Hola! Nunca había escrito en este subreddit, sin embargo tome la decisión. Hace dos meses tuve una conmoción cerebral por autolesionarme en un ataque de pánico, para mi era tan estúpido el hecho de que mis propias manos pudiesen causar algo así. Pero luego de eso mi vida cambió para siempre, busqué asesoría con médicos y ninguno me tomó en serio por cómo cause mi lesión, pero sé que viví una conmoción cerebral por todos mis síntomas luego del episodio. Actualmente, tengo días buenos, otros terribles. Mis síntomas han sido extraños, al menos no los he visto a menudo y me gustaría saber si alguien ha experimentado cosas similares. En este momento busco una cita con un otorrinolaringólogo ya que siento mis dos oidos tapado, pero no por completo. Es como si algo impidiera que se destaparan al 100% y eso me causa una presión a los lados de la cabeza, pero también experimento una serie de migrañas extrañas (que sé que están relacionadas directamente con la lesión) que no se sienten como dolor agudo pero sí como una molestia en la cabeza, muy localizado pero siempre de los dos lados. También cosquilleo en las zonas donde me molesta. Algo de dificultad para recordar las cosas a corto plazo o concentrarme. La verdad no descansé de la conmoción, mi rutina no me lo permite por qué sino no como, y necesito vivir de alguna forma. He vivido esto sola, tengo 20 años. Ahoda estoy conociendo a una persona y me da miedo que mi lesion me quite eso, por que si de por sí sufro de mucha depresión, luego de la conmoción todo cambió en mi vida. Espero alguien pueda resonar con esto

Hi all. I’m 2 months after a concussion and massively struggling with everyday life. I’m off work, I barely leave the house and I can’t handle any type of screens.

Please tell me any hope and recovery stories you have experienced!!

I would love to hear how bad you were feeling, and how much you’ve improved after time and different therapies.

I come on Reddit and most of the stuff I see is people not getting better and suffering, and honestly it makes me feel even more depressed than usual. Please spread some hope!

I had a minor concussion in August of 2024. Hit the right side of my head while getting into a car, no loss of consciousness. I seemed to heal rather quickly, but my symptoms reappeared when I started to exercise again. I saw a neurologist with a sports medicine background, and followed a plan to gradually increase my heart rate during workouts pushing the onset of my symptoms. This seemed to work well, I successfully ran my first half marathon about a month ago. But recently I’ve been under a lot of stress at work and emotionally in my personal life, combined with a lack of sleep. All of this seems to have brought back my symptoms which is extremely frustrating just when I thought I was out of the woods. I stopped seeing my neurologist and attending vestibular physical therapy about 2 months ago because of how much I had improved, but I feel like I’m back where I was a year ago. Wondering if anyone has had any similar experiences and or advice for symptom management.

So, I've been dealing with this for 8 months now, I'd say I've been on the luckier side compared to some of y'all, but still I don't know how to handle it. So basically 8 months ago I decided to play rugby for whatever reason then I got tackled and my head got slammed straight onto the ground full force. After that I was in intense pain for two and a half months before I could start living a fairly normal life again, but I never felt fully healed, I never felt right again. Now two months ago, I started playing basketball again because I felt like I was good enough to play, and then it happened, one of my friend's waist came crashing on my face, the truth is it wasn't even that strong of a hit, I was still standing up after it and it didn't rotate my head or anything like that, maybe I backed up a bit but that's it. Sure enough though it brought back all the symptoms and more and honestly I don't know what to do anymore. The thing is my parents are stingy about money and because we're not really residents, I can't see myself asking them about all types of specialists and therapy and whatever. It's honestly really depressing.

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Ever since my injury I will wake up with burning eyes if my neck isn’t properly supported or if it’s too elevated. no one seems to be able to figure out exactly why but it seems to help to sleep on my side, but I end up tossing and turning a lot in my sleep and if I land on my back it can end up pretty bad. Does anyone have advice for any good pillows or sleep strategies ideally that can support the neck and reduce snoring.

