Anxiety and perceived symptoms?
 

Hi all,

First time poster on here, but I must say my neuroticism is really getting the best of me as far as concussion-like symptoms go. I'll summarize as concise as possible. I've played football all my life but have never really suffered a typical concussion were Ive been disoriented or had a headache ect, but Ive definitely taken some big hits throughout the years. Furthermore, I have hit my head quite a bit as a kid receiving stitches/staples a few times, but I don't think Ive ever been diagnosed with a concussion with any of those incidents. The only time I've been actually diagnosed with a concussion, was when I received a mild one snowboarding with a helmet (little memory of the actual event though). I really only started to think about the ramifications of repeated head injuries when all the CTE news started to gain traction. I am 24 now, but I would say for the past 2-3 years, I've been extremely militant about not hitting my head. I've pretty much stopped playing sports or activities i enjoy out of fear of any type of hit to the head.

Pretty much whenever I get some sort of mild contact to my head, I immediately get anxiety over whether or not I could have gotten a concussion or not. Most recently, I had a pretty mild slap to the back of my head, nothing extreme but now i've convinced myself it's some sort of mild concussion. I kinda have a headache and a little difficulty concentrating.

Honestly at this point, I don't know if i'm actually experiencing real symptoms, or if my anxiety is manifesting these symptoms just because i'm always concerned with getting another concussion. Has anyone had any experience with this?

NE789,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

What you are experiencing is quite common. Many who have had a concussion develop anxiety about head contacts. The CTE movie and focus has a lot of people anxious.

At this point in your life, you cannot change what has already happened. The best you can do is treat your brain the best you can with risk avoidance, anxiety avoidance and nutritional support. Anxiety actually makes your risk greater because it can cause your reactions and coordination to be affected.

The recent tap was just that. Try to get over it. Unless you suffer a bell ringer concussion or return to risky activities, I bet you have already experienced 95% of the trauma to your head that you will experience in your lifetime. Those remaining 5% are not avoidable. Bumping a headboard, door jamb, cabinet, child's head, etc are unavoidable. Hits happen.

There are few sports that truly create a risk. Football, rugby, hockey, skateboarding and such are risky. Soccer, basketball and some other sports can be done is less risky ways. No heading in soccer. No hard body contact in basketball. Wear a helmet when snowboarding and avoid snowboarding on hardpacked snow. If the snow is so hard it is difficult to get an edge, you can slip out and hit your helmet on that hardpack. If the snow is softer, you can get an edge and risk less slipping out and falling and when you do fall, the snow has give that greatly reduces the impact forces.

So, you can choose to moderate risk without giving up an active life.

The brain can be overwhelming in its response to the power of suggestion, especially if anxiety is at play. If you look for a symptom, chances are you will think you are experiencing that symptom. I routinely notice a headache when I think about concussion symptoms. Headaches have been my chronic concussion symptom. As soon as I am distracted away, the headache fades away.

So, avoid the "Do I feel dizzy ? Do I have a headache ?" and don't even get started with the "Was that bump a concussion ?" You will not have to ask yourself if a bump is a concussion. The immediate symptoms will tell you before you ask. The immediate disorientation for 10 to 30 seconds will be obvious. The need to stop to clear your head and get you balance or focus will be obvious.

But, when you experience an immediately symptomatic concussion, relax, take a breath and calm yourself. You cannot change what happened but you can choose to make it worse by getting all wrapped up in anxiety. Anxiety causes a rush of bad chemistry in the brain that is not helpful.

Based on my experience of just reducing known risks but living my life, I have suffered 14 concussions in 53 years. That's one ever 4 years. Most were very mild with symptoms that only lasted a minute or so with no lasting symptoms. Only 4 had lasting symptoms. If anything, I might respond with, "Ouch, I'm probably going to pay for that." Then, I just go on with life. If I do 'pay' for that, there is not much I can do except moderate the symptom, usually take ibuprofen of Tylenol for a day or two.

The most important part of your question is quite simple. You need to take whatever steps you need to learn to moderate your anxiety. I was talking with a Neuro Psychologist this past Thursday about the need for resources and protocols to help people in your situation let go of their head bump anxiety. If you let this anxiety get control, it will mess up your life far more than CTE will.

So, take a step back and look at the risks and bumps from a logical perspective. It takes about 60 G's to suffer a concussion. Such a hard hand slap would result in bruising to your face or scalp and the slapper's hand. Such a slug would likely result in a broken hand/boxer's break where the metatarsals (finger bones in the palm) get compression fractures.

These less than concussive impacts the CTE reports mention are called sub-concussive impacts and they still manifest a sense of being hit. It takes hundreds of them during a sport season to cause damage. Think of full contact football practice and games. It is still worthwhile to avoid these contacts because one cannot play those contact sports in a way where you only suffer sub-concussive impacts without risking full concussion impacts.

So, with just some reasonable risk reducing standards and help with reducing anxiety, you will be fine.

My best to you.

NE,

There is no doubt anxiety and worry about further concussions plays a role in some of our lives, myself included. The brains ability to convince us a concussion has been achieved is amazingly powerful, it's trying to protect us.

It took me a good while to recognize anxiety as opposed to common sense, anxiety is a very clever foe at times. I try to make decisions based on fact that can safely refute anxiety when it rears it's head.

I like to ski and wakeboard and have not allowed my anxious thoughts to stop me from doing such even though they do try....do I go without a helmet now? Not a chance in the world will I be without my helmet, do I do everything I did pre accident on a wakeboard? Not a chance. As Mark said risk must be assessed also common sense must prevail.

Think before acting if in doubt while you are learning your way around this part of life and you will find your way to a full life again. There are plenty of ways to challenge our skills safely.

Bud