Symptoms returned full force after a possible concussion
 

I'm 18 years old. I've got 2 concussions in October and November 2014, greatly recovered since then, and only yesterday's evening I understood how much I have.

My initial symptoms were constant brain fog and headaches, which improved over time, until in 2016 I felt them a lot less. I improved a lot over the time. The brain fog started getting less frequent, as well as the headaches.

Yesterday, I was at a friend's house, and he needed me to help him carry a few things from the basement upstairs. We went to the basement, he opened the door to some basement garden there, I held the door to go in after him and suddenly heard dogs barking. I'm scared of dogs, so I just quickly jumped back into the basement (with my back to the door) and closed the door.

However, after the process I started to become scared that during the jumping I got a concussion, because my head was really close to the door. Sadly, due to my anxiety, I even tried to recreate the situation and do it again (jump backwards) to see if I really hit my head, but I don't remember hitting my head in any of the situations.

I know trying to recreate the situation to see if I hit my head was a really stupid idea and could have resulted in a concussion by itself, but my anxiety was very bad so I felt like I had to do it. In the situations I have recreated, I don't remember hitting my head.

After jumping backwards to the door I started feeling the brain fog and an headache again. This was yesterday's evening, I took a high dose of Magnesium, Zinc and Vitamin D to reduce any possible damage that I caused and went to bed.

Today was terrible. It felt like I was back in 2014, just weeks after the concussions. Constant brain fog, feeling of strong pressure on the head and slight nausea that lasted the entire day. I didn't feel so bad for at least the last 6 months. My short term memory also returned to be really bad today (returned to how it was early in recovery), so I made much more typos and forgot things more quickly.

As I said, I don't remember actually hitting my head in the initial jumping backwards situation, and I also don't remember hitting my head in the situations I recreated. But all the symptoms are back. I thought it might be from anxiety, but the symptoms are strong so I don't think so.

Will I have to go through the entire process again? Again to suffer now for more 1-2 years of symptoms? I healed so much, did I really lose this now because of what happened yesterday's evening? I'm really worried right now because the brain fog is intense as I'm typing this.

Could I have gotten a concussion and really not noticed it?

Boy, this sounds so much like my story. I just got hit in the head 6 days ago after recovering for the last two years.

Your symptoms can intensify from a minor bump or hit. Having suffered from concussions before, you are more sensitive to getting hit in the head.

For the next two weeks, I would just closely monitor how you improve and whether this was a full blown relapse of symptoms or something much milder. Nothing you can do except take it one day at a time, manage the anxiety, and be patient.

Absolutely make sure you don't work past a threshold of overstimulating yourself. Take it slow.

Either way, everything will be alright. Neuroplasticity, our magic word. Your brain will continue to improve. Breathe easy, and feel better!

Thanks, but the thing is, I'm not even sure I hit my head.

I have this anxiety many times when passing in tight spaces that I think "did I hit my head?" - this is one of them. I'm not actually sure if I hit my head or not.

If I did, do you think I will reverse my progress? I healed a lot, well over 80%, but now I feel at 20%.

Hey again.

I think Jo*Mar or Mark would be the authority on this but I think it's impossible to tell whether all your progress has been reversed or not. You have to unfortunately just monitor yourself over the next few days to see where you end up, and keep on recovering from that point.

The one thing I will say is that if you had healed quite a bit, your brain should repair itself from the kind of hit you are describing - i.e. one that you don't even think occurred. Anxiety can make your symptoms so much worse, and for the next few days you need to just figure out a way to not make things more difficult for yourself.

After my hit 6 days ago, the first two days were absolutely miserable and I thought I had reversed all my progress. But, it's improving much faster. Our brains are equipped to repair themselves. Especially if you have allowed it to heal without causing severe damage for the past 2-3 years like you did. So, just because it took two years to recover previously does not necessarily mean thats how long it will take to start feeling better and better now.

Pro,

You've been through this before. You suffered a startle and imagined impact. The startle caused your anxiety that caused your symptoms, whether just the anxiety alone or causing memorized symptoms to manifest.

Think of this as a PTSD flashback, nothing more.

PA,

My take. If you hit your head hard enough for a concussion to result you would not be wondering if you hit it, you would know.

Pcs is more traumatic for some of us than we could ever dream up and as Mark says it sort of a PTSD response. I go through the same thing and am surprised at how small a tap can set off the self defense cycle.

Take care,

Bud

Hey dude I go through the exact same thing as you and have read some of your other posts. I constantly am unsure whether or not I hit my head and am even cautious laying down on pillows. Do you excersize?

Zoso94,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

This is an old thread. ProAgonist has not been on NT for a year.

This imagined hit or anxiety inducing bump is a common problem. There is a thread about somatic symptom disorder that describes a similar situation.

Some see a therapist to help redirect thoughts after head contacts. CBT, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, can help redirect the anxious thought after a head contact.