nb19,

I'm no concussion specialist or doctor, but I would like to warn you that if you are feeling these symptoms to proceed with caution and not overlook them. The brain has certain limits and it's important that we act accordingly when we feel symptoms because the brain is sensitized and often needs time to heal.

I myself am a living example of someone with the mildest concussion possible, yet an extremely bad case of post concussion syndrome. In October I continued to play competitive soccer on a headache that I had for five days. I have never been prone to headaches and probably had a total of 3 headaches in my entire life, yet for some reason I decided playing was more important than my health.

Long story short, 5 practices and 2 games later, I finally broke into tears on the soccer field from a throbbing migraine and decided to stop ignoring the headaches. My initial symptoms were extreme depression, throbbing migraines, exhaustion, fatigue, and random insomnia.

I rested and was making wonderful progress until about two months later when I was released to run and workout again. I fell into extreme depression, crying for hours a day about absolutely nothing. (I was never prone to depression before-always a happy and optimistic person by nature). I also experienced this airy pressure feeling/constant light headache that usually accompanied my depression.

I am now taking a semester off of college and probably unable to play soccer ever again. I am still struggling with post concussion syndrome on a daily basis and sometimes lose all hope, fearing that I'll never be the person that I was. Every minute of every day is a battle but I know that I will get through this.

All of this has led me to an understanding that you don't need to get knocked out or lose consciousness to experience a bad case of post concussion syndrome. Please learn from my story that if you do not give your brain the rest it needs, there will be consequences.

Every one has different symptoms and experiences with their concussions and post concussion syndrome but all I can say is please, please take good care of your brain and rest accordingly. If I would've sat out with my initial headache, I would still be living the life of my dreams and playing division 1 soccer.

Hope this has helped,

Kelly