Hello to everyone, unfortunately I am posting once again about some symptoms recurring. It has been about a year since I posted but thought it was time to start asking for help again.

Since most of you likely don't know my history I will try to give a short background. Over the past 3 1/2 years I have sustained 7 concussions. The first came just under 3 1/2 years ago during basketball. It was severe and I missed school and the rest of the season due to symptoms. The second came that summer when I believe I hit my head on the counter in my house. No one was home with me at the time though and I don't remember anything but waking up on my kitchen floor so I can't be sure exactly what happened. Third came that fall during the soccer season, I was kicked in the head and had major problems missing about 2 1/2 months of school. I did play basketball that season. Fourth came during the end of that same basketball season where I got an elbow directly to the face and I nearly passed out from the pain it caused in my head. Fifth came that summer at a soccer camp when my head bounced off the ground, I play goal keeper so I was diving. Some symptoms returned but it wasn't as bad. Sixth came that fall during a soccer game when I was kneed in the head no loss of consciousness. The final one came in February of this year during a basketball game when I was hit directly in the face and also broke my nose. The symptoms were really bad and I only went to 3 weeks of school for the whole semester.

If you want more detail on my symptoms or exactly what happened with any of those I started some threads you could probably dig up.

So now the question I am trying to answer, could stress cause my symptoms from previous concussions to come back?

I have no memory of hitting my head again so I don't think I got another concussion. I think it might be related to stress because over the last nine months there have been a lot of it. In september they found a nodule or growth in my dad's throat that they thought was cancer. The surgery went well and we were very lucky and thankful to find out it was not cancer. Later in that same november my grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer and had surgery and underwent radiation treatment. It was successful. In december 2010 I had surgery on my heart, I won't get into detail. In February after recovering with my heart I played in just my fourth game of basketball where I got my most recent concussion. I missed almost all of the semester and had to scramble to get caught up. Then my mom lost her job, she was the main source of income for the family so that is a large stress on everyone now that we have to watch our money. Because of that we put our house on the market to move into a smaller one with a cheaper mortgage. My job is to keep the house spotless the lawn mowed and everything weeded so it always looks nice. My grandma made it through treatment successfully but she is starting to slow down now and we aren't sure how much longer she has left. Then in mid may I found out one of my best friends has a potentially fatal disease. He lives day to day and we never know if he will be here tomorrow or not. new stress is that I have to take summer school to make up for the time I missed to pass classes. Then my boyfriend of 3 years broke up with me for literally no reason and that seemed to be the breaking point.

The symptoms I am beginning to experience are: dizziness, it comes at random times and stays for different lengths of time. Fatigue I am just worn out all the time and am sleeping more than usual. Emotional problems, I am not dealing with anger well and snap at people, I go from being almost on a high of happiness to a low depression where I pull away from everyone and don't want to do anything. My memory is beginning to get worse again where I either don't remember doing little things like taking a medication to forgetting and entire night or day. I also have no appetite. I used to love eating and did it all the time and now I am either not hungry, have no desire to eat, or if I do eat feel like I am on the verge of throwing up. And my newest symptoms I am just experiencing is where all of a sudden it feels like I am waking up and don't remember what I was doing or where I am and I can forget maybe a few minutes or a few hours but it is somewhat concerning. I also get chest and stomach pains to the point of where I can't stand and the ice pick headaches are coming back with a vengance.

Sorry this was so long but I wanted to have a good background so if there is an answer it can be easier to figure out. Thanks to everyone for reading this even though it was so long and any responses I can get are greatly appreciated. I am starting to feel at the end of my rope and I don't want to spiral back into what I have had to deal with before.

-Soccer14

My best guess is you have a symptoms from a combination of all of your stressors. You have a serious case of Multiple Concussion Syndrome. You likely are depressed, in part from all of the emotional stress added to the predisposition to depression that comes with Multiple Impact syndrome.

Your experiences where you feel like you are just waking up and don't know where you are or what you were doing sounds like absence seizures. In absence seizures, your brain 'checks out' for a moment, maybe just a second or two or even a minute or more. You have given your brain a very seriously rough ride over the past few years. You are lucky to be standing upright.

I am hesitant to suggest anything to you because you have not considered any of the past advice and in so doing, have put your whole future in jeopardy.

You need to have a serious sit down conversation with yourself and anybody who cares for you. Your parents need to become fully informed about the risks of further concussions. They also need to understand how your current problems with behavior are directly related to your head injuries. Emotional outbursts are the symptom that can cause direct damage to others. Most of the other symptoms just impact you.

