Hi everybody

I have been reading posts here quite often to help me get through the days, and decided it was time to make my own post.

My name is Zach and i\'m a junior in high school. Here is my story, while playing a game of rugby i really did a number to my head. I don\'t remember a thing but the story i got from a friend who saw was that i went in for a tackle and got kneed in the front of the head, then I fell and hit the back of my head. This caused me to blackout for 45 seconds to a minute.

Next thing i remember i woke up in the emergency room surrounded by six doctors with a sever concussion. Well i ended up being admitted to the hospital and staying for a total of 5 days on I.V. pain medication (Dilaudid).

It has now been nearly a month since the injury occurred and i\'m still in incredible pain, i\'m still taking narcotic painkillers many times a day for this pain. I was diagnosed with post concussive syndrome.

I no longer feel like myself. I\'am no longer quick to think, i lose my temper very quick, i have incredible mood swings, and my short term memory is horrendous.

I still have yet to get back to school, which is not good. I went from having all A\'s and B\'s to failing multiple classes. I feel like everyone is tired of me and think i\'m \"faking\" the injury or something. It seems like my family is short with me now.

I guess i\'m just here for support and to ask a couple of questions. Is it normal to feel like this? is it normal to still be in such incredible pain? any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you so much,
Zach

Hi Zach.

Welcome to the forum. I am sorry to hear about your injury. My daughter is a freshman in high school and received a concussion back in October. While, she has not suffered the physical pain you decribe, she been suffering with PCS. It's been a long and frustrating battle.

Initially, she was a zombie most of the time. Terrible sleep issues, fatigue, headaches and memory issues. She didn't feel like her self. At one point, she started to stutter and her left arm with tremor. Both of these have since resolved.

Her memory greatly improved 5 or so months into it. If was almost like a switch was thrown and it started working again. She started to feel more normal. The fatigue and the headaches are still lingering.

Prior to her injury, she was a straight A student. I don't want to scare you - but she is still not in school full time. The morning fatigue makes that really difficult for her. Mentally, she is good for about 2 classes before she gets pretty fatigued. This has been really frustrating. We are lucky that the school is being supportive. She looks ok - but there is still a lot of healing going on in her brain.

At this stage in the game, my recommendation would be complete rest. Limit the amount of mental stimulation too. Don't push it and listen to your body. If your parents have questions - have them read this forum too. It will help them also understand what you are going through. If you search on Youtube there are a couple of good videos about concussions too. The book "Head Games: Football's concussion crisis" (or something similar) is a really good book. The first half of the book does a great job talking about concussions while the latter talks about concussions in the NFL. "Brainlash" is another helpful book as well as one called "Coping with Tramatic Brain Injuries".

Thank you very much. Your information was great! Yeah i also can mentally and physically only withstand two classes max. It is incredible hard since this is second semester of my junior year and i am supposed to be applying to colleges. This is just such a frustrating time in my life. Any more stories or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you everyone
Zach

hi zack

hope the fact sheets answer some of your questions take time to recover fully!! it will be worth it in the long run

http://www.headway.org.uk/Factsheets.aspx

Hey thought maybe my story would help right now. I got a concussion in Januray 2009 during a basketball game. I don't think I blacked out if I did it was for a very short amount of time. I don't remember the acutal injury. I kept playing just feeling a little weird. Over the next 10 days (I was stupid and tried to hide it from my parents teachers coaches etc) my symptoms got so bad I could barely go to school. I eventually passed out while at basketball practice and was forced to go to the doctor.

I had a bad concussion with things like memory loss trouble concentrating short temper. I eventually felt better after 3 weeks of laying bed in the dark listening to quiet music because I had light and noise sensitivity. Anyway I had a relapse about a month later struggling with memory loss again. I was kept out of soccer and basketball that entire time missing the whole spring season.

I did pretty well over the summer then I went back to school. I think it was the combination of school and 2 hours of soccer daily that just overloaded me. I think I might have gotten hit a couple times somewhere in there too. But I had to the worst symptoms I had ever had. Memory loss horrible headaches dizziness noise/light sensitivity all that good stuff plus a little more. I ended up missing more than 2/3 of the semester sitting at home because I couldnt take the stresses of school.

But in the end I'm pretty much back to my normal self. I worked with the school and I got all caught up passing all my classes other than dropping spanish. I still have a few lingering problems like a shorter temper and the occasional "off" days but other than that I'm great. Oh I'm a sophmore in high school. I know a little bit of what you're going through and hope for the best for your recovery. If there was one thing I could tell you from experience its listen to you body. You can't recover if you're over exerting yourself mentally or physically. I've learned this from being very stupid and ignoring this which led to 3 relapses and living with the symptoms for over a year. There is definitely a chance for you to recover you just need to give it time which sucks but really is the only thing right now that can help. Hope you start to feel better soon.

Zack,

You have received some good advice already. I would add that you need to get checked out by an upper cervical chiropractor. It is very likely that you have injured the joint between your atlas (C-1) and your skull. If this joint gets knocked out of alignment, it can cause all kinds of pain and discomfort.

Check out "The Doctors" from Nov 25th. Here is a link. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...51La6UkTC8khkw

Your experience in the ER sounds odd. You were surrounded by 'six doctors with a severe concussion'. What? Did they all get hit in the head at the same time. LOL Maybe that is why doctors are so lame when it comes to understanding concussion.

Just some 'rigid thinking' common to concussion.

Sounds like you were knocked out for a bit more than 45 seconds if you woke up in the ER.

You need to go to Dr Glen Johnson's web site and download his TBI Survival Guide at www.tbiguide.com Print it out and have all in your family read it.

I am curious if you had any slowed/slurred speech at the hospital? Some of your symptoms sound as if your brain may be working at a slower speed that those around you, like you are thinking in slow motion while they are all at normal speed.. It would tend to make them sound like they are going too fast. This has happened to me from time to time.

Personality changes are not uncommon. Your family and friends need to be informed that these personality changes are from your brain injury, not a change in your attitude for them.

Don't worry about school for a while. That is too much pressure for your recovering brain. You may need to request some accommodations at school like a quiet room for test taking, maybe a tutor to help you with some classes. But that will be down the road a bit.

Avoiding any of the stresses that set you off is a priority right now.

Keep us informed so we can help.

My best to you.

Hey Soccer14

Thanks for sharing your experience... Wow 2/3\'s of the semester! Yeah this is a real bummer, i can wait to just be \"normal\" again. The support from everyone definitely helps me though. Any more advice/experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks
Zach

Some helpful links about returning to school:

Concussion Experts: For Kids - No Sports, No Schoolwork, No Text Messages

Adolescent Concussions: Management Guidelines for Schools

Thanks for the links Nancys, there was some useful information there!

Could definitely use more peoples advice and experiences!

Zach