[PCSupportGuy]

Hi,

Just found this board and I am hoping it can shed some light on something for me. I am trying to understand if a high level of stress could be what is slowing my recovery to a pretty good knock on the noggin. Here’s some background:

I am 49 years old, male, in great physical shape (endurance athlete), non-smoker, and I barely drink alcohol (maybe a beer a week). Married 20 years, four kids (all teenagers), IT professional, college grad. About nine months ago (Nov 15, 2014) I took a pretty good spill off my bicycle. A jaywalker ran out in front of me at about 20mph. I somersaulted over the bars and went face first into a curb (at least that’s what I think happened based on the injuries to me and the bike). I was wearing a helmet but since it only had a small crack in it and no impact mark I don’t believe it took the hit. I broke my zygomatic bone in two places, my zygomatic process and shattered my sphenoid (as well as a broken front tooth, nine stiches in my lips and three broken bones in my fingers).

Amazingly, I had no damage to my eyes and after being checked out by a neurologist I was sent home. That said, the neurologist didn’t really speak to me and seemed to be in a rush to get to his ski house.

No one ever diagnosed me as having a concussion but all the symptoms sure said I had a pretty bad one. I went from a 5-6 hour a night sleeper to 10+. Four hours working left me with a headache. Blurry vision, dizziness, forgetfulness, etc. It was all there. My primary care physician said “rest,” but gave no guidelines. I didn’t work out for two weeks after the crash and didn’t ride outside for another six, then I got back into it slowly and safely.

So it’s been nearly 10 months and I still need much more sleep than ever before. I wake up groggy, my short term memory isn’t what it used to be and I still have trouble concentrating and focusing. I find myself more depressed than ever before and my irritability is through the roof. Mentally, I still feel like I’m in a cloud sometimes and while physically my cycling is OK, I’m inconsistent with strength and my fatigue levels are greater and longer lasting. I can work a full day without a headache, but I get them more frequently than before.

As for my stress level, in the six to eight months before my accident my wife had a break down resulting from severe OCD, depression, alcoholism, bulimia, anxiety and Borderline Personality Disorder towards me. This resulted in her being hospitalized twice for a total of five weeks leaving me to care for our kids while juggling a job that took me between Boston and NYC weekly. Once home, she was still suffering and was unable to work which put us in pretty bad financial shape. I will say I am pretty sure the stress I was experiencing before the crash played a part and I was riding “distracted” as normally I would have seen the jaywalker before she even stepped foot on the road.

Then, two months after my accident, I lost my job. While I was able to land another position within two months, the new job has more responsibilities and pressure but at least no travel. Things still aren’t much better at home with my wife and I feel like I am constantly on eggshells and my life is pretty much hell around her. Finally, our oldest child just started college and we’ve been struggling to come up with the financing for it.

Does anyone have any studies or anything to show that stress slows PCS recovery? Personal experiences? Suggestions on what to do?

Thanks,

E