Well, I finally went back to work today for the first time since January 10th. They are having me work part time 4 hours a day until the middle of May. Today I really only did some minor heavy lifting for not that long and then the rest of it was non physical work.

Needless to say, I dont feel right. I know im not fully healed to begin with, but the Dr feels im good enough to go back. Im feeling very very doubtful, and even slightly depressed right now. Im hoping its just because its my first day back, and my body is not used to it, but I dont know if I can handle something I was once so great at.

Im hoping as the week, and next week even, goes on, maybe my brain will respond better. But I have not felt this physically exhausted in a long time. Constant headaches are back now (even though they arent nearly as bad) as well as some dizzyness and some minor lack of focus.

Im in a catch 22 here, I dont know what to do. If I go down to my HR dept (if things get worse) and inform them of all of this, theres a good chance I can lose my job I think, even though it happened at work. Like I said, im hoping its just because my body and mind is trying to get re accustomed, but man, im scared. Sorry if this sounds like jibberish, im just not fully focused, and im having a small bit of anxiety.

This was work related, correct? If you do not feel right, tell someone... if this is work related and they fire you, sue them! I am not a litigious person but that is not right... how is the doctor determining you are ready?

Not really sure. I told him I wanted to go back to work (also said this since day 1 though.) But I also told him what I posted a few posts back as well and he determined this part time deal.

As the night goes on im getting more fuzzy and the constant feeling of wanting to puke continues. Im going to give it a few days, better or worse, just to make sure that maybe its just my body and brain getting reaccustomed.

I just feel so lost now, and im not an emotional guy by any means and im getting slightly emotional of my fear of not really getting better. Im going to attempt to sleep, but I dont see that happening.

kevbo,

You need to find somethings to stay occupied with. I play a lot of Solitaire on the computer. Playing with a deck of cards is also good. Moderate stimulation is a good way to work through these times. Your anxiety is not helping you get better.

Anxiety could be the cause of your nausea. At this point, your nausea is more anxiety than PCS related.

My best to you.

Ill admit some of that feeling is def from anxiety. Not all though. It started almost immediately after the lifting at work. Although now that im worrying about it, the increase is def from anxiety.

Are you on any meds to help with the anxiety?

Im on prednisolone and thats it. So far Ive spent all morning digging small trenches with a shovel and im in a very bad spot. Heads throbbing, dizzy, legs are feeling extremely weak. Dont know what to do.

kevbo,

The prednisolone could be causing your symptoms. The symptoms you mention are listed as side-effects of prednisolone.

The up and down head and body movements could be too much movement. Try to work with less head movement, if you can.

Whats the length of that meds effect? The last one I took was Tuesday evening, simply because it made me feel jittery.

The pred should be out of your blood by now. It's half life is 2 to 4 hours. The psychological side-effects could be a bit longer after a period of continued use. I doubt it has much effect on you at this point in time.

Hmm interesting. Im assuming im feeling bad because it was about 3 hours of pretty strainful work in the pouring rain today. I felt horrible waking up this morning too. Im going to give it a few more days to see if it evens itself out before going back to HR. Im just afraid that if it doesnt get better Ill somehow get in trouble or lose my job or something.

Also, if I decide to be dumb and dont get better and just keep doing this, what kind of damage am I doing/setting myself up for. Just afraid with a newborn child, I cant risk my health nor my job.

I don't think you are causing serious injury, just delaying more recovery. With the poor sleep you are getting with a newborn, I bet you are already at a weak condition before going to work.

So, try to take it slow and moderate your effort to a sustainable level. With time, you should be able to find that workable effort level.

Like I stated earlier, im going to give it till at least mid week next week to see if I start improving. Also my neck is actually really tight, something it hasnt been since the first two weeks of incident.

Anyways, what would you do if you were in my shoes? I obviously am very glad im back to work, because I want to be there, and I enjoy my job a lot. But being in so much pain is really making me think im not fully recovered from January. Im just so afraid of getting in trouble if I say im still not feeling right, and infact declining and erasing all of my recovery efforts. I just dont know what to do, and im really not left with to much time to decide either.

