Concussion in 13 yo daughter...help!!
 

My daughter suffered from a concussion almost 7 weeks ago. She had some visual disturbance issues (convergence/divergence issues, blurred vision, nystagmus, etc), some dizziness, ringing in the ears, and headaches. We have been going to a concussion specialist and doing Physical Therapy once a week.

The headaches are still pretty much a daily occurence, with a very debiilitating headache about two times per week still.

The doctor says she needs to rest her brain. She is an athlete (Soccer (where the concussion came from) and Track/Cross Country) and she is also a very intelligent child (straight A's and all Honors classes). The doctors have cut out all sports and want her to not read too much or watch TV or any screen time. Just being active (shopping, etc) seems to bother her. What options do we have to keep her busy and let her brain heal? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep her from being bored?

I am also very concerned about the long term effects from this concussion. Reading all the info I can find about Post Concussive Syndrome is really scaring me. Have any of you fully healed from your Concussions?

Thanks for any help you all can offer, I am glad to have found this site.

Sheryl

Hi Sheryl,

Try not to worry. Your daughter has statistics on her side now to make a full recovery.

There are several people here who've made full recoveries; I'm hopeful they'll chime in.

Most of the members here are struggling with long term effects of concussions and are frustrated as a result of it and that's why we've seeked each other out here - so you're asking a very small demographic about our experiences. People who make full recoveries don't look for forums about how to recover and cope with long-term effects of concussions.

I was a straight A student in honors classes when I was in High School too. I went on to college and graduated with very good grades; I became an over-achieving, independent and successful woman in a fast-paced and demanding field. I worked more than full time and was very energetic. I worked with a lot of people who had PHD's and was considered "higher functioning". I was even offered a couple of free Master's degrees after working for a few years.

For more than a year after the bad auto accident I was in that gave me the concussion that I am still trying to recover from, I was functioning on a "below average" level. It was completely foreign to me to suddenly be challenged by the simplest of tasks! It is still very frustrating for me at times even though I'm currently functioning at a level "above average" it's still well below my personal norm that I'd grown accustomed to for 33 years.

But I suffered from a complex concussion with a rare side effect. Before recently, when I asked my Dr. whether I would recovery, she would tell me, "We'll just have to see". After 20 months of recovering, she was finally able to tell me that she believed I would be "normal" again based on the recovery I had already made. My point is that you should not lose hope! And neither should your daughter!

The doctors advice is correct - your daughter's brain is trying to repair itself. Doing anything that overtaxes her brain, such as shopping, watching high-stimulating tv or fast-paced music, or even being in a room with a lot of conversation, is counter-productive to her healing process. A healing brain a great deal of energy to heal itself; trying to do anything that takes energy away from that process will prolong its recovery.

The process of my recovery has been excruciatingly boring. I'm personally still bored a lot. But when I overdo it, or try to do more than my brain can tolerate, I experience setbacks. And that is very common.

In an effort to keep myself entertained during this process, I've done a couple of sewing projects, felt Christmas stocking kits. It's all laid out and I don't have to think about what to do next, or be creative, I just sew what the directions tell me to. Maybe that could help your daughter? I also intend to learn how to knit or crochet.

I've also colored a lot. I bought more adult type coloring books from Amazon.

I watch very light TV. Like shows on HGTV that are cleanly edited with a slow paced plot. A lot of jerking camera moves, harsh background music, fast cuts and the like can really overstimulate my brain and do me in. Some cartoons are tolerable (content wise) and not too stimulating too.

Maybe some simple cooking or baking will keep her entertained?

There are craft kits and easy crossword puzzles and other activities that she might be able to handle. It's kind of a trial and error thing.

My own Dr. told me early on that I need to do what I feel like doing and not try to do what I don't feel like doing.

Since she's an athlete, she needs to not "push through" the feeling like she doesn't want to do something. As a very active person before the concussion I sustained, that was very difficult for me to learn to do, especially with decreased cognitive functioning.

Basically, anything she has trouble doing at this point in her recovery is a warning sign from her brain that she's trying to do too much.

