I'm a student. How do I deal with this?
 

About 6 weeks ago, I was running with my dog when i fell and hit my head (I know, what a great story). I blacked out for a few seconds than picked myself up and went home. My head hurt mildly. Didn't have any other symptoms other than my head hurting. My aunt is my guardian and had me get an MRI, because she was nervous. MRI was negative.

Lately, i've been feeling unusual. I have bad headaches and trouble sleeping from time to time. I wouldn't say its ruining my life, but it is making it difficult. Received a text from a friend today, and didn't know who she was for a few minutes.

I think I have PCS.

I am a student. Lately, i've been living my life normally (going to class, to the grocery store, etc.). But, when my symptoms hit, THEY HIT. Some days are better than others. I don't get how on Monday I could spend all day in bed, but Tuesday feel fine enough to go to my internship.

I feel like I don't know what to do. I know I need to heal, but I guess my injury just doesn't feel serious enough for me to abscond school and move to my aunt's.

Does anyone have any suggestions from a similar personal experience or a loved one? Should I stay home until I totally feel better? Should I split my time between home and my apartment at school (to try to mantain some normalcy?)

THANKS EVERYONE.
-Sarah F

Hey Sarah F.,
Have you seen a neurologist? In general you should rest as much as you can.

sarah,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. You have found the right place for good information and support.

Who prescribed the MRI? Did that doctor have any comments about your condition or symptoms?

It sounds like you have classic PCS. The fact that you lost consciousness means you definitely did suffer a concussion. You can also suffer a concussion without losing consciousness.

For your best recovery, you need quiet rest. When does your term at school end? Are there other things in your daily life that you can stop doing and just focus on school and rest?

In the mean time, stop all caffeine, alcohol, MSG, and artificial sweeteners (aspartame/Nutrasweet/Equal is the worst for the brain) Eat healthy. We can get into nutritional supplements in a later post.

If you look at your bad days, you will likely find events and tasks from the previous day or days that fatigued your brain. Often, triggers will cause a delayed onset of symptoms.

The return or delay in onset of symptoms is common. It takes a while for the brain to process the cascade of neuro-chemical events after the impact. Sounds like you are in the thick of it now.

So, try to get some quiet rest and keep us posted.

There are lots of experienced people here.

My best to you.

Maybe I am not the best example, but I got my first concussion was in the middle of the second semester of my freshman year. My school was either full time or not at all so I stayed and it was a very difficult 3 and a half years. My GPA went from a 3.8 to a 3.16 after dipping below the 2.5 mark at one point. My problem is that I have gotten over 10 concussions since that first one. I did finally graduate on May 12th of this year and am so excited to have finished.

While at school, about once a month I would have to take three days off and just stay in bed with my curtains drawn sleeping and just enjoying the quiet. When my friends would come to ask how I was doing they would march right into my room and open the curtains thinking that sunshine is good for sick people and I would have to explain that light made it worse.

Anyways, if you have any particular questions about how I handled something please just let me know. It is really difficult to do alone.

I really wish you luck in your journey!

I am in much the same situation as OP. I have to begin my master thesis monday, standing all day in a lab doing experiments.

There is no way on earth that I can work for more than a few hours but the expectations are so high.

I have no clue as to how I will be able to complete my master thesis with this problem and I really don´t want another failure in my life.

The next ½ year will be extremely though...Any suggestions would be welcome!

School's still a "sore" subject with me. I went from straight As in a premed program to B and even a few Cs. Hope you have better luck!

For now, you should rest and capture as much earlier recovery as you can.

Re:
 

Mark,

Thanks for responding.

I am supposed to graduate from college in August, than start teaching in China. I can't technically be flexible, because it would cost me my first real job :/

The reason I asked is because -- I have read stories on here of those who have had far, FAR more serious cases. I guess my whole situation (from the way I fell, to not showing symptoms for a while), just didn't feel "serious" enough. It feels ridiculous that I fell while running with my dog, when their are some on here who have overcome car accidents, intense sporting accidents, etc. with very major injuries.

Usually, I feel okay. But when I have these bad days, they feel awful. I'm not sure if I stay in school full-time if I will exasperate my condition. I know I should rest, but I can't decide how much rest I need before it puts a hold on my life.

My biggest concern is: should I move home? split my time between home and my apartment? I feel totally lost. I don't want to make myself worse. But I also want to graduate.

Hi Sarah,

It doesn't matter how you sustained a concussion, or whose is "worse" or whose came from a "more traumatic" situation - the fact is that your brain is having trouble because it endured trauma/damage to itself. No two brain injuries are the same anyway.

Your brain is trying to heal itself. The best way that it will be able to heal itself is with rest. Usually, an increase in symptoms means that it's not resting enough - consider those symptoms to be warning signs that your brain is trying to give you that you're overdoing it and that it needs you to rest more.

I understand that you are excited about going to China - but I think you really need to consider what going to another country will do to your brain - you will be asking it to learn so many new things in an overwhelmingly different community and society very quickly. That is considered a difficult experience for someone with a well-functioning brain. To a brain that is trying to recover - it might cause a catastrophe.

A person who is recovering from a brain injury is very susceptible to what is known as "setbacks". I'm afraid that moving to China might cause a series of setbacks that will prolong your recovery.

Something to consider here is that symptoms don't always immediately manifest themselves after overdoing it - you might press yourself too hard one day and not recognize symptoms from doing that for a couple of days. Unfortunately, you need to "pace yourself".

If your daily life in a setting that you are familiar with is causing you to experience symptoms - it is a good idea to reduce what you're doing here and now and not to plan to increase mental activity somewhere unfamiliar until you are no longer having any trouble in your current setting for a significant amount of time. Then try to increase your activity in a familiar setting before considering going somewhere so new and different.

Right now, you need to reduce the responsibilities that you require of your brain as much as possible so that it can rest so that it can heal itself.

Hey, I'm a student too, and I've been dealing with this for.. 8 months now. Al I can say is rest. You'll of course want to keep up with your studies, naturally. But, you will not benefit yourself from going in all of the time.

Try to see a neurologist or psychologist who can write a letter, informing your school/college about your injury, this could give you 'considerate marking' and extra time in exams. This I found very helpful. Most importantly, do try to stay off when you feel rough, and try to do keep up with your work but a more suitable pace for you.

I was stupid - I carried on and didn't take time off for a long time - my exam results in January reflected that. I don't want someone else to be as silly as I was.

All the best and good luck

Re:
 

Esther,

Thanks for the helpful response. I realize China might not work out now. :(

Yet, my definite concern right now is how I deal with school. In theory, I would imagine that splitting time between home and my apartment might be a good thing. I want to keep some normalcy so I can graduate. But I'm a little confused by your last paragraph -- did you recommend I take off from school and move home? Or stay in my apartment (where i've lived for 4 years during school).