Hey everyone!
Foreward: It's been a while since I've posted as I was mostly recovered from my previous injuries. I had a concussion October of 2017 and another one around March of 2018. Neither with LOC but the first took quite a while to heal, at least a month. Lifetime-wise, I've probably experienced around four of five concussions -- at least two of which with loss of conciousness, both from childhood at the ages of four and around seven.
CURRENT ISSUE:
I'm a competitive, recreational ping pong player. It's not a very serious sport in the US but nonetheless there are a fair amount of players. I hadn't played or exercised for about a month because I had a sinus infection that took a long time to subside. Think I read Mark plays a bit as well and hello, Mark, if you're reading this!
So Friday evening I was playing and the place is unfortunately overrun by a lot of middle school and high school aged kids, so they tend to misbehave and goof around.
As I was practicing with another adult player one of the kids was attempting to throw a ping pong racket case to a friend and obviously it was way off course as it hit me in the right side of my head. I never saw it coming and so it startled and dazed me and I kind of laughed it off since it was an awkward situation with a bunch of kids thinking it was amusing. It didn't occur to me at the moment to check the case to see if anything was inside such as a paddle, wallet, keys, etc. But the hit itself didn't 'hurt' and there was no tenderness or pain. Right after it happened I kept on playing and actually played really well. The case was thrown maybe six to eight feet or so and the case looked to have a zipper, hard plastic, etc. You can probably google ping pong racket case to get an idea.
I did not lose consciousness and have good memory of the entire time I was there before and afterwards.
But after I left the place, the worry started to sink in that it could be another concussion. I probably ate dinner about an hour after the incident and was queasy, gaseous, and felt very full. My stomach was moving and growling pretty much all night right after I ate.
And the next day I was feeling a little fatigued and I've had what I perceive to be some light sensitivity issues as well. My concussion from October 2017 had pretty bad light sensitivity and I wouldn't say that is as bad from what I can recall but it's still noticeable, especially if walking around a bright place like Best Buy or inside a shopping center.
Does this sound like it could possibly be a concussion or is it instead more likely a 'setback' with symptoms? My last concussion was around a year ago and I hadn't really been dealing with symptoms from that previous one. Could that even be enough force to cause a concussion?
SYMPTOMS
- main symptom was upset stomach/gas/growling about an hour later on the night of the incident.
- moderate light sensitivity since, especially in brighter places like a mall or electronics stores.
- some fatigue.
Unskilled drawing of the playing area. The case was thrown about 6-8 feet and hit me in the right side of my head. I didn't see it coming and so it startled me a bit but didn't hurt:
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Thanks for taking the time to read
tl;dr
- accidentally hit in the right side of head with a pong pong racket case (unsure if anything was inside of it; the kid who threw it claims nothing was in there but I'm not sure if he was being truthful or not).
- some symptoms which are listed above.
- not sure if light concussion or 'setback'