EsthersDoll,

Thank you for your reply. Your information was so helpful. I am trying to focus on the now and not worry, but sometimes it is difficult...

Your ideas on how you kept busy were helpful too. We have tried the coloring route, getting more adult type coloring books, but it doesn't amuse her too long. She looks at this as a baby activity.

Please keep any activity ideas coming!

Sheryl,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear of your daughter's concussion.

I also suffered from an injury from soccer. It was my sophomore year in high school. I struggled with academics for about a year. I appeared to make a good recovery except I would struggle during times of stress. This roller coaster ride has followed me the rest of my life.

I disagree with EsthersDoll about a full recovery. Your daughter has a good chance of making a good recovery but she will forever have a concussed brain. How she moves forward in her soccer efforts and other risks will have a big impact on her future. Most of the long term effects from a concussion do not manifest until the person is in their 40's.

For now, the rule of thumb I use for suggested activities is the hands. Do not do anything that is faster or more complex that the hands can do. The comparison would be, as EsthersDoll said, coloring, knitting, sewing, painting, etc. Video games and computer keyboarding is much faster than the injured brain can tolerate.

What has the 'concussion specialist' and PT been doing besides recommending rest?

I do not consider the term 'concussion specialist' to have any value except to increase that doctor's patient count. Prescribing rest is just the starting point.

At her age, she has many other factors involved. Her hormones are still just getting started. She is in a high change rate for he brain as it starts to mature. The emotional roller coaster can be a struggle.

If she is like most soccer players, this is her worst concussion but not her first concussion. She has likely not reported many of the head impacts that have truly effected her brain. It is the nature of the sport and the competitive nature of girls and their desire to impress their coaches.

If you are where she can take quiet walks away from city noise and voices, they can be helpful. The mild exercise will help her. She needs to work at learning a new walking gait so she does not plant her foot hard. A way to do this is to walk with foam ear plugs in. Then, she can hear her foot plant. Learning to soften her foot plant will be good for her brain and her knees and hips. Walking on grass is also much better than hard surfaces.

Nutrition is a valuable therapy. B-12 (500 to 1000 mcgs daily), a B-50 complex, Omega's, all of the anti-oxidants, magnesium, calcium and a good multi-vitamin will help her brain detoxify. She should avoid caffeine, alcohol, MSG, artificial sweeteners (aspartame/Equal is the worst) and high sugar content foods. Getting good amino acids is good. Most are easiest to get from meat with pork the best. BCAA's (Broken Chain Amino Acids) are the brain's building blocks.

Nutrition is not a quick fix. It takes weeks to start to see improvements. It should become a lifestyle, not just a temporary effort.

Reading highly descriptive books is tougher on the brain than text books and more factual texts. The brain struggles to keep all of the many concepts and characters sorted out. Using a piece of paper to hide the rest of the page can lower the visual work load.

Visual and auditory stimulation should be limited. It is stressful on the brain.

Is she is back to school full time? Lectures or intense instruction like math and science may be too much right now. She could try watching some Kahn Academy math videos at her own pace. Sal Kahn uses a writing pad so his lessons are not fast paced.

An activity she may enjoy is reading to young children in a quiet environment. The slow pace and simple communication will create a whole new way for her to reach out to others. Young cousins or a reading program at the library may be good.

As a high achiever, she will greatly benefit from learning some of these slow down skills. Spending regular time at a slower pace will benefit her for a lifetime. The high achieving, multi-tasking, almost ADD/ADHD style, is stressful on the brain even if the brain has never been injured. Scientific studies prove this.

As a parent, I would be very concerned about future concussions. The next concussion will make this concussion look easy.

Rock Center with Brian Williams did a segment about concussion and girls last night on TV. A lot of the information is available online. One specialist suggested no soccer ball heading until over 14. I believe 18 should be the age before heading a soccer ball is allowed.

There is a claim that neck strengthening will help prevent a concussion. This is not true. There is no science to support such a claim. In fact, the laws of physic (conservation of energy) say just the opposite. Neck strengthening may help prevent some of the neck injuries that accompany concussions but that is all.

