Thanks to all for your answers. How often does an Oak shed acorns? Is it mostly in the fall or year round (I read that some years are more plentiful than others but just wondering about the season).

Either way, I feel if I get hit by an acorn and somehow by luck the following day I am feeling bad, I will end up associating these two together. In other words, it takes courage for someone with concussion to accept that even tiny things will fall on his head from time to time...

Otherwise yes, beautiful place, I loved it... Searching for a place while feeling bad on most days seems a bad idea.. But I have been postponing moving out for two years now...

If an oak is going to make acorns (not all do this reliably)....it does it in the fall only. If the squirrels do not knock them off efficiently, they will remain longer on the branches. Then one would see them fall off into winter and spring. Usually where there are lots of oaks, there are lots of squirrels.


The spring pollen blows around so wind is necessary. As I stated above, our old oaks don't make acorns every year. When they do it is a quite an avalanche of them!

If the squirrels eat them in place, instead of carrying them off, then sharp bits remain and if you walk barefooted, you may damage your feet.

My husband was working on the stump yesterday, sealing it with wood preserver. We are going to put plant pots on it for summer and use it as a bird feeder shelf for winter. He tried to count the rings, and came up with 125-150. We counted back to when this house was built--- 1915... and he determined the tree then was 8 to 10 inches in diameter back then

So from your photo of that balcony... that tree appears much older than ours. It was of course not so close the the railing either in the past.

"Either way, I feel if I get hit by an acorn and somehow by luck the following day I am feeling bad, I will end up associating these two together. In other words, it takes courage for someone with concussion to accept that even tiny things will fall on his head from time to time... "

This is irrational thinking. You will benefit greatly if you can get successful help to overcome this issue. Otherwise, living a life of anxiety will be a constant struggle.

It doesn't take courage, it takes sound thinking.

I am not sure what is irrational. Symptoms are up and down. If they are down, we tend to think about what we did the day before (loud music, tiny bump,...) and learn.

I agree with you on the anxiety level though, ideally one should be less anxious. But when your whole life 'as you know it' is at risk, you try to take zero risks as much as possible.

Thanks for everyone's inputs. I have been off work now for 2 months, after that flight. Last year I also took 2 months after a flight. I haven't seen many PCS cases with such a sensitivity to flying.

It is irrational to think the weight of a falling acorn can cause damage. If the acorn was of the variety with a sharp point or the stem hit you straight on, there might be an extremely minor skin trauma with some annoyed nerves.

An acorn weight 3 to 6 grams. A human head weight 4500 to 5000 grams. An acorn falling from 30 feet, exerts less than 0.12 to 0.25 G's max on a human head. The acorn may sting but will not inflict any movement force to the brain. You exert far more force on the brain turning your head from side to side or up and down as in yes/no.

As I have said many times, walking down a flight of stairs or even sitting down in a chair can exert 2 to 3 G's or more.

The only way to avoid such everyday risks is to stay in bed. There are obvious risks that can be avoided, contact sports and other more aggressive activities.

You have a choice. Live with anxiety which will surely negatively effect your brain and mental health or accept that life is imperfect and hits happen. Anxiety will change your reaction time and possibly put you at greater risk. Being too reactive is also an increased risk as one tends to jerk more violently during a startle.

Hopefully, you can see the value in resolving your anxiety and irrational thoughts.

I hope you can find help to get better in this regard.