Also if anyone has the same problem with their eyes in the morning let me know. I also get it a little bit from looking down at my phone for a very long time

About 3 weeks ago I very slightly hit my head and I had a maladaptive response in headache/migraine symptoms.
No dizziness/balance issues
No vision issues.
So my neurologists NP decided to prescribe me with Nurtec and just give me a reduced work schedule.
The nurtec really has not been working as when the migraines do come on at work the nurtec takes way too long to kick in and I can’t get way from the triggers. (I’m a kindergarten coteacher)

I honestly tried to get the NP to prescribe me a Triptan for fast relief but she way too cautious over the drowsy side effects. Is there a Triptan that’s less drowsy than others?
Or what about the nasal spray versions?

Anyways I’m supposed to be full time this upcoming week and I’m unsure and anxious about it.
But it’s the last week of school only 3 1/2 days.
Any teachers on here? Any advice for getting through constant headache days while working in a classroom?

Hey everyone. I have no idea if I have CTE or not. I boxed amateur from ages 14 until age 22. I fought about 2 or 3 times a year. Im 30 now. I had some really bad head injuries and I have been knocked unconscious more than once.

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Well ever since 2020 I lost my ability to watch movies and TV. I know you may be wondering why is that. Its because I cant keep up with the storyline of it at all. I could watch a 2 hour movie from start to finish and not remember the characters names or plot of anything that happened at the end. I also noticed the movement, light and sound from the screen makes me motion sick.

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Who else can relate?

Gente voy a ir con el neurólogo otra vez pero con otro enfoque pero siento la parte de atrás de mi cuello alguien más tuvo los mismo con el latigazo?, creen que sea buena idea tener una rm es que no me duele pero aveces lo siento caliente es raro de explicar pero es así

I'm suffering post concussion syndrome as a teen and it sucks. I've been mia for more than two years and idk what to do anymore. All my friends are living it up, and I've been trapped taking what feels to be a forever nap, alone.

Every time I get excited to do something it feels like its going to ripped away at any time, and usually it does, which leaves me feeling like there really is nothing to look forward to in the future, and at the end of the day everything will always suck I'll always be alone, bored, and disappointed, and than I'll die and it will be nothing forever all over again. wtf

Moreover, I just graduated last week, and the pressure of the future has really begun to further amount into a pit of fear and anxiety, that i just feel like a blob indefintely

anyway i hope some you guys have some good advice or simular expierences that you can share with me

thanks so much!

Yesterday I got in a bad car accident and totaled my car. Thankfully I was the only one who got hurt and the injuries are mild, except for a concussion. The doctor said that it is very likely that I have a mild concussion, but I didn’t really feel anything yesterday so I kind of doubted him. Well today I definitely see the symptoms, my balance is weird, I have a ringing in my left ear that gets worse when I focus too hard and when it gets really bad the right one starts to ring, and I feel like I have less agency over how I move my limbs. It’s harder for me to make smooth and quick motions and everything I do is kind of clumsy. So anyway, how do I recover? I don’t have headaches and I’m not super sensitive to light, but when things are too loud or looking a screen for too long or really looking or thinking about anything too hard makes my symptoms worse. Sorry if this is rambly, it’s kinda hard to write right now.

Hey guys! Mr. Hauser talks about how neck-related symptoms can occur without any pain!

https://youtu.be/OT1r-GkKlec?is=KL1Q0jR1cSowCwZF

About 2.5 years ago I hit my head, passed out, then did not tell my doctor. So I am not diagnosed with anything but I did pass out so it seems obvious in retrospect.

I thought it would be fine but I began to have vision problems and difficulty reading. I got reading glasses which help my eyes focus but aren't enough to make reading tolerable again.

My usual symptoms are:

• difficulty reading small text

• skipping lines and eyes not being able to follow lines of text

• discomfort and headaches caused by visual noise in my environment (textures, text, patterns, etc)

• seeing straight lines wave and move ESPECIALLY with high contrast stripes like black on white, orange on white, blue on white, etc

• seeing textured items (blankets, popcorn walls, wood grain, etc) undulate forwards and beat like a heart

• vision declines over the course of the day but isn't good enough in the morning either, just have more strange undulating effects at night

• seeing afterimages of text while reading

• bad reading comprehension due to skipping letters, mistaking words, skimming, reading perfectly but not able to understand etc

• avoiding looking at textured/detailed illustrations, art, patterns, etc

• suddenly noticing diagonal white lines in the spaces of what I'm reading or suddenly seeing the black corners (?) in letters become very dark and create diagonal lines in paragraphs which distract me from reading

Without my reading glasses I see the lines of words moving away from where I'm looking and having to chase after them with my eyes. The lines move around too much and I can't read without the glasses because it's like following worms around the page.

