Soccer head injury - looking for insights
 

My 13 year old daughter was playing in a soccer tournament recently and things are miserable.

Day one the ball went out of bounds, my daughter bent over slightly ready to pick the ball up when another player from the other team tried to save the ball and kicked it really hard into my daughter's temple. My daughter was dazed and out of it but shook it off and kept playing. That night she had a black eye and a mild headache. She awoke the next morning feeling find so she returned to the field.

Day two, just a couple minutes into the game my daughter was running along another player when that players intentionally clocked my daughter in the head with her elbow. My daughter went down crying and bleeding from the mouth. This hit was on the cheek just under the eye. That night again she had a headache but took advil and seemed okay.

Day three she played to more games without injury and seemed fine. But that night she was crying in pain from a headache. We were out of state so she took advil and seemed better.

THe next day she seemed okay other than a mild persistent headache which was tolerable with advil. So we flew home.

She saw her doctor who said she had a concussion and just to take advil and tylenol until she felt better. She had a headache, sensitivity to light, slight balance issues due to dizziness, mild nausea.

Ten days after the first hit she had severe head pain the led to vomiting so we took her to the ER. THey did a CAT scan and she has a small subural hematoma, but was sent home with just advil and tylenol to manage pain.

Two days later she is again in SEVERE pain, vomting and we went back to the ER where she was admitted to ICU.

She is just out of ICU (Today) and on vicodine and tylenol to manage pain and zofran to manage the vomiting.

While is the hospital a second CAT scan showed the bleed in the brain was smaller than it had been a few days earlier and is healing. We were told she has Post Concussion Syndrome so I've been trying to read up on it but get confused. She is 15 days post injury and has a continuous headache since the injury. Last week her pain was tolerable with over the counter stuff and this week it was not at all manageable so that now she is on narcotics.

She is supposed to see a speed therapist in the next week or two for a cogntive assessment and follow up with neuro surgery in two weeks. IN the meantime they said medicate for pain.

She can barely function, gets nausea whenever she moves around so she is basically on complete bed rest.

Is it normal to get WORSE the second week than the first?
What about taking all these narcotics?
ANy ideas on when she might feel ANY relief?
Any ideas? SUggestions?
I have never dealt with a head injury before so I feel totally lost.

ANy advice, suggestions or shared experiences would be appreciated. IT breaks my heart to see her like this and I want to do anything I can to help her.

Hi and welcome to NeuroTalk tho so sorry for the reason that brings you here.

I have also copied your post to our special forum for Post Concussion Syndrome and TBI as we have a group of members there who may be able to give you some insight and will for sure be able to offer you much support

here is the link to your post there so you can check for answers
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ad.php?t=23824

I do hope this passes quickly for your daughter

Cheri

Suffering Post Concussion Syndrom
 

I'm a 51 year old female and love cycling. In mid May I was hit by a car while on my bike. The car turned left and ran into me, knocking me onto the hood and then onto the pavement and the back of my head bounced serveral times. I was wearing my helmet and had no neck injuries, but got a headache a few minutes later. Well, I went to the ER and they treated the bruises on my legs and gave me Naproxen for pain. Not much was said about my headache, just go home and rest. I saw my doctor a week later and he said I was healing well and to take Tylenol instead of Naproxen. At that point my headache wasn't bad at all, but I was very lightheaded. I didn't know why and forgot to mention it to the doctor. As soon as I increased my activities and tried to get back to normal - about 12 days after the accident - my headache got a lot worse. I got scared and went back to the ER. They did a CT scan and send me home, telling me to take the naproxen again. I went back to my doctor a few days later, still feeling terrible from the headache, nausea and lightheadedness. He prescribed Fioricet for headaches and something for nausea. I also had an MRI which didn't show anything. It has been two and a half month now since my accident and I still have a headache every day. I get a lot of pressure in my head, seems to be coming from the back of my head, and I still get lightheaded (or dizzy) if I move around too fast or go up a flight of stairs. The Fioricet helps, but I don't like to take pills and don't want to get addicted, so I limit myself to two a day and take a break every so often to figure out how I feel without meds.

The last few weeks have been a little better and I agree that rest seems to be the best thing to do and not getting upset about anything. Besides cycling I like to read, but too much stresses my brain - so does the computer. I have not been back on my bike and didn't drive my car for over six weeks and still only get out on short errands. I guess I'm lucky to be a homemaker and my husband has been supportive, but he doesn't really help out around the housel

It has been very frustrating not to be able to do much and not getting any good advice as to what to do and not do. My doctor wants to send me to a neurologist if I'm not better in a month, but now I'm wondering if there is any point in that.

hi Sissy

I have copied your post over to the PCS forum as well

here is the link to it there
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ad.php?t=25057