Hello,
I just wanted to share my son's story quickly to maybe give some hope to someone else going through a similar situation. My son was in a skateboarding accident and hit his head. He was wearing a helmet, which got dented, but he seemed OK at first. He got up slowly and shook of the cobwebs, so to speak, and said he thought he was alright. Then about 20 minutes later he got sick to his stomach and threw up. At that point we took him to the E.R. and had a CT scan done. They said the scan showed no fractures or bleeding and after and hour sent us home. My son had a headache and felt tired but seemed good besides that. The next morning is when our world caved in. When he woke up he had a very bad headache and started to get some memory loss. He couldn't remember who the President was or some family vacations, over the next 24 hrs his memory really shut down. He couldn't remember the name of his school, close friends or even his relatives. He forgot almost all the movies he had ever seen. He couldn't even remember certain foods and would ask if he liked that food before eating it. We took him to three different specialists in our area and each had a different opinion but none could really give us any answers. Maybe five days after the accident while in the bath tub he started saying garbled words and his eyes rolled up in his head and I thought he was going to pass out. My wife called the ER to tell them we were bringing him in but after I helped him out of the tub and gave him some orange juice he seemed to regain his senses and appeared stable again.
Every day was an emotional rollercoaster for us as parents with ups and downs in his condition. My son basically spent the next two months in bed with the lights out and free from all noises. He would get up for a few hours each day and eat and talk but then his head would start hurting and he would have to lay down again. The weird thing was is that he could not remember friends, family, vacations, but could still remember how to do his algebra and other subjects. We were giving him plenty of water and some supplements such as magnesium and fish oil. He had a non-stop headache every day that would vary on intensity depending on how active he was.
Warm baths seemed to relax him and calm his head the most. After two months of this he returned to school under the advice of his doctor but was not allowed to take tests or quizzes. For the first week he had to have a student lead him to his class rooms and and all his friends had to reintroduce themselves to him. It was awful for us as parents to watch, we felt so bad for him. Through it all he kept a positive attitude and wanted to keep attending school and move forward. Often his headaches would get too bad and we'd have to pick him up after an hour or two of school. Well school ended but because his grades were so good prior to the accident and he had taken all the state examines the school allowed him to move on and not repeat 7th grade. My wife and I were having doubts that his memory would ever return fully and that his headaches would ever cease. Well, about the third week of June he woke up one morning and his headache was gone, the first time in almost 5 months. Within maybe two or three days his complete memory came back, I would say maybe better than before. He could remember small details from when he was 4 yrs old. I would say he slept more during the summer months than he had before the concussion, but other than that, he seemed back to his old self. He started 8th grade this past fall and took all GHP classes and has a 3.8 GPA. I know what my son had with the memory loss is rare, but for those who are going through the headaches, nausea, mood swings, and sensitivity to light and noise, I can relate. I also know that all head injuries are different and that each person heals differently but there is hope. We went through this awful ordeal for 5 months thinking it may be years and the he would need tutoring just to get by, but with rest, a good diet and supplements (I believe the fish oil really helped) he recovered 100%. Just stay positive, make sure your child gets plenty of sleep and most heal completely, given time. The brain is an amazing organ. We did a lot of research and talked to many doctors so if anyone would like to email me feel free.
Take Care,
John A.

John,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. I am glad to hear your son recovered so well. You, your wife and son MUST accept the fact that your son's brain is still injured and always will be. This means he needs to be very cautious with activities than can cause another concussion. He also may struggle with stress or even have bouts of depression.

Please, keep an eye on him. As he goes through the hormonal changes of the next few years, his brain will be seriously challenged.

My best to you all.

It was the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2010 that I sustained my TBI. Seems a good time to reflect on the reasons to give thanks this holiday season.

There are five weeks for which I have no memory, including Thanksgiving that year (retrograde amnesia) through Christmas/New year’s (post traumatic amnesia). I can celebrate my recovery progress over the following months; periodic assessments from my clinical neuropsychologist:

12/30/2010
“Patient’s speech was fluent, but paraphasic with notable word finding difficulties. He misreported his age as 40. He was unable to follow a 3-step command but was able to follow some 2-step commands. He registered 3 of 3 words, but could not recall any with distraction, or identify any when provided with multiple choice cues. The patient produced some confused speech and numerous paraphasic errors. He reports difficulties with memory and decision making. He does display an aphasic disturbance as well as some confusion and difficulties with attention and memory.”

