Almost 4 weeks ago I suffered a concussion while I was playing basketball , a guy hit me with his head in my head, first symptoms were,.....lightheaded ,body coordination problems ,filing spacey .........second day my neck started to hurt a lot and also stiffness.

I went to the ER, they din a CAT scan and sad It was good and that I had a concussion

After couple of days I noticed that any small impact of the body I was feeling it in my head , basically my head became very sensitive to any impact of my body , (like bumping my foot in to a chair...) or bumby roads .

I also noticed that if i was laying in bed on my back and dropped my hand on the bed i will start having symptoms like pain .... confusion etc.

Around one week since the concussion I was playing with my cat in bed and I did some sudden movements ( turning my body )and immediately I had concussion symptoms it will last for 1 day and then go away

After that it happened 2 times to get up from the chair to fast and again symptoms, and always new symptoms like head pain around the eyes , cognitive issues some of them I have them now continuously.

Today I was at the gym using a stationary bicycle , after a while my forehead was sweaty , I reached with my hand to clean it and by mistake I hit my heat but very softly and then again symptoms

So at 4 weeks I have mental fogginess , and this extreme head sensitivity that gives me concussion symptoms and every time I get symptoms my neck becomes stiff

I ve been reading this forum for about 3 weeks now , and is good that people are sharing their experiences and knowledge .

I also have a history of neck issues, and depression prior to concussion , sometimes I am thinking that this sensitivity is some how related with my neck


Thanks again everybody for sharing your stories and helping

dan100,

Try your best to not hit your head. Lay off exercise for a while until your symptoms are much fewer or gone, and definitely get your neck checked out. Depression is very common. I've had it, still have those type of thoughts and I believe it's one of the number one PCS. Don't quote me on that. It's not unusual to feel down when you can't use your brain like you should. So basically you need to do everything in your power to heal your brain the best that you can like starting this diet that Garret has said, and try and correct your attitude which is the hardest thing I believe. Try reading the Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale or other positive things. This website is a great resource but don't read too much into how long it could take to heal. I did that and got really negative thinking for a while. You don't know how long it will take.

Garret,

Someone just patted me on the shoulder at church, and i've had some sensitivity in cars recently. I've had that happen before, but never thought about asking you. I'm wondering what you did when you felt your head being jostled and got those symptoms when someone bumped you or you had any extreme head sensitivity. My head basically gets extra pressure and feels really weird. Sometimes I start going cross-eyed and it's tough to concentrate and I get headaches and all my other symptoms rise in sensitivity a bit, but it's mostly the pressure in my head expanding.


I got into a network marketing program called evolv this summer and they have this anti-inflammatory supplement called Limitless which I take in the morning and at night and I'm wondering if I should take it after I get bumped or something. I did that once and it helped quite a bit. I was wondering if you took an ibuprofen, ginger or those anti-inflammatory foods to reduce the inflammation right after a bump.

Thanks

I actually just took the supplement and some blueberries and tried resting off the pressure which I usually try to do if I have the available time. It helped quite a bit.

thanks for the advice and encouragement ,

you are very right about getting negative thinking after reading to much on this website ,

I think I am going to to try Garret diet , with his posts he give us lots of hope.

I read your story and I wanted to tell you that I think you will for sure get well because you are very young .

So stay positive and start the diet and hopefully soon this will be just an experience.

by the way I am 32 , and this is my only concussion, so I guess the sensitivity is not totally related with the number of concussions .

Garret,

First off, thanks for the diet recommendation. I don't feel my brain jostling in my head anymore. It's awesome! hah I started doing some stationary biking and things are progressing. I finally am developing a good mental attitude, which is the biggest part in this I've realized.

I don't know how sensitive you still are to everything else, but I got some good advice from some doctors.

Everything is mental. We can retrain our brains into not responding to the nonconcussive hits, bumps or whatever. How?

