I’m a 21 year old male with post concussion syndrome and anxiety from a lifetime of contact sports and being a crazy child in my youth. Those on the forum for a long time probably know me well. I’m gonna try and right this post without any added drama or anxiety and just state things in a factual way and proclaim what help I need.

In a troubling situation right now that I really need advice for. Basically I had been doing really well for a while. In university, active social life, working, dating, etc. Not 100% back to normal physically but my life was basically one of a fully active person. Then exactly a week ago I was at a party when this massive drunk idiot came from my blindside and hit/shove/pushed me in the shoulder with 2 hands full force making my body whip to the side really hard. Didn’t hit my head or fall to the ground but got shaken up really bad and did not see it coming so my body was limp and just got flung a few feet to the side and my head and neck whipped with it.

The incident really jarred me up and I’ve been feeling quite awful physically since it happened. I’ve barely been able to participate in school or do any school work and I’ve completely shut down my social life. I really need help from the people people on this forum on how to process what happened and how to navigate where to go from here. I need to know if the best course of action is to try and push through how I’m feeling and continue with school/work/social or if this was likely a new brain injury that I should take the semester off to recover from. Should I treat this like a new concussion or more like anxiety/pcs setback/ neck injury ? How can I rationalize this and what’s the best way to move forward?

Just a bit confused because I have people telling me this very likely could not have been a new injury but on the other hand I hear people saying it very easily could be since I’m much more vulnerable and thus I should not do anything for a few weeks and see a neurologist and such. I feel like it’s two drastically different plans of action and I don’t know what to do.

Thanks so much for any responses.

Oh also was hoping to know what the difference was between a setback and a new injury and if there was any way to differentiate the two and if both of them have different protocols for recovery and what to do when in the midst of them.?

Hi Ben, I hope you’re feeling a lot better now that a week or more has passed. You probably got a fright and a big adrenaline rush.

I have to say from what you’ve written about getting back into your studies etc., that you sound as if you've been doing very well despite the roller coaster struggles that happen when things go wrong.

You should be very proud of yourself for getting your life in order as you have and it would be a terrible shame for you to stop the semester because of what happened last week. Think of how far you've come over the past few years. Keep on track and working towards your goal. It's a difficult world and lots of distractions already without these types of ups and downs with worries about your health.

I mentioned this on a post to Tyler a while back but many years ago I found myself in a situation where I was afraid of hurting my head again so I started avoiding certain situations. Stairs were a huge problem. Having balance issues, it was actually quite understandable. These days that’s all gone and unless my vertigo is playing up really badly or I’m very unsteady on my feet for health reasons, I really don't consciously become wary anymore.

I just read what you wrote in your message to claire2770. You sort of answered your own worries there. You said “ Also in my experience this type of thing could cause a bit of a setback and relapse in symptoms but I’ll usually return to how I was prior soon enough without having my long term progress impeded upon”.

Chemar posted to TheNorwegian about reassurance and I think that's a key in our getting through the initial panic moments. If you re-read what you said to claire2770, you already know the answer. I sure hope you're feeling better. I have to also mention that one of the things I find with myself is that I need to work on keeping at a certain level of calmness all the time so that if something goes wrong, and it surely will, then I'm better able to cope.

It's a whole other conversation but involves meditation, yoga, tai chi, relaxation exercises, plain old hard work in the yard, gardening and other very positive aids.

Let us know how you're doing. Keep up the good work.
Lara.

Thanks for the response, much appreciated. It’s true I had been doing significantly better. Felt as if I was almost out of the woods regarding this whole pcs thing. Got abruptly snapped back down to earth when I got my spine rearranged by that powerful blow last week though lol.

Im taking it day by day trying to do what I can. Haven’t dropped out of school yet. What’s really challenging though is the symptoms. I wish it was just anxiety but I’ve been feeling physically terrible since the impact so it’s hard to do much of anything. It feel like anything other than laying in bed is pushing my body and brain to do something it desperately doesn’t want to do. It is improving a little bit but it’s still a struggle and I still have a very short leash regarding the amount of activity I can do daily before my body crashes.

What makes you so convinced that this incident would not be a new brain injury and instead is almost certainly anxiety or just a pcs setback and neck aggravation? Just asking cause this incident seems like a pretty textbook concussion to me since it was a a very hard and momentous impact, albeit not directly to the head. I’m not an expert though so if someone who knows more about the forces involved could clear it up that would be immensely helpful.

I know I’m a broken record asking about if things are damaging or not but it doesn’t come from a place of anxiety but rather a place of simply wanting to know how best to proceed. If I should get this on my medical record, follow a protocol plan, etc or simply try and power through. I also feel as if I need to know because I need to know how vulnerable I am for the foreseeable future. We all know the brain is much more fragile for some time following an injury.

But yes I am trying to relax. I have joined my university’s yoga club. Thanks for your concern once again, it’s very helpful to chat to people on here.

Hi Ben, I am not aware that I said any of that and especially in those words.
In fact I specifically tried to avoid one of those words. I am not there looking at you as we're on the internet, but if I was in the same situation I would doubt I had sustained a new brain injury although a whiplash could cause problems obviously.

You need to treat the symptoms from your neck and I imagine you did all that with ice etc.? It's probably going on two weeks now so if your neck or shoulder is still sore and you still feel a bit "off", then you should check with your doctor.

Yeah, unfortunately I can't help you with the physics regarding forces needed to sustain serious injury from a whiplash. I've seen many posts about it over the years here. I just know if something hurts then it hurts and if it hurts a lot then I probably need it checked. I have terrible problems with my neck and spine and I do know that if I injure my neck or back working in the yard or something, then it can really make me feel very ill. It's a pain and feeling that is hard to describe. If you feel you have a whiplash injury or even more subtle injury you need to get it looked into.

Feel better soon.
Lara

Oh ok my bad, I guess I had inferred it.

Yah my neck has definitely been a factor, whether it’s an injury from the incident itself or from tensing up so much in the subsequent panic attack. I know the neck has a ton of nerves and such and aggravation there can cause all types of ailments.

Saw my pt yesterday and she loosened my muscles up a bit and it helped make me feel a decent bit better. I also went to the gym for some light cardio and muscular workout yesterday and today and this helped a bit as well which is encouraging.

It’s been about a week and a half, I’ll see how I feel by the two week mark and then make a decision if I should try and see a specialist doctor or if this was more of a temporary setback like you said.

Very good that you saw your PT yesterday and it does sound more encouraging.
Take it easy on the workouts though.
You have a plan and it sounds good.
Feel better fast.

p.s. panic attacks. Don't forget to breathe... breathing is the key. Also breathing into a brown paper bag during panic episode is very valuable. Sounds weird, but there is a very scientific explanation.

Thought I’d give a little update on my situation. Don’t think I’m fully back to where I was prior to the brain injury/setback from the hit/push incident but I am doing better. I’ve started going to the gym most days and this usually helps my symptoms some: I’ve been attending all my classes and doing the assignments without too much issue. I think the next step will be trying to reintegrate my social life, I’ll have to do some test runs this weekend maybe just doing some calm activities with friends and see how my body reacts to it.

Have an appointment with a concussion doc to talk about it on October 15 and have been seeing my pt every week.

Keep up the good work!

I'll be interested to hear what the concussion doctor has to say. His response will indicate if he actually knows anything.

Did he take a few weekend courses from ImPACT or CNS Vital signs or does he actually have sound knowledge?