Hello everyone, as mentioned in the title this is my first post here, and therefore I should provide some background information regarding myself, in addition to the circumstances that lead me to sustaining a TBI less than seven days ago (Wednesday 11th of January 2017).

Firstly, as disclosed in the title, I'm 20 years of age, which speaking in terms of brain injuries should be the time when I shouldn't have to worry extensively about a brain injury - given that for teens and young adults, the recovery time for an injury of this nature is far less on average compared to those in later adulthood. Although this is usually the case, I feel like I have a significant reason to worry, primarily due to the fact that I'm currently halfway through my second year at University (in the UK), which means I am expected to fulfill serious academic demands; at the moment I feel as if I'm unable to satisfy them. Conversely, I have already been diagnosed with anxiety and depression during my mid-teenage years, in addition to Asperger syndrome and dyspraxia during childhood.

Secondly, the circumstances surrounding my concussion are somewhat slightly odd compared to the more average ones discussed on this board. I'll try to explain it the best I can. Some context - I am part of a dark ages reenactment society at university (Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, etc), which has given me the wonderful opportunity to engage with my passion for history, and more importantly, meet some of my closest friends. Twice a week we hold combat training sessions, where we hone weapon technique and work on other aspects such as tactics and teamwork - usually on Wednesday and on Saturday. Now that the context is out of the way, let me get into the chronology of the incident itself. This took place on the Wednesday session of last week, and it began slightly differently from usual - given I had appointments with councilors over a period of a couple of hours that same afternoon, I was in fact at least more than an hour late to training, which at that point had been going for quite a while. I'm feeling a little rusty, which is usual after periods of inactivity, seeing as we had all just returned from a three-week-long Christmas break, and this was therefore the first training session in almost a month. I practiced on the weapon I'm the most proficient with for half an hour, which is the spear - no issues at all, apart fro m a slightly slowed response time. I then switched to a weapon that I would say that I'm semi-competent with, which is the sword and shield. Though I know and can apply the basics and a number of slightly more trickier techniques, I'm still relatively new to it. It is here where the incident occurs. So, after a brief moment of pause to discuss what we'd like to hone in today's session, my sparring partner and I begin to spar as per usual. Only this time round, we start to get a bit overconfident, leading to us overexposing ourselves in order to see if we can score a hit on the other in as short a time as possible. After a few rounds, we begin to get even more competitive, as we realize that this is taking quite a while. I then get the confidence to take the risk of moving in to attack my opponent's right side, which was slightly exposed. He then proceeds to do the same, only for this attack to miss the right side of my torso and hit the back of my head instead. I would like to stress here that there was no loss of consciousness, neither was there any sort of wounding or visible blood loss involved - and that thankfully the sword blades involved are blunt . Adrenaline kicked in, and at the time it felt like nothing more than a slight bump to the head - I felt okay to spar for a few more minutes, then we proceeded to stop the session early and take the equipment back to the storage facility (which is the basement of my house).

For a few hours afterwards, the adrenaline masked the symptoms I am currently feeling, and as a result I did not feel them until later the same evening. It was not until Friday afternoon I consulted a doctor, which I did so after my councilor urged me to do so during our appointment. I was advised to rest and take painkillers for a short while (1-2 weeks) and return to activities once I felt better. After doing 'research' (I use that term loosely, seeing as there was tons of contradicting information on the internet), I began to feel extremely worried about the long-term implications. Against what my body was telling me, I also went to an exam yesterday morning, where I was sustained by pure adrenaline. I'll list the symptoms as to give an overview as to what I'm experiencing at the moment:

• Headaches
• Memory issues (i.e. remembering information related to my course - semantic memory). Yet my episodic memory is still okay, which I'm grateful for. Things are quite foggy - would I have to relearn everything?
• Stumbling/difficulty keeping balanced. Coordination is rather off too.
• Depression and anxiety - as mentioned earlier, I already suffer with these issues. I'm unsure whether it is the injury or the resulting stress that is making these worse.
• Nausea - I vomited for the first time a few hours ago. It wasn't much, but it is still worrying.
• Fear - I'm frightened about what is going to happen next. All I would like to do at the moment is return home to my family, but that would involve a 12 hour bus journey; to which I frankly don't have the energy to do at the moment.
• Fatigue - I'm having to take breaks more than usual.

The severity of these symptoms has been fluctuating wildly, in a fashion I could best describe as a yo-yo sort of effect.

Following the incident, I only left my home three times, to see my councilor and consult a doctor, both of which are situated on campus - my accommodation, which I share with six of my close friends, is on the street right outside of the entrance to campus. The third occasion was to do a two-hour exam that was vital to completing a module on my degree program.

From the information I've read both on the internet and in leaflets provided to me by my doctor, these issues should sort themselves out in either 7-10 days, or somewhere in the region of a week to a few months. I'm not feeling confident about this, so I've asked my councilor to take me to the nearest hospital (or rather A&E) to get a second opinion, and possibly a scan.

It doesn't help that I watched a Louis Theroux documentary about dementia and the implications it has on both the people living with it, and those who care for them - It only made me feel more anxious.

Anyhow, I am indeed very sorry for the long post, and I do hope that I can find some solace and support here. Thank you for taking the time to read this.