs for sleep etc. Neither should be used long term. Benzos are highly addictive to say the least.

The balance between sleep/mental health issues vs cognitive function re medication is hard.

The most important thing is not to beat yourself over what you can't do and see what you can do as a victory. Every day.

I really appreciate this!
 
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MartinK

New Member
Feb 2, 2024
1
1
1
I have multiple TBI's from being in the military. As everyone has said make sure you work with your doctor, however I have found that I have to tailor my office to help me study. I am very light sensitive so I have all external light blocked out so I can control the lights in the room, I have a white noise speaker playing to block out distracting noise, and I have a schedule for my study times as to not overwhelm myself.

To actually study I have to read/watch the material, I write down what I think is the important notes, I read my notes out loud while I am writing them. I also use text to speech to in MS Word so I can hear the words while I am reading them. I take my time and try not to get too frustrated.

Experiment and find what works for you. Best of luck to you!
 
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