Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this forum. I've had three minor concussions in the last two years and am on a leave of absense from work after the most recent one due to cognitive issues. I'm sure many of you are in a much worse off position, as I never lost consciousness after any of my concussions, but I'm definitely having issues! Here's the brief version of my story.

Two years ago, when I was pregnant with my daughter, someone rear-ended me while I was stopped at a light and I whacked my head on the side window. I went to the hospital to get checked out but we were okay other than my mild concussion. A little over a year later, in December 2011, I was getting a roll of paper towels from the basement, and rather than walk all the way down the stairs, I just leaned over the railing and when I stood back up, I hit my head really, really hard on a beam of old wood that practically seems petrified. I saw some serious stars and felt dizzy. I had to sit down to compose myself. At the time, I was mainly just embarrassed that I did something so clumsy and stupid! I iced my head, took some Ibuprofen, and just blew it off, even though I knew this was a much worse concussion than the one I got during the car accident.

Ten days later, I was getting out of my car and I lightly hit the back of my head on the door frame, and it hurt like hell! It was only then that a little lightbulb flickered on in my concussed brain. I thought, "Oh my gosh, I hit my head! That's what's been wrong with me!" I had forgotten about hitting my head altogether, and so I'd been wondering why I'd been having headaches, feeling totally out of it, being extremely forgetful, losing small bits of time, and driving like a menace (due to the losing of small bits of time). I had just thought I was losing my mind! In that 10-day period, I had almost been in 5 car accidents. They were extremely close calls! One was in the parking lot at work, when I ran a stop sign and nearly hit my boss! At that point I called my doctor, but we were about to leave town for our Christmas vacation, so I just determined that I wouldn't drive until I felt better and would go in for an appointment when I got back in town. By the time we returned, I thought I felt better and didn't bother to go.

Flash forward eight months to three weeks ago, when I ran a stop sign two blocks from my house and was hit by an oncoming van, spinning out into a parked car. Yep, another concussion. I have an excellent driving record and hadn't caused an accident in 16 years (when I was 19), so I couldn't believe what I had done. I knew I had been in outerspace when I ran that stop sign, and it really scared me. Thankfully, I was the only one injured.

After the accident, my husband confronted me. He told me something wasn't right, that I'd been acting strangely for months--really spacey and forgetful. My husband told me he hadn't said anything to me about it because he was trying not to be critical, as he tends to be, and because he thought it may have just been the effects of new motherhood or maybe even post-partum hormones. I knew he was right, had noticed the symptoms myself, and had even gone to the doctor about it, but she didn't find anything wrong with me. Also, I have ADHD, so it was difficult for me to differentiate the symptoms of post-concussion syndrome and this disorder I had my whole life. I thought of my issues as my ADD symptoms being worse than they'd ever been but couldn't figure out why. When I asked my husband how long he'd noticed me acting differently, he said, "I don't know, maybe since December." Later that night, after he'd fallen asleep. it dawned on me that my concussion had been in December.

I took the day off from work to recover, but the next day, in an email, I asked my friend/coworker of five years if she'd noticed any changes in me, explaining what my husband had said. Her response was, "I've been wanting to say something to you about this for so long, but I didn't know how to without hurting your feelings." She then gave me a list of things she'd noticed, anything from asking the same questions over and over again to messing up a lot at work to being unable to make simple decisions like what to eat for breakfast to being withdrawn in group situations. This confirmed it for me, something was definitely wrong! I went to the doctor, and she suggested I take a leave of absense from work and see a neurologist.

I got a CT scan, but it came back normal. I'm still waiting to get into see a neurologist after three weeks! It's very frustrating! I'm still waiting for them to call me and make an appointment. Is it like this for everyone? As it is now, I'm not working and not driving. I'm banking on the neurologist being able to determine if it is safe for me to drive or not. I don't want to risk any lives, especially my daughters. I'm just hoping I'll see the neurologist before I have to go back to work.

Anyway, at this point, though my doctor thinks the concussion likely caused the symptoms, I have basically diagnosed myself. I'm still waiting for the neurologist to determine what's going on, I guess. Question--could the pyschoeducational testing I got done twelve years ago provide some kind of baseline for my neurological evaluation. Just wondering, since I do have attention deficits to begin with! I really don't know what to expect!

Thanks for reading. Sorry if I went on for too long! Any advice would be appreciated!