Mild concussion - second week, feeling anxious
 

Hi,

This is my first time posting but I felt the need due to me just needing to talk about this.

It all started last Monday. I was in a room with glass walls and during my attempt to look out, I misjudged the distance and banged my forehead on the glass. I felt immediate pain on my head and also at the opposite side on the back of my head. I proceeded with my day because I really didn't want go stop lest I would just panic but I did feel weird the rest of the day. During the night when I was trying to sleep, my arm began jerking which made me panic about brain bleeds.

A few days went by with headaches that come and go and eventually dizziness. I panicked thinking about a possible slow subdural hematoma.

On the one week mark, I still have dizziness and the feeling of leaning to the right when walking so I went to the ER. The doctor did a full neuro check up and I told him about all my fears. He said my trauma sounds pretty mild but my symptoms don't point toward a bleed enough so he didn't want to to a CT. For background, I am a 20 year old female. He diagnosed me with a mild concussion.

Now, this is my second week of concussion. I feel OK but not really back to myself yet. The dizziness comes and goes, most prevalent in the mornings. This morning when I woke up, I felt a muscle in my arm contract by itself twice. I also have a sudden ache on the top right of my head that comes suddenly and goes suddenly like a painful poke,

I don't know if all this is normal for a concussion. I really am scared it's something more serious that my doctor missed but he told me it's extremely unlikely it's something else than a concussion but idk about my jerks that first night (and contraction this morning?).

I also wonder how long this concussion will last. I am literally crying every day and even as I write this now because I am so sick of feeling these symptoms and so sick of them causing me to worry it's something serious. I just want to return to my normal self and I am sad that this won't happen and that something has changed forever. I really hope someone can shed some light on this and help me with my thoughts.

Feel free to explore the sticky threads above the main threads section and recent posts..Many tips and answers will fit for your incident..

Our brain can create symptoms due to anxiety -
Anxiety, bumps, symptoms , treatment info links

Thank you! I do hope it's just the anxiety, but when anxiousness can't really tell so its almost driving me nuts.

Hufflepuff,

I don't think you had a concussion at all. I think you struggle with anxiety, especially health anxiety.

You have read about concussions prior to this head bump and have let your mind play back those memories of what you read as if they are real.

Serious anxiety can manifest with the same symptoms as a concussion.

This is what I call Concussion Anxiety Syndrome. You have read or heard about concussions and think a head bump is always a concussion.

Just my ideas but I do have 58 years experience with over 14 concussions in that time.

I don't really know how to get rid of that anxiety. I often feel the symptoms and then feel anxious, not the other way around. My biggest worries right now is the muscle jerks I had and when I will return to my previous energy levels

Welcome Huffflepuff. :Wave-Hello:

You get rid of the anxiety by looking back to the times before you had that anxiety. You bumped your head just as often and never developed concussion symptoms. Then, you heard, watched, or read about concussions and the next time you bumped your head, your anxiety took over.

Did you see the movie 'Concussion'? Many people have developed Concussion Anxiety Syndrome after seeing that movie or having a coach teach a concussion awareness class to the team or some such exposure to the worries of a concussion.

Try to remember how you never developed concussion problems from those previous bumps. Why would you have problems now? It is remembered anxiety... Not true concussion symptoms.

Your brain plays the memorized symptoms. This is like PTSD flashbacks.

I get a short burst of symptoms when I watch somebody impact their head on TV.

What is the first symptom you sense when you have these events?

Emerging research shows that chronic low-grade brain inflammation is linked to our mental health and anxiety struggles, and that diet and nutrition can help reduce this inflammation. Brain inflammation also causes concussion symptoms. That's why people with a history of anxiety struggle with concussion symptoms.

Take a look at this book, "Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety: Nourish Your Way to Better Mental Health in Six Weeks".