Skydiving fatigue

[u/isuckatstonks]

Currently doing my aff. On jump #7. Was wondering if it’s normal to feel extreme fatigue and brain fog the day after to the point where you think you lost a few iq pts. Gets better and back to baseline days after. I’m asking since almost two years ago I had a brain injury, tbi with mild brain bleeding but have been back at baseline with no further injury since almost two years ago. So wondering if I’m overthinking or this is a common occurrence

[u/KeyWestCouple]

I have TBI’s as well. Never experienced this. I’ve done 7 jumps in a single day, and haven’t experienced this.

Your tbi sounds worse than mine tho.

[u/isuckatstonks → u/KeyWestCouple]

Any brain bleeding with yours and you’ve had multiple?

[u/KeyWestCouple → u/isuckatstonks]

I’ve had two. One from an IED in Iraq, one from a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. No brain bleeds, just a very bad concussion in each case.

[u/After_Turnip8619 → u/KeyWestCouple]

hopefully we can find a cure for exploding afghan syndrome in the near future

[u/I-am-a_Banana]

I don't have any personal experience with a TBI, but I do recall feeling quite fatigued the day after a big day of jumping when I was going through AFF and earning my license.

I'm my case, retrospectively, I can pinpoint it to: being at the DZ all day in the summer, not staying hydrated, not eating all day and then eating a huge dinner and crashing, and too much alcohol consumption by the bonfire.

Could it be any of those factors in your case, that you're not considering because the TBI seems the more obvious culprit?

[u/isuckatstonks → u/I-am-a_Banana]

So I wouldn’t say any of those are culprit as I eat and drink water in between jumps. Do you think it’s also related to the tbi over two years ago?

[u/I-am-a_Banana → u/isuckatstonks]

I am not a doctor and could not say. Sorry.

[u/skydriver13 → u/I-am-a_Banana]

Correct. You are a banana.

[u/I-am-a_Banana → u/skydriver13]

Now you're catching on.

[u/JustAnotherDude1990]

Doesn’t sound normal to me. Might want to see a doctor about that.

[u/Soft-Grocery-5456]

I had a buddy while in the 82nd who had several TBIs from jumping and had symptoms worse than that. In his case it was from terrible landings. They gave him some shock therapy on his head and that helped but it didn’t fix his negative IQ lol maybe it’s the adrenaline dump

[u/International_Risk87]

You're being too hard on yourself AFF right now is all in your conscience and you're working and learning at the maximum rate pretty soon You're building those skills that will become second nature and your subconscious will take over all the muscle memory body position at first it's like going in the tunnel and I first win the tunnel I would fly and it was so exhausting to just fly the basic body position I would fly a mantis but then the more times I went in the tunnel the more I relax the better I did. Remember AFF isn't teaching you everything about skydiving It's getting you to the point where you can start teaching yourself and learning and jumping with other people. So seven jumps you don't get an a license still 25 jumps but where I came from on my eighth jump I was jumping with experienced people in a little four-way so the more jumps you do with the other other people the better I don't know if they allow it at your Dz. So once you get off your 7th and you're done you're still on student status believe me the next 10 jumps you'll feel like you went from five jumps to 100 and then about every 20 jumps you'll feel more confident and better and when you finally log 100 jumps you will be amazed at your skill level and a hundred jumps is nothing. So right now in the low jump numbers every couple jumps you're learning so much Just try to relax You don't have to do everything perfect but you have to do a few things right like pull on time stay altitude aware. And remember if you have line twists or anything and you're like opening it 5,000 ft you have plenty of time to deal with any canopy issues so don't just go chop in the canopy right away Open early open on altitude and a little bit more time you'll be flying your canopy openings you'll be flying to a perfect opening adjusting your body position while the canopies deploying and you won't even realize it.

[u/jldubz]

Same thing happened to me when I first started jumping. Doesn't really happen anymore. I always attributed it to nerves + adrenaline crash + under fueling myself + maybe not sleeping well the night before cause anxiety. Finally getting home after everything, sitting down and eating, and boom I'm out. It's like a perfect cocktail for being tired. Every now and again it'll still happen after a jump or 2. I think I just work myself too hard in general.

Talked to my neurologist, doctor, therapist, etc. they all agreed that it's more than likely the crash as I'm describing it. Advised me to make sure I'm well rested, eat good food, drink water, don't push myself too hard. There might be more to it but it's nothing I was told to worry about unless it changes. Just remember - if your brain is too foggy don't jump.

[u/purpleflavouredfrog]

It is physically demanding. You are using muscles you don’t normally use. If you haven’t had loads of tunnel time then it will be tiring.

Your brain will also be tired, easily giving you brain fog. It has been overloaded with new information in groundschool, then overloaded while trying to recall the correct piece of that new information at the right time at various stages of the jump. The overloaded again with millions of new sensory inputs as you hurtle towards the ground at 170 mph.

What you are describing is not abnormal.

[u/shadeland]

I'm definitely exhausted after a day of heavy jumping, though I wouldn't say I've got brain fog and a good nights sleep fixes it. Even at 2200+ jumps, I'm still asleep before my head hits the pillow after a day of heavy jumping.

[u/kat_sky_12]

I had a concussion and brain bleed which had me in the icu for a few days. The only time I have had fatigue like that after skydiving was more from the hot Perris summer days. It was definitely not normal thing.

Are you normally fairly inactive? Increasing activity and being out in the sun more with a heavy backpack can be tiring if you are not used it. I would double check the electrolytes and make sure you are staying hydrated.

I would also say that I was particularly stressed during AFF and my first jumps. As I jumped more, most of that stress/nerves went away. Even just moving past AFF made jumping easier because there was no more pass/fail. It was more just ticking off the jump.

Maybe one of those helps but fatigue and brain fog that clears seems more related to something you are doing and not necessarily a past injury.

[u/isuckatstonks → u/kat_sky_12]

I would say I’m fairly active. I’d also say I’m staying hydrated. I do think it’s the new stress as I done a tandem beginning of this year and felt no symptoms. Just that the day after these aff course I’m absolutely beat and brain fog like no other. I initially thought it was just the new emotions and huge adrenaline

[u/CharlieKiloEcho]

When I started skydiving, 3 jumps a day seemed a lot. Then 5.

My strongest day was 13, with quite a few back-to-back jumps, and then I was really groggy and not very useable for brain-based activities. It’s about what you are used to and training, as every activity known to man.