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Member
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Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 214
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Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 214
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Thanks for the opinion. I really hope it's just anxiety, but the balloon was quite full and my head was moving pretty fast. I mean it seems absurd to me that a water balloon could hurt my head, but presumably some force was transferred to my head. This just seems to have effected me more than other recent bumps/jolts.
Can the experience of anxiety cause setbacks? I haven't had a panic attack or really felt viscerally anxious in nearly a year, but I still have obsessive/spiralling thoughts from time to time, especially after a head bump or if I generally just feel bad). I'm getting better at dealing with them, but I've by no means mastered my anxiety.
I can understand a full-blown panic attack or viscerally feeling anxious all the time causing chemical stress in the brain, but just obsessive thinking/negativity without a visceral response causing a setback seems less intuitive to me.
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26 year-old PhD student in evolutionary biology, slipped on ice in Feb 2014 while clipping my fingernails and walking to save time (dumbest reason for PCS ever?). Initially just had headaches and didn't feel quite right, but a minor head bump 5 days later started a downward spiral of anxiety, depression, insomnia and fatigue. Had trouble concentrating on reading/looking at screens
April 2014 - did exertion test, passed, started exercising and doing more, but didn't feel much better.
May 2014 - Went on backpacking trip OK'd by doctor, trip itself went fine, but felt worse a few days after getting back, more difficulty concentrating, worse headaches.
June 2014 - Bumped head on ceiling walking slowly down stairs, no immediate symptoms, but caused worsening headahces, more difficulty concentrating and looking at screens. Have not felt as good as I did before this since this bump.
December 2014 - after feeling relatively better I went xc skiing and fell but didn't hit my head (something my psychologist who specializes in brain injuries told me he hoped would happen so I saw it was OK), felt worse
Feb 2015 - back in grad school, light teaching load and some research, nowhere close to operating at my full capacity. Still have constant headaches, difficulty reading/looking at screens, mild anxiety and depression, and just not feeling like my normal sharp self.
Trying, but struggling, to believe that I'll get back to my old self, or at least get close.
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