Have you ever had a concussion?

[Bertha Venation]

Mrs. V. had a rather gruesome boating accident last month, and it included a concussion. She's unable to work (and is on LWOP, which is not good as she's our sole breadwinner). Her job is 100% brain work, and docs have told her she must rest her brain.

I know that everyone is different, that there is probably a different period of healing for each concussed person.

Still, I'm curious: if you have had a concussion, will you please tell me what it was like, and how long it was until you were back to normal?

Thanks.

[Tobin S.]

1. I got a concussion playing ball when I was a little kid.

It knocked me loopy for a few minutes, made me have double vision, and gave me a bad headache. They took me to a hospital where the doctor made the diagnosis and told me to take it easy for a few days. I returned to school after a couple of days off. But that was about 1978 and I was 6 years old. I'm sure they take more precautions now days and I know your partner is middle aged and probably won't rebound like a little kid.

[Bertha Venation]

5. Thanks, Tobin.

At age six, did you understand what had happened to you? Do you remember thinking anything like, well, this is weird . . . ?

A month and five days later, she is beginning - slowly - to get a little better. You're right: at age 63, it is going to take her longer to recover than a kid would take.

[pinboy3niner]

2. I think the term covers a VERY broad range of brain injuries

So broad that the experience of others may not be helpful at all. The attending doctor is the best and most informed person to consult on the issue.

[Tobin S.]

3. That's true. Good post. nt

[Bertha Venation]

6. Excellent point, pinboy.

Very good point.

I know better than to apply the experiences I read of here to Mrs. V.'s situation. But still, I am curious.

[ailsagirl]

4. I was thrown from a horse...

and I didn't remember very much after that. Next thing I knew, I was waiting for my father to pick me up and
I was reading a magazine. I was trying to, at any rate-- I recall that I could read the words but I didn't know what
they meant. Fortunately, it was a mild concussion.

[Bertha Venation]

7. Whoa!

That must've been very scary, ailsagirl! Yipes.

[ailsagirl]

8. I was in too much of a daze to really freak out

But yes, it was quite an experience!! My parents put a moratorium on my riding horses after that!!

[pinboy3niner]

9. "Whoa!"

I don't know if it was intentional, but that was hilarious in context.

[Bertha Venation]

11. Totally unintentional.

But my dad is laughing in his grave. He loved humor like that.

[malthaussen]

10. You're lucky

I knew two girls in HS who broke their necks being thrown from horses. They both survived, but the rehab was brutal.

-- Mal

[pinboy3niner]

12. I once got thrown by a Shetland Pony

Actually it tried to scrape me off on the fence and I decided to accept the invitation, sparing me a much rougher landing.

--pinboy

[Skittles]

22. an ex of mine (Jim)

every time he got on his sister's horse, it would run to the nearest tree and rub him off - did it several times before Jim finally gave up....another time, the horse stepped on Jim's dog's tail and would not move until his sister ordered him off - that horse had it in for Jim very badly; yes INDEED

[roscoeroscoe]

14. same kind of experience here

I woke up in the hospital after getting hit on my motorcycle. Spent a few hours re-connecting the ol' pathways... finally realized I was watching college basketball, then spent a few hours rebuilding the rules and how the game was played. I felt like my brain had to reboot more or less.

I lost a few days of memories also.

Good luck to her!

[davidpdx]

13. I am sorry to hear about Mrs. V's accident

I have never had one that I know of, but have been hit in the head and fallen and been knocked out. It's possible one of these was a minor concussion.

I hope she recovers soon and gets the rest she needs. Don't let her back to work until she is cleared by a doc.

[LWolf]

15. Yes.

I suffered a skull fracture and frontal lobe concussion in an accident.

I don't remember much about my time in the hospital. Between the drugs and brain function, all I get are fuzzy stills, and a memory of snarling at nurses for not leaving me alone.

I don't remember the accident at all.

I was aware and alert when I got home, because they'd taken me off of whatever they had me on in the hospital. I remember no consultations with doctors at all, or even a check-out procedure. I came home with some papers.

Aware and alert or not, my brain was scrambled. I couldn't remember some easy things that I knew I knew. Like words for objects. My head felt sore and bruised.

A physical therapist came out and wanted to make sure I could walk and bend...not a problem. Again, I kept telling him that the problem was my head, not my legs.