The risk girls have with concussion is likely due to low progesterone levels. Progesterone is a neuro-protectant. When it is lower as during 75% of their cycle, the brain is unprotected. Males always have the same blood level of progesterone so they often can tolerate more brain trauma.

I know I have hit you with a fire hose of information. I don't mean to scare you but do want you to have adequate information to make decisions for her future. There are plenty of competitive sports she can play and excel in.

Track and cross country, rowing, and other endurance oriented sports use the endurance skills soccer players have developed. Rowing is a good way to get a college scholarship. Dry-landers can do rowing on rowing machines. It is a great way for a girl to keep a good physique.

I hope you can help her endure and recover with this information.

My best to you.

Mark,

Thank you for all your valuable information. I am worried about her future, but don't want anything sugar-coated either. I am looking for information/knowledge. I appreciate all the information that you took the time to share with me.

Does anyone ever recover?
 

Hi Sheryl,

I am sorry to hear about your daughter's concussion.
You wanted to hear from people that have recovered from one. Well, as has already been mentioned, this forum is self-selected to be predominantly from those of us who are still having problems. I too am in this category. I had a concussion in my fifties and I am still having symptoms....(that wasn't the good news part, it's coming up).

However, this current episode was only after having half a dozen concussion over the course of my life, and I recovered from all the other ones, completely. I know some people will say that there could have been residual damage that was hidden, but as far as matters to me, I repeat, I recovered completely and had no remaining symptoms at all. Now everyone has hit their head and it hurt. That is not what I mean. I mean being concussed in a way that makes you feel ill or out of it or something strange for at least a day or two. Well that has happened to me lots of time previously with no detectable permanent consequences, except perhaps making me more susceptible to future concussions.

The worst previous concussion that I had was when I was 7 years old and I effectively lost my sight and I felt ill for several months afterwards. It might have taken me a year or more before I had no symptoms at all, but that time did come and I went on to do very well at university and sport, as far as I am concerned as if nothing had happened.

So that is something to aim at. Recovery can and does happen. After only seven weeks there is every hope that your daughter will be in the category of people who make a complete recovery, although she might have to be more careful in the future or exclude certain activities in the future. (Heading a ball?!)

OK. Regarding "What options do we have to keep her busy and let her brain heal? "

How about reducing the question to just: "What options are there to let her brain heal?"

If a child gets a bit bored it isn't the end of the world. You don't have to be filling in your child's time-table like a soccer-Mom. That's probably the last thing that she needs. A bit of boredom might actually help. I would certainly err on the side of boredom rather than activity. When I got my concussion when I was at school, most of that year was probably a right-off. It didn't kill me. I caught up as if nothing had happened when I was healthy again. Your daughter can do the same.

So, I wouldn't bother about trying to make her less bored unless it is really driving her out of her mind. I would rather be telling her that she doesn't need to struggle to do anything, but should just take as much rest as she wants. She might actually (perhaps secretly) be relieved if you were to stop her from doing certain activities. Maybe decide together, as a family like: No sports and no going out with your friends till you don't have any symptoms at all, and probably no more soccer, ever, certainly no more heading a ball. She might actually be pleased if you discussed it and decided that this would be for the best. That might be easier for her to say that her parents have banned her than having to say to her peer group that she doesn't feel up to doing something. Her freinds probably feel that they ought to encourage her and persuade her to do more and so she will be under peer-pressure. That sort of thing is difficult for a 13 year old to resist and doing too much too early might really set her back.

I am not a parent myself, but my guess would be that a parent's role would be: rather than suggesting things for her to do, instead a more important role would be to draw the line about what she isn't going to do, at least until she is better. That could be a good investment of effort if it makes her recover sooner.

Best of luck to you all with that.
CS

I strongly disagree with CS.

A teen girl who is a high achiever will be stressed by doing nothing. The low stress stimulation can be very good at reducing the frustration level from boredom. It will also be a way to stimulate a tolerable level of blood flow to the brain.

In many cases, saying 'deal with the boredom' would be a parent's prerogative. This is not that time.

