I am so sorry to read about the passing of your daughter Fiddlers knot. Please accept my condolences. :hug:

You must be very angry that her doctor's didn't take her seriously, I know I would be. Did she have an intercranial bleed? Have you been given any explanation?

My condolences too on the passing of your daughter.

It is so frustrating when the doctors either don't know or even try to know or pass the patient off as a hypochondriac. Then, all you can do is try to be helpful and help the person relax so they can possibly recover.

There needs to be a post concussion protocol for the patient to take home and have with them with their ID so they, their friends and family and First Responders will quickly understand they concussion history.

Most bleeds show up on imaging at about the third day. You daughters case sounds to be very uncommon. It sounds like the biggest problem was her being shuttled back and forth between doctors. With her up and down behaviors and symptoms, it was a crap shoot as to which symptoms would manifest for which doctor.

There needs to be a sub-specialty of concussion care with doctors referring their patients to that specialist. Continuum of care with such a specialist whether it is a M.D., Physicians Assistant, or a Nurse Practitioner will be a true life saver for many with concussion.

Unfortunately, this is par for the course for post concussion care these days. You got the worst of it.

Again, my condolences.

My concussion experience
 

I got a concussion on November 25 of 2011. I got elbowed during a basketball practice and then fell and hit the floor. I didn't have many symptoms though. A week later I got headaches and I couldn't remember anything during school. I got better with the headaches which was good. Yet I still have trouble remembering things especially in Math before my concussion. What makes it worse is I tutor kids in Math and I feel stupid because I can't help them anymore. I hate feeling stupid. I just want everything to go back to normal. I want to not feel stupid, I want to play ball, and I want to just be normal. I'm only a freshman, I don't need this:(

BallGirl33,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear of your struggles.

Did you mean you are a freshman in high school? That would make to 14 or so. This is a difficult time to be struggling with a concussion since your body and brain are going through a lot of changes.

I struggled after receiving a concussion in soccer at the start of my sophomore year. Math had been my best subject. I even challenged freshman Honors Algebra I and passed it. I was taking junior level math when I suffered my concussion. I went from being the math brainiac to struggling to get by in a short period of time.

Math can be a struggle because of the need to process multiple steps in a formula, etc. The mental load can be tough.

What kind of care have you received sop far? What have doctors told you?
Do you have a sports trainer at school? What did he/she say?

Besides the memory and processing issues, what other symptoms are you having?

There is lots of good help here.

My best to you.

Blessings from GOD!!
 

As a 77 year old widow, I am truly blessed to have found this board. I've lost count of how many concussions I have had, probably more than 10 but 6 sincee I started counting in the last 12 years. Then, an automobile accident resulted in a severe head injury which kept my type A personality on vacation for a year. Seizures cancelled my driver's license and I had just been accepted to college for an advanced degree in history and spirituality and that too became a thing of the past. Therapy by a woman trained to treat stroke victims for nearly 9 months, journaling and rest brought me back to near normal but now, having had another concussion 44 weeks ago, my patient neurologist, who has been treating me since the first counted one 12 years ago, remains patient with my type A personality. But I am not. This was one concussion too many; and the symptoms are so different. I do have a permanent damage to the left frontal lobe, the result of another auto accident which required more professional therapy but I was able to learn again and remember much of what was inaccesssible for months after the accident. Now, I'm impatient with rest, rest, rest. I don't sleep well, so after several sleepless nights I sleep like a babe, then, feeling healed the following day, as I did yesterday, I went to church, the grocery store and came home exhausted. Back to square one; no sleep, terrible headache, nausea and frustration. I am blessed to have found this board to realize that I am not alone. Thank you all for sharing your experiences; I shall try to listen to the neurologist, rest, rest, rest and remember that recovery is more difficult with successive concussions! God Bless, Sally

I am a 12 year old and I know what you are going through. Crazy right. I know it is really hard to be going through this but you are not alone. There are lots of people who get concussions all the time for doing odd things. Unfortunately you have a post- concussion syndrome which takes a little longer to recover from. I have one too and have had mine since December. I have not had once a headache free day. The doctors are trying to help you as best as they can and I think you know that. But they have done everything in their power to try and get you better without much success. Have you tried PT and/or OT?

