Really devasted, fell on ice again
 

Just slipped on the ice again. Fell on my side, just managed to brace my fall a little with my hand which the impact ended up really hurting my arm and side bum. When I hit the floor my upper body and head got immediately jolted really violently to the side. So it was like a two for one fall + the whiplash

This fall is so devastating to me even if I didn’t hit my head. I’m not really sure what to do. The first fall ended up being somewhat of a positive because it kind of showed me I can take more then I think and I’m not quite so fragile since that setback lasted only a week or so.

But this fall feels worse. What do i do? Should I drop out of school the rest of the semester and give up on life or try and keep living like nothing happened?

Do not drop out of school. I decided to take time off from school for similar issues. That was one of the only decisions I've made in my life that I would definitely say was the wrong decision.

If you drop out of school you may well end up like me in a cycle of negative thoughts lasting months and months. I strongly strongly advise you to stay in school. You can only lose by dropping out.

You should get some ice treads for your shoes.

Will do, probably go to the store this weekend.

If I drop it out if would be because of my health following this massive setback. Would you consider this incident caused additional damage or concussion to my brain?

For background I’m a former athlete who stopped due to issues with pcs.

What massive setback?

What concussion symptoms are you manifesting?

What symptoms are you manifesting that are anxiety?

I guess I’m speaking in hypothetical terms but it’s hard for my imagine something like this happening to someone fragile and it being ok since the brain is just floating around unprotected in the skull you know. Maybe if it was something that happened and I understood better and I knew that ok there’s is no way this is damaging, then I can move on no issue but with things like this there feels as if there is a lot of uncertainty.

I’ve been feeling unwell I guess, neck has been very stiff and sore, head cloudy, head a little headachy, eyes a little sore, general physical un wellness, sadness.

I guess it’s just hard to this happen and immediately turn around and go, ok that happened but I was on my way to my friends so I’ll still do that. I also have 3 assignments I need to work on this week so I need to get on those tmw, etc, etc. Like how to just go on living normal life I guess is what I struggle with. For me it’s like I either need reassurance and time or I need a while to pass so I mourn the loss of old self, embrace the new version of me and move on learning whatever lesson I learned.

I'm not going to comment on this event because I am not sure whether seeking and receiving reassurance is a healthy pattern for you or not (I had the same tendency and realized it was not good for me, and I have been trying for a long time to cease it), but I hope the following can help. Have you tried reading your own threads in the past, when you were worried about an incident that happened to cause no long-term issues?

I do it with mine from time and time and realize that I have been worried as hell about things that I don't even remember now. It might give you a bit of perspective on your tendency to catastrophize and use very strong and exaggerated statements ("devastated", "my life is over", "mourn the loss of my old self", etc.).

Another thing that strikes me is that your symptoms appear to be mild and vague, as if you were not even sure that you are experiencing them. When I suffered a concussion or even a significant setback I couldn't have written "I've been feeling unwell I guess" or "head a little headachy". Do you remember how you felt after your (genuine) concussion(s)?

Thanks for the response. I’ve definitely had setbacks and such where I’ve felt genuinely awful. For this last incident I definitely felt quite a lot worse then usual after but of course it’s awful hard to tell what could potentially be due to anxiety and lack of sleep and sore neck and such.

I struggle with that also, not knowing how healthy the seeking out of reassurance is. I understand that it’s not the healthiest in helping my obsession but at the same time I mean I want to be safe and I want to build my knowledge on this topic and being able to identify what is damaging and what isn’t so that I can be able to better determine it myself in the future. Like so many things I used to worry about a lot before still happen to me every day but now I have the knowledge to know they are harmless and I don’t think about them anymore. It’s only when I have extreme incidents like a fall or hitting my head rather hard that I really panic a bit and seek out reassurance or information.

Regarding this last incident it’s just tough because it happened in a point in my life where I was doing so much better. Like I said, a couple days before it happened I was working an event all day and even went out at night and got home very late so that had been like a huge accomplishment for me. So to have something like this happen, a big setback/reinjury, it’s just really really crushing. Makes you want to give up, just lock yourself in your room forever and go numb. I also feel like since I live quite an active life these incidents that happen to me are much more extreme then a lot of the stuff many people on here worry about an so that kind of gives me even more anxiety.

Your right though, when I look back there are a lot of incidents I overcame which I didn’t think I’d be able to when they happened. Maybe I should take my advice more and not see these things as terrifying events but rather opportunities to grow stronger or desensitize myself. It’s just saddening when they happen I guess. How are you doing? What’s your advice?

Time always gives you the answer. Take some time to lessen your workload but still keep up on things but take out some extracurricular activities and refrain from going out at night. Slow the pace, put yourself in a calm environment and take some time out to relax. If your still feeling like this in 4-5 days then cut back on your activities. If you start to slide then its time to re-evaluate your situation. Anxiety can manifest itself, but you'll know better the situation if you lessen your anxiety.