Penny you are very early in your recovery. One of the hardest things to learn is patience. PCS is a marathon not a sprint. Be kind to yourself, ask any questions you may have we will try to answer them as best we can.

Thank you so much for replying! I really appreciate that. I live in New York City and I have a fast-paced job, so I'm not used to NOT sprinting!

You don't say what area your freelancing is in, but I assume it has something to do with reading? Or is it just having to be out and about?

Rest up as well as you can before your job, and prepare for the fact that you will probably have a "crash" afterwards -- doing it will probably make you feel much worse the next few days, so plan to take it easy afterwards if you can.

Eowyn, thanks for replying. My job has a lot to do with reading, concentration, and memory. I'm a bit worried.

As I mentioned to Mark, I have not noticed many alarming cognitive problems thus far, so I'm hoping that bodes well for the coming weeks.

Penny I have seen this stated before If you have seen one brain injury then you have only seen one brain injury. Each is different and no-one can predict how you will feel one month, week or tomorrow. Try not to stress and take care of yourself.

penny,

At this point, you are not suffering from Post Concussion Syndrome. You are suffering from a concussion. PCS is not really considered as a diagnosis until 6 to 8 weeks after a concussion. You may well recover spontaneously in the next few days or weeks. I do suggest you try to lower your stress levels for this job on Tuesday. If you can, find a quiet place where you can work with minimal visual and audio distractions.

You have a great opportunity. Many with a concussion will try to push through and tough it out. For some, this is not a problem. For others, this causes a delay in recovery. There are some here who did not learn to get the quiet rest their brain needs until after struggling for 6 months.

You would do well to avoid caffeine, MSG, artificial sweeteners, aluminum based antiperspirants, and also try to moderate your activity and work load. It is a lot easier to rest for a week or two more than mess up your job opportunities for the next number of months.

Quiet rest means low intensity activities with moderated screen and sound exposures.

And, don't forget to use ice on your upper neck and back of your head. The upper neck is often tweeked by the impact and this can be a big part of the head aches experienced. 15 on, 30 off as often as is comfortable. A zip lock baggy with 1 part rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol and 3 parts water will freeze into a crushable ice pack.

My best to you.

Mark, thanks very much for your reply.

The doctor in the ER who attended to me is the one who diagnosed me with Post Concussion Syndrome. I'm learning there's quite a bit of disconnect, disagreement, and misunderstanding about concussions. I suppose time will tell.

Today I had quite a nasty headache that wouldn't go away, but it occurred to me that since I had the concussion, I have cut out alcohol and caffeine completely, so I might be experiencing some mild withdrawal from that as well. That idea calmed me a bit.

My job is one that requires quite a bit of memory and concentration, so I'm nervous about what to expect. In the last week, I have experienced very little cognitive problems. Should I be concerned about more popping up unexpectedly?