Hi,

My pre-teen daughter suffered a concussion in a minor auto accident. She was the only person injured in the car and we didn't even realize it until the next day when she had a substantial headache. When I took her to the local ER, they diagnosed her with a mild concussion and sent her home with the expectation that she would be better the next day. Three days later with the same headache, we went to the children's hospital ER where they diagnosed her with a significant concussion and refered her to the trauma clinic. Three weeks later, she still has the headache, although much better, and has been out of school the whole time. We tried school once and it made her headache much worse. We have tried homework at home, but it also aggravates the headache. Ballet seems to be OK. Does anyone else have any experience with this? We are so confused! The Dr.'s said she can't return to school until she can do it without pain, but she is missing so much! They also said it can take 2-3 weeks, but we are now starting week 4. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

I know how you feel I had a major concussion almost 11 months ago...wow its been that long....and now I have PCS and have been out of school for 2 months. Is she taking any medication or has any medication been mentioned so far?

I had a headache ranging from migraines to ice pick headaches for ten months straight, then one doctor suggested amitriptyline i have been on it for almost a month now and my headaches are almost totally gone its been a week and i have only had a few short very mild headaches. Try asking about it its the only thing that has asked for me.

Also see if there is anyway you can get the school involved, since the at home work isnt going well just wait and try talking to them about help for people in the situation like your daughters. When she gets better...which i hope is very soon because it definitely is not fun...they could help a lot. I currently have a tutor bringing work to me while im at home so when she gets to that point that would be a good place to start before just trying to jump back into all the classes and stresses school presents even just being in classrooms with loud kids and overwhelming lights and noises.

If ballet isnt making it worse i would suggest to continue to do it. if it makes it worse at any point stop because you dont want to be back to square one or even go below where she was when it first happened. otherwise it gives her something to do and something to look forward to. just make sure to monitor it.

Is she having any other problems or is it just the headaches/migraines? hope you can get the answers youre looking for

Welcome to NT!

I got my concussion in a car accident, too. Two years later I'm still struggling.

Your daughter is young and things may well turn out better for her. However, it's ridiculous for a doctor to predict how long her symptoms will persist. Doctors understand precious little about brain injury and standard CAT scans and MRIs are not useful diagnostic tools. They are simply not sensative enough to detect all the damaged and severed axons that can undermine brain function. In fact, people who are obviously cognitively compromised will usually test "clear."

If you want to know what your daughter's brain is really up to, she needs to have a neuro-psychological exam. A neuro-psych would also be useful in getting her access to more educational supports and is critical if you are in litigation over the accident. (If you don't have a lawyer, get one ASAP!!!!!!)

There is no such thing as a "minor" brain injury. Seemingly mild concussions can have profound and lasting consequences. No matter how well she recovers, she will probably have to modify her lifestyle to avoid further impacts.

It's important that you educate yourself about your daughter's condition. Coming to NT is a great start - some of the folks her are TBI experts. Another place to visit is the Brain Injury of America webpage: www.biausa.org They have local chapters all over the States. If you're writing from abroad, Canada, England, etc... all have similar organizations.

Give my best to your daughter.

adshansel,

Sorry to here of your daughter's struggles. I suffered my first concussion at 8 then a bad one at 10 years old. This is a hard time for her to understand what is going on in her head. I can look back and understand the weird feeling I experienced but did not know how to define for others.

Dr Glen Johnson has a TBI survival guide at www.TBIGuide.com that is worth downloading and printing. It explains her condition very well.

As hockey said, a neuropsych assessment might be helpful. If this may end up with litigation issues, you need to be very careful about any medical or neuro=psych assessments. False negatives can be very difficult to over come.

Gordon Johnson has the best legal site regarding brain injury. It is at http://www.gordonjohnson.com/ and www.tbilaw.com
http://www.tbilaw.com/NeuropsychologyPage.html is a valuable read.

There are a few others, too.

Regarding the head aches, a natural remedy some have used is Vitamin B-2 (400 mg per day), magnesium (400 mg per day), Co-enzyme Q (200 to 300 mg per day). The drugs used are amitriptyline and sometimes nortriptyline in small doses. These are anti-depressants but some find them helpful with concussion headache.

I treat my frequent concussion headaches with Tylenol, sometimes adding enteric aspirin if it is really bad. You can take both together and get a very strong pain relief without risks. My doctor taught me to combine them.

You probably need to get her some foam ear plugs and see if she does better with less sound stimulation. Visual and auditory overload are very common complications of concussion. I need a hat or sunglasses too. I am too sensitive to bright lights. I can tolerate them but they make it difficult to think straight and sometimes cause a headache.