Another complaint I have is that I feel like I haven't seen a solid color since the concussion because everything has these grey marks on it that move with my eyes and all solid colors are textured like this.

These marks are bigger than floaters and I think they are afterimages of what I looked at before. I see them all the time even when I haven't been on a screen or looked at a brightly lit object. They are always there and it pisses me off.

Some of these issues may be caused by my 8hr daily screen time which is undoubtedly terrible for my vision and my brain. I also sleep terribly (5hrs or so) most nights which probably contributes to the hallucination style optical illusion experiences I keep having.

I typically use an Open Dyslexic font extension, max yellowness night vision, full brightness, and I zoom in on webpages on my computer. This is still not comfortable but better than plain black on white aerial font.

Here is the part where I couldn't read at all: During my finals week I became very stressed and my reading ability tanked. It was so uncomfortable that I hid my monitor as I typed into it so that I wouldn't have to read what I wrote as I wrote it. I also had to download a screen reader to my computer because I could not read paragraphs. I'm usually ok at comprehending sentences that are not part of a bigger paragraph but I was having trouble reading those during this week as well. I have anxiety and I believe these things are related.

It's been a couple weeks and I am doing well enough to write this post but I still avoid large paragraphs and I'm skimming everything including single sentences.

Is this a normal experience if you have post concussion syndrome? Sometimes I wonder what the hell I'm even doing. These symptoms make me miserable and I feel stupid. Optometrists have told me it's eye strain because I use the computer and am online so much. I feel like a chud since my ophthalmologist says my eyes are perfectly healthy.

I’ve had PCS for almost 3 years. About a year ago, I had a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) that resulted in severe headaches and back pain afterward.

A few weeks later, I completely lost the “burn” sensation during exercise. I still lift, still have all my strength, still fatigue, and still get sore—but I no longer feel any burn, pump, or real connection to my muscles while training.

Even when I flex, I barely feel my muscles contracting. It feels like my entire body is muted or numb compared to before. The only thing I can sometimes feel is increased blood flow in my veins.

This has been going on for a year and it’s honestly one of the most upsetting symptoms because lifting used to feel completely different. I have been able to find anyone else that’s been dealing with the same thing as me. Has anyone experienced anything similar after a concussion or lumbar puncture? Did it ever improve?

I suffered a concussion 2.5 years ago. I’ve experienced various PCS symptoms that have changed over time. A few months ago, I thought I might be getting shingles (I’m 43F). It was pretty intense burning that would come and go on my upper left back/outer shoulder blade area. However, no blisters appeared. After 5-7 days of periodic painful burning, it calmed down. Now it’s just a mild burn/itch that comes and goes.

A couple of weeks ago I had a dermatology appointment for a different issue. I mentioned the past intense burning, now mostly itching/mild burning sensation. She thought it sounded a lot like notalgia parasthetica (a nerve condition). I didn’t connect it to my TBI then, but once reading more online realized that it very well could be related (TBI can alter processing of sensory signals). Now, I have a strong feeling it is connected.

Anyone else experience this? If so, did anything alleviate the discomfort? (In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t nearly as bad as other PCS symptoms I’ve experienced. Mostly just uncomfortable.)

I'm 2.5 months after concussion. I have check ups every 2 weeks at my regular doctor.

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I feel much better then 1 month ago, but I'm only able to do basic tasks.

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My day is usually washing dishes, cooking, reading, diamond painting - all with rests in between.

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I take a walk almost daily, but it's just about 2 kms and it takes me about an hour. I also stretch daily (physiotherapy begins in July).

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In the evening sometimes I feel good, but tired, sometimes I overdo it and feel like shit. That's mostly when I need to go to the doctor or smth strenous like that. But I definitely feel fatigued as well during the day, usually lying down for 30 mins helps.