If I were your parents, I would be contacting an attorney and inquiring into the advise you have received from your coaches. Allowing you to return to play has irreparably changed the rest of your life. You may think you are surviving now, but as you age, these current symptoms will become magnified many fold.

You mentioned meds. What meds are you taking? Some meds can contribute to you current myriad of symptoms.

btw, I bet your boyfriend broke up with you as a result of your personality changes that resulted from your concussions. I had friends leave me for the same reason. I never understood why I lost most of my friends during a short time span. Now, as I look back at the timeline of my injuries, I understand. As my mother told my wife, I was no longer her sweet son.

Your boyfriend probably does not understand what happened between the two of you. He is just as confused.

Please, take this as your last wake-up call. Make some better choices. Your life is worth far more than a soccer game or basketball game.

My best to you.

Soccer-

Stress seems to be a huge trigger of symptoms for me. I just recently had been feeling much better after 5 months of recovery and due to some stressful life circumstances, feel like I'm back at the beginning.

However, continuing to put yourself at risk like this is very serious. You are playing with the rest of your life here. I know how much it hurts to have to step away from something you life, like sports. However, if you don't are you willing to feel like this for the rest of your life? Or risk dying over it? Perhaps there are other ways you can stay involved with sports without risking contact injuries... coaching? reffing? etc.

I'm sorry that you have so much stress in your life right now. Wishing you healing and strength.

Well I do have some good thing to say, I have completely quit all sports even non-contact ones. I have been doing a little coaching but have still been taking it easy.

Mark in Idaho I have finally matured and saw the big picture. I told my parents about everything that was going on and have accepted that I am done with sports. I think the reason I haven't told my friends about my problems is that I know my other friend with his disease has much more serious problems to deal with and don't want to cause him or anyone else more stress than our group of friends already has. His adrenal glands have essentially shut down so anything that is related to stress causes him to practically collapse. I'm sort of stuck on this one otherwise I would have already told them about everything.

I am also hesitant to tell my parents because I don't want to have to stop taking summer school because if I don't pass the classes I pretty much won't be able to go to college. Also I don't want to have to go back to the doctor because of the money involved. I know this sounds like a stupid reason but we are very very tight on money, at least until we move, and my mom is so stressed out with all this going on that I am afraid if I tell her this now it would cause her to just fall apart. I don't want to hide this from anyone but under the circumstances I can't think of a better option which is why I started posting here again.

Any good advice about how to tell my friends and family this without causing a huge amount of stress because I feel they need to know but right now doesn't seem like the ideal time?

-Soccer14

Your family needs to know what is going on with you because it is a part of the inventory of issues/stressors that your family is dealing with. Even if they have not known the full reason, they are still dealing with your symptoms.

Maybe you can have the sit-down and say: "I am struggling with the symptoms of my 7 concussions. I just need everyone to understand why I am acting and feeling the way I do. There is not much that can be done medically except maybe some help with the depression symptoms. I am laying my cards on the table so that nobody is caught off-guard if I have a serious increase in symptoms. "

You can print out the TBI Survival Guide at www.tbiguide.com Highlight the parts that describe what you are dealing with.

The last thing your family needs right now is for you to have a melt-down and they do not know why. They need to understand how they can help you. Simple things like giving you time to rest, maybe some effort to avoid conflict, etc. Your family will do much better when you are all pulling together. Even the weak can get things done when they pull together. Good communication is the first step.

I bet your friend with the adrenal problem knows you have something going on. Hiding it only increases his confusion and stress. Share with him that you understand his struggles because you are struggling with your Post Concussion/Multiple Concussion symptoms. You can be good support for each other. You can both grow in your personal strength and maturity as you deal with these struggles, together.

Be objective, not emotional. Matter of fact rather than 'woe is me.' Support each other rather than hide from each other. Your BF likely saw the changes in you so why wouldn't he?

The same drive you have used to keep playing sports despite adversity can be directed to support for each other.

Hope you can help each other.

My best to you.

Since the stressors in life are not going to go away soon has anyone found any way to reduce their stress? I do some exercising which sometimes helps but it also sometimes makes the symptoms worse if I get frustrated and push myself too hard. Any other suggestions? I don't want to get worse or have these symptoms stick around for who know how long.

-soccer14

What are your primary stressors that you can't get away from?