I find it curious that people who claim to have 'complete recoveries' still caution against another concussion and often the progression of each successive concussion. The science is there to show that once concussed, always concussed. As I said, she has a good chance to have a good recovery. This includes all obvious concussion symptoms including brain fog and all of the apparent cognitive symptoms.

My position is that there is a need to seriously consider changes to lifestyle and activities to reduce the risk of another concussion or reduce the stressors that can cause a return of symptoms. There are lots of things that can be done to help her with studies and testing.

Just because she feels recovered does not mean she will have full function during times of stress like exams or any stressful emotional, physical or mental event.

I would usually struggle after any illness that had a prolonged time of fever. The fever would cause a return of symptoms that could last well beyond the fever and illness.

I would have benefited greatly by understanding why I was having struggles when I had recovered from all of my obvious concussion symptoms. Had I understood and anticipated my struggles that resulted from stress, I could have taken better steps to make my educational pursuits more successful.

I do not mean to be a pessimist about recovery. I understand the need to have a positive outlook while recovering. As I have said many times before, anybody who has suffered a concussion with prolonged symptoms has a good opportunity to live a full life.

Windseeker,

How are you doing? I haven't seen you post in quite some time. Are you improving?

Hi Mark In Idaho,

I understand that you believe no one can fully recover from a concussion because they are more susceptible to getting another concussion after having one.

But, just because you had trouble recovering from a long fever does not mean that everyone who has had a concussion will have trouble in the same way or even have trouble from anything.

As you often inform people here, "Once you've seen one brain injury, you've seen one brain injury."

I agree that changes need to be made after a person has been diagnosed with one concussion to try to ensure that they do not sustain another one. But sometimes you make it sound like a much more drastic change needs to happen, or that there will be very severe and permanent impairments to everyone that has had just one concussion. The fact is, that not everyone does have to drastically change their lives or deal with permanent symptoms after having one concussion.

I think when many people refer to making a "full" recovery, that they are really talking about their cognitive functioning levels and energy levels returning to what they were before the injury that they are trying to recovery from.

Most people know that if you break a bone or tear a muscle, that it could be more susceptible to feeling weather changes and they might not be able to do quite as much as they could before, but the fact that it's not a constant disability like they are in a full body cast anymore feels almost like it's as good as new! And speaking for myself, I can tell you that the impairments that I am currently dealing with make me feel disabled and I don't want to live with them. My Dr. has told me that I'll be "normal" again and I take that to mean that I won't have to deal with the speech impediments or cognitive deficits that I'm dealing with now forever; that they will continue to improve, as they have, until they're all gone. And I'm looking forward to that. Does that mean I'm going to play soccer? Hell no! But I will at least feel better because thinking and speaking won't be as much of a challenge as they are to me now, they will be like they were before.

I think you sometimes get caught up in small details and tend to tell everyone who comes here for help and advice that they need to make huge and drastic changes to their lives, and conduct oodles of tests and learn to cope with permanent deficits after they have been diagnosed with one concussion. I tend to think you especially believe it to be true because that has been your personal experience with the concussions you have sustained.

I think it must be very scary for anyone to read that - I personally know that some people recovering from a concussion are a lot more suggestible than normal and reading your posts sound like the only possible outcome and that's just not the case.

I respect you very much. I think you are a very knowledgeable and intelligent member who contributes a great deal to a community that desperately needs it. But, I also think that because of the multiple head injuries that you have acquired, you suffer from rigid thinking (which you have told us about yourself on a few occasions), and I think this is just another example of that.

I hope I have not offended you in any way by my posting this; that was certainly not my intention in any way shape or form.

Kim,

You have not offended me at all with your comments. My claim about 'once concussed, always concussed ' is based on scientific research. The concussed brain will always have a residual level of injury. As I say, it may not show up until the person is under stress or reaches middle age, but it needs to be understood as the nature of an injured brain.

The appearance of a full recovery is just that. It is to be grasped with enthusiasm with an intent to pursue a full life. But, taking new risks or making life style choices should be with the understanding of an injured brain in the equation.

Up until 2001, I lived my life as if I did not have an injured brain.

Except, I had to stop flying airplanes. My brain could not tolerate the altitudes.

