My 22 year old son hit the gym floor beginning of April while playing recreational volleyball. He saw stars, was dizzy and lightheaded, but this went away shortly after. He then was symptom free for 3 days. Then he got a headache, but we contributed that to stress from university, When the headaches did not go away after a week, he saw a physician. He was told he had a concussion and was advised to try to get out of writing the finals. If this was not possible, be sure to take lots of breaks between studying. He need to write the exams...he took a few days off from studying and then started studying for his finals. May 1 he flew out for his summer job. By the end of May his symptoms had gotten worse and he ended up in emergency. They told him to take 2 weeks off and then go back to modified work. He did, but after having gone back for several days and unable to perform his duties, he quit due to his concussion symptoms. He flew back home at the end of June. At that time he had multiple symptoms, but was still able to have a conversation, go for a short walk a few times a day and play simple card games. A few weeks later he started physio for his jaw and neck, apparently he got whiplash when he hit the floor. He saw a neurologist who told him that it would just take time. By mid-August my son was worse. He was severely nauseous, dizzy, eyes not focusing, insomnia, intense nightmares, stress, anxiety, difficulty thinking and remembering things, overall feeling of despair, etc. The drive to and from physio was getting harder on him, even though I tried to avoid all potholes, etc. At this time he saw he saw a different physio therapist to have his vestibular system checked out. The crystals in his ear seemed to be still in place.
Since Sept 20, my son has been doing nothing. We stopped physio since the drive was so hard on him and his symptoms seemed to only be getting worse. Now he basically is in a dark room all day in a quiet house with only a 5min walk and a few 10-15min conversations.
There is so much controversial info out there. We are unsure as to start visual therapy and push through or to continue rest. My son is afraid that he may have permanent symptoms if he does anything and yet doing nothing has only decreased his symptoms very slightly. It has now been 6 1/2 months since the accident and there seems to be no end in sight. He was told he will be out of school for a year, which is a concern in itself...how much will he have forgotten of his studies by then and will he have permanent cognitive difficulty.
I am hoping that someone has gone through something similar, not completely resting until 5 months after getting the concussion and come out of it completely healthy. I hope to find some guidance as to how to proceed and as to what time frame we may be looking at. Also, how did the parents and siblings cope.