My papers told me that I needed a follow-up with a neurologist, so I found one local (where I lived, not where I was hospitalized.) He looked at my records and some ex-rays and pictures and told me that I'd probably always have nerve damage (shooting tingly pains down my arms into my hands.) I didn't; some work with a chiropractor, and they were gone in a couple of weeks.

I never did speak to any of the doctors that treated me during the foggy time; I could find their names on my papers, but when I called and wanted to ask questions, I was told I'd have to make an appointment, pay for that appointment, and drive long distance to their offices in the city I'd been hospitalized in. I felt, reasonably or no, that they should be able to tell me whatever information they gave me while I was there over the phone, and that giving someone important information at a time they couldn't process it wasn't the most professional way to go about it.

I very slowly began to "find" lost memories of simple things; my son described it pretty accurately. He said it was all there, but all my files had been dumped into a big pile and I had to sort through and refile everything.

It was pretty surprising when I saw titles on the spines of books on my shelf, and remembered reading them, and couldn't remember anything about them. I re-read a lot of books, usually remembering the story at some point in the process.

People acted funny around me, like they expected me to collapse at any moment, which pissed me off. I was back to work in a few weeks (3?) and functioning normally in every way, except that I noticed that I couldn't engage in any energetic physical activity without feeling my bruised brain sloshing against my skull. That took a few months before I could go back to being active beyond walking around.

Finally, there was one last thing. I was so caught up in regaining memories and going back to work that I didn't even realize it for almost 6 weeks, if you can believe it. One day I finally realized that I wasn't smelling anything. Nothing. And I haven't since. I lost my sense of smell permanently.

[antiquie]

16. Went over a 250' cliff in a '53 Ford in 1963.

Hit an embankment 100' feet down which saved our lives.
Headache for three months; no gym for three months.
Crazy now

[NJCher]

17. The Ghost in My Brain

See this link:

http://clarkelliott.com/

He had a concussion which put him out of commission for years. He discovered a technique to restore normality within 3 weeks.


Cher

[Phentex]

18. I don't think I felt normal for 6 months or more...

first I had headaches which I had NEVER had before. But they went away pretty fast. Then there was the general fogginess which I thought would never go away. Like living in a cloud all the time. You know something is different but you don't know how to verbalize it.

I had the typical symptoms of not being able to remember certain words and I couldn't work for a few weeks because I couldn't focus on numbers. I don't remember anything too drastic physically although I experienced uncertainty on escalators and stairs. Lights and sounds bothered me but only for a little while. It was the fogginess that drove me crazy and I wondered if I'd ever feel like myself again. But gradually I did.

Be patient with Mrs. V. She may not even know how to describe this to you.

[femmocrat]

19. I think so, but it was never treated.

I rode my sled head-first into a brick wall when I was around 8 or 9. I woke up in the snow, walked home (about a block), went to sleep on the couch and never saw a doctor. I don't know how long I was out.

I remember how the impact felt, I remember feeling sick in the stomach and I remember that it knocked me out. I probably had one heck of a headache, but I don't remember that. I always had a lot of headaches. Concussion care has come a long way, baby!

[mopinko]

20. i counted up at least 6 i had as a kid.

i still think they are responsible for my f'ed up sleep.
i def had seizures as a kid. most likely from the big one- getting smacked in the face w a baseball bat wielded by a semi-pro player. i was 5. it was an accident. the poor guy. omg did he feel awful.
it broke my nose and cause bruising that ate my whole face. no way it didnt do the same to the inside of my skull.

most of them werent called concussions at the time. the definition has broadened. i think these days if you lose consciousness, they consider it a concussion.

if i were you, or mrs b, i would read up on seizures. when my daughter was FINALLY dx'd as having epilepsy, some 15 years after the head injury that caused it, i read up on it. i was surprised to find many of my weird childhood symptoms described perfectly clearly.
what people think of as seizures, falling over and twitching and all that, is really just one kind. my daughter had a bunch of things, like seeing people in her peripheral vision, that were ascribed to mental illness. bouts of confusion and brain freeze were also caused by the epilepsy, not by depression.

the longer seizures go untreated, the harder they are to treat. so, bone up and be on the look out.

to you both.

[mythology]

21. I've had a couple

Most were minor and just took a few days. The last one was the most serious and it took about a month before I stopped having headaches when looking at a screen or trying to read.

I also had some short term memory issues for a few weeks. I would go to do something and I would forget what I was going to do. I made use of post it notes to remind myself.

[OriginalGeek]

23. "Back" to normal?

I didn't even start out normal...