I suffered a concussion when I was nine, and a series of other concussions throughout my life, mostly sport related. Each time it got 'easier' to get concussed ie I didn't need to be hit as hard as other people to get concussion symptoms.

I was always better within hours or days, up until a not particularly violent impact during a soccer game last March lead me into 11 months and counting of basically feeling awful all the time and not being able to do anything (though I am on the way to recovery now), with the added terror about the long term damage I have clearly done to my brain and how it might affect me when I'm older.

Almost everyone in sport minimizes concussions, but every time you have one, you are doing some permanent damage to your brain. A concussion is a injury to the brain, how else could you explain the symptoms? It took me to keep getting hit until I got post concussion syndrome to even find out that it existed - your sons are lucky that you have found out about it while they are still young.

Best wishes to you all.

Another thing I'd be cautious about is, even if he seems to be recovering quickly, he may need to return to activity gradually so he doesn't reinjure himself. Think of it as though he had sprained his ankle. He might be able to walk again after a few days but wouldn't want to run on it again without some additional time and strengthening exercise.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and personal experiences. My son saw the athletic trainer this afternoon and failed the impact test. Based on the impact test and his reported symptoms, he was diagnosed with a concussion and told not to wrestle tomorrow. It is really sad that he can't compete in his last tournament as a senior, but it's nothing compared to how sad it would be to see him sustain further injury to his brain. My husband has him at the doctor's office right now. I made him go so he could hear first hand why it's not safe for our son to wrestle. (My husband is "old school" and thinks things should work the way they did back when he wrestled and head injuries were blown off as no big deal.) I had a concussion in high school from hitting my head on the diving board and it was a miserable time recovering. Thanks again for all the help!

Good for you for following your mama instincts and getting him checked out!! It is a bummer that he'll miss this big event, but you're absolutely right about the rest of his life being more important than this one event.

Mom2Boys,

The ImPACT test is only valuable at determining if the athlete has the coordination skills to not create a risk to himself and others. There is an investigation into the use of the ImPACT test and its improper use. The creators of the ImPACT test, Micky Collins, Ph.D. et.al. have even stated emphatically that the ImPACT test has no value and is not to be used to determine the brain's tolerance of further concussions.

Personally, I would not be surprised if the ImPACT Test Corporation gets sued into oblivion.

There is a thread on NT with an article about the controversy brewing about the ImPACT test.
Here is a link to the article. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012...=BrainLine.org


Your sons and husband are all at risk of early onset of dementia as young as their 40's. All athletes who have long histories of sports that cause concussions and more importantly sub-concussive impact risk the same thing.

My Mild Cognitive Impairment started manifesting at 41 when I suffered a 4th mild concussion. Prior to that, I had suffered 10 extremely mild concussions that very few trainers would even consider to be concussions at all and one severe concussion with slurred speech for 4 days. Now, at 57, I am permanently disabled and only able to drive on my best days.

Your sons should accept their current condition as indicative of the start of a decreasing condition.

I hope they can avoid what happened to me and many other athletes.

My best to you all.

Mark, thanks so much for the information and for sharing your personal experience. The article on the ImPACT test is interesting. In our school district, the athletic trainers use it as a screening tool combined with a report of symptoms. When my youngest had his concussion a month ago, we took him to a specialist that was very thorough and cautious. With my oldest, we took him to his regular doctor since the specialist wasn't available until next week. The regular doctor seemed to take the same approach as the specialist and even called today to see how my son was doing. Thankfully, both of my boys have agreed to not play soccer this spring, so they won't be heading any soccer balls. My oldest son is graduating and has no plans to continue with soccer or wrestling in college. My youngest son has 2 more years of high school and has his heart set on playing soccer in the fall and wrestling in the winter. After having a concussion this year, I think he will be more cautious and aware of head injuries, but that still cannot prevent them.

Thanks again to everyone for the insight and well wishes! Your background information makes me realize how serious and lasting a head injury can be and I wish all of you the best.

Mom2Boys,

Your son who wants to play soccer next year can make a decision to not head the ball. There was research done back in the 1970's when I was in school that showed an average 9 point decrease in measured IQ for athletes who headed the ball in soccer. This did not even consider those soccer players who had suffered head to head concussions. A 9 point decrease in concussion is equal to 9%. That can make quite a difference in academic and career pursuits.

The other issue to consider is the personality changes and how that impacts career and contacts with authority. As my mom has said, After my bad concussion, I was not her sweet little boy anymore. When I finally heard that comment as an adult, I realized why I lost almost all of my friends and struggled to maintain friendships during my school years.

There have been multiple studies that show a high percentage (60% or more) of inmates show evidence of mTBI. The theory is this is a causative factor leading to the incarceration for many.

The local concussion specialist who treats many of the school teams would like to see heading the ball outlawed for minors and changes in the rules of the various sports to protect the heads of all minors. The judgement skills of minors leaves them at great risk of not reporting their concussions and at greater risk of long term consequences due to the immature status of their brains.

In some situations, the repeated concussions and sub-concussive impacts has been shown to interrupt the maturing of judgement skills to an adult level leaving the person with poor judgement skills as an adult. When the brain is busy trying to cope and recover from such trauma, e maturing and judgement skills that only develop during adolescence and up to the early 20's get suppressed and may never develop completely if at all.

I know a number of mTBI/PCS people who were injured during their early teens who, as adults, have the limited judgement skills comparable to a 12 or 13 year old. One has learned to rely on the assistance of others for many decisions after struggling to make sound decisions on his own. Another is riding a roller coaster through life. They have enough intelligence to be successful but just have poor decision making skills.

I have a few horror stories I could also relate but I think I have already said enough.

Regarding preventing head injuries, Ever since my problems at 15 years old, I have limited my risk in sports. This has not prevented the odd concussion by hitting my head on an overhead beam or other impacts that happened during non-risk activities. My position is to avoid the risky activities because you can't avoid those others and need to save any tolerance for those unexpected impacts. My neurologist believes there is a limit to how many impacts the brain can tolerate cumulatively. He was amazed at my high functioning compared to the serious dysfunction he could observe during functional brain imaging.

My best to you.