I had to make career choices that were different than those I could have chosen had my brain been able to tolerate higher stress levels.

The one area of my life that I did not understand was the tendency to have emotional explosions. When they happened, it was as if I could not control them. Now, I know how to recognize the stress that could lead to an explosion. I can usually make choices to prevent the outburst.

As much as any of us want to see a full recovery for ourselves and the others who post here, we also would not wish our experience on our worst enemies.

Most have only been through one episode of PCS. I have been through 6 episodes of PCS. All of my previous episodes had good recoveries but not full recoveries. I made some changes starting in 1974 when I was first living on my own and needing to be accountable for my own welfare.

As I become more overwhelmed with PCS since 2001, my family started relating the changes in personality and other behaviors that they witnessed as my concussion count progressed.

My history fits well into the normal progression of multiple concussions.

As much as I tried to avoid risks of hitting my head and made small career decisions, there is much that I did not understand. A more in depth understanding of the progression of PCS would have greatly benefited my life and the life of many around me.

I have not only the perspective of the injured person but also the perspective of the caregivers, family and others impacted by the injured person's actions. Those around me have been very open with their observations of both me and others in our circle of friends and family.

I have witnessed friends who have suffered concussions and never understood their PCS who have progressed to mental illness from the damage their brains received from their continued struggles with life. Some simple life style choices/changes could have benefited them greatly.

My wife participates in a Brain Injury Support Group caregivers/family sub-group. She sees how my struggles are very similar to the struggles the others face. The most common problem mentioned is the injured person's defiance to moderate their life to reduce their symptoms or their negative impact on others.

We know face to face, at least 30 brain injured people and their families/caregivers. There is a wide range of injuries but the life struggles are all very similar.

The common TBI/mTBI therapy and counseling rarely has a forward looking focus. Most of the deeper and more forward looking understanding comes from the group interacting and learning things that the professionals never consider.

I wish I had known back in the mid 70's half of what I know now. I would have been able to make much better life decisions.

We have a friend who took 3 miserable months to recover from a concussion. Her observations helped her make some major changes that improved her life.

Swimming against the current of PCS can be miserable. Learning to swim with the current of PCS is much easier and more full-filling.

My best to all as you try to understand how to swim with the current.

Thanks Mark!

So you believe (based on your research) that everyone who suffers just one concussion will have to live with its effects for the rest of their life, even if those effects don't manifest until much later in life (after the PCS is seemingly long gone and forgotten)?

"Recovery"
 

Hi Guys,

I seem to have sparked a bit of debate there, regarding whether it is possible to recover from concussion or not.

So, to clarify:
I do think that it is possible to have a build up of residual injury as the result of a series of concussions, so perhaps from the stictly cellular and molecular point of view the brain might not be as resilient after a concussion as it was before one.
That's on the one hand.

On the other: it IS possible for all those pesky symptoms to disappear, so that effectively you can't tell that you have ever had them.

Case in point: I had a concussion when I was 7 years old. Effectively I lost my sight, temporarily. My sight returned and did seem to be just as good as it was beforehand. I may have had lesions in the brain that made me more susceptible to future concussions. However, from the symptom point of view, I couldn't tell any difference from complete recovery. So that is one definition of "complete recovery", the disappearance of all symptoms.

I think that most of us would settle for that even though perhaps there might be some underlying susceptibility to future concussions or perhaps to future degenerative conditions. However, the main point is that it is possible for the symptoms to go completely. Mine went completely. They stayed away for 45 years, and I have no doubt that if it hadn't been for a subsequent automobile collision I wouldn't have postconcussion symptoms now. Even now my sight is not affected, so the lost of sight symptom that I had when I was seven has never returned.

I think that this might be worth knowing if someone has never had a concussion before and might be wondering whether or not the symptoms will ever go. At least in my case, I have been concussed in the past and all my symptoms had disappeared; even though (Mark's point) this might not be the same has having a brain that has never taken a hit.

We are probably all saying more or less the same thing, with perhaps a few semantic differences.

