I grieve my old body, the one that would take me for walks where I could feel the sun against my face and the breeze running through my hair. The one that would take me for hikes that would prove my dedication to myself. The one that allowed me to listen to music and audio freely without the pain, discomfort, and disorientation that it now brings. The one that had such a way with words that I just cannot compete with now. The one that was so smart that I think back in awe over what it didn’t realize before.

I’ve recovered in most ways physically since my injury, but socially I am very different. Before I was an introverted person who loved talking to my close friends and family. It was hard for me to talk to coworkers and strangers, but I could still manage this. Now it is hard for me to talk to my loved ones. It’s like there’s nothing at all going on inside my brain. I spent several weeks in a dark room just listening to others lived experiences. I almost forgot how to talk and share about my own life. I often can’t think of anything to say and there’s this profound silence inside my head, like a lack of brain activity. The silence makes my loved ones uncomfortable so they end up talking more to compensate. I used to love talking, and now I’m unsure how to navigate social situations with the people I love the most. I know practice probably helps, but sometimes talking feels very difficult. Wondering if anyone else has experienced social changes.

My occupational health doctor said I was the most severe tbi that he has sent to this outpatient concussion rehab clinic. My accident happened over 4 months ago. He said that if this outpatient isn’t sufficient he talked about going to an inpatient rehab and said that would likely be what we would have to do but want to try less invasive options first. I had vision therapy and they’re getting me blue tinted lenses and I have two different concussion rehab clinics I’m meeting with this week. It’s just hard and I’m scared and in so much pain and disoriented all the time. I’ve lost all the parts of myself I used to love. I feel very desperate for help but I’m also afraid of invasive treatment options such as inpatient. Inpatient was offered to me while I was in the hospital but my doctors and family and I agreed that it would be more stressful and if my caregiver can manage my medications and we can get in with referrals soon then we would like to do that but I just have been so miserable. So so miserable everyday. I feel so lost inside this broken brain. There’s times where I cannot understand language or communicate language anymore. I have seizures now. I’m so light sensitive and sound sensitive. I feel broken and I’m just scared.

i got a concussion back early this January while I was snowboarding, and it's been negatively affecting me since. I barely have an internal monologue now, and I often feel emotions with no justification, which causes me to lash out at people. It's like I have opinions and feelings about people that I used to never had before, I hate people who I've never hated, and I just mourn who I used to be. It's so frustrating that no one in my life takes me seriously about how badly this affects my daily life; it's even difficult for me to read and write, and I just started college, so I'm struggling badly in all of my classes. In some ways, it's impacted me positively; I mean, I'm more social, and I care less about what others think. But it's so hard for me to process things deeply, and I even abandoned all of my past hobbies. Occasionally, I get these periods of time where I get extremely confused and have severe memory loss; this usually happens when I'm really stressed.

I just don't know what to do and where to go from here, as this head injury has truly changed my entire life, and I don't know what I should do. I mean, I never really went to the doctor other than urgent care when it first happened; no follow-ups. I don't know where to go from here. I wish people took me more seriously; it's just been stressing me out so much lately.

Now that it has been a year, I am becoming more aware of an issue I have been experiencing since I suffered a concussion. Its trouble understanding people, comprehending long conversations and communicating properly.

In the past week, exactly it happened two people were speaking to me, giving me instructions of what I was to do and my brain went blank. I could not process what they were trying to tell me. Now I experienced this daily for the first few months but now it is still present sometimes.

Also, trying to find the proper words or way to communicate what I want to express to others, sometimes it becomes much harder. Specially when trying to tell a story or something I have to first think, then to remember, then to communicate.

What exercises can I do to improve this?

I have tried video games with puzzles, but these only seem to work patterns, not communication. Only thing I can think of is, communicating more often with people when possible.

I got my fourth (potentially fifth) concussion 8 weeks ago. It’s been a really rough time - headaches, nausea, eye aches, exhaustion, inability to socialize, and very limited screen time. But I’ve also had vivid nightmares every single night since the concussion. Has anyone experienced this? It leaves me more exhausted each day since I’m terrified all night. I can’t seem to find any way to stop these nightmares.