1/24/2011
“On evaluation, this bright motivated gentleman has many preserved skills; however he does show significant difficulties with visuospatial learning and recall, as well as mental flexibility and multitasking. He displays weaknesses in aspects of executive system functioning (retrieval of learned information, mental flexibility, abstract reasoning, problem solving, and verbal fluency).”

4/26/2011
“On examination, the patient demonstrated intact cognition in all domains assessed including learning and memory, attention, processing speed, language skills and executive functions. He has shown an excellent recovery from his severe injury only five months ago. From a cognitive standpoint there are no concerns with respect to the patient returning to work full time or returning to driving”

I will always remain grateful to all who enabled my recovery and encouraged and empowered me to return to a normal life.

A public thanks to: Scott Petersen MD, trauma surgery; Steve Chang MD, neurosurgery; Michael Sochacki MD, orthopedic surgery; Christine Kwasnica MD and Suzanne Kelley NP, neurorehabilitation. Happy Thanksgiving, I am grateful to you all.

I remain grateful to all family and friends who visited me during and after the hospital stay, and for all your prayers and well wishes.

Most of all, love and gratitude to Karen, my wife and caregiver. You were (and are) a rock of love and support.

Reading the stories here encouraged me during my concussion, so I thought I would briefly share mine.

After falling and hitting my head, I had post concussion syndrome for about a year-and-a-half. During that time, I had periods where I thought I was getting better, only to get worse again. It felt as if my brain turned off and on...and off again.

My symptoms varied during different stages in the recovery. I suffered from multiple migraines a week for a period, could hardly make it more than a couple of minutes in a store, and had to quit my job. For months, I could not ride in the car, even as a passenger, for more than a couple of miles, and I literally lived within a very tiny radius of my home. My days consisted of mainly rest—I could hardly even handle normal conversations for very long. Background noises were hard to tune out for a very long time. My vision went blurry for a period. I could hardly think for huge periods of a day. Too much head movement caused my brain to shut down (I had to even be careful about nodding my head too many times).

Anyway, all that to say, it was very discouraging and felt as if I would never get better. But I did . I'm thankful to say that after about a year-and-a-half, I have made a full recovery, minus a little bit of eye strain that's still ironing out as my eyes get used to life again.

I’m so thankful to be better, but I’m also thankful for the journey, tough as it was. I learned a lot during the recovery. After all, when your brain doesn't work, you realize how much it normally does without you realizing it . It's truly a marvel of God's design. Even the fact that it can heal itself is incredible. We take so much in life for granted...yet it's really all a gift.

I know some of you reading this may be in a lot of pain right now and wonder where God is. Know that the Bible has answers. It explains that suffering and death wasn’t part of God’s design—it came because of man’s sin (Romans 5:12). It also tells of how Jesus came, lived the perfect life we could never live, and died in our place (2 Corinthians 5:21) so that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16) in Heaven, where there’ll be no more pain, sorrow, or death (Revelation 21:4). And God promises to be with those who have repented and trusted in Jesus, even in life’s darkest hours (Hebrews 13:5). I can’t tell you how many times in the recovery I reached the end of my own strength to endure—but I never reached the end of God’s love.

I hope this little testimony will be helpful to someone. May God bless and keep you through your own concussion journey. Look up—there is hope.

*For those who don't feel like reading this whole post... I recovered 99% after 8 months of improvements and setbacks!! A year in and I feel great. It is tough but for me, it did go away!!!*

It has been one year since my concussion which, like so many of you, caused a spiral of symptoms that without a doubt was the scariest, most horrible experience I have ever had.

Random dizziness, painful headaches, sudden vision change "spells", light and noise sensitivity, mild auditory hallucinations, extreme panic attacks, heart palpitations, intolerance to any exertion (couldn't walk two blocks to the store without getting lightheaded and having to sit down to rest), depression, very little concentration ability, short term memory loss and "lost thoughts", confusion, mental fogginess and "slowness" (at one point I thought I had lost any understanding of the concept of humor forever), sensitivity to head movement (nodding, cars, turning quickly), fear of being in public, inability to maintain a conversation, etc etc.

