Young skier 2nd head injury in 5 weeks
 

My 14 year old daughter is a competitive big mountain freeride skier. She wears a POC helmet with MIPS. 5 weeks ago she crossed her tips and slammed her head on snow. No blackout, she laughed got up and skied away. By the next run a big headache came on and she felt unwell. By the time she came down 2 hours later she was feeling dazed and was slurring her words. The doc diagnosed her with mild concussion symptoms. I was ultra conservative, dark room, no screens, noise, or school for a week. Her biggest symptom was tiredness and by the end of the week she seemed good. Two days ago I got a call from ski patrol to meet at the clinic because she slammed her face on hard snow, profuse bleeding from her nose and scraped face. Again she did not black out and other then the shock of the fall she felt ok compared to how she felt the first time. The dr checked her out and said that there did not appear to be any concussion symptoms. That night she had a mild headache, the next morning a sore neck and difficulty stringing good sentences together during an english exam and now day 3 mild headache and tired. She has a big competition coming up in two weeks time. The conditions on the mountain are horrible, low snow year lots of rock and ice. This makes me beyond nervous. I would like her to sit out this weekend and possibly still compete in two weeks. Or should I be pulling the pin on the competition too? This is her passion and her dream so it's a very difficult situation and I worry that she downplays how she is feeling.

This is a very hard situation. I have no advice, but I hope that you are able to figure out the solution that is best for your daughter.

BigMtnMom,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. You are wise to be concerned. She should be totally symptom free before she competes again. The risks of Second Impact Syndrome are real. Check out Kevin Pearce. He suffered a second injury before his first healed and it almost killed him. Besides, I doubt she is in top form regarding balance and reaction times. This increases her risk.

Her cognitive struggles show that she had a serious insult to her brain.

Be strong and help her be safe.

My best to you.

Based on my experience with my concussion I would strongly advise to let her rest for about a month.
I learned the hard way that even if you feel fine after a concussion you should really take your time and let it heal properly for several months.
Again, everyone's concussion is unique, but I would be very careful especially that she got two in a row in a very short period of time.

Trust me no sport or reward is worth going through what many of us on this forum went through or are going through. I would gladly give all of my savings to someone who could make me better. I will take a broken bone over PCS any day.

I was stupid enough in my youth to not recognize the dangers of even "light" concussions, and even my parents/friends never realized how serious this stuff is until I got to where I am now with PCS. I still remember my dad making fun of me when I was trying to wear a helmet while skiing, he obviously changed his mind now.

I sure hope that she doesn't get any lasting symptoms after these concussions, but please be very careful, these things tend to have a cumulative effect, took about 15 years of concussions from skiing, swimming, boxing, drunk stupidity, etc for me to get severe PCS.

One last note - you don't have to black out to get PCS, I never blacked out from any of my concussions, and the last one that triggered PCS I considered very light.

Thank you for your thoughtful replies, I really appreciate it. Today she could not concentrate on playing her violin. Enough contemplation from me. No skiing!

I would say you have made the right decision. Your job is to protect her (hard to be a parent!). Nothing is worth a brain injury, or having her future compromised.
Best wishes to her!!!!

Hang tight!
 

Hello and welcom here.

Sorry to hear of your daughter and all her struggles. You are soooooooooo wise to let her heal. She only has one brain, and PCS and all the other things are real.

There are also some groups on facebook with some teens / young adults who are struggling with PCS. Look under post concussion syndrome on face book and see what you can find. You can also join groups too and there is plenty of info here.

Her brain can heal. Please be as optimistic as you can. She will have to let it heal though by reducing stress in her life and diet and nutrition are important too. Brain healing takes time -- measured in months and years sometimes. No one can say how long it may take.

Sincerley,
poetrymom

Second impact sydrome very scary for teens
 

You did the right thing. I am dealing w PCs from 2 very mild head injuries in last 6 weeks and have been doing some research to understand the syndrome. If you Google "2nd impact syndrome" you will see how early return to impact sports in teens can result in sudden death. This has been all the rage on the news lately since Dr Gupta has brought this information public. She should not be put at risk for a third injury this season. Gonna have to figure out some incentive to get her to understand how important it is for her to not ski for a while.