Hi Lisa,

I'm sorry to hear about your concussion. I was 33 and also in excellent health when I got my first concussion from an auto accident. I used to be a very active person too. That was 20 months ago and I'm still not able to work full time with limitations or even drive very much. I couldn't do either for about a year.
I gained a lot of weight and I'm still crawling in my skin to be more physically active, but I have decided that a normally functioning brain is more important to me, so I continue to rest as much as I can, I still get symptoms when I don't, although they are fewer now than they ever were. Actually, I have a theory that if I hadn't been in such excellent health that I wouldn't be doing as well as I am now.

Most Dr.'s don't really *know* what anyone with a concussion will have problems with. Some experts speculate with some evidence that concussions are caused by microscopic damage to areas of the brain that are too small to show up on MRI's and CT scans. Without being able to open up your skull to see which areas are damaged through a microscope - you don't really *know* whether movies or reading will affect you.

I don't think that means that you should stay away from them - but try to see if you experience symptoms after engaging your brain and then make a decision based on that. You might be able to tolerate one movie and then feel tired, so make a one movie limit or something like that.

My own Primary Care Physician has told me to do what I feel like doing. Being an active person, I was very used to "pushing" myself through feeling tired, but now I have had to learn to recognize that feeling tired is a warning sign my body and brain are giving to me and if I push through it I get worse.

But everyone's concussion is different.

It's true that your brain is trying to repair itself and it needs rest in order to do that. It will take all your reserve energy resources and even some of your normal energy levels to repair itself - that's why you are experiencing symptoms after trying to run, because you don't have enough energy to heal your brain and do all of those things. And cognitive functioning takes energy too, so depending on how much energy you try to use and how much of it your brain wants to use to heal itself, trying to use your brain to do things might very well give you some problems.

Try your best to overcome your urge to be active and forgive yourself when you are unable to.