Confused- Is it PCS if concussion symptoms didn't show up for a whole week?
 

Despite a ridiculous amount of googling and an unsatisfying doctor's visit, I'm still in confusion as to what is wrong with me.

Female, Age 21

I'm not usually a hypochondriac. In fact, I'm usually completely satisfied with my health and my life. But this whole past week has been nothing but a string of hazy worry-filled days and wondering when I'll be back to normal.

On December 20th, while skiing, I was unable to properly slow down at the bottom of a run. I "clotheslined" myself on a neck high rope that was up to organize the line for the skilift and then fell back on my head. There was no loss of consciousness and minimal disorientation: I simply saw stars for 10-20 seconds and then stood up, frustrated. My head didn't even really hurt, I just felt mildly lightheaded. I got on the lift with my friends, but once up there, they convinced me to accept a ride back in the Ski Patrol sled. The ski patrol talked to me and found I had no amnesia or confusion at all. He took my vitals and talked to me some more and it appeared everything was fine.

I felt a little bit of lightheadedness for the rest of that day but went to sleep fine and woke up fine and feeling normal. And I felt PERFECTLY FINE for an entire 7 days after this. Literally nothing wrong.

After those 7 days, I began noticing that I was getting tired all the time even though I was getting plenty of sleep, and that even one outing a day was taxing. I also began to notice that I was feeling pretty consistent lightheadedness and a constant light pressure in my head. Mild dizziness has become a constant as well, worsening if I walk a lot. I'm on winter break from school so I have no idea how things would be if I actually had things to do, but I'm going back to school this Monday.

So far it has been 8 days since this began and I know it doesn't seem like much, but I just feel so markedly unlike myself- and I've never felt this way for this long. It doesn't really get better. Every day I have the head pressure and dizziness. About 4 days in I also completely lost my appetite and nothing has tasted good since. I'm not sure if the appetite loss and diarrhea is anxiety caused - but since it came after a couple days of this, I would think so. I did have a mild fever of about 100 the night before this all began, but nothing else leads me to see this as an infection of any sort- it definitely all seems to stem from the head issues.

Here's what I'm wondering:
Can I really blame this on the concussion- if it even really was a concussion? It really seemed like I recovered quickly from the bump and was totally symptom free for a week. Also the digestive symptoms don't seem to fall in line with it.

If I can't blame it on the concussion, what could it be?

When will it improve? I'm tired of feeling dizzy and lightheaded every day and of not being able to eat. I know it hasn't been THAT long, but the lack of improvement is making me see no end in sight.

comet,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

It is not uncommon at all for concussion symptoms to be delayed. There are various thoughts as to why this delay happens but the key point is that you now have symptoms. One specialists has chastised medical professionals that they need to list "possible concussion or head injury' due to head impact so that when these symptoms show up later, a likely cause is in the medical record.

You are still very early in your recovery. A spontaneous improvement may still happen. You may want to get your neck checked out. It sounds like you may have suffered a subtle neck injury from the whiplash that may benefit from treatment.

My best tom you.

Welcome comet. :Wave-Hello:

For what it's worth, my concussion wasn't diagnosed for several months. My PT kept suggesting it but I thought I couldn't have a concussion since I didn't think I'd hit my head all that hard. I've learned since that a whiplash can cause a concussion, and also that not *remembering* something doesn't mean it didn't really happen ;-) And not *wanting" to have a concussion doesn't help, either! Hope you can find someone who understands concussions to help you.

Best of luck,
Diane

Comet,

I was not really bothered by my symptoms until around 4 months....that is when they really increased in both severity and quantity.

That is my experience.

Bud

"unsatisfying doctor's visit"
yep. This sums up several of my doctor visits after my head injury this past summer. Sad how medical professionals are often clueless when it comes to head injury. I am six months out and pretty much back to normal. Scariest time of my life, however! Had to go on paxil due to anxiety about my symptoms not going away. Also taking a fish oil supplement with high dha and magmind supplements are very helpful to me. And a lot of rest.
Best of luck to you. Try to be patient. You are not alone!!!!!

Julia,

Glad to hear you are settling down!

Bud

In the Zurich definition of mTBI, delayed onset of symptoms is allowed for and considered common enough. It isn't considered PCS until 3 months has gone by I think though.

Get some rest. You'll get the highest quality healing right now if you let yourself... you'll regret it later if you push it too much.

Thanks, everyone.

I'm still in doubt as to whether this really is concussion-linked due to the week of normality, but I know the brain is a complex thing.

I think anxiety has played a really major role in impeding recovery- I started to become convinced I had cancer or a brain tumor (because of the fatigue and because I started to wake up every hour at night sweating)...I had a CBC done (normal) and eventually a without contrast CT scan of head (normal). As much as all this should have comforted me, I persisted in my hypochondria- "It must be lymphoma because complete blood counts don't always pick up on that" "It must be a brain tumor, just a small one or one down near the brain stem and the CT scan didn't pick up on it"

Heart Palpitations (probably anxiety linked) have recently been bothering me when trying to sleep and sometimes during the day. Depression has also set in- "You will never be what you were" "You will never be back to normal" "Everyone thinks you're crazy" "You don't even have anything, you're just a nervous wreck and you're taking years off your life" "You will always think about what is wrong with you" "You will always be dizzy" "Something is really wrong in your head" I spent my time alternating between mourning my normal past, being jealous of everyone around me who is not dizzy and who feels normal, and fearing for the future- can I handle school? Will I have fun and go on trips and be myself ever again?

The dizziness seemed to dissipate for a couple days but randomly came back with full vengeance recently and I'm not sure if it'll ever subside. At this point I don't know if it's concussion related or anxiety related or what. I'm just baffled. It's transitioned from a "head dizziness" feeling to more of a full body thing- when I'm walking it's like I'm on a ship or something. And the internet scares me- people post about being dizzy for months and even years...I don't know if I could handle that huge of a fall in my quality of life for so long.

Is my brain permanently damaged? I've read the vestibular system doesn't heal itself very well....I know I should feel lucky that the dizziness and sleeping problems are my only battle to fight, but all I want is to know I'll be 100% old me at some point in the future. Sorry, I know these are long posts about uncertain questions, but I'm hoping someone here has experienced something similar and has a success story.