Again, 15 yr old daughter, soccer GK, major blow to the side of the face with a shot, concussion suffered in October 2006. We have 2 doctors, a speech pathologist and a physical therapist working this concussion. One doctor says he doesn't think he'll ever clear her, another who says symptom free without meds for a week and he'll clear her. The "clear her" one is well known in the sports community (UMPC), the "not clear her" one works at a major rehab facility.

"Clear her" says light workouts OK now. Thinks it will help with recovery. She did work out with her team on Monday. Today (Thurs) the headache is back big time. BTW, headache is the only remaining symptom. Sleep better now due to Trazadone.

How does one deal with conflicting professionals. They have conference-called on the phone, so they know each other's stance.

Also, anyone ever been given neurontin for brain injury? How'd it work?

Thanks for all your help.

dang...i'm sorry to hear about her headaches.

can you get a third opinion?

my gut is saying...no more soccer until she has no symptoms. and then...the mom in me..well..i'd say no. the risks of permanent damage is so much greater with repeated injury.

Today my concussed (Oct of 2006 soccer ball to the face injury, diagnosed PCS) daughter stayed home from school. Said she felt like she has the flu. This afternoon she says her teeth feel sensitive and it hurts her sinuses to breathe. This after doing a "light" workout (OK'ed by her neurologist) this past Monday. Does this make ANY sense?

I'm so very sorry to read about what's been happening with your daughter. I am still recovering from a concussion I sustained a couple of years ago. I didn't turn a light on one night when I was going downstairs to get a glass of water in middle of night and I slipped on the bottom step and slammed the back of my head into the edge of a door jam. Haven't quite been the same since.

I've read and been told so much conflicting information about post concussion syndrome. I guess that's why they call it a "syndrome". The symptoms and time limits to recovery vary so much from one individual to the other.

This might seem a weird question but do you think your daughter is anxious about being injured again? The reason I say that is that after my accident things changed dramatically for me and I became very scared of having another fall. It's taken me a long time to get over that fear.

It must have been a huge wack with the soccer ball for her to be hurt so badly. What sort of things have the speech and physical therapist been doing to help her?

Do you think that these new symptoms like the 'flu symtoms are connected to her brain injury? It concerns me that they may have missed something along the way.

I have no information about the Neurontin to share, I'm sorry.
I'm hoping that her new symptoms... like 'flu symptoms will turn out to be related to something else and that's she is feeling much better fast.

Oh, forgot something... a lot of post concussion symptoms can often be downplayed by others including professionals esp. if there's no clear sign of damage on tests. That's a big pain.

Lara,
Thanks for your post. Neurologist called from his home tonight and was very upset that she returned to the field. He told my wife he NEVER cleared her for even "light" workout. I know my daughter. She heard what she wanted to hear. Now the neurologist says NO activity, that we're starting from scratch and that there will never be a way to measure her first post-concussion tests against what she scores from here on out. She was given a pretty hard-core pain releif cocktail along with some sleep-inducing stuff for tonight. If she doesn't sleep tonight (after weeks of pretty dramatic improvement, that's what's killing me!) we have to take her to the emergency room. I will do whatever it takes to get her well. She's going to be completely withdrawn from school again on monday, after being allowed to increase her load to two classes per day. Pretty much lights out, NO physical activity and lots of anti-depressants until she has NO headaches. I have trained this exceptional soccer goalkeeper in the game she so loves. I know part of her motivation to return to the field is to please me. She pleases me WITHOUT soccer! I don't need it, I need her! She's such a beautiful girl. I love this girl, and I'm watching her struggle. It can't hurt me worse than it hurts her, but I'd take ALL of her pain to make her pain free. I'm so sad for her.

Hi spudbro,
I sent you a pm, but in case you see this first, I just wanted to mention something I thought of... This may be way off but I have read about people having what is called a Chiari malformation (CM1) and gone most of their lives without ever knowing they had it and without any symptoms until sustaining a head injury. Headaches are common with that.

http://www.pressenter.com/~wacma/symptoms.htm

There is another user here called Lizard who might know more about that connection if she sees this post. I can't think of why she's having the teeth problems except that maybe nerves were damaged in her face when the original head injury occurred.

I'll keep your daughter in my thoughts.

In my case it means, in my room with short bouts on the computer, maybe 2 hours a day compared to a previous 8 or so. As time has gone on I've been able to do a little more reading, but mostly it's been a lot of meditation to get me into a relaxed state. And I'm not someone who was big on meditation. Sleeping. Lying quiet in the dark. Maybe 6 hours of television a week? some texting and a few phone calls a week. NO work. No listening to regular music.

So as I'm reading about the youth here with the PCS - it sounds like many are still going to school. This is a condition that effects our physical being, emotional being and cognitive being. All of them need rest. Serious Rest. The more you rest, the better you will be in the long run.

It's difficult cause each concussion manifests differently and because it is messing with your head, you aren't really sure what is going on.

REST, RELAXATION - No alcohol or caffeine. No work - no play.
: (

By the way I wanted to add, if your kids aren't getting accomodations in
school because of these health issues they should be.

Make sure the schools are doing what they can. Its the law.

Ask if you need help.

I'm not sure if its allowed

But my email is

Dmom3005@yahoo.com

and I'm a free parent advocate, and I can find help in every state.

Some are free some aren't.

Donna

I have been in a similar situation due to so-called mild traumatic brain injury.

My experience is that first you see a doctor who typically sees this sort of patient a few days after the injury has occurred. They will say that is will get better after a few days.

Then when it doesn't you move on to see a more specialist doctor, way a neurologist, who will typically see a patient with brain injuries, a few months after the patient was injured. They will say that it should get better after a few months.

Finally, you will see a rehabilitation specialist who will typically see patients only after perhaps a year or so. That specialist told me that it would get better in 1 to 3 years.

So, do they really know?

As far as I know, they don't do any systematic follow-up. So when a patient doesn't come back, they might assume that he or she has recovered. In reality they may merely have moved on to a different part of the health service when one part hasn't done them any good. If they typically see injuries a certain length of time after the patient was injured them may naturally assume that that time-span is the natural one for that particular type of injury and advise the patent accordingly.

I think that doctors can come to incorrect conclusions unless results are monitorred properly and you only get that type of information in scientific studies that are peer-reviewed.

Regarding who to believe: I think that to err on the side of caution would be good. This type of condition can go on for years and years and be a terrible influence on someone's life. It there is any doubt it isn't worth risking it. Take up a different sport. There are plenty of sports that have little risk of taking a blow to the head.

Hi,
I was a soccer player until I got PCS. I haven't played since, though I have been tempted. But, even though I would love to play soccer, that just can't compete with the risk of doing more damage. The headaches are so bad and the effect on your whole life is so bad that it just isn't worth the risk.

In my view Dr. "No clear" is definitely right. Err on the side of caution. You can still keep fit by working out at the gym in a way that does not cause any jolting of the head. Cross-trainers are good, I think.

Believe me I would rather play sports. I used to play a lot of contact sports, but it's the cross-trainer for me now. I would advise your daughter not to take any risks with her health until she has fully recovered.

Best of luck.