Hello,


I'm new on here and am looking for a little bit of insight from people with more experience with concussions. I am 19, very active and have been injury free up to this point.

On may 25th (2013) I suffered a concussion while surfing. With my head turned away from the board, the wind picked the board out of the water and tossed it in to the back of my head (left sub Occipital I think) It definitely hurt, but honestly i've taken much harder hits to the head before and I continued surfing. It wasn't untill later that day while doing a strength workout that I really knew something was not quite right, so I stopped the workout, and sure enough when I woke up the next morning I knew that it was a concussion.

At that point I decided to call out from work for a few days and not resume training (I Nordic ski NCAA and have a daily training regimen for the summer.)
5 days later I continued working as a Busser/ Runner at a local restaurant it was tough but seemed doable, as I felt like I was slowly getting better. 3.5 weeks out, right after taking an IMpact I hit a low point and told my boss that I needed a week off. but one week turned in to two... to three... to four and so on. I took another impact test in Mid July and saw zero improvement from the one a month ago. Since then I began seeing a chiropractic neurologist, who uses a series of adjustments, stim therapy and eye excersizes, and more recently began the Buffalo Protocol and was told that I was the perfect candidate for it because I am used to excessive daily exercise.

Recently however, I have not felt any better, but actually as bad as I've ever felt. My most profound symptom I've had the entire time is a mental fogginess and indescribable surreal feeling that waxes and wanes depending on how im feeling. I also have fairly significant sound and light sensitivity and am easily over whelmed by distractions and lots of activity. I have had some sleep issues and have been using melatonin, but found an herbal remedy called tranquility which seems to work better and claims to "calms the nervous system" and "support the natural stress response" - not sure if thats a problem or not but It seems fine. At this point I'm probably not going to be able to go back to school in a few weeks, and will most likely take the semester off.

has anyone else had a similar story, have any advice for me, or see something I've been doing that I really shouldn't?

Also, if anyone has suggestions of fun things to do that are low key, that would be awesome. Since my idea of fun typically surrounds activities such as surfing or playing ultimate frisbee, i've been struggling to occupy my time.

I can already see that concussions aren't all bad, and honestly I can tell i'm becoming a stronger person because of It. It would however be comforting to know that I am definitely getting better and on the road to recovery.

Thanks alot, I'm happy to have found such a wonderful resource

-jamie