Hello.

In late November 2011 I visiting my local GP to have stitches removed from my ankle. The nurse did not tell me to look away when the stitches were being removed and being a curious person I wanted to see the damage! After they were removed I was walking to the counter to make a payment, however I was overcome with a strange feeling in my stomach, had hot and cold flushes and before I knew it it was as if someone turned off the lights and I collapsed backwards, hitting my upper back, smashing my head back into the concrete floor.

I wasn't aware of what happened next. My wife witnessed the incident and saw me pass out and the next thing I apparently suffered a seizure. The ambulance officers came and I began vomiting. Apparently I was in and out of consciousness for 6-7 hours. When I was finally released from hospital 5 days later I was feeling ok like I could get back to normal quickly. Compared to other people in my ward I seemed to be doing really well on the occupational therapy exams. I felt like I wanted to go back to work. However I was sleeping a lot and was quite fatigued.

On a day when I was feeling energised I made the mistake of going back to the gym. Little did I know that when you've had a concussion, lifting weights is a big error! I didn't investigate the symptoms involved in PCS.

I ended up taking some time off work and was feeling quite energised and well. I wasn't sleeping so much and I could concentrate on using my computer and reading books for some time. So I went back to work for a few days and found myself really tired.

I took another break for a couple of weeks again and went back to work doing 6 hour days. By the third day I was feeling funny on my left side of my head. I had a brain fog. I couldn't concentrate well. I decided to stop work and go back to rest. I slept heavily for 3 hours that afternoon. Clearly my suspicion is that I may have put too much pressure on myself thinking I was doing ok and that going to the gym might have pushed everything too far.

I believe I have either a) not fully recovered from the concussion or b) the serious fall has caused whiplash symptoms. I have had muscle symptoms on my left side, stiffness in my neck and the top of my shoulder.

The weird thing is I rarely get headaches. My cognitive abilities and memory is fine. I have no hearing issues or problems with light. I can watch TV and everything seems normal. But my issue is concentrating for long periods and the stiffness in my neck, shoulders and the weird feeling I get in my head on the left hand side. Sometimes the stiff feeling goes behind my left eye.

But again, everything was feeling fine until I went back to work again.

Can anyone relate? Have I done the wrong thing? Has anyone else had issues with prolonged concentration and how long did it take to recover? I am worried because I was planning on going back to study this year and now I may not be able to work at all.