CS

I'm sorry; I'm not trying to debate here. I have nothing but respect for Mark and I'm just trying to "pick his brain". ;) I certainly don't want to fight at all!

I did think there were some semantic issues here, which I tried to state in my previous post. But from what I gathered from Mark's post afterwards, he thinks it's more than just semantics and I'd literally like to further investigate his opinion on the matter.

There is no real way for me to argue about it - I'm still not fully recovered from the concussion I sustained, so in my own personal experience, Mark is so far correct! I would just appreciate it if we can continue to discuss the matter in a polite and calm manner; it's very intriguing to me and of course, I am concerned about it since I'm still recovering from a mTBI. ;) In my case, only time will tell...!

Maybe another thread should have been started about this... ? ...But it kind of happened here... so I don't really know what to do about it... ?

I would really like to know whether Mark believes that someone can recover from a concussion and never have to deal with its effects again in their lifetime because I think he's very knowledgeable, experienced and educated about the matter.

So do people have to deal with the effects of one concussion for the rest of their lives? Aside from just being more susceptible to sustaining another concussion.

When taking into consideration that the only people who end up going to support groups and online forums are the ones who continue to have problems with the effects of a concussion or multiple concussions, couldn't some people have recovered fully in their own perception and that's why they don't seek out support groups and online forums?

Do you think that even people who never go to a support group have issues that they don't even realize are related to the concussion they had? And that all survivors of a concussion experience this, whether they realize it or not?

Given the sheer numbers of mild traumatic brain injury that are diagnosed each year, don't you think that more people would have noticeable effects from a concussion and there would be more people in support groups and in online forums if they were still dealing with anything more than just being more susceptible to getting another concussion?

I know that I've read that some people still complain about having to deal with the effects of a concussion and that their own doctors and people around them do not perceive that they are having any more issues or a difference in their cognitive functioning, so they get marked down in the great book of statistics as all better even though they don't perceive that they are. However, I don't think that is the case 100% of the time; it's what is called "an error factor".

I am very curious about such things... not only for myself and my own well being, but also because I'm trying to suss out what information society still needs to learn about these things.

CS - According to what I think I understand from Mark's post, the fact that you went 45 years without any noticeable effects doesn't matter, because eventually something would have manifested. And that's why I'm asking further questions about it - like that you may have had to deal with some effects and not even been aware of them within those 45 years.

Let me try to expound better.

Regarding CS. Yes, he may have recovered from all of the pesky concussion symptoms. But, I bet he suffered ups and downs that he never attributed to his concussion as a youngster. The disconnect between the original injury and the later symptoms causes those symptoms to be ignored when they are discussed with a doctor.

One concussion expert addresses this specifically when he suggests any injury with a suspected impact to the brain be listed in the medical record with a IDC-9 code of 850.9 or equivalent. This is to enable later doctors visits to be able to consider if symptoms are related to the suspected head injury.

Many with the symptoms of a concussion end up being treated for anxiety or depression at a later date. Again, the disconnect to the impact causes the missed diagnosis.

Some young people may get diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. Had ADD/ADHD been a common diagnosis when I was in grade school, I could have easily been prescribed Ritalin.

Many with Post Concussion Symptoms end up in our penal system due to their struggles, or worse, they end up homeless on the streets.

The high achievers can often still achieve great things. With careful analysis, they probably can point to times where they had struggles that they did not understand were likely PCS residuals. They may have personality changes that make interpersonal relationships difficult.

The scientific evidence shows that the previously injured brain will function at a lower level during the times of stress. Whether the stress is metabolic, emotional, or mental, there will be signs of the brain struggling. Excessive nervousness, memory issues, stuttering, difficult multi-tasking, and a myriad of other symptoms may show up without an understood cause.

Understanding that later symptoms may be due to a previous brain injury makes treatment much easier. The psycho-therapist will often try unsuccessfully to fix these issues with various psychological therapies or even drugs. This can leave the client with the feeling of 'Am I going crazy?' Understanding the brain injury as the likely cause allows the subject to accept the symptoms and learn to work with it with lifestyle modifications and work-arounds.

