About a month ago now I was playing a game of soccer in Phys Ed and I let the ball hit me flat in the side of the head (Trying to get hte ball to my feet so i can score) and quite possibly contracted a concussion. I didnt pass out, I lost my hearing immediately after that and, continued to play. After the game i felt extremely disoriented, dizzy, confused, and my head felt as if it was slammed into granite or something (the pain lasted for a week). I saw the school nurse, and she proceeded to tell me that she thought everything was fine. Ever since then, i havent been able to concentrate, and have had problems with analizing and processing things. Whats worse is that about 2 weeks after this, i was flying back to school and had a severe headache from the pressure, which only exaserbated the problems. It's been more than a month since the onset of these problems and the symptoms still exist, (Dizzyness, small throb in the back of my head, confusion [especially when im trying ot learn something or understand what someone's saying], memory problems, and processing issues). I used to be a high functioning student and writer before all this, so losing alot of that makes life feel pretty bleak. I would really appreciate if someone could contribute some suggestions here for treatment.

By the way, I've experienced multiple hard hits to the head before, and have had an MRI for those which apparently showed nothing and had no real symptoms other than slowing my processing down.

It sounds like the MRI has diagnosed the problem with your confusion. If it showed nothing, where is your brain matter?

Sorry for joking but I couldn't resist the opportunity. My doctors have also said my MRI's have shown nothing. My kids agree than I must be empty headed.

In all reality, you suffered a concussion. The nurse was out of line and beyond her pay grade.

It does not sound like you have taken any time to rest. This is important. You need to lower your stress levels, get more rest, good nutrition, and avoid anything that even resembles a head bump.

With your history of head bumps, you are like very susceptible to symptoms from sub-concussive impacts. These are the head hits that do not appear to have any immediate symptoms but do result in symptoms over the next few days or even week.

If you continue to play any soccer, you need to stop any heading of the ball. Learn to do chest traps with high jumps if needed. Your head is already suffering from Multiple Impact Syndrome. I would suggest you not be in the mix for corner kicks. There is just too much risk.

At least for the near term, you will need to learn to accommodate your cognitive struggles. If you recover, great, but until then you need to lessen the cognitive load on your brain.

You will likely need quieter environments for study and rest.

Talk to disability service at school and see if they have note takers or lecture recordings for you to use. You will also need quiet and extra time for exams. If you are given instructions verbally, they will need to be broken down into individual tasks or written down. The concussed brain struggles to multi-task and process multiple steps.

Hope this helps. Let us know what other struggles you have.

My best to you.

Thanks for the advice (even if it was a bit brainless :P). I don't think very much of it is circumstantially very practical at the moment. Right now, I'm attending a private boarding school across the country from my home and I'm at risk of failing this grade if I dont work right now. We dont have the money to pay for another year so resting is out of the question.

I've been taking a lot of vitamins and B 12 complex, hopefully that facilitates healing.

To clarify, I've not had an mri yet for this hit to the head. I'm thinking about getting an FMrI or a contrast mri to figure out what's going on with everything. I forgot to mention Also, my hearing came back within the first week, that was caused by having fluids shifting in my skull i think.

I was short on time the first time i went to write this so I forgot to include things. I'm not so concerned about the concussion right now as what happened when i was flying. When i was flying, the pressure ****ed with my head somehow and made everything worse than it already was. I contracted fever like symptoms during the next flight after we reached the altitude. When i got back to school, i fell asleep straight away woke up even more confused than i was before hand. It only lasted a few days, but its all been emotionally rough. Nothing really feels real anymore but i suppose that's what happens. Can't believe i forgot this detail the first time around.

Thanks for all the advice, too bad I'm learning about this through experience, otherwise I might just find this all a pleasurable subject to learn about lol.

I am glad to know that there are people in the world who care about helping other people and donate time to it.

Good luck with your struggles as well.

Ross

Regarding the flying, Aircraft cabins never get to a pressure altitude above 8000 feet. The plane may be flying at 35,000 feet but the cabin remains pressurized to 8,000 feet. Some even pressurize to 7,000 feet for better passenger comfort. The extended duration at 8,000 feet can cause cognitive symptoms temporarily. If there are other issues, it would likely be from ear congestion.

I would not spend the money of MRI, fMRI or such. There is not much that can be done, even if they can see a problem.

Have you tried talking to your adviser about your struggles? It is worth a try.

Regarding resting, you may be able to reduce your other activities that do not directly impact your grades. Forcing your way along with concussion symptoms is like driving a car in the mountains without brakes and hoping you do not come to a downhill grade. The stress load will eventually impact you much worse than it currently is.

You need to have some good discussions with your parents and faculty advisers.

Print out the TBI Survival Guide in the first sticky thread. It should paste into MS Word OK. It has some great advice about returning to school. Your parents and faculty advisers need to read it, too.

My best to you.