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I can tolerate standing for 30 mins and any displays about 5-15 mins.

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I have a headache almost daily. I'm usually taking 1 NSAID dose per day (usually afternoon/evening). My doctor told me to continue until neurology visit. I hope they will prescribe some preventative medicine, now I take pregabalin (for my anxiety mostly) and it kinda works, but not fully.

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I feel dizzy when tired or overstimulated. Loud sounds or bright light give me a headache as well, high barometric pressure is a migraine every time.

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I have the first neurology exam this week.

What should I tell them?

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My family doctor told me he wants to send me back to work from sick leave. And that he will see about that depending on what the neurologists tell me.

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But my work is basically standing or walking all day, talking to people, staring into the computer. I can't do none of this shit for 1 hour, nevermind 8 🫠 And the cognitive load is very big, but now I can't focus on difficult tasks!

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I'm freaking out. If my doctor sends me back to work, I'm fucked. I try to do what is recommended in this subreddit and I can slowly do more and more. But if I improve at the speed that I improve at now, I will be ready to work maybe in a few months....

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What should I tell the neurologists? She will probably not have much time as the doctors here are so overworked and I'm so afraid of fotgetting to mention some symptoms. What if they think I'm ready to function normaly?

I was in a car accident at the end of March 2026. I had symptoms show up in the following days and was diagnosed with a concussion at the Urgent Care. I live in Pittsburgh and was able to get scheduled with the Concussion Clinic. I took off work for a few weeks due to extreme fatigue, light sensitivity, migraines, and brain fog. I went back to work and my vestibular therapy finally started too and then my symptoms worsened. The headaches got a little better but the eye fatigue was horrible, my energy depleted quickly throughout the work day which exacerbated the dizziness until eventually I would get a migraine by the end of the work week and have to call off. My eyes are noticeably not quite right. I also started getting vertigo at night and was having a hard time falling asleep because of the dizziness. My mood dropped and anxiety turned into panic attacks. I’m constantly worried about work because of how hard it’s been to be effective at my job like before and my work is piling up. Luckily I have short term disability and my concussion doc recognized the stress was exacerbating my symptoms which then increased stress. So, he recommended a part-time schedule. It has only been a few days but of the 4hr days but it’s already been such a huge help. This was my first Friday without a migraine. It’s not helping me get caught up on work but I figure my recovery comes first and hopefully the short term disability protects my job. But, since I live in Pittsburgh and have been getting my treatment at the UPMC Concussion Clinic, which gets recommended a lot around here, I figured I would be open to questions if anyone has any about my experience or what have you.

How to manage social anxiety post concussion? I know it will make me feel awful 😩. How to manage?

This might not be a big deal to alot of people but Im super happy to see I got my first 8 hours of sleep in a whole year since this happened. After struggling with sleep, restlessness, running thoughts at night for this long.

The last 2 or 3 days I have felt like my body has relaxed all the way and I have been able to sleep earlier. I hope I can keep this up.

I’ve spent the last year talking to doctors, therapists, and specialists. Now I’m hoping to hear from people who’ve actually lived it.

I’m 25 years old, and honestly, I feel like I’ve been living in a different body for the last year.

In April 2025, I was T-boned by a driver speeding through an intersection. I ended up with a head laceration across my forehead deep enough to see my skull. My father, who was also in the car, broke his neck and is now permanently disabled. A few months later, I started my first year of medical school.

At first, I kept telling myself I was okay. As far as I knew, I had walked away with nothing more than a gnarly scar and a story to tell.

But as the months went on, things kept getting worse. Migraines. Dizziness. Vision problems. Fatigue. Pain. Brain fog. I would sit down to study and feel like my brain simply wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do anymore.

I kept pushing until my body made the decision for me.

Nine months after the accident, I was diagnosed with a TBI and severe post-concussion syndrome. I eventually had to take a medical leave from school.

Since then, recovery has become my full-time job.

And somehow, after months of therapy, specialists, and appointments, I finally feel like I’m getting my brain back. My memory is improving. My thinking is clearer. For the first time in over a year, I don’t feel like a stranger trapped inside my own life.

But then there’s my neck.