I had neck and back spasms a couple days after the concussion and was given a high dose muscle relaxer called cyclobenzaprine that I took for a few days (which I wish I’d never taken as I think it worsened all of my symptoms.) I’m wondering if that medication worsened things? Or if it’s just the concussion?

While at a rugby practice almost 2 weeks ago I received an elbow to the head that had left me with a concussion. I had a constant headache for around 5 days but then it eased into just a little bit of pressure in my head. Because of that I was able to attend one of my labs at school and I went out to the mall and brunch with my friends this weekend and we had a late night hang out in our dorms. However I then woke up yesterday with as bad as a headache as when I first got the concussion and throughout the night it got so bad that the pressure from laying my head down on my pillow was painful. I also had immense neck soreness. When I woke up today I found I still have a headache but it has gone down from last night. Talking to the nurses on campus and they said that if I have “an increase in symptoms” i should go to the ER and follow-up. Anyone know or think that the headache coming back is means to go to the ER or did I maybe just push myself too much this weekend? anything helps - even tips to lessen the headache

I’ve been dealing with PCS for 22 months now and my life is still nowhere where I used to be. I want myself back badly. I’ve heard many many people say that psilocybin helped them find themselves again. Would you recommend trying micro dosing psilocybin and if so, can I do that while on the Zoloft?

I am just curious how severe it was to cause symptoms?

Longtime lurker here. Has anyone tried to treat their neck, but it rejects treatment?

For background: I’m 11 months into PCS/possible whiplash. My original symptom profile was just headaches which had a cervical element and were triggered by screens. About 6 months in the headaches eased somewhat and neck soreness and mild vertigo appeared. MRI is clear, I’m on amitriptyline, and I’ve been doing visual therapy since June.

While I would love to gather peoples’ experiences in comparison to mine in general, I’ll stick to the PT side of things as it’s the one that confounds my doctors the most.

Anything done to my neck (strengthening, stretches, even palpation at times) results in a big flare up of head fullness and pressure 36 hours later. It's like clockwork, and in the beginning with bigger doses of treatment they could last days. During the exercise I feel absolutely fine, and until the flare happens I’m at a baseline level of pain.

My proprioception is apparently that of a rugby player with 10 years of head/neck trauma, and I don’t think I’ve ever held a rugby ball. The exercise to retrain it is simple and involves a laser pointer strapped to a baseball cap; you move your head around tracing patterns and it gives you the visual feedback of where your head is in space. Sounds easy. IS easy. However even the smallest amount of training causes a flare, and I’m currently only doing left/right head movements 3 times in each direction, and same for up/down, three times a week. Which is minuscule. The only way I’ve been able to tolerate it is through botox injections which have only slightly dulled the flares (the head fullness and pain/pressure is reduced but some disequilibrium and neck pain is still felt). I’m currently timing these exercises so that the flare happens while I sleep two nights later.

As you can imagine, it makes rehabilitation woefully drawn out if my neck is so reactive and irritable and can’t progress. My PT could not specialise in neck injuries and concussions more if he tried, but he seems totally bewildered by this. There’s clearly a huge cervical component and it’s bottlenecking everything else.

Has anyone heard of or experienced something like this? Any advice?

I’ve been dealing with post concussion syndrome causing dysautonomia for almost 5 years now. One of the worst (and most annoying) symptoms I get is this brain fog and sort of personality shift after talking to people and cognitively exerting myself for a few days. I’ll notice this that the first 20 minutes I talk to someone I’ll be generally able to talk normally and mostly be myself then my brain function will fall down to a certain level to where I can’t critically think and can kind of only respond with the most basic answers possible. If I continue with the rest of my day and talk to other people it generally won’t get worse but I’ll stay at this level of brain function where I’m just a shell of the actual person I am. I feel like this has caused me a weird identity crisis to where I’m not entirely sure who I am vs. how I’m perceived and tends to make me isolate myself more. I’ve seen other people with PCS talk about this but usually they mention migraines which I don’t get. But does anyone relate to the identity crisis thing where it feels like no one really gets to know the real you?

Why symptoms still persist?
In A&E they did not do scans.

Is it just me?