Sally,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. You are the oldest person with Post Concussion Syndrome that I have ever met. And I have met many many with PCS. From what you say, you are fortunate to be doing so well after so many concussion is such a short period.

Do I understand that you miss your Type A personality?

I have lost mine too but live a better life without it. The stress of living as a Type A is rough on the injured brain. The ups and downs can be miserable on oneself and ones friends and family.

Most of us find that we need to plan ahead and moderate our activity to prevent the over-load and exhaustion. For me, I can attend Sunday School but not the Worship Service and Sermon. The sounds leave me exhausted for the rest of the day and into the next.

Finding a way to get a minimum of sleep each night is crucial to recovery. The brain only heals during REM sleep. Even if you have to get cat naps throughout the day, getting some good sleep in important.

Let us know how we can help.

My best to you.

[unfortunately im learning as well as you and alot of other posters that post concussion is a long journey of ups and downs and there is no definate time line of when youll wake up and magically be yourself again. as everyone tells me...dont be hard on yurself, ask for help and praise yourself for small accomplishments.

I feel what your going through
 

I went through my concussion over three months ago and the symptoms are still apparent. You gotta have hope, eat right, get alot of rest. You should stretch, exercies, and lift light weights to help with the healing. You aint the only one out there and I thought I was until I found this support group so that I can share my experience. I know that you just want it to go away and it will with proper care. I'm trying to have self belief to bud.

Thanks
 

I am so happy I found this thread...

So in the last week of July.. about 11 weeks ago.. I hit my head getting out of a car.. it hurt pretty bad but it didn't knock me out.. which I now know (according to the doctor's in my area) is the key to "getting a concussion"..anyway I didn't think anything of it until the next day, when the back of my head started to swell and hurt where it had been hit.. 2 days later I decided to go to a urgent care to see if anything was wrong and they said it was just a bump and to take some muscle relaxers.. but by the time I got home the dizziness set in.. and I don't know what it's like for all of you.. but this scared me.. it wasn't like any other kind of dizziness I had known before.. it was like a pulsing, pounding dizziness that seemed to reach from the top of my head to the tip of my toes and NOTHING made it stop.. they prescribed meclizine which helped a little.. I went to the ER for a CT scan which they said looked fine, but the pain and dizziness stayed for about a week.. at that point I stopped taking the meclizine and went back to my normal routine.. tv, computer, loud music in headphones, dancing... all the usual..

and about a week later.. I woke up feeling so dizzy I could barely move.. it came with extreme sensitivity to light and sound... it's like anything could trigger an "attack".. that lasted for a few days at which point I went to a physical therapist who wanted to treat me for "vertigo".. that obviously didn't work and after a few more days the dizziness subsided...

Basically after that things gradually got better, little by little.. I think the noise sensitivity has improved to the point that the tv doesn't bother me anymore... nor do every-day noises.. I still cannot tolerate loud concerts and I haven't tried to use my headphones again.. the light sensitivity is better.. but I still have trouble in the bright sunshine.. I squint a lot.. I tried glasses, but they only made me worse since I do not have a vision problem...

I still feel "off" somedays.. I don't know how to describe it but if I have been stressed or even if I just did a lot that day.. I will feel kind of foggy-headed or slightly dizzy, but in a different way than before..usually at that point my nerves set in though and I start getting scared that the bad dizziness is going to come back, which doesn't help...

So far I'm taking it little by little.. I feel like all my friends and family think I'm making a bigger deal out of something that isn't a big deal.. but they just don't understand..

I had to drop out of college because of this...and as a 4.0 student, it sucked...I don't have a job because I don't really know if I can handle one yet... and there isn't anyone that's been able to guide me through this.. that's how I found this thread... I was never accurately diagnosed.

Last night I went to church meeting and they had really loud music playing and bright flashing lights shining out from the stage and I really freaked out thinking it was going to send me back into a dizzy spell but I seem to be alright today..

When is the point where you start taking chances and doing things you used to do without being stupid about your healing process?

When am I going to not have anymore symptoms? If I haven't had a major dizzy spell in 2 months, am I likely to have another one?

Am I on the right track?

Thank you all for your help. I am trying to trust the Lord to heal me and help guide me through this, but still want to be smart about what I'm doing day to day and what risks I'm taking..

:)

Anna