Decided to talk to the dr as my symptoms are getting worse again. Im back to no sleep, not really being able to be social or hold a normal convo, non stop headpressure/headaches ect ect. Told him all about it and he wants me to continue on working and return full time in 2 more weeks. Im not sure at this point if I need a second opinion, but he seems to think I just need to tough it out. Im really at wits end right now, simply because I feel like im back at the first week. Cant do anything. Tried cutting my grass and wanted to pass out because of the pain in my head, and literally have not gotten out of bed at all since Saturday morning.

Continuing through pain
 

I have found if I continue and just tough it out, I am worse and will spend additional days recovering.

I have had this conversation with several people and have experimented myself.

The occupational therapist does not believe in pushing through. I spend a lot of time with him trying to pace myself. Hard to do for an A type.

My massage therapist believes in pushing on, it has been successful for him. He had injury at a young age.

It is really hard to do when you have responsibilities, at least with me if I push too hard I can go to bed for a couple of days. I don't have deadlines or responsibilities to meet.

My instinct is to tell you to STOP if you are in that much pain. You may not be ready to do this level of activity. The hardest thing to do is to respect the time it takes to heal. It is totally beyond all of our expectations and even harder for those who do not understand.

I will keep you in your prayers. My concussion doctor always tells me to listen to my body. :hug:

Yup I guess I got no choice. Work listens to the Dr and he says tough it out. Im not really sure whats going to happen health wise. He tells me this severe is out at least 6 months, but im back to work at 4. I know im not fully recovered. I do want to work, trust me, but at this point I may as well have never been out those 4 months because im just as bad again. Oh, and the darn tmj started today again to top it all off. Im going to try to sleep, but itll prolly be unsuccessful again. Think melatonin is safe to take?

I think my wife is also getting upset at me because im fairly useless right now and can barely help out with our one month old.

So, since evidently im toughing it out (even worse today after shoveling all morning) wether its the right thing to do or not.

Anyone have any tips on what I should do for this headpain? Something I can buy at the pharmacy, dr told me ibuprofen was a bad idea to be taking. Or any sort of massage I could do or have my wife do? Its totally intolerable at this point, and I feel like an 80 year old man because now the headaches are pounding so hard that it stops me dead in my tracks. Any tips or suggestions on what I should do would be helpful.

Mark, I know you said this wouldnt cause permanent damage, but are you sure? I was hoping it would be getting better as the days go on, but obviously as you can read my whiny posts, its getting worse. Just nervous that im not severely hurting my brain for the future.

Can you go and get a second opinion?

I was told that Advil was fine after the initial swelling went down.

No clue, as it stands right now im back out of work until I go back to the specialist next Wednesday. I was pulled aside today by management and I guess a lot of coworkers expressed their concerns for my safety after watching me work for the past week. Im not trying to sound like a hypochondriac or anything here, but I literally feel like I just fell and hit the concrete again. Everything is back, everything. I literally feel like im extremely drunk, and I havent even had a drink since new years eve!

My only guess at this current time is the simple fact that I went back to soon, and pushed to hard and my brain is trying to tell me to rest again.

Also, my neck is very very weak feeling and cracks and pops everytime I move it now. Just started yesterday, so im assuming that my neck is a major culprit now as well.No neck issues were ever addressed after the xray found out it was strained or sprained or w/e it said. It was basically ignored by the dr, so im not sure if thats even part of it, but I think it is. But, yet again, my wife has been doing physical therapy on it for some time. Just annoyed, because I was starting to feel so much better and confident, and now it feels like I lost everything I accomplished these past 4 months.

I'm sorry you are feeling so awful. I feel the same way so I can relate to your pain. My head feels like I re-hit it (even though I haven't) and the doctors are treating me like a hypochondriac. Sucks. Mixed messages.

Yup I know that feeling. Everyone these past few days are wondering why i feel so crummy again. Sick of answering the question. People just dont seem to understand that a concussion is brain trauma of some sort depending on the severity. For example myself, a lot of people are confused as to why Im back at step one after four months. I was confused too. Now I know, plain and simple I over did it before I was fully healed and downplayed the severity of this kind of injury. Now im paying for it dearly.

I have gotten so sick of people asking me I just tell them know that my head is still attached and that my brain is still in there working on healing... normally they laugh it off and we talk about something else... I am so sick of talking about my head... that is really what everyone wants to know...