My friend is probably the main one right now. He seems to be doing somewhat better though. I'm not sure he said he has stopped writing his will though so hopefully that is a good sign, still don't really know what to think. Until we sell the house the financial situation will be somewhat of a burden. There is someone that looked today though that said they may be interested so we are keeping our fingers crossed about that. Since school is over now that was a major stressor but that is gone. I still am taking one class though so hopefully I can get that done in the next month I won't have to worru about that one.

I obviously can't get away from my grandma. I make sure to spend a lot of time with her and that seems to help, I mean being able to see her. I told my ex-boyfriend who felt bad about what he did with breaking up with me and wanted to get back together that I just needed some time away from him so most of that stress is gone. I have been eating a little better lately so that isn't on my mind as much as it was before.

My dad is doing well now so that is no longer a problem. I still get heart palpatations even after the surgery so that is sort of always in the back of my mind but I try not to think about it much.

I guess overall most of them I can't really just block out like I can with some of the other ones like my dad. I try my best not to think about most of them but they are usually just sort of there in the back of my head and will just pop up at random times.

I would say after writing this and really thinking about them some of the stressors aren't as bad as they were or are getting better right now.
I am just hoping that once most of the stressors either diminish or go away completely the symptoms will go back to the level they were at before this happened.

-soccer14

I suggest you start a journal. List the concerns/stressors you have.
Break them down between the concerns/stressors that you can impact and those that you can't.

For those that you can not impact, decide on a thought to divert your concern.

For example,

Grandma, The doctors are doing all that they can to help her.

Your heart palpitations, Again, the doctors are aware of your condition and are doing all that they can. Plus, anxiety will only make it worse.

List what you can do to impact those concerns. Make a plan to do those things to impact those concerns.

Grandam; She knows I love and care about her but I will keep telling her when I have a chance.

Your heart; I've taken my meds. I'm eating healthy.

Your class, My homework and studying is done, or I have set time to do my homework and studying for ~ 6:00 to 8:00 ~ are whatever.

Think of the Serenity Prayer :
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

If you have noticed by your young age, most seniors do not get upset or worried about many of the things that upset or worry young people. They have many years of experience and know that very little of the things that people worry about can be changed, especially by their worrying.

Your generation often gets stuck worrying about what others think. There is an adage that goes: If you only knew how little time others spend thinking about you, you would stop worrying about what they think may about you.

Make notes to remind yourself of tasks you need to do. When you right the task down, you can let go of it in your mind.

Now, decide to do the completable tasks and let go of those tasks that you cannot complete or impact.

These are skills that will benefit you for the rest of your life. Most people take decades to learn to let go of worthless worries and anxieties.

Understanding your symptoms is a good way to accept them and work with them. The frustration of fighting against your symptoms is a self-defeating task.

Some of your stressors need to be individually analyzed.
For example; Your ex-BF.
Why do I need a BF?
or... Do I need a BF?
What benefits do I get from having a BF?
What liabilities to I take on when I have a BF?
Does a BF get in the way of other issues in my life right now?
Am I less of a person without a BF?

Your family's financial issues
What am I doing to help my family financially?
What am I doing that causes difficulties for my family's finances?
Can I make an impact on my family's financial situation?
If I try to make a positive impact on my family's financial situation, do I risk making things worse?

Most financial issues are best handled without emotional involvement. Emotional decisions are the leading cause of financial difficulties.

Get the idea?

You have a great opportunity to start thinking about your life in meaningful ways.

This is the best idea I have ever been given on this site. I think a journal will be an amazing way to get things out of my head rather than continuing to think about them or trying some other way to get rid of the thoughts.

Sometimes when I get overwhelmed I turn to exercise but I go for a run to help get rid of the thoughts. as you know the impact of running has devastating effects and is only a short term fix because I can't run away from the problems forever. It also causes my symptoms to come back horribly so I try not to do that.

I used to also drive around as a release but because of the possible absence seizures I am having I try to avoid driving at all costs (it saves me money on gas then too ).

What I have been doing lately is just putting on relaxing music to try and calm down but then the thoughts are still just spinning around in my head whcich ultimately just causes more pain. With a journal I can now listen to music and write down how I am feeling as a release. It will not only help me but probably everyone I am close to because it will keep me from having a hurtful outburst.

Mark thank you so much for this idea I think it will really help in the long run. If you have any other good ideas like this let me know because I don't want these problems to stick around forever.

-soccer14