Hi Ski,

I haven't posted here for a while, it's 3 years since I hit my head falling backwards off my BMX.

My injury was perhaps a little different. Like you I wasn't knocked out but I did have a very frightening 10-15 minutes when I was completely confused and disorientated. I expected to be fine after that but after a couple of days I started to get acute anxiety and I gradually became more and more unwell. I experienced severe depersonalisation and had to move back with my parents or I'm sure I wouldn't have made it.

Anyway, 6 months later I felt strong enough to start volunteering at a local arts centre. They suggested I enrol on a fine art degree at the college. I really didn't think I was up to it, my concentration was pretty bad and I generally felt depressed, anxious, detached, very foggy and I was quite terrified about what my life was gonna be like long term having got myself into this state.

But I gave it a go. It was really hard, but somehow, whatever the course demanded, I was able to push myself to accomplish. I know there is a lot of talk about not over exerting yourself and not stimulating your brain too much so that it can heal but I really think as long as you're not wearing yourself into the ground then it will tell you how much it can handle. The flipside is that much of the brain's recovery rests in its neuroplastic potential and this means you need to work it in order for it to reroute itself.

So, from my experience, getting back to work, providing it is a positive place for you and you feel good about your job, is a good thing to do, but just make sure you stay in control as sometimes you may well need to step out of things and take a break.

Don't expect people to understand....they don't. People think a mild concussion is something you recover from in a day or two, they don't realise that in occasional cases it somehow becomes a much longer term affair and makes life incredibly hard in a whole new set of ways. My own family believed it was a mental breakdown I was suffering from, not a brain injury....both were true I suppose, depends whether you look at me as consisting of atoms or thoughts and feelings, and of course I'm both.....but I know what I experienced was a direct result of my injury.

So my advice is give yourself a push where you feel able and be strong enough to give yourself the breaks that you need. In my first year at college I could often be found asleep on my table in the studio!

I still have symptoms, the world doesn't look as 3 dimensional as it did, I can feel overwhelmed in noisy places and I go to bed every night with a wooshing sound in my right ear....but I'm top of my class, I ride BMX better than ever (with a helmet) and I just won 2 prizes at a major art show....so I have a life again.

Wish you the best.