First, you have to visualize yourself in these situations and make sure you're calm and relaxed. Ever visualized before having a conversation with someone? It goes better. or how Michael Jordan always used to visualize before games? Anyways, it has something to do with muscle memory and putting things in your sub conscience. Also, visualize yourself being 100% back to normal. I told you about the book I'm reading and the founder of the Purina company was really sick growing up and his teacher taught him to visualize himself being healthy, strong, and to believe in himself and he outlived all his classmates. Make sure you visualize specifics too and if you can't stay calm or stray off seeing something bad happen stop.

Second, start small by exposing yourself to things. For me like I said it's the water drops. I haven't done this yet, but it's Christmas time, people have been "touchy" and I had a few senior pics so I got hands on me. And make sure you're calm the whole time, if you can't be stop. Tell yourself it's ok and nothing wrong is happening. Never do this while your tired or late at night because that makes things worse.

Third, Don't go too big! start really small like you told me with everything. I started a little bit too big, but that's fine. Oh, and buy that book I said if you can and buy any motivational books or anything that will improve your outlook or thinking because it's huge.

I've been told that it takes on average 3 months for a full recovery for an average TBI, I realize ours maybe more extreme and don't focus on that number because numbers are BS when healing! I do that too much and my mind goes to thinking like crap! Anyways, when people don't recover in that time, it's because they have stress, anxiety, PTSD, depression, etc. If a person can a person can get rid of those to the best of their ability than they'll heal faster. And if you need help reducing those, I can try to help.

Master your thoughts! Imagine yourself 100%! I know you're doing a lot better, but you can always keep doing better.

Hope this helps!

Whoever said 3 months to heal for an average TBI is not speaking from medical evidence. Something like 85% of concussions heal spontaneously within 6 weeks. The rest can take months to years to reach a maximum level of recovery.

Much of recovery is lowering stress by learning to work around symptoms while the brain heals. Getting frustrated and stressed out by concussion symptoms is counter to healing.

courtney,

I missed your response. The entry level courses I took were required courses. I challenged them so I could get the credit without wasting my time and frustration in class. AP (Advanced Placement) courses are similar. They allow the student to forgo the prerequisite courses and get to the meatier courses. Some of these course are college level but many are no more than the Honors courses of decades ago. At least now an A in an Honors (AP) course gets a bit more Grade Point value. In my day, an A in an Honors course was no different than an A in a general level course.

All three of my kids graduated or qualified to graduate high school early. They started taking college courses at 16 or so. One dual enrolled rather than graduating because she wanted to continue playing high school sports.

My point was that just because a course was labeled AP, it was not necessarily a high level and difficult course. Some students tend to psych themselves out by the label on a course. Students carry a big load of stress put on them by labels.

I agree 100% that students do tend to psych themselves out over those courses, and you are right to try to minimize the anxiety that a student feels over these; however, to simply assume that all of them are the same level of difficulty as what was taken in middle school is erroneous.

I have taught some of those classes as an English teacher, and I can assure you that the level of difficulty that those kids are facing, at least in the literature courses, is much higher than what their peers are facing in college prep level courses, and it is often higher than freshman level courses at most colleges, because the teachers are under a lot of pressure to get these kids to a point where they are producing sophisticated writing that most college grads are never capable of producing, since most are not English majors.

In all fairness, I do tend to automatically think of the English courses and forget about Spanish, Art Appreciation, etc... so in that regard, you are right; some classes are relatively easy no matter when you take them.

Again, I agree that students do tend to psych themselves out over the label of these courses, thus adding even more stress to their already full loads; it's just that the way I read your initial comments on the subject made it sound like you were demeaning his course load somehow, and that bothered me for some reason. It may have been a misinterpretation on my part, but that's why I responded the way I did.

I've heard it said that the average college freshman enters college reading and writing at a junior high level. Not to take away from the achievements of the Honors students. As a freshman, I had to take a boring English Grammar and Comp course that the instructor promised a challenge exam but it never happened.

Yes, that's very true; most college freshmen cannot read and write the way the professors want them to be able to do. There were probably several people in that class with you who thought it was challenging; judging by what you have said about your grandchildren being in advanced classes, you are probably pretty book smart as well, so the things you found easy in school were probably harder for others. It's all relative.