Anxious
 

Hi everyone, I’m new to this forum and have a question about concussion symptoms that has been concerning me. I received a concussion by stupidly not wearing my seatbelt and flipping out of my chair and smacking the left part of my forehead on the hard plastic backing of the drivers seat. It wasn’t a car accident, just a sharp turn that the driver took. I had been drinking so I guess I wasn’t really prepared for it. Anyway, soon after I got the usual concussion symptoms but I also have a strange one where as I’m falling asleep I feel like I can’t control my thoughts and they’re really weird and scrambled and don’t make any sense. It sometimes happens as I’m waking up too. When I’m fully awake I think it goes. It really scares me, I’ve been having panic attacks about it and don’t know what to think. I desperately need to vent somewhere I’m feeling so stressed, can’t eat, scared to sleep. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and what it might be? Thank you!

Anxiety is a common symptom of PCS. Sleep issues are very common too, some folk sleep too much and feel rough others have trouble sleeping through a full 8 hours (me). Maybe some positive thinking techniques before you go to sleep would help. I used to listen to relaxing music, think about my holidays and when I couldn't reign my thoughts in I used to rebuild my car engine in my head (weird but it helped). I used to wake up fully awake and wired, it's only recently I wake up feeling sleepy like I used to do. Some say anxiety is just fear.

Aren't really weird and scrambled thoughts the beginning of you falling asleep and dreaming?

I believe that the mind can moving too fast, i.e. it's too aroused, and this can prevent sleep.

For dealing with anxiety / depression, I've found it helps to simply notice and try to accept the emotion while you're feeling it, and remember that it will pass, even if it takes a while. Sometimes I can go most of a day feeling depressed, and then suddenly in the evening I feel better. I had panic attacks for a number of days but those seem to have mostly stopped - the thing I found helpful was again to simply accept what was going on, recognize that it's a panic attack (which feels extremely scary but is not dangerous) and have faith that it will pass.
I've also been trying a bit of meditation and light exercise. I think it's improving things a bit - make sure to listen to your body and back off if / when symptoms increase.
The body needs time to heal, and we need to be patient and stay hopeful. I hope that helps - feel free to message me anytime.