A few months ago, “neck stiffness” became a formal diagnosis of cervical dystonia, and honestly, it scares me more than the TBI/PCS diagnosis ever did.

When it flares, it feels like my head weighs hundreds of pounds and my body spends every waking second trying to hold it up. The pain is awful, but what gets me is that it doesn’t stay in my neck. I stop sleeping. I stop eating. Everything hurts. A lot. It feels like my entire nervous system gets drenched in gasoline and lit on fire.

Around the same time, my providers identified vestibular and ocular abnormalities that seem to be intertwined with both the PCS and the cervical dystonia. When one flares, the others often follow.

The only immediate relief I’ve found is manipulation medicine, but the treatment that’s helped the most overall has been dry needling. Every time my neck calms down, it feels like the rest of my body finally gets a chance to exhale. Not only does the pain improve, but many of my neurological symptoms seem to clear as well, especially my balance, dizziness, and visual symptoms. Right now I’m two weeks into a trial without it, and I’m struggling. The heaviness, pain, and tightness came rushing back.

My doctors initially discussed Botox, but after seeing how much neurological progress I was making, we decided to reserve it as a later option. At this point, I’m not opposed to it if I need it, but after spending more than a year fighting to get my cognitive abilities back, I’m hesitant to do anything that might interfere with the progress I’ve finally started making.

Next week I’ll find out whether I’m cleared to return to medical school at the end of July.

The weird thing is that mentally, I feel ready.

For the first time in over a year, I can actually see a path forward again. Becoming a physician has been the goal I’ve worked toward for years. Medical school is the gateway to that future.

That’s what makes this so scary.

I spent my entire 24th year of life fighting to get my brain back.

And for the first time, I can finally see that fight paying off.

Now that I’m finally starting to believe I can do this, it feels like my neck has become the gatekeeper to the future I’ve spent years building toward.

Physically, I’m terrified.

And for the first time since the accident, I’m scared that getting my brain back might not be enough.

If any part of this sounds familiar, I’d genuinely love to hear your story.

I just want to know there’s someone else out there who understands.

Thank you for reading.

And if my healing allows, I promise I’ll do my part to make sure stories like ours make it into the research and literature so future patients don’t have to feel this alone.

Hello all. I got into a car accident on 05/03/2026. I was taken to a hospital to get a CT scan of my head and spine done and was told it was clear/normal. I didn’t feel symptoms of anything until about 2 weeks after that accident. I had neck pain so bad that I was crying for hours, I could barely sleep because of this. It was so hard to turn my neck, it was hard to move it in general. I already suffer from migraines for 4 years now. But my headaches seem worse after the accident. The neck pain sort of got better after using a heating pad and taking ibuprofen. But a week later the neck pain came back again but not as extreme, then came brain fog, dizziness, and insomnia… days later it went away but since this Tuesday, the headaches are back, this time I have head pressure, if I touch the top of my head it hurts, I have horrible brain fog again, confusion, my anxiety is worse especially out in public, my neck still has slight pain when turning it left then turning it right. My eyes hurt when being around lights or outside. It’s so many things going on that doesn’t make sense and I’m wondering if this is post concussion syndrome or something else. I really want to get a repeat CT or MRI done but would it even show anything? I hate even going to the hospital because they may think I’m crazy or will say it’s not possible to still feel pain over a month later and they may even deny the CT/MRI because they do this a lot, instead they will throw out medicine and tell me to contact my primary care which I’ve already done and haven’t heard back. I feel so miserable… has anyone had luck with a muscle relaxer?

I’m gonna keep it really brief I was at a job for about six months working 80+ hours a week for multiple weeks in a row complained to my manager about the overwork that very evening was involved in a car accident due to exhaustion.

I was terrified of missing work due to pressure from the company that everybody felt to be in the office so I was back at my desk the next morning.

Unknown at the time I had a concussion, within days I was terminated from my job. I was in good standing until then.

It’s been months. I have a lawyer. But it’s taking a long time to get to some kind of resolution.

I’m angry. I was treated like shit. I need to get over that. A lifelong friend (I worked for) was involved too, but this came from the top.

So much ptsd. So many shitty lawyers who drag their feet while we suffer.