That youtube series is indeed awesome and made me feel a lot better as he describes everything so well. The only problem I had with using it in the way you suggest was that he was in what sounds like a pretty nasty car crash, whereas my main problem was convincing people that I could be struggling so much as the result 'only' having had a soccer injury.

Similarly I could find loads of articles about PCS from American football, Ice Hockey and Australian Rules Football, but again people would accept that these more obviously 'violent' sports will produce pretty nasty concussions but not that me playing amateur soccer would do so.

And when I started trying to explain that I thought previous concussions had contributed to my PCS people seemed to just become completely thick and couldn't grasp the concept at all. More than one person 'forgot' that I had told them about my most recent concussion and thought that I was trying to tell them I had suddenly and randomly suffered a relapse from a concussion 22 years ago.

There was a video someone posted a link to a while back about a multiple concussion baseball player whose concussions sounded fairly tame but still produced big effects - that was more suitable to my purposes, though once people have decided you're being a hypochondiac I find they won't bother watching or reading stuff you send them anyway, I guess they think it will just encourage you :rolleyes: .

I'd definitely agree though that nothing beats the 'you look great' series for really giving people an insight into PCS. And more people have been understanding towards me than this post would suggest, I'm just ranting a bit!

Klaus,
I find even those closest to me who genuinely try to understand have a hard time relating to the bizarre symptoms. It took me a long time to realize that what I experience in my thought processes don’t necessarily translate to the outside world. I think that is the beginning of wisdom.

For example, I have a stutter now that I never used to have. A friend suggested that I slow down and practice in my head what I am going to say. I told him that everything sounds fine in my head but it won’t come out, like a problem with coordination. He said “really? Because it looks completely different to anyone who is talking to you.” He was being sincere.

I find the video Mark in Idaho uses to be most useful in the aspect of giving me some vocabulary to use in explaining to others what I am struggling with. The part about the smaller clipboard as memory for example I have used to explain why I can’t be trusted to remind someone of something even given the best intentions.

Those closest to me have read the journal I keep on symptoms as they come up. (I maintain it for the doctors I go to.) Although the people around me don’t understand completely (who does?) I don’t worry about convincing anyone.

For those I meet, I tend to say that I am recovering from a concussion as opposed to using more clinical terminology. The most important thing is not convincing everyone, but building the support system you need. In the mean time, others may change their opinions, but that can’t be your responsibility. Anyway, some food for thought.

Best of luck
Gillian

Klaus, John Byler was just rear-ended and got out of his car to observe the other events of the multi-car collision. His did not have any other injuries.

You injury from soccer is not to be diminished. I had a similar event that wiped out my academics and college scholarship prospects in my 10 grade year. There never was a specific head trauma identified, just an accumulation of likely sub-concussive impacts.

Get some information on sub-concussive impacts so you can better explain your injury.

I explain symptoms rather than my injury. I describe my lack of immediate and short term visual memory by showing how I can look away from someone and only be able to describe some vague parts of their image, like, they have a mustache or long hair, but not much more. I also use a traffic explanation: I stop at a stop sign with uncontrolled traffic crossing. I look to the left and see the traffic. I look to the right and see the traffic. BUT, I have already forgotten what the traffic from the left was like.

For those with interest in medical terms, my IQ is in the top 5 to 2% of the population but my immediate and short term visual and auditory memory is at the bottom 5 to 12 % of the population. If it wasn't for my IQ, I would be very severely mentally disabled.

When a symptom is described in every day function terms, people tend to go, Wow.

Klaus, like you, my MTBI is from soccer. I feel much the same as you. I have to say though, Im glad you posted this! There is comfort in finding someone injured the same way.

I went to my first ever Brain injury support group today. In this group, everyone elase had "survived" serious BI, and when asked how I was injured, I felt ashamed! :(. Later when asked what my symptoms are, I couldn't find the words and only got out, "I can't focus". :confused: it's much more than that of course. But I left and have been feeling bad about it since. I mean, my gosh, she must have thought I was fine and just a whiner.

I have read only a couple of posts tonight because I linked over to YouTube to watch the videos mentioned here.

All the comments, sharing and advice here has really made me feel better. Thanks everyone for your posts. :)

:grouphug:

Soccergal,

Don't feel bad about your time at the support group meeting. Go again next time. You may not have suffered the serious injury most have but your brain is still not working normally. Take a note to read about your symptoms. Trying to speak when 'on the spot' like that can be very difficult for someone with PCS.

List you struggles. Like:

Trouble finding words.
Get frozen in mid-sentence.
Poor memory
Difficulty following multiple step instructions.
Get stuck 'staring'
Personality changes
Insomnia
Brain fog.

You can make this list up over the next few weeks.

Read through the TBI Survival Guide to help you remember your struggles. Highlight the ones that sound like you.

And, try to remember that you always have us for support.

My best to you.

The same thing happens to me when I go see my neurologist or psychiatrist. I have a hard time explaining how I feel...and my symptoms vary throughout the day and my memory is so screwed up, it's hard to keep track of them. I wish I could just invent a word that everyone will completely understand what I mean when I say it...hahaha.

Yeah like Mark said the best thing to do his have a pre-prepared list of your symptoms described as best you can beforehand, probably even written down. You could even explain to them what you've just told us about how you felt, how you couldn't focus enough to explain your problems properly and you were worried they would think you were just whinging. They should understand.

I still find listing my symptoms to be one of the most challenging questions anyone can ask me. I don't think I've ever actually answered that question without having to put my hand to my forehead and shut my eyes while I answer in a sort of 'thinking posture'! You'd think I would have had enough practice by now!

Soccergal you may also be interested in a couple of stories I was aware of this season in England, with Manchester United's Javier Hernandez and Chelsea's Didier Drogba out for a few months and weeks respectively with PCS that they gained playing soccer (links below). Hernandez was 'only' hit on the head by a ball during a training session.

http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/103428.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14695251.stm

oh and thanks for the group hug!

Hi Gillian, The same thing happens to me, sort of, when it comes to my speech. It gets worse when I'm even just a little tired. I used to speak very fast and I was very articulate and had a great rhythm to my speech, but now when I speak, I can have the sentence all lined up ready to go in my head and know exactly what I want to say and what comes out is like a grab bag effect - I could stutter, I could say the wrong words even though the right one is in my head, the grammar could come out wrong even though it's correct in my head, I could say it in a different tone of voice than I intended (I've even yelled loudly when I was just trying to speak!) Also, I mostly just have a lot of trouble speaking - similar to John Byler in his video "You Look Great". I didn't learn anything watching it and I may send it to other people (although the people around me are genuinely patient and accepting of whatever I'm doing or saying so I haven't had a reason to send it to anyone yet), but watching it definitely made me feel less alone because he has very clipped and halting speech in that video, just like I do right now! I used to be a very good speaker and now I have huge pauses between words, and I even know what I am trying to say - it just takes forever to come out of my mouth - it's bizarre!