As our society becomes even more focused on instant results or micro-managed efforts, stress loads will increase. Having a good understanding of the probable struggles caused by a past brain injury can help one plan their life to limit these over-stressing factors. Needing to make these informed choices does not limit the opportunity to live a full and rewarding life.

For example, someone may desire to achieve a college degree that requires intense study. They can try to force through on the 4 year college plan and struggle and fail or they can decide to take it slower and graduate successfully in 6 or 7 years. Some courses do not allow for a lighter class load but most do.

Sal Kahn of Kahn Academy has seen this as a major failing point in most educational systems. We erroneously put time schedules ahead of mastery. If we structure our lives to put mastery first with time as less important, even our broken brains can achieve great things.

A simple example is the research regarding cramming for a final exam. The research shows that cramming may provide a small improvement in the exam score but do very little to contribute to long term retention of information. I found that I did much better spacing my study out over a longer period of time. This allows the brain, even the injured brain, more opportunity to store information into long term memory. The research backs up this observation.

This simple concept of using a long time period to get effect retention of study materials is all the more important for the injured brain. Studying in low stress environments also is beneficial.

The way this impacted me the most is due to the way I retained information prior to my injury. It was almost an unconscious ability to retain information. I could recall in any situation. After my injury, I lost this ability except for rare situations. I have to relearn how to study in ways that my post-injury brain could succeed. I also needed to learn to Stop to Think so I could recall. I needed to learn skills for overcoming stressful times that caused my brain to freeze or get confused.

Most of these skills I have learned in the past 12 years. I made small improvements in learning skills and coping skills over the past 40 years but did not focus seriously on them until recently. As I said before, I would have been much better off if I had been pointed to these ideas long ago.

So is all hope gone? Should I just accept that I will never get better??

I'm only 11 weeks in and very hopeful for a recovery within the next 3 months. Is that false hope?

I don't think it's false hope. But, in the future if you have some issues that might be related to the head injury, try to remember that it's possible it could cause long term, and subtle effects.

That is not what I am saying. Your recovery is still in progress. The level of recovery you achieve has a lot to do with your efforts. Your obvious symptoms are very likely to recover greatly. You may find that from time to time, especially if you do not reduce stressors effectively, symptoms may come and go.

For your best long term result, making changes to how you deal with stress will greatly effect how much you can accomplish in your life.

Can I add, that my 16 y.o. daughter found drawing and writing poetry and songs, were wonderful ways to focus on something new to do with her time?

The car accident concussion took 5 months until she could get out and about and back to a "more" normal life. But then, once she was kicked in the head at that point, she has had 10 more months to find new things to occupy her time with.

And, from her experiences so far, I agree with Mark on all points. This would be based on my research as well as my daughter's symptoms. We stay hopeful for a full recovery, but the reality is that concussions due damage to the brain. She has had 6-8 concussions before these last two, and she isn't recovering like she used to. No sports, just bad luck.

I wonder if your daughter would like to correspond with my daughter? My daughter has had to come to terms with the loss of professional musical theatre, dancing and even singing since the vibration of singing hurts her head. She is focusing on TV and film acting instead and just changing her dream a little!

Children's brains/resilience/recovery etc.
 

A child’s brain is more plastic than an adult’s. So, I think that it is quite possible of children’s brains to make a better recovery than an adult might expect.

I feel that I had recovered as much in four weeks after my brain injury as a child as I have now recovered after four years after a brain injury that I sustained in my fifties.

I do take that point that everybody’s experience might not be the same as my own.

All brains are different, and all brain injuries are different.

Mark had a brain injury when he was 8 and says that nowadays he would have been put on Ritalin as he continued to have problems in the aftermath of his concussion.

My experience was different. I did not have any subsequent problems - contrary to what might be supposed if someone has had a completely different experience. I did not have ADHD. I did not need or take any medication. I did not get into trouble with the law. There were no episodes that might have been attributed to brain injury if only it had been recognised. Not only did I have no subsequent symptoms, there was nothing that I or anyone else would have thought that could possibly be attributed to a brain injury.

