[christine100]

Hello,
I just found this forum and was hoping some of you might have some advice. I got concussed two months ago while surfing (I was hit by the fins in three places on the top of my head although it didn't knock me out at the time) and have been suffering many of the 'typical' post-concussion syndrome symptoms since - tiredness, headaches, inability to focus. It has been getting gradually better apart from headaches that I get behind my eyes (that proceed to spread to the rest of my head); these start when I'm looking at the computer in particular or reading or watching TV to a lesser extent. I have had a CT scan recently but it didn't show anything (perhaps because it was taken a month after the accident?).

A couple of days ago I went to an optician to check my prescription and found that in one of my eyes my eyesight has got significantly worse. I've changed from +2.00 to +3.25. For me this is a very large change since my last eye test, but only occurred in one eye. It seems to me a big coincidence that it has occurred around the same time as the concussion and from having a look at the forum it seems like vision problems are possible with head injuries.

My main question is, having been given a new glasses prescription will this be enough or should I be seeing a specialist about this? Also are the effects temporary?

Thanks for your advice.

[Mark in Idaho]

christine,

First, you need to give your eyes a rest. Less computer, reading, texting, and any visually intense activities. If you find yourself needing to reread a line or strain to focus, you have exhausted your brain's vision control and processing functions.

Be patient and give your brain time to heal.

My best to you.

[berkeleybrain]

I'm sorry to hear about your accident.

Rest is important. Also, it is very common for people to have one, two or many different eye glass prescriptions following a brian injury.

As your brain recovers, your vision should improve.

After rest, warning signs, however, include: blurred vision, double vision, headaches when reading, losing one's place (skipped lines) when reading, a sense of going "cross eyed", etc. These warrant a look by a neuro-opthalmologist.

Best of luck- and yes, rest means almost doing nothing!