15 and post concussion syndrome
 

Hi. My 15 year old was hit in the head Oct 2 with a volleyball serve when she was bending over to retrieve a ball. The girl serving it is going to OSU this fall on a volleyball scholarship. Needless to say her head snapped back and it knocked her backwards to the ground. When she came to they were dragging her from the court. She was disoriented and confused. The trainers looked at her and called me to come. I took her statcare and then to the Er. She was disoriented until about 4 hours. They did a cat scan which looked clear. I took her home and she slept and stayed home the next day. That weekend she went to a game and out to eat. She had a headache. I think she slept in Mon but returned to school late. She took an impact test which she couldn't pass. I cancelled the sports med dr. Since the trainer said her score was too high. On and off she would sleep in or come home early and couldn't pass the impact test. Finally we saw the dr. We found out she was off balance. He sent her to the pt. He said extra time on school work. She is a pitcher and pitched a game plus practiced. After that her head and neck really hurt. We went to the pt. She did tests and saw her eyes were jumping and balance was off and neck hurt. She wasn't sleeping through the night. They did some exercises and told us to talk to the dr. Since she was in pain. He sent us to a neurologist. By this time her A and B average have gone to D's and F's. She has taken incompletes. He told her not to take tests. She was still calling me from school about headaches. The neurologist said bed rest off school for 3 weeks. Now it has been 2 months. He said to rest. Her neck hurts, she gets headaches and her eyes go different ways and she gets dizzy and falls over and she can't stay asleep. She is emotional high and low. She doesn't go out much. It's sad! She was social and now she is a loner! When will she be back to her old self?

msnyder,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

Nobody can give you a timeline for your daughter's recovery. You need to find somebody else to help with her recovery. The sports trainer should have never allowed her to pitch a ball game.

The PT appears to not be helping with her neck. Her neck can be a big part of her injury. Neck injuries happen with 80% of concussions. A good upper cervical chiropractor can help. Check out the information at the bottom of my post about vitamins and supplements http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread181974-11.html

She does not need bed rest. She needs quiet rest. That means limited stimulation, video, audio, etc. and simple activities to keep blood flowing through her brain. Knitting and/or crocheting is a good activity. Manual activities are great for gentle stimulation. You might want to request a Neuro Psychological Assessment.

You need to find a team of professionals to diagnose her. It sounds like she may need a neuro-ophthalmologist, a vestibular therapist, maybe a Physiatrist (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation) who works with serious concussion issues. They are often affiliated with a neuro-rehabilitation hospital.

It the school uses ImPACT, they are usually connected to a Concussion Clinic. But then, her school appears to have dropped the ball.

I don't understand why you canceled the Sport Med Doctor if she failed the ImPACT. Did the trainer think her ImPACT score was too high to justify the Sport's med Doc ? Please help us understand.

btw, Please put a double paragraph space very 5 lines. Many of us struggle to follow from line to line when the paragraphs get long.

My best to you both.

I am sorry to hear about your Daughter. She was a very serious injury but it's not well understood. I also tried to maintain my life after my accident. The doctors were tell me to take time off but I felt I could push though it.

I don't remember much of that time but it ended with me on long term disability. I am close to going back to work after a year. I was sure that I would be better after a few days / weeks / months.

I was lucky to have doctor that correctly diagnosed me and that I lived close to Mayo. I went to Mayo's brain and trauma outpatient program. They created a plan for my recovery.

I would think that your Daughter would benefit from a similar program. She would under go a battery of tests and a team of doctors would create treatment plan.

Sorry for any grammar errors - I am a little rushed for time.

Thanks for replying. I am overwhelmed here with what to do. Yes the school personal trainer made it sound like if she couldn't pass the impact he wouldn't want to see her. But he could have seen her but not release her to return to sports. Yes she continued to practice pitching and batting and she got worse. She has seen a neurologist. Do I just wait for him to tell me what to do next?

He mentioned a MRI but she has braces. Can you do it with braces? She just lays around. Not doing much. She does text and watch tv. The neurologist said to come back in three weeks. I am worried. Will she ever be normal again?

In my opinion, I'd avoid anything that trainer says. It appears he is clueless. An MRI does not sound indicated.

It sounds like maybe they use the sports doc to determine return to play after the athlete has passed ImPACT. The ImPACT protocol requires a doctors clearance after the ImPACT clearance. There is no reason to avoid the doctor prior to ImPact clearance. It sounds like this sports doctor may just be a rubber stamp after the ImPACT pass. Unfortunately, ImPACT has a poor reputation for determining when an athlete is truly ready for a safe return to play. It value is for keeping the athlete off the field.

She is only 2 months post injury so she has plenty of time to heal. Plus, she needs proper treatment for her neck. An untreated neck injury can make the rest of her recovery last much longer. Research shows that 80% of concussions include a neck injury with many of the concussion symptoms being directly caused by the neck injury.

As packersrule reiterated, she needs a comprehensive program for recovery. Don't let her school hamper her access to good and proper care.

I doubt the sports doc will be a good source of that care.

We're here for you. Please keep in touch.

My best to you.

We are done with the sports medicine doctor and the school sports therapist. She never passed the impact test anyways. I wonder if the neurologist saying wait three weeks and rest is enough. She acts mean and just lays in bed and doesn't look good. At what point do we see a head concussion specialist?

If you can find a good concussion specialist, there is no reason to wait. She needs a serious evaluation. The neuro's 'three weeks' is just a shot in the dark. Generic neuros are usually lousy with concussions.

Read my post on this page. It has lots of information collected over the years. http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread181974-11.html

Hi msnyder : )

Dealing with a concussion and all the symptoms is hard enough for an anybody, let alone a child. I can't image what it's like to see your daughter suffering.

Having a change in character is a process I think everybody dealing with a head injury experiences to some degree. It's hard to keep your cheery disposition when dealing with constant or intermittent symptoms, hopefully as her symptoms subside she'll get back to her normal self.

She definitely needs to see somebody that specializes in dealing with the symptoms she has, not sure the names of the specialists and that but definitely ask questions or bring written questions when you see whichever specialist you see. Doctor's etc. rush too much sometimes and you can forget to explain things thoroughly or inquire about important things.

Here's a link I dug up from a post made years ago, I believe it was Mark who found it. Thanks for putting this up, I found reading it to be super helpful.

It's called 'tbiguide', if you google it it should be the first link that comes up. I still can't post links on this form.

Extra knowledge about what you or somebody you know is dealing with can make recovery a bit less difficult and hopefully quicker.

With concussions every one is different and everybody recovers from them differently so its almost impossible to put a timeline on recovery. Believe me its been one of my biggest frustrations. I wish her as quick a recovery as possible and that you're able to find the right people to help her recover
: )

From my experience a regular neurologist is clueless about PCS.
Unless they see some evidence of brain damage/serious neurological issues, they won't do anything. Mine prescribed me sleeping pills and send me on my way. After a couple more visits I stopped going to see her and found other doctors on my own that I thought I needed to see.

A friend of mine who is a boxer had similar experience here in town when he struggled after his last concussion for several months.
Unfortunately in AK we don't get too many options for good doctors, and it's not like we can just drive to another state.

Ok I got her in with the head concussion Dr. Fri. I am mad at myself for wasting all this time. I feel responsible for not acting faster. I kept thinking she would get better but she never has.