Success story
 

Hi everyone,

A story to help those suffering from PCS.

To make a long story short, I was on the receiving end of a few mild concussions early this January-February in boxing sparring. No loss of consciousness, blurry vision, nausea or anything like that, just slow processing of information for the period after the injury. It eventually developed into post concussion syndrome and I was pretty sensitive to vibrations for a little while. (like two months). I also became very sensitive to sound and would get a headache if I heard too many banging noises.

I have since then recovered pretty well. The sound sensitivity has mostly disappeared and I can work a mentally intensive job for 10 hours a day without any symptoms. Exercise-wise, I can begin return to high impact things like jump-roping for a few minutes and running. I can lift weights at my maximum.

So hang in there! The pain does end!

I'm contemplating on returning to non-checking hockey in 3 years time when I give my brain enough time to heal. In the mean time, I'm super careful not to hit my head on anything. I'm even avoiding driving frequently on highways because I don't want to get into a car accident.

John,

Congrats! A word of caution though. I sustained my first concussion from sparring in boxing...no loss of consciousness...just felt crummy for a few days, then the PCS kicked in and lasted about 8 months.

I returned to non-contact hockey after this, and I had a bump on the head from someone's shoulder (unintentional) and caused a second concussion. Just be careful, and maybe weigh out the pros and cons of playing again. Not saying to never play again, but maybe give yourself more time to recover than you think.

All the best!

Bas

Hi Bas, thanks for words of encouragement! Boxing is a weird thing. I remember 5 years ago, I did quite a few harder sparring sessions, even one where I was hit SQUARELY on the jaw by a guy who outweighed me by like 40 pounds at least, and I had NO concussion. This year, I remember getting punched directly in the face and that was the beginning of the first concussion.

How long did you wait between the boxing concussion and the hockey concussion? I understand the increased sensitivity to impacts. After my boxing concussion, I remember being hit on the jaw by a rebounded tennis ball and it made me feel a little "off".

I'm planning to give myself three years of symptom free exercise at maximal exertion.

Hey John,

I had the exact same problem! Last March I was getting ready for my fight and suffered 2 concussions a week apart from one another. Fortunately, they both healed in 2 weeks. Not knowing anything about concussions I went to the doctor to get checked and was told to stop fighting and rest for a few months. 4 months later, in late July, I returned to the gym (no sparring) just bag work, speed bag, etc, for one week. The following Monday I got hit with PCS. 6 1/2 months later I feel I'm almost recovered, only when I do light jogging my symptoms come back. My main concern is the same thing happens again. How did you transition back into working out? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hope all is well,

Albert10,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Everybody has a different experience when trying to return to full activity and exercise. The best way to return to working out is slowly, waiting a day or two after a work-out session to see if symptoms return. You should keep your work-out level substantially below your previous work-out level. Not knowing the specifics of your work-out routine makes it difficult to comment further. Many track their pulse and stay below 120 until they have no symptoms for a week or two then maybe increase to 130 pulse and so on.

Although some fighters post here, many of us struggle to understand how and why someone would return to fighting after suffering PCS. The risks are just too great.