need advice, broke my arm, totally depressed......

Post Reply New Topic

/so i broke my left arm in 2 places and am losing it, i cant even brush my own hair now, or wash it, so im totally screwed, am in a cast for 10wks, i now need help going to the bathroom, bathing myself, feeding myself, almost everything its horrible, its extremely hard to type, im getting so depressed and i only broke it two days ago, i dont know what to do??? im also a workout freak, so i know i'm going to loose it if i cant even workout, ive been having 2-3 meltdowns everyday so far, im loosin it cuz all my routines have changed, my autism is out of wack... im at my ends... anybody got any ideas or advice to help me through this before i do something horrible !

Can you write or have someone else write down a new routine for you?About exercise...... Your arm is broke, but you can walk, or maybe even hike, what about an excerise bike. I know change is hard, but right now you don't have a choice. Chatroom here and I.M.ing with friends should help. Contact your local Autism Society and tell them what happened...who knows maybe they can send you some help and support. I'm amazed at what the San Diego Autism Society has to offer here.

When I broke my arm, I was on an exercise bike all the time. Its kind of different, but You will get use to it, and I really gelt much better.

age1600,
not really got any advice due to breaking arm as a child rather than adult,but try and convince doctors to take off plaster a bit earlier [when it has healed] and swap it for the beige coloured splint thing,it gives a bit more freedom with moving,and can be easier to have a scratch underneath.
plaster is horrible.

That's amazing that you can type. Do you have voice recognition software? or Vista?

I dunno... what else can you do? Read books? Find a new obsession? You're an aspie, you like books right? I can recommend some books if you want.

Damn girl! I read that and thought you were getting it amputated!

I suppose on that note, perhaps the old cliche of "it could be worse" comes to mind. I know, it's a useless comment that rarely works to make anybody feel better, other than the person making it. But on the off chance this is one of those occassions that it'll actually help...

You still have the arm, it's just getting repaired right now. Maybe you'll learn to use your right arm better. Are you right handed, if you are, that's lucky! If not, please forget I asked you that last question!

Also, when you break a bone in your body, all the other bones get stronger as the density of them increases. The body doesn't just repair the one that's broken but the same process goes into all the other bones to reinforce them! Get lots of calcium now and your bones will be sturdy for years to come!

I mean, sure, it's inconvenient, but it's an experience that might lead to other good things. And it's not permanent.

I hope this helped and didn't sound like one long stream of BS.

If that all fails, just remember, there are a lot of people on this site who wish you all the best and really like you hanging around. So please keep typing with your good hand, just to make our lives a little better.

It sounds like an excellent time to believe in your natural ability to be double handed.

As you trained your main hand to work for you, so too can you teach your other to perform tasks.

Its a pain, but look at the bright side. You wouldn't have the motivation to be ambedexterous before.


good luck. dont cry when the cast comes off and your arm is both, dirty, hairy, and atrophied. It will flesh out within a couple of weeks.

ouch im so sorry.....

stick hard to the physical exercise

Hang on a second..........

When you break a bone fragments of bone marrow get into the blood and this can cause mood swings and depression. This will pass, trust me.

Ed Almos

Twenty years ago I broke my elbow and I needed surgery and physical therapy, I could not go to work for six
weeks..... what helped me was walking and reading.

I've both broken my ulna and radius of my left arm and shattered the elbow in the same arm at different times. Being a predominantly left handed person, I can certainly relate to the difficulties that you're having. It does make you feel awful helpless which can just make anything else bad feel a lot worse.

The key thing that got me through the last one (elbow shattering and follow up surgery) was the understanding that I can't do it all by myself. So I was able to accept help from friends and family. Also, when no one else was around, I'd do whatever I could with my right hand and failing that, with my left. (very slowly)

The doctor can always redo the cast if it is just too big and bulky for you to use your fingers for anything. If you can use your fingers, then it's just a matter of taking the time and avoiding jars.

As time passes, you'll become better adapted to the lack of use and it will not bug you quite as much.

As far as your routine, this is the hardest thing to fix up. But try and do as much as you can like the old one and substitute like activities where possible. After that, unfortuneatly it's just a matter of grin and bear it. You do have an advantage that I never did. You understand your difference and have at least some support from the folks here.

ive broken my right (good) arm in collage. That was the worse, it took a week or so but you adjust and form new rotuines and become dependent on your other arm, strengthening it. Give it a few more days and I bet you will feel better.

Another thing, that cast has to be on for 10 weeks, however, if not enough blood gets to the injury the bone wont heal fast, the result will be another few weeks in a cast, be sure you feel their is plenty of blood flow, their was not enough for me and my 6 week cast became another 4 weeks with a new 1 b4 i had my arm free again, then after that your arm will be weak and itll be another week before you can use that 100% again.