Hi all,

I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon this forum as I've been frustrated by the lack of information that is available through our doctor. My girlfriend fainted about two weeks ago, hitting her head on a very hard wood floor. She came to after a few seconds but was unable to speak to me for a few minutes. Eventually I was able to gather her up and get her home and in bed. She was very confused and was in and out of sobbing. When I got her home she was a bit dazed, but generally with it.

Over the next day she had a few emotional outburst and needed to be calmed down, noticed that her coordination was a bit off, felt spacey, pain in her left forearm and some tingling in her fingers, dizzy and nauseous in the car, changes in her sense of taste, overly sensitive hearing, had trouble with faces, slowed speech (reaching for words), and I noticed that she was becoming childlike. Very calm, but glazed over and a bit distant.

I rushed her down to the ER and they admitted her right away. They did a CT scan and EKG, both came back clean (whew). We were finally discharged after a few hours with a diagnosis of "concussion" and that we should follow up with her doctor later that week. He is a nice fellow, but didn't really know what to do with her except to tell her to get lots of rest and fluids.

I won't list all the symptoms for the following two weeks here (I have been keeping a log), but she has been making some progress. She is able to walk more often unassisted around our apartment, though she took a step back yesterday. Her memory (long term and short) is great, as is her sense of humor (though she can't take any jokes that involve her). Her word recall is much stronger, and a sort of stutter she had developed seems to be fading. It only pops up when she is tired. She usually ends each day with a feeling of being "dopey". That childlike glaze comes back and breaks my heart every time. Her taste, and motor skills seem to be back and her vision is unaffected. We have been spending time listening to podcasts, doing jigsaw puzzles, painting, eating good food and lots of rest. I work from home so it has been very helpful for keeping an eye on her.

The main symptoms that seem to run the show now are emotional and psychological. She becomes easily overwhelmed in conversation or by too much stimulus. She is terrified of loud noises and it will usually cause her to cry and need to be calmed down. She has also complained of strong feelings of depression and anxiety and a complete inability to deal with anything negative, whether it's in the news or something in our life (she will basically shut down and get very quiet). We took our first trip outside the apartment yesterday, and it was a total disaster. We live in NYC, so there is not much space for a quiet stroll (garbage trucks, people everywhere, honking, all of that). Her reaction was to basically stare straight ahead and speak very quietly, almost inaudibly. The walk didn't last long and she came back inside and lied down on the rug, unable to speak or move much for the next half hour. We've been back to our normal routine since as I felt the walk did her too much harm.
Around 2pm that afternoon, she lied down to take a nap and complained of hearing noises that weren't there and feeling as they she were going a bit crazy. She said that the hum of the refrigerator (usually a distant, quiet one) grew very loud and even distorted in her ear.

Her doctor wants to see her again, though I'm not sure it's worth the hour cab ride that last time seemed to only negatively affect her (dizziness, overwhelmed, anxiety, nausea), so that he can tell us that she needs to sleep more. I also am uncomfortable with self-treating this as I am not a doctor and would like her to have medical attention in case there is something else that might be at play. In particular I'd like to find a neurologist, though I know some people here have had negative experiences with them.

Does anyone here have a good recommendation for a neurologist in the NYC area? Someone with an understanding of concussions? Does it seem like we are dealing with PCS here?

Any advice on how I can help my girlfriend with some of her other symptoms? I feel torn between keeping her extremely comfortable and happy, and also helping her to slowly become desensitized to the outside world.

Thank you!