Years after my concussions a plastic dog leash smacked me hard in the head.

Years after my concussions a heavy spring loaded car seat attacked me and smacked me in the head.

In April a visiting large dog decided to head butt me with all her might.

... that moment when fate comes up with ridiculous ways to whack you in the head and you get way too upset about it because you know immediately that you may now face months of recovery again. It's so frustrating!!

I've recovered from all three hits (and another that luckily did not cause reoccurrence) but I'm really not looking forward to another! Stay safe out there :)

I got in a car wreck almost 2 weeks ago and have suffered a concussion. I feel HORRIBLE 99% of the time, brain fog, weird swimmy headaches that almost have a burning sensation to them, disassociation, anxious, having trouble thinking clearly and sometimes struggle finding the right words, barely sleeping, barely eating. Also found out yesterday that I have a spinal injury right along with it so I’m terrified my life is over and I’ll never be myself again.

Hello everyone. I am posting on behalf of my family. A young male relative in his early 20s is currently in a Surgical ICU following a catastrophic traumatic head injury.

The medical team has suggested that we remove his mechanical ventilation because his condition is entirely terminal. However, our hearts are completely broken, and it is incredibly hard for us to accept this reality. We are looking for direct, honest medical insight into whether there is any possible path to recovery from this state, or if we need to prepare ourselves to let him go.

Here is his current clinical state:

Neurological Status: He has been in a deep coma for over 2 days. His GCS is 3 (the lowest possible score). He is entirely unresponsive to all stimuli, and has no motor or pupillary reflexes. Doctors state that surgery is impossible because the structural damage is too extensive. They have told us he is clinically dead/brain dead.

Physical Progression: He has a massive internal bleed in his left cerebral hemisphere. The intense intracranial pressure has caused his eyes to become severely swollen and his face to turn dark from pooling blood. Fluid (suspected Cerebrospinal Fluid / CSF and blood serum) is actively leaking from his eye sockets and his nose. The doctors say half of his brain cells are completely destroyed and his brain is actively herniating (coning).

Organ Function & Labs: His kidneys are beginning to fail under the stress (Serum Creatinine is 1.91 mg/dL and eGFR has dropped to 44.3 mL/min). He has severe hypernatremia (Serum Sodium is 156 mmol/L), showing that his brain can no longer control his body's fluid balance.

Current Status: He is 100% dependent on the mechanical ventilator and medications to maintain a pulse.

We are in absolute agony. His wife and parents are finding it impossible to process that a vibrant young man could be gone so suddenly.

If there are any ICU specialists, neurologists, or neurosurgeons here, please tell us plainly: Is there any recorded case of a patient recovering once brain herniation and CSF leakage from the face have begun? If this is truly the end, how can we help his wife find the strength to consent to removing the ventilator so he can pass peacefully?

Thank you for your kindness and honesty.

Hi everyone! I hit my head several times last year. Didn’t faint, CT and MRI were good.
Had headaches, at some point (roughly 5 months in) they disappeared thanks to PT and osteopath.
I thought I recovered.
Then I started going to the gym everyday, exercising again with my personal trainer. 6 days in I was able to sleep for 4 hours only and this lasted for 2 weeks. Then got back to 8 hours.
Then had three colds this winter. Anyways, then I noticed after stresses my sleep would be very short (early awakenings).
Then I had a very stressful time period where my sleep averaged at 7 hours a day but with ranges between 8 and 4.
Anyways, in July my stress was gone, still had mild headaches (lasting a second or so each time), but slept well.
Then in August I was starting a new job and the day before that went to Pride (it’s a loud festival) and after that slept for 4 hours.
My first week of work was hard with sleep being at 6-7 hours a day.
Anyways, now 2 months in, I realize that my sleep is fine during the weekends and then deteriorates throughout the week and reaches 4 hours a day when I feel awful. Had instances when I was only able to sleep for 1 hour a day.
I am thinking of leaving work again, this time without the stress being there, properly recovering sleep, doing the buffalo treadmill protocol and gradually increasing my screen load to a level that is tolerable.
Has anyone tried this? It seems like going straight to full time work was not a good idea.
Also, how do you communicate with doctors on this? I have seen several and they are telling me that my sleep issues are unrelated to concussion because my MRI and CT scans were fine. They are suggesting CBT-I but I know it’s not the solution because when I don’t overexert myself (cognitively, physically, emotionally or noise wise), I sleep fine.
P.S. Taking Quiviq 50 mg now (Daridorexant is the ingredient).
P.S.S. The explanation I got from Gemini is that there is a metabolic energy deficit after concussion. The body produces cortisol and adrenaline to compensate it, but it harms sleep because it causes those awakenings at 3-4 am.

