Hi all,

I am new to this forum but have been reading it since my injury happened.

Basically, just over a year ago, I had been a self defence practitioner for 7 years. I practiced this for such a long time with very few injuries and no major injuries due to the stringent safety rules that the club practices. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of training with somebody who was not very conscious for the safety of others during training and I managed to catch a thump to the right side of the back of my head. This seems to have rattled my brain which hit both sides of the inside of my skull right side to left side, which felt odd at the time, but I didn't lose consciousness. I felt fine after the session and thought no more about it. A mild headache woke me from my sleep that night, followed by nausea the next morning, that was Monday. By Wednesday, these feelings still hadn't gone away, so I went to A&E and waited to see a Doctor. After giving me a very brief check over, she said it's nothing, just muscles and unless you are slurring your speech, you are fine.

In the weeks that followed, I took the Doctors advice to heart and thought that I must be fine. I returned to work, I went for a run, I watched t.v and played video games, I went to the cinema (in 3D). Basically, I did many of the things that I love, but now know I should not have done, because I was told "it's just muscles, you're fine" by a supposed medical professional.

From then on my brain hasn't played ball. I developed a very unpleasant pulse on the right side of my head when I tried to sleep. Massive headaches when I tried to drive anywhere. What I called "sleep breaks" in which I'd wake up at around 3am, usually shivering and panicking with a weird feeling in my head. Brain fog when I woke up. Tingling at the site of injury. Feeling weird and the world sounded odd, kind of more aggressive than usual. Feeling pressure at either side of the back of my head. Upper neck symptoms. I could no longer tolerate screens of any kind, so my freelance graphic design went out of the window, games, films, t.v all gone. Drawing on paper seemed to bring out worse symptoms, so that was out. Reading, gone. Socialising was difficult and would make the side of my head burn. Basically, most of the stuff I enjoyed in my life is gone, and I'm at a loss as to how to alleviate the boredom. So this leads to bouts of depression and feeling down about it all.

These days, some of the issues still linger. I still have neck symptoms, still have the feeling of pressure either side, still cannot tolerate screens for as long as I should, although I have seen many improvements in the first year, it still lingers to the point where it's a depressing slog. Of course, this affects my mood, so on a good day, I'll be like the old me. I'm a married father of two young kids. So on my good days, I'll play with the kids, we will go out and it will be like nothing had happened. On my bad days, I'll be a short tempered grump who moans and is generally no fun to be around. Even I don't want to be around me on my bad days. It's affected my life negatively, for sure, and I've had some very, very dark moments and dark thoughts.

Things I've tried are, acupuncture, chiropractor (these two seemed to just want my money) I went for 6 sessions of HBOT, which seemed to turn me into a zombie when I came out for a while, so I stopped. I've seen 9 Doctors and a Neurologist, who all basically say, "you'll get better on your own, it'll be fine". I take a decent quality multi vitamin daily and a high quality krill oil, which I don't know if they help or not, but I take them anyway.

One thing I will say is that this has gone away, a few times. I go back to normal. No symptoms, no depression, no worry, great sleep. It's like heaven, I call them my little holidays, I am happy again. I play with my kids and my wife doesn't hear me grumble and moan anymore, it's wonderful. I feel like my old self. During these times I enjoy my life again, rather than just exist. But inevitably, the old black crow (that's what I've named it) comes and settles back on my shoulder, and the slog begins again. It's a sad state of affairs and it's affected not just me, but everyone in my family and friends. No man is an Island, as they say.

Question is, was my Neurologist telling the truth when he said this will go away on it's own, or was he just trying to get rid of me because he knows he can't do anything about it? I can function, but when I say function, it is on the level of a robot. This thing has taken my life quality to the bare bones, and I'm tired of it. Does anyone know if there is anything else I can try? I do go for daily walks to keep on top of my exercise (I was super fit at one stage) I try to keep positive, but reading about other people struggling for years doesn't help at all. Is this really forever? I'm not sure how I'll cope with that!

Is biofeedback worth a go? I also hear that something called Lions mane helps with nerve issues. Any suggestions or help would be very much appreciated. Apologies for the long post, but this is my story in a nutshell.

Thanks for your time.