Hi everyone.. I fell backward when a chair collapsed last friday and landed on my head.. next day I felt "off" like I had a bad hang over but hadn't been drinking.. no headache or bruised feeling...

Later in the day, I felt like I was about to faint several times, got very dizzy and started shaking uncontrollably and the back of my head went numb... went to er, ct scan showed no bleeding or internal swelling. They scurried me out of there saying I had PCS and would probably feel fine in a week but if my symptoms worsened to get to another ER.

OK, so.. here it is Tuesday, I still feel numb in back of my head, my teeth feel like I've been to the dentist, I'm very "foggy" get dizzy easy... Is it realistic to think that I'll be fine in a week? shouldn't I be feeling a little better every day? I feel the same today I felt the last two days?.. what is going on here?.. I'm amazed no one told me not to drive...... when in the world can I expect to feel better... or should I be concerned that I am not seeing much if any healing going on?... Nothing hurts,... just a mild headache( which I actually think is sinus) but the numb/swimmy/exhausted feeling.. sort of like you feel when you have a flu

PCS can last anywhere from 3 months, 6 months or even a year and beyond. Just stay strong, get tons of rest. Stay away from any stressful situations. Don't drink alcohol, don't go out and party...just rest up at the house and take it easy. If you have work or school, you might have to take some time off to heal. If your symptoms are that bad, you probably shouldn't drive. I only drive on certain days, only if I'm feeling okay and it's an important trip like to the doctor, neurologist or ER.

My injury was in June, might of been a little more severe than your's since my brain actually bled - but I'm still recovering and suffering from PCS.

Hang in there, it will get better. When is the only question.

I'm sure there are people with more experience on this board that can tell you how you should be eating and what vitamins you should be taking and what-not.

Good luck.

Hi Bianca-Jane,

You need to be very careful with your condition and take resting and getting better seriously. Above all, don't get impatient risk making yourself worse by returning to your normal activities too quickly.

The brain is a delicate and mysterious organ that recovers slowly. If your head is swimming and you feel exhausted you just have to rest and that's an end to it. You might not notice an improvement every day.

I had a concussion and I noticed an improvement on the first day and the second day, but then it was an improvement every week, then it got to months, then years.

Today is actually the four year anniversary of the injury and now I am still trying to make an improvement year by year.

Now, your condition might clear up in a week but the first doctor that I saw thought it would be a week also. He was wrong. This is not uncommon.

So, most conditions of this type do apparently clear up in six months or even sooner, so you should definitely hope to be in this category and do all that you can to not be in the category of those of us who have to endure the condition as best we can for years.

So even though it's been four days that you have suffered with this and you might be getting fed up of that, take a longer-term perspective and realize that even a short time of illness won't be so bad if the rest of your life can be healthy. So I would strongly advise not doing any energetic activities that might involve jerking your head around, not playing any high impact sports and rest so that your brain has a chance to recover.

The trouble is that people do not realize how serious a blow to the head can be.

Also, I stopped driving for months. My reasoning was that if I had felt that woozy and dizzy from drinking, I would definitely not have considered myself safe to drive. If you feel like that then perhaps you should not drive either. You will probably know yourself when you feel safe to start driving again. For me it was several months and when I did start again it felt strange the first time out. So it might be an idea for the first drive to be cautious.

If you find that your symptoms persist for a while then there is more info available on this site.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Concussed Scientist

The other replies have thrown out all kinds of time lines. These are always just guesses based on anecdotal information. As ConcussedScientist says, you need to rest and take care of yourself. Anxiety about when you will get better will only delay your recovery.

At 4 days post impact, your symptoms may get worse or get better. The brain goes through a chemical cascade as it tries to heal. Sometimes, this cascade causes symptoms to get worse. Sometimes, this worsening of symptoms will not happen until weeks later.

The brain tries to repair the damaged cells. If after some time, they do not heal up, rather than letting damaged brain cells work poorly, the brain shuts them down. This is when new symptoms or a worsening of symptoms may happen.

You are very early in your recovery so plan on giving your brain lots of time.

If you have any extreme symptoms like severe head ache, slurred speech, difficulty moving your body / loss of coordination, etc. have someone get you to the ER. If you are alone, call an ambulance. These problems are very very unlikely and usually should have shown up by now so do not worry about it.

Avoid alcohol and caffeine. Stay hydrated and properly nourished.

Let us know how you are doing.

My best to you.

Thank you for your responses.

I'm just trying to gage what is normal for healing.. and what Is indicated as a reason to go back to the er.... I don't want to play with my health, but I don't want to be running to the ER unnecessarily as I don't have the means to pay for it, I'm sure this first bill is going to be crazy enough.

I am not confused or disoriented, but I do have a "heaviness" to my head. when i Sit upright or walk around that is making my unstableness more noticable. I have a VERY swimmy feeling in my head for lack of better description.

it is similar to the feeling I had when I went to the er on Saturday night, but without the chills and shaking... it is a very scary feeling to think there is something wrong with your brain.

I am alone tonight, my significant other is out of town on business and my children are with my ex husband, I've been sitting here trying to come up with someone that could come stay with me tonight, but am not coming up with anyone....and really not sure it is necessary as I have done just fine the last few nights,.. but just seems like i'm more like I was on day one that the last two days.. so has my nerves up a little.