[ProAgonist]

Last night, I went to bed and tried to sleep. I felt uncomfortable, so I tried to adjust my position when I suddenly (and by accident) rose my head off the pillow and smashed it quickly back into the pillow (I rose a little bit to get comfortable and accidentally landed very quickly with my head in the pillow, which caused my head to get hit by the pillow).

I calmed down very soon after and avoided running into anxiety, so I easily fell asleep a few minutes later.

But today, when I woke up in the morning, I felt very confused and had a brain fog which I remember only having in the first month after my concussion (I'm now 3 months after my concussion).

I'm anxious about it now because it is a symptom I haven't felt in a long time. I'm afraid that the hit I got in the head from landing it too quickly on the pillow caused a sub-concussive impact, or even a small concussion (my symptoms returned a lot before my anxiety started today).

By the way, it's not that my symptoms completely disappeared before that hit last night. I made a significant progress (at least I feel like that) since my concussion, but last night after getting hit in my head, my symptoms got much worse. I'm afraid I got another impact that can reduce my chances to heal as better as possible and extend my recovery time.

What do you think? Does that count as a sub-concussive impact? I feel today much worse than yesterday and the last few days (I have good days and bad days, but right now I'm feeling worse than what I usually do on a bad day), and therefore I am very worried about this.

Thanks,
-ProAgonist

[_Ash_]

No. Nope. Nada.

Not a concussion, or subconcussive impact. Your skull is made of bone, designed to protect your brain from hard knocks. There is no way, ever, that a pillow could cause damage. Speciallly from just lifting your head and letting it fall back.

You may have made yourself dizzy though, and we know how that can spark a little symptoms. How much sleep did you get? If you had a generally restless night you may simply be faitgued. Another thing that can exacerbate symptoms.

Or perhaps you are ust having a bad day. We all have them. They come and go.

Imagine your days in a graph, sometimes it is going to dip, sometimes it is going to peak, but as long as that median line is gradually going up, getting better, then thats good. Dont worry, get a cup of green tea and an early night if you can.

[12many]

My dr failed to warn me to be careful of ANY head impact after six concussions, so in the next 2 years I hit my head twice and noticed dramatic increase of symptoms, since then ANY hit to my head causes increase of symptoms. It is the brain impacting the scull that causes the damage. It could be that the area of previous damage is very sensitive and that you need to be more cautious of any impact. Like when you get a bruise or cut, even the slightest touch can cause pain. I'm not saying definitively that an impact with a pillow can cause increased symptoms, just that, in my oh so humble opinion, that we need to be mindful of the delicate nature of our condition.
That being said, I still ride motorcycles. duh

[ProAgonist]

Ash,

Thank you for your reply. Even though it might not be a sub-concussive impact, since that happened my symptoms got much worse. It's good to hear it's not a sub-concussive impact, but still, why did my symptoms return? It has been already 2 days and my symptoms are still much worse than they were a week ago.

I slept 9 hours that night and woke up very confused, which shouldn't happen.

It also happens every time I hit my head slightly. It also happened today when I walked on the street - I was walking quickly and looking down in my phone when I accidentally smashed my head into the leaves of a plant (they are pretty hard, not soft like most plants). That caused my symptoms to get a little bit worse, and I'm tired of it that every small bump on the head causes symptoms.

If by walking very quickly and smashing my head into the leaves of a plant didn't cause me a sub-concussive impact (same with the pillow), then why do my symptoms get so much worse? And do you experience it too?

12many,


Thank you for your reply.

Yes, I do notice that my symptoms return after minor impacts, which I'm not always sure if count as sub-concussive impacts or just small bumps to the head. It's really irritating, and I hope it goes away while I recover. Especially the hit I got to the head when I smashed it into a plant today when I was walking quickly... it worsened my symptoms at well (unfortunately, this plant has hard leaves, not nearly as soft as my pillow or something, so that caused many symptoms to get worse, such as headaches).