On the contrary: I played quite a bit of competitive sports, including rugby and martial arts. I was right at the top of my peer group academically, both at school and at university. I learnt to play musical instruments, to speak foreign languages, I completed four university degrees. I did a Maths degree at Oxford. I got a first in science at the Open University. I have a Masters in Maths and a PhD in Biology. Yes, one could always argue that maybe if it hadn’t been for that brain injury when I was 7 I would have got a Nobel Prize in science by now.

But at a certain point I think that if you haven’t got any symptoms and seem OK then you might as well be happy and enjoy your life. There was a thread some time ago started by a Korean girl who was worried that due to having been hit on the head as a child she might not have been as intelligent as she might have been. Well, maybe she wasn’t but if you aren’t getting any symptoms then you haven’t got the really difficult symptoms and problems that most people on this forum are experiencing.

It IS always important to be mindful that if you have had a brain injury in the past you might not be as resilient to a concussion in the future. However, I can honestly say that to all intents and purposes I have in the past recovered from several concussions to the point of feeling that I was completely normal again.

I think that that is what most people who are looking for information on this site are wanting to know. They want to know if it is possible to ever get back to feeling normal again, even if there is some residual susceptibility.

Perhaps I might have been more susceptible to the brain injury that I got in my fifties because I had a concussion when I was seven. However, from my point of view, I had completely recovered from that childhood concussion. It seems to me far more likely that I can’t get over this one the way that I did when I was seven because the cells of my brain are 49 years older now, and whatever proliferation of astrocytes, reformation of synapses etc. etc. that might have happened quickly in a young brain, it isn’t happening as quickly in a brain that has gone through the natural processes of aging.

Anyway, I think that I have written enough on this thread, so I am not going write much more, but I did want to bring it back to the original post which was Sheryl, with a thirteen-year-old daughter with concussion and wondering whether anyone ever fully recovers.

Well, I think that there is hope to effectively fully recover from concussion, especially for a child. Children’s brains are more plastic and more resilient.

People do recover and end up not visiting this site again. But perhaps resilience diminishes with age. There have been very sensible warnings in this thread regarding the possibility of carrying a hidden injury. It is very possible that we should be mindful of this and take sensible precautions.

I do not wish to disregard other people’s experiences. Mark did not feel that he had fully recovered from his childhood concussion. Nevertheless, I feel that I did fully recover from mine (at least to the point that that it would be splitting hairs to say that I hadn’t). Maybe I was lucky – but that just shows that it is possible to be lucky! I think that there is hope that Sheryl’s daughter will recover in the same way that I did (hopefully taking sensible precautions in the future and not heading soccer balls etc.).

Hope isn’t certainty, and I am sure that we would all be interested in being updated on Sheryl’s daughter’s progress.

All the best to all,

CS

Yes, Younger brains are more plastic than older brains. But the reason they are more plastic is the same reason they are also more susceptible to more damage. The damage can be to the maturing processes and other developmental processes. The plastic characteristic is due to the amount of change still going on.

So, for every advantage the young brain has during a recovery from an injury, it has just a many disadvantages due to the interruption of its youthful growth processes.

She is young.
 

Hi Sheryl! I'm 16 years old and I think that I can relate to your daughter in so many ways. I got a double concussion playing soccer also back in April 2012. I'm still dealing with the symptoms everyday and am also going to physical therapy but twice a week. It is hard to know that there really are no real answers to our questions. Which after visiting a doctor once a week becomes very frustrating. I know how your daughter feels and honestly the only thing that ever makes me feel better is knowing that my family is behind me 100%. Because even the slightest moaning or complaining from my parents about doctors appt. or how they don't feel like sitting there through physical therapy for an hour waiting for me, really brings me down and makes me feel like a burden. So just know that she is looking at you more then you think. Just be there if she ever wants to talk, you may not understand or have any advice but just being there with her will help her tremendously. Good luck with everything and I hope that she is feeling better everyday!:hug: She is young, she'll get through this.

Aliciaj,

What are the goals of the physical therapy?

What does the physical therapist do?

What was the outcome?
 

Hi,
I am a mom dealing with the same scenario with my daughter. What was the outcome for your daughter?
Thanks