The yellow foam earplugs are the best. Twist them tight and insert them. They will unwind and expand to block up to 30db of sound. The primary value of ear plugs is blocking background noise that can be overwhelming. Ballet is probably quiet and rhythmic. Smooth quiet rhythms can be soothing.

Her headache from school was probably due to the chaotic sounds and visual over-stimulation. If you can help her understand the things that trigger her headaches and over-stimulation, she can start learning to avoid them while she gets better.

I read a report recently that suggests a serious need to avoid over-stimulation and even slight head bumps based on the theory that they cause minor relapses and undo the previous gains. Think of her as a hard boiled egg with a cracked shell. Just as you have to be very careful to not crack the shell further, she needs to be very cautious until she see some improvement that lasts.

I have posted on another tread about nutrition to help an injured brain heal. Click on my screen name and it will allow you to see all of my recent posts.

I will be traveling until Sunday but will try to watch and see how she is doing. There are some very helpful people on this forum. You can bet that they are as concerned as you are. We've been there and done that.

My best to you,

You should look into neurofeedback. Nothing is as effective in treating head injuries as this is. Just google it and your city name, and you should find plenty of therapists in your area. Make sure they have experience treating head injuries. Good luck!

Hello as ur daughter, im going through this right now, going on week 5-6, and i can tell you right now, Its the worst feeling ive ever felt in my life and its a constant feeling. Just keep supporting ur daughter and make sure she knows u support her and are their. It takes time but i am starting to feel gradualy better. Just DONT PUSH ANYTHING, otherwise u will just re-agrravate her headaches. Good luck and i hope you start to see improvement, and try to be proactive instead of inactive like a lot of docters just say to rest and wait and see, but these alternative therapies really do work and instead of doing nothing, you could do something, which wouldnt hurt?

JT,

What alternative therapies are you revering to and what has been your experience with them?

hypnosis by a licenced neuropscycologist. I find it to be very relaxing and i have improved since the first time i saw him which was last week and i did see him again today. I am more alert, able to talk in a conversation better, and more relaxed. He taught me techniques on how to getto sleep earilier bcuz ive been having trouble falling asleep. Although my headaches are still constant they did subside almost completely after the first day i saw him. Then they gradually got worse again. Must have agravated my head again, could it have been the impact test, bcuz i took it on the day i was feeling better? So although my headaches are practically bak to wher they were, i found that ive improved in many other areas, which is a very good sign i would say. I just want the pain to go awat though, but hopefully it will soon go away.
Also I get my impact results bak on thurs. I have a ques though, how can they tell if your cognitively worse, if you dont have a baseline, which i dont?

JT,

Your experience makes sense. Relaxation is a big part of any recovery since stress or tension overtaxes the brain, just like taking the ImPACT test likely did. Many headaches are caused by muscle tension that effects the blood flow to and from the brain.

The most common therapy suggested for me has been relaxation techniques. Unfortunately, I mastered relaxation long ago. Relaxation therapy is a standard protocol so you were appropriate to seek help with it.

Once you have learned how to moderate your stress levels for the long term, you will get an idea of any residual concussion symptoms.

Have you every had any Physical Therapy for your neck? Or chiropractic treatments for your neck? Neck injuries are commonly overlooked after a concussion. But, if the head was traumatized, the neck was also impacted.

Sometimes, a PT will have a good massage therapist on staff who can help with neck and shoulder muscle massage.

As the old saying goes, "Doctor, it hurts when it do this."
Doctor replies, "Then stop doing that."

If you find something that seems to help, keep at it.

My best to you.

Hi,
I wouldn't worry about missing school etc. What is a few weeks of your life when your health is at stake. I wouldn't put any pressure on your daughter at all.

It sounds like your daughter's concussion might be mild as it was not even noticed at first. I had a let us say more obvious concussion after a high impact car crash which left me unconscious. As soon as I came round, it was clear to me that I had suffered some sort of brain injury. So, I don't want to scare you by a comparison. However, over two years later I still have daily headaches and I have not yet returned to full-time work. If there is anything that can be done over a few weeks and months to make the problem any easier, then that is the course to take. Be mindful fo the long-term goal of making a good recovery, rather than worrying about missing school etc. In years to come what do we remember of school?

On the plus side, for your daughter being young does improve your chances of making a complete recovery. I am 54 so it's a bit harder for me. Regarding Amitriptyline. I only discovered it a couple of months ago, and it does seem to reduce symptoms, so I would tend to go with that at low doses e.g. 10mg nightly increasing the dose under the guidance of your doctor till the headache goes away.

Best of luck and I hope that she makes a complete recovery soon.

CS