This took about 4 months of one step forward, one step back, over and over, to even START to improve in a lasting way. It was crushing when I realize my healing was not going to be linear in any way.. if I was better one day, I could be ten times worse the next.

Half the time I could not do anything but lay in the dark in the motel I was staying in with the tv on quietly, to attempt to distract myself even though I could only listen, not look at the screen, and put all my little energy into fending off an ever-present anxiety attack and try to not feel like I was falling off the edge of a cliff.

Doctors were useless, a common theme to many here I believe. I don't want to dwell on these symptoms any more, but I did want to return to say.. ***I GOT BETTER!!!*** <-- (purpose of post) And there is a good chance you will too.

Originally I pushed myself- I returned too quickly (2 months in, right after I really started feeling better) to a very physical job which made everything much, much, worse, and I was then laid out for the next few months in recovery. Eventually I returned to said job, when the symptoms subsided.

I still have slight vision issues (something akin to "afterimages" when I look away from something), and I sometimes get a little light headed when I exercise but not bad. Sometimes I feel as though I am still not as quick-witted as I once was, but I can live with that.

Anyway, I am now living a full, mentally and physically active life as a field biologist and am not hindered by the concussion that I, at the time, was so scared would have permanent effects. Please don't give up hope. Nutrition and supplements, family/friend support, and adequate rest can really work wonders for many people.

Also, thanks to those who post in this forum and respond to those that need your support. Even though I didn't post a lot, in the depths of that mysterious hell known as PCS I would spend a lot of time educating myself and boosting my hope and attitude by reading your kind and informative words.

Since most of my recovery was spent alone, reading this forum's posts was much of my support system. I hope those of you that are still in recovery begin to/continue to see improvement in your healing process.

So! For me, turned out there was light at the end of all this .... and it took me about 8 months. DO NOT give up!

Thank you very much for the thoughtful post Shortcircuit.

Your experience is very similar to mine and the part about humour really resonated with me.

I haven't checked out the supplements forum, maybe that would be a good idea.

It's been about a year since my last update. I just wanted to come back and say that things are still going well. Sometimes some of my symptoms return (and a few of them never left), but I'm learning ways to prevent and/or cope with most of them.

I'm able to work 25 to 35 hours a week now, which makes me very happy. I'm working as a writer, which leaves me physically and mentally exhausted, but I'm able to do it. I'm now making enough money to pay my bills and support my children without struggling. When I first got my TBI, I was terrified I'd never get back to this level of stability.

I have learned that I cannot function without 9+ hours of sleep a night and B vitamins. Sometimes I slack on other things in my routine, but I can never slack on these two. I notice the effects immediately. If I fail to get enough sleep, I stumble over my words and fall around like I'm drunk.

I finally feel like I'm ready to start dating again. I have gone on 2 dates in the last few months, so that's a start.

My goal is to run a 5K this fall...very slowly...lol. We'll see how that goes.

I hope that all of you are doing well, too. I haven't logged in much this year, but I do still think of you guys often. Take care.

I wanted to post here because this thread gave me hope.

I had a concussion in 2009 from a tree branch falling on my head while walking on campus. Had fatigue, vision issues, headaches, anxiety/depression and sleep troubles for about 6 months. After 7-8 months, I fully recovered. I want to underline "fully". I went back to my normal life and the bad times with PCS had become just a bunch of bad memories.

Earlier this year in February, I slammed my head on my dining table light. I was in a crouched position and sprung up into it and hit it with the side of my head. I'm past 5 months now and still suffering from fatigue, headaches, neck pain, anxiety/depression and sleep disturbances. I feel like I'm recovering slower this time and it's been really hard to accept, especially because I'm going through PCS for the 2nd time now. I'm really hoping I can make a full recovery again.

A point to consider when discussing 'full recovery' is that most will experience an increased sensitivity to future concussions or a increased level of symptoms from subsequent concussions. So, feel great about recovering but take reasonable steps to avoid future concussions like avoiding contact sports, etc. We can't control those accidental bumps but we can avoid known risks of head impacts.

Enjoy your recovery but be wise.

Thank you for sharing your words of encouragement, I hope that you're alright now and not experiencing PCS. Perhaps we should all start wearing helmets since we seem to be the unlucky ones. If anyone makes fun, at least we know our fellow NeuroTalk members might be wearing their helmets too.