This guy knows what I’m talking about.

I like to think I’m a fairly calm and relaxed guy. Not much rattles me. Some things did and occassionally still do, but they’re becoming fewer and fewer. For example, I used to get incredibly frustrated by the speed at which my brain injury symptoms were improving. I don’t anymore. This is partly experience, knowing that there will be plateaus lasting varying lengths of time, and partly the understanding that, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter. My double vision has provided me with a similar experience. However, with this post, I will address another problem I’ve noticed since my brain injury, loud volume sounds, mostly indoors. I’ve read a lot about people dealing with headaches and bright lights, but little about sound.

One of my good friends’ mother has recently had a concussion and he told me that she gets headaches and, as I asked him if she was sensitive to sound, he said many sounds, especially loud ones, she finds difficult to handle. If, for example, someone is using the vacuum cleaner. She finds it soothing and relaxing to lie down and listen to music at a low volume. That’s just like me. If I can control the noise, I know when the volume will raise or lower and it seems better. If it’s unconcrtollably loud and I can’t avoid it (such as in a car) I develop a stinging headache. It only lasts about as long as the sound is loud, but it’s there.

I haven’t talked about it much, probably because I’ve always felt somewhat the same way about loud sound. It is more pronounced now (pardon the pun), but, for me, not incredibly so. For many, like my friend’s mom, it can really be a difficult symptom to deal with.