INTRO:
I've decided to put together my concussion story in case anyone wanted to relate or advise on my plans.
It's completely mild in comparison to what many people over here have gone through, but on the other hand, it's not a "Panic! What do I do?--7 days later, I'm fine" story either.
I have been with this thing for almost 6 weeks now, and I'm still far from feeling normal.
If you have a similar concussion story (a heavy strike to the forehead) and are recovering or have recovered, please let me know how you're doing.
I hope to be able to give this a happy ending someday.
BACKGROUND:
25 yrs old, in good shape (been doing approx. 3 hrs of weight lifting + 30km of bike-riding 2–3 times per week regularly, up until the concussion);
no health complaints or sickness for years;
been studying hard to be a computer programmer;
history of working as a professional translator/interpreter (bilingual in English and Czech)
PROGRESS:
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7/19 (day 0)
Had a piece of scaffolding collapse on me, sending a metal plank (could've been 20–30kg) between my eyes.
Strong hangover-like feelings afterward (lasted for about 3—4 days). No loss of consciousness, pupils normal. Felt nauseated but didn't vomit. CT in the ER soon afterward—negative finding. Diagnosis: head contusion
(doctors later changed it to "concussion" after it dragged on forever)
7/22 (day 3)
Had tried to study forcibly during the last 3 days despite the hangover-like feeling. Went for my scheduled checkup to follow up on my visit to the ER. Felt positive about getting better.
7/23—approx. 7/25 (days 4 to 6):
Hangover-like feeling vanished (never came back) and changed to strong pressure inside of the head. Even behind the eyes. Sensitivity to motion (bumps in the road). Very sleepy (slept through most of the following days). Gave up studying for now. A doctor friend wanted me to see my GP about the pressure.
7/25 (day 6)
My GP gave me me a quick magnesium sulfate injection and told me I should be fine. I thought so too. I only went to see him to make my recently graduated doctor friend happy.
Grabbed some fish oil and multivitamins with minerals in the nearby drug store because I'd read those should help me make my recovery quick.
7/25–8/4 (days 6 to 16)
Spent most of my days sleeping (~15hrs or more) (it came naturally and I thought it might help me get better quicker). On the Internet, I looked up stuff I could eat to help recover from a head injury quicker and I started doing that (fruits, vegetables, nuts, eggs, dairy, meat, berries, turmeric, green tea) along with the vitamins/minerals and fish oil I'd bought. Stopped drinking coffee. I tried giving my head a rest, so I only watched some TV if I didn't sleep. Resting made the headaches get better (motion caused the head pressure feeling to return). Tingling/cutting (more tingling initially and more cutting days later) feeling mostly in the left side of my forehead and in left side of the back of my skull when lying in bed. Could hear my heartbeat inside my head.
8/4–8/7 (days 16 to 19)
I started trying to get back on my feet and work on some SW projects. Also did some physical work outside. Slept less, but still quite a lot (>10hrs per day). I found that intense physical work (such as biking) would give me the pressure feeling back and that it would exacerbate the heartbeat inside my head.
8/8 (day 20)
Went to see my GP again about still not feeling well. Was told I'd most definitely had a concussion and that I should've been hospitalized for the first 2–3 days of it and that I should've had complete rest (a very useful piece of advice #sarcasm). He told me now all I could do is rest and wait for it to go away.
Because I felt I had had more than enough of rest, I tried working full-intensity on a very complex software project of mine during the rest of the day.
8/9 to 8/9 (day 21 to 22)
The headache got worse and I spent most of the next two days (Sat, Sun) lying in my bed sleeping or with my eyes closed (just like in my first 2 weeks).
8/11 (day 23)
My headache continued. Mostly the tingling/weakly cutting feeling at the left front and back part of my head. Intense thinking and physical exertion had proved to make things worse. Simpler thinking and reading were OK. Added lecithin and ginkgo to my supplements and took up my doctor friend on his offer for me to get checked by his neuro friend in Brno, Czech Republic (close to where I live).
8/15 (day 27)
I felt I had gotten a lot better after spending most of the week in bed trying to take things easy (I was sleeping normally already). I was scheduled for an appointment with the neuro my friend got me. I didn't want to go, but did go after some convincing from my doctor friend. My headache got much worse again after the very bumpy ride there and back (the cutting feeling in the usual places). The neurologist was cool. Did a thorough examination. He told me I had typical signs of concussion and that there's nothing that can be done about it besides resting and waiting and that it could take up to around 3 months for me to recover. He also prescribed me MRI, just to be sure. I'm scheduled for Oct 20.
8/16–8/22 (days 28 to 34)
I spent most of the time resting and doing some light coding. Everybody around me was fussing and fretting about my sister's upcoming wedding (8/23), and coding partly helped me escape it and stay sane. I didn't have the energy to deal with stress on top of the incessant headaches.
8/23 (day 35)
Became very depressed and hopeless about not getting better, especially after failing to keep track of a bilingual, multi-accent group conversation without getting a bad headache (something I usually have no difficulties with).
8/24 (day 36)
Spoke about my worries with people here on neurotalk, and that helped me a tremendous amount psychologically (thanks!). I'm giving it some more time, and I'm coming to terms with the fact that it is going to take some more time. I see people have been living with much worse head injuries that I've been dealt with, and they're still coping (very admirable). Only the headache was somewhat worse--the old cutting feeling.
8/26 and 8/27(day 38 and 39)
Tried taking a cold shower (been taking those before the injury) and a moderately intense 30 minute bike trip on 2 separate days. Felt good after each. The high-pressure, throbbing feeling that high-intensity activity used to give me in my first 3 weeks didn't come back anymore. I consider that a good sign.
8/28 (day 40)
In spite of the improvement with the vanishing of the high-pressure throbbing feeling that used to come up after high-intensity thinking/exercise , I still keep waking up with a very noticeable cutting/tingling headache that doesn't go away. In a way, it's weird because I remember that for a couple of days in my in my 4th week, I would wake up feeling alright and that feeling would only set in once I'd started moving. Hopefully, that's all part of the healing process.
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MY SUPPLEMENTS:
strong multivitamin with minerals, fish oil (3× 1g; 18% EPA, 12% DHA), lecithin (3× 1.2g), gingko biloba (1–2× 60mg)
PLANS:
I've decided to try and be more active in September. I think I'll try to do those bike rides regularly. And cold showers. I don't think I'll get on intensive weightlifting right away--I kind of want all my body's healing energy to go into my head, but I think light aerobic exercise (biking) should be good. I read an article on the Internet on how it should support neurogenesis.
I'm unemployed right now. Was going to go to work full in August, then postponed it to September, and I've decided to put it off to October now and see how my body reacts to trying to work on my own stuff. I can afford to take another month off, financially. Especially if it can help me get my health back.
Nevertheless, I think I will be somewhat pushing myself to do something now (after 40 days). I get depressed otherwise.
Any thoughts?