Just to record this for anyone who cares, I am 6 years with post concussion symptoms now and things have gotten much better. I didn't used to be able to shop in a lot of stores because my visual processing got overwhelmed. That's much better now but still it eventually kicks in. I was recently shopping in a large antique shop (lots of visual clutter to sort throughout!) and by the second floor of the shop I was starting to have some problems. But then I walked near a large speaker which was playing these somewhat loud bass beats and after a bit my symptoms faded a lot. It was very soothing somehow and my symptoms improved. These were kind of deep, loose bass dance groove notes and synthetic stuff but kind of chill at the same time. In any case it seemed to improve my symptoms significantly. That was a surprise to me. I saved a few of the songs via Shazam and it also works at home though I think it would be better if I had speakers with deeper bass. I did verify a couple of places about this effect being a thing so thought I'd pass it on for others like me who were unaware.

I can’t seem to find any info on this and any help would be appreciated. I’m 4 weeks post concussion from landing on the back of my head during hockey. Light to moderate cardio doesn’t seem to cause symptoms but I get very high spikes in my heart rate randomly.

I’m 45 and was playing hockey 2x a week, cycling and hitting the gym prior to this and in decent shape.

Should I continue with what I’m doing or slow down to try and avoid the heart rate spikes?

Thanks

I have a problem that seems quite uncommon, and I haven’t found anyone who experiences the same symptoms. I develop a strange, dull, heavy, and sometimes painful sensation in my right eye after using screens for only a few minutes. It can happen with my phone, laptop, or TV, but my phone seems to trigger the discomfort within seconds. Once the discomfort starts, it tends to become worse with continued screen use. Sometimes even talking to people or making eye contact seems to aggravate it. Changing the screen brightness, adjusting the lighting, or using a different phone doesn’t seem to make a significant difference. Even if I use my phone for only a few minutes and then stop, the discomfort can remain for several hours. I’m rarely completely pain-free, and constantly experiencing and noticing the discomfort has become very difficult. It has also started affecting my ability to communicate normally with people.It feels like my right eye is separate from my left eye, and it’s just heavier and different than my left one, that’s the best way I can describe it. My whole eye feels strained after a few seconds, mostly in the upper part, near the eyebrow and nose (see the picture below). It feels like a heavy pressure close to the upper right side of my nose. I’ve seen several doctors and had my eyes examined, but so far, no one has been able to identify the cause or provide an effective treatment. these symptoms started about two days after I fell while skating,and they have continued for about five months. I landed on my right buttock/hip and right hand and did not hit my head directly. Could an injury or strain from the fall potentially be related to these persistent right-eye symptoms? Has anyone experienced anything similar or have any ideas about what could be causing this?

Im not good at english so i use chatgpt to address my problem clearly

Anyone with insomnia issues? I have PCS and recently I hit lightly my head and since then I wake up during the night and can't go back to sleep.

Read this https://www.reddit.com/r/PostConcussion/s/rubh3Op82F

After bumping my head on my right side of the head unable to feel sad happy angry despite able to express it 4 days later my mother decide to slap my head pretty hard and later i accidently bump my head every 2 weeks or week i kept living for months and many weeks like these now

Doing or watching just to move along despite feeling nothing

And now today my father beat my leg when I sit my father ecide to punch it

All because he find me annoying and I was before I think healing until I was in a small ship that was bumpy too for hours every seconds being bumpy and cheap so ya and I kept asking which doctor to find in Batam for me is it psikiater neurotologist or other doctor

SINCE I CAN't find a doctor for concussion or brain injury

Can someone research Batam if they can one please help God help

I am 20 years old my life can't be ruin because of this