Concussion, setback, or what?
 

Hey everyone!

Foreward: It's been a while since I've posted as I was mostly recovered from my previous injuries. I had a concussion October of 2017 and another one around March of 2018. Neither with LOC but the first took quite a while to heal, at least a month. Lifetime-wise, I've probably experienced around four of five concussions -- at least two of which with loss of conciousness, both from childhood at the ages of four and around seven.

CURRENT ISSUE:

I'm a competitive, recreational ping pong player. It's not a very serious sport in the US but nonetheless there are a fair amount of players. I hadn't played or exercised for about a month because I had a sinus infection that took a long time to subside. Think I read Mark plays a bit as well and hello, Mark, if you're reading this!

So Friday evening I was playing and the place is unfortunately overrun by a lot of middle school and high school aged kids, so they tend to misbehave and goof around.

As I was practicing with another adult player one of the kids was attempting to throw a ping pong racket case to a friend and obviously it was way off course as it hit me in the right side of my head. I never saw it coming and so it startled and dazed me and I kind of laughed it off since it was an awkward situation with a bunch of kids thinking it was amusing. It didn't occur to me at the moment to check the case to see if anything was inside such as a paddle, wallet, keys, etc. But the hit itself didn't 'hurt' and there was no tenderness or pain. Right after it happened I kept on playing and actually played really well. The case was thrown maybe six to eight feet or so and the case looked to have a zipper, hard plastic, etc. You can probably google ping pong racket case to get an idea.

I did not lose consciousness and have good memory of the entire time I was there before and afterwards.

But after I left the place, the worry started to sink in that it could be another concussion. I probably ate dinner about an hour after the incident and was queasy, gaseous, and felt very full. My stomach was moving and growling pretty much all night right after I ate.

And the next day I was feeling a little fatigued and I've had what I perceive to be some light sensitivity issues as well. My concussion from October 2017 had pretty bad light sensitivity and I wouldn't say that is as bad from what I can recall but it's still noticeable, especially if walking around a bright place like Best Buy or inside a shopping center.


Does this sound like it could possibly be a concussion or is it instead more likely a 'setback' with symptoms? My last concussion was around a year ago and I hadn't really been dealing with symptoms from that previous one. Could that even be enough force to cause a concussion?

SYMPTOMS

- main symptom was upset stomach/gas/growling about an hour later on the night of the incident.
- moderate light sensitivity since, especially in brighter places like a mall or electronics stores.
- some fatigue.


Unskilled drawing of the playing area. The case was thrown about 6-8 feet and hit me in the right side of my head. I didn't see it coming and so it startled me a bit but didn't hurt:

**

Thanks for taking the time to read :)


tl;dr

- accidentally hit in the right side of head with a pong pong racket case (unsure if anything was inside of it; the kid who threw it claims nothing was in there but I'm not sure if he was being truthful or not).
- some symptoms which are listed above.
- not sure if light concussion or 'setback'

These constant anxiety reactions are why I do not post much any more. I have better things to do with my time.

Concussion Anxiety Syndrome has become an epidemic in the last few years. I'm waiting for it to be listed in the DSM.

The movie Concussion appears to have been the trigger for many. I did not go see it. I knew about Dr Omalu long before most of the world even heard his name.

Anxiety.......................................

keeponmovin, this sounds to me like a typical minor setback, whether the cause was anxiety or the slight impact or both. I would not worry about it. Search a bit through past posts and you will find many similar incidents that resolved uneventfully. In two weeks you will forget this even happened.

Mark, we are all enormously indebted to you for what you have done for this forum, but I believe you are over-hasty in this case. Like you, I am all for giving no quarter to anxiety when it rears its head. Rumination is the way to the abyss. But it is no help to those finding themselves in such situations for the first time to say that they're not worth your time and should be filed away in the casebook of the APA.

I think attributing the recent rise in such posts to the movie "Concussion" is a wild leap. Wouldn't a more plausible hypothesis be that, as you would surely hardly deny, minor bumps can cause some transient symptoms, which anxiety can then magnify and prolong even when the original physical mechanisms are no longer in play?

Of course I will grant that media attention has probably had at least a small role as well. This is all sheer speculation, however.

I am sure I'm not alone in hoping that you will not forsake the forum altogether. It has not been the same in your absence.

I would like to qualify my reply to Mark. I just re-read your post, keeponmovin, and in this particular case it really does sound to me like minor anxiety. I would absolutely not worry about it.

In general, I stand by my points above.

I definitely have great respect for Mark. His contributions have been intelligent and he seems to be one of the more knowledgeable amateur enthusiasts on mTBIs both in life experience and through independent research. A blunt opinion is fine by me.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of our issues are from anxiety. And the power of persuasion can definitely go a long way. I understand this because I've read of many people to have participated in placebo trials where they were convinced the dummy medication was a miracle drug even though it was later revealed that the the pills were empty.


I'm still not very knowledgeable on what is considered a 'minor' or even 'moderate' impact. In fact, my documented concussion from 2017 did not seem that severe at first, even though there was some pain, but the symptoms were pretty bad for around a month.

I'm just kind of surprised to have some light sensitivity issues/mild headache at the moment. Perhaps anxiety can cause these things and we're looking for them. The case that hit me was a hard plastic material kind of similar to a bike helmet. They're protecting pricey paddles that cost about $200+ from spoiled kids who are playing under the guidance of paid coaches. Probably the main anxiety comes from the fact that I didn't check to see if a paddle was inside and that I was standing upright in a 100% relaxed, loose posture and thus did not anticipate or 'brace' for impact since I didn't see it coming. The case is a hard plastic and thus similar to being hit on the side of the head from a thrown bike helmet.

KoM,

Let me tell you a bit about how powerful anxiety is.

I was watching a truck drive through a Home Depot parking lot a couple years after my accident when I was back in the public.

It was evident he was driving a bit fast and wasn't going to slow for a speed bump, when he hit the bump I got a headache and other symptoms for 2 days and all I did was witness the event!

I guess it could be called a setback but it certainly wasn't from any physical damage. It was actually a very important learning episode for me, it taught me the power of anxiety and the power of its lies.

Personally I doubt the case hit you hard enough to screw you up physically, we do get pretty protective of our heads.

Keep on movin.

Bud