I was wondering what exactly it means to rest - how can someone sit in a quiet dark room and do nothing.
I had a bike accident 3 weeks ago and collided with a cyclist - knocked off my bike and flat on my back unconscious for about a minute. they took me to the er - ct and xrays revealed no broken bones and no internal bleeding. I probably took 2 days to rest and sleep - residual dizziness, nausea and serious aches all over in first week. my mental state deteriorated though. I was already depressed and stressed from my job and had a conference to run in 3 weeks. I could not afford to take time off. I went into a serious decline emotionally and while my physical pain (no real headaches, some residual dizziness and my aches healed by week 3), I was getting waves of suicidal thoughts, extreme emotional states of sobbing and just mental and physical exhaustion.
Finally, after the conference, I saw a concussion specialist physical therapist who after the intake and questioning, immediately diagnosed me as pcs and gave me a note for work to take a week off for medical reasons so my brain could rest and heal.
Okay, so I was told no tv, no reading, no exercise, no email/internet, no working, sit in a dark quiet room. Now, how does someone do that exactly? How can I turn off my brain? I am often awake at 2 or 3 a.m. (that happend prior as well), I have major memory issues (although htat was also something I was experiencing prior as well) it's difficult to distinquish b/n pcs and already pre-existing stuff.
I'm happy to try to "rest" my brain - but I don't get what that means exactly.
any thoughts here?
thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ayb83
I'm so happy I found this thread!
I'm 2 months post-concussion. I was knocked unconscious for 4 minutes playing soccer and was nauseous afterwards. I went to the ER right away and was sent home. After 2 weeks of missed work, fogginess, anxiety and just not being me, i ended up ata rehabilitation centre with a doctor that specializes in concussion. The best things I took away were:
1) I needed to accept what happened and accept recovery was going to be 3 months minimum and longer if I push myself.
2) I couldn't "play through" it. I had to decrease every activity in my life (work, chores, sex, socializing, tv, reading, etc) by 50% and add back slowly. It was my brain. I've made a good career off of it and am quite fond of it, so it deserved for me to put ambition and self inflicted deadlines on hold until it was healthy.
3) rest means REST. sit in a quiet, dark room with no tv, no books, no people, nothing and just sit (this was the hardest!). I found my recovery sped up by leaps and bound when I did this each day.
4) diet and booze drugs were major players. All natural, lean meat, lots of fruit and veggies and LOTS of water took my anxiety away and drinking made it come back. If you want to feel sane, feed your brain good stuff while it's recovering.
All of these things have helped me a lot. And instead of focusing on what I can't do, each Friday I celebrate what I got back. One new curve ball is I went from being super groggy and sleeping 9-12 hours a night to not being able to sleep on the 2 month anniversary of my concussion. Not sure how to help that new symptom.
Finally, I know these are tall orders for 90% of People out there. I used to play on 3 sports teams, work out 4 times a week, work at my job for 60 hours a week and still find time to volunteer and be a socialite. Now I work 3/4 time, don't really work out and spend my nights in dark quiet rooms. Bottom line, it sucks. Concussions suck and the recovery is took everything I love to do away from me. But it happened, it's here and (as my lovely fiancé has told me) you just gotta buck up and be disciplined in your recovery so getting "me" back will be quicker. You can't change it, so deal with recovery and your limitations head on (pardon the irony).
Best of luck and thanks for letting me know I'm not alone out here.
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