Hello, I am new to posting here, but I have been reading the message board every once in a while since I got my concussion 5 weeks ago tomorrow.

About five weeks ago I went to lie down on my couch and just sort of "plopped" down and whacked the left back side of my head on the arm rest of the couch. I did not black out, but within minutes I knew I had a concussion, as I had all of the symptoms. I have had one major concussion when I was about 10 (I am now 23) and probably a few small ones from playing lots of sports, but none that had any symptoms for more than a day or two.

I waited and waited for the symptoms to go away and then last week I woke up one day and felt perfectly normal. I waited a day or two and still felt great, so I tried out some exercising, going along with the guidelines for returning to training. (I am a triathlete, so I was biking, running, and swimming). It was going great for about five days, my head did not bother me one bit. The only thing that I was curious about was that when I wasn't actively engaged in something I immediately got really pretty depressed/anxious, which is completely not normal for me, so I suspected that was due to pcs. Last night though, for whatever reason (maybe because it has been in the 90s for two days?) I got many symptoms back. My head hurt in the way it had been hurting, I was lightheaded when I wasn't just sitting around, I was a bit nauseous, and my eyes were a bit dilated. Today I am a bit better, but am basically back to feeling how I was feeling before my brief "recovery" period.

My question is: is this normal? It has been roughly 5 weeks now and I thought that maybe I was out of the loop, but apparently I am not.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

jcb,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear of your bump.

You sound like you may have PCS. You comment about your pupils sound like you may be making a bit more of your symptoms. It is very difficult to examine your own pupils. A professional would be looking for something besides pupil size.

You anxiety/depression issues could be connected to PCS. Are you spending any time resting in quiet? That is the best way to recover from a concussion.

What other symptoms have you experienced besides the sore head and anxiety?

I'm new too. My name is Kelly and I'm 34. I work in a nursing home doing the night shift and 3 months ago back in April I was violently attacked by a demented patient. Receiving several blows to the head. We have no safety protocols for the staff so I was a sitting duck. I remember screaming for help with no one to hear me. After 15 minutes of this relentless beating I finally broke free and haven't been back to work since. I have PCS with all the symptoms but I also have hand tremors which I haven't found in any of the web pages I've visited. It's difficult to type, write and hold onto things. Doing the dishes is impossible since I drop everything.

fogginess, dizziness, slurred speech, short term memory is severely impaired and the list goes on. Will my memory ever come back?

Mist,

Your short term memory may not come back. No one can say for sure. There are lots of ways to accommodate short term memory dysfunction.

Have you had a NeuroPsychological Assessment to help you better understand your capabilities? Understanding how your memory is or isn't working will help you learn to work with your limitations.

The hand tremors may be helped with an anti-epileptic med or a beta blocker like propanolol. Ask your doctor for help. Stress likely makes the tremors worse.

I know how frustrating this can be.

My best to you.

Thank you for the advice I will definitely mention to my doctor about the meds you listed.

Kelly