Concussion after TBI/PCS
 

Hello everyone,

So after being extremely careful for the last 5 years and finally getting back to being active, a "freak accident" happened and i got yet again another concussion. My dog jumped the couch and kneed me in the head. I am so frustrated and cant seem to wrap my head around the fact that I am now limited again to what i can do.

a little history: I used to play competitive volleyball and received 3 concussions in 6 months by diving for the ball and hitting my head on the ground. for the first 2 concussions doctors told me it was nothing serious and gave me two wks off until i could return to playing. the third one, i had bleeding out of the ears and nose and it still took 5 months for doctors to get their acts together and get me some help. Finally after a long process I was diagnosed with PCS and told I couldnt play anymore competitive sports, which was probably the hardest thing to hear.
Now 5 years later I returned to playing volleyball in a sort of rec/competitive league but have been extremely careful. I had also finally started going to the gym again. Everyone was so supportive of me getting back into things, and I was finally starting to be happy without having to try (I have suffered from major depressive disorder due to my injury for the last 5 yrs so it was a big deal to be happy).
Now I am back to where i used to be 5 yrs ago. but this time it wasnt due to sports. I was able to be ok with it before and wrap my head around the injury since it was sports related and injuries happen and its a consequence you need to accept. But this time it wasnt sports.

Now:
I feel like im even more depressed and struggling to understand everything. Reading all the posts on this forum have helped me greatly in the last few weeks especially knowing im not alone.
I have been going to a concussion specialist every 2 weeks now for the last month and a half and the most recent news i received was that since I had had previous concussions and had been dealing with PCS it will be especially hard for me to get back to how I was even just 2 months ago. I was told my expected recovery this time around was 25%. Just hearing that made my heart sink. I am supposed to be going back to university this coming fall after having dropped out 2 yrs ago due to my PCS.

My mum at the rip age of 50 has been diagnosed with dementia and she is the only who understands the daily struggles and frustration. So the one person I can depend on can't even be there for me when I need because she doesnt remember day to day events. That leaves me with a father in denial, and a boyfriend who doesnt understand and "forgets". I am just not sure how to get the support I need from either of them, especially when my dad would rather pretend it doesnt exist and my boyfriend thinks my pride is in the way of me getting better and beyond that there are no other problems.

So i guess what I am trying to find is:
a) how do you keep going when you've already had to go through this once and thought it was the end of your world
b) understand it and accept it
c) get support from those closest to me. i dont need them to understand, just need them to be there for me.

paige.elizabeth,

I am so sorry to hear your 'concussion specialist' has made such a comment. He wads totally out of line. You previous concussions do effect your current situation but there is no such thing as a 25% recovery or a 25% chance of recovering to the condition you were in 2 months before your recent concussion.

A concussion specialist who thinks there is value in you being seen every 2 weeks is churning billings. At 6 weeks post concussion, you are still early in your recovery from this last concussion. Seeing a doctor every two weeks just raises the anxiety levels.

Forget what he said and try to go on with as much of your life as possible. Look at your recovery as trends over the next few months.

I suffered a very minor concussion in early October. I was a mess for more than two months after that. I am just finally getting back to where I was last summer. It has been over 4 months for me.

Try to relax and let time heal as best as it can. Can you pursue any part time studies? It would be a good way to start back to school. Consider that you may not be up to a full time student course load. Taking a long term view may help you get to your goal.

And regarding your boyfriend, if your trained doctor can be so far off base, think about how little help your boyfriend is. If he can not be supportive, give him some time to himself. Why try to paddle up stream if you don't have to. A good LTR needs someone who can support you in good and bad.

Back away from the non-supportive types. Regroup and stay away from that dog's knees. Must be a big dog.

My best to you.

Hi, Paige,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry that you have been through so much. It sounds like it has been an extremely difficult time.

If you figure out how to keep going when you lose everything you thought you had for the third or fourth time, please let me know. I don't have your concussion history, but I thought my life had bottomed out sometime in 2010, and that was before my (totally random) concussion. Rock bottom has to be around here somewhere, right??

As far as I can tell, the answer so far is just wake up every morning and take the very next step right in front of you. If I look much further ahead than that, I start to hyperventilate. NOT good for the head!

As far as getting support, the Mayo Clinic has a fairly short booklet that you might be able to get your dad and boyfriend to read: http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/re...i_families.pdf It outlines problems that are commonly seen in brain injury and some strategies for dealing with them.

And, definitely, hang around here! This is the one place in my world where I feel like people really get it.

Take care. Let us know how you're doing.

Just to reiterate what Mark said that this is a bizarre claim by someone who sounds like they are trying to pretend they know more than they really do. The brain and how it is affected by PCS is way to complicated for anyone to come out with this sort of ludicrously precise figure about anything.

This time you know what you are doing, you've had all this before and you understand it. You won't make all the stupid mistakes that many of us make early on in our injuries. Use that knowledge, plus anything else you can learn off this forum, and you may well be able to recover much more than '25%', whatever that is supposed to mean.

The key I found to getting understanding from people were letters and reports from health professionals. Even though I didn't think much of most of the ones who saw me (or of the ones who've seen you, by the sounds of things) one positive is that your concussion specialist has stated that you have an injury to your brain with serious functional consequences. Get this in writing if you don't have it already, and make people read it who don't understand. That generally worked for me.

Good luck!