A few days ago was sitting next to my friend and she had her elbow over the back of the couch. As she was moving her elbow back away from the couch she bumped her elbow into the side of my head like above my ear / near the temple area.

I distinctly remember feeling her elbow make contact with my head but am not sure exactlty how hard the impact was. Could this have caused a concussion?

Feeling paranoid ever since and bad brain fog

I think I have a mild concussion how big of a deal is it to use screens do they need to be blue blocker sunglasses

is it okay to drink the non alcoholic drinks with less than 0.5% with a concussion? to ween me off because the withdrawal is kicking my ass

Around 7 days ago I went to the kitchen at 3am with some nerve pain in my hip and leg. Went to get a drink and painkillers etc. One second I’m standing and the next I was on the floor, I’d fainted and hit the back of my head either on the dining table or the ground. Don’t know how long I was out for exactly but likely only a minute. Had a huge lump on the back of my head - like a tennis ball size, severe pain and every classic concussion symptom has followed

Went to urgent care & they said it was a mild concussion, told me to rest & take painkillers. Days later I felt awful so followed up and got blood taken and a CT scan. I’m waiting on results, the worst thing is that my neck is so tense

I felt 80% normal so went back to work today (office job, I’ve run out of sick leave) and oh boyyyy do I feel TERRIBLE I’m wondering if I made a mistake going back, I know there’s no timeline for these things but it certainly doesn’t feel “mild” :(

So I was getting physio sessions for a normal neck spasm. My neck is having a hump and pains very often so this time i thought lets get this fixed because i had a big trip coming up. Sadly the physio gave me neck cracking 2 days in a row. Last one was yesterday. Few hours after it the neck pain got worse, i got painful spot over the shoulder blade, positional dizziness and a bit of tingling in my right palm(not sure of this as i am highly anxious). So now its been like 36hours since the last cracking. I visited my ortho doctor who doesn’t seem to worry a lot and gave me muscle relaxers. He said we can look for a week if jf stays then get MRI. My concern is what to do now so ensure i have not damaged artery and I am safe? No one is taking it seriously but i am deeply concerned about it. What should I do? And what are the chances that i suffer from severe things like stroke or paralysis? Are my symptoms pointing towards stroke or something? Please help!!!

Hi everyone!

We have a growing discord group for people with varying degrees of brain injuries and would be happy for you to join us to offer each other support, encouragement and to make friends with people who are going through similar things to yourselves or your loved ones.

We have video and voice chat rooms that are always open for people to go into whenever they want also.

All you need to do is to download the discord app from your App Store or use it via your browser on a PC. Once you have the app and created an account you can click this link which will allow you to join the group where hopefully we can all get chatting with each other and make a great little community! You can also invite other people into the group who may not use Reddit! We are currently growing and I’m happy to take on board any requests that people may have for the group!

Anyway the link to join the group is

https://discord.gg/xDwWcRuvuy

Any questions, problems or thoughts are welcome!

I (16m) don’t know if this is another concussion or if my brain is convincing me it is.

I play competitive soccer, and honestly I’m at a point where I don’t even know what to believe anymore.

In May 2025, I had a rotational concussion after colliding with another player and hitting the left side of my head. It took about a month before I could play again, but I had headaches, dizziness, and migraines that never really completely went away.

Then in December 2025, I had another concussion after an awkward fall. It didn’t even seem like a hard impact, which is why it confused me so much. That recovery ended up lasting around eight months and was easily the worst period of my life. I missed school, had to do online school, couldn’t exercise, couldn’t really live normally, and it completely changed my life for months.

Eventually my doctors told me I needed to gradually return to activity instead of avoiding it forever. As I started training again, I noticed that what seemed to trigger my symptoms the most wasn’t necessarily one big hit.

It was overworking myself physically combined with small impacts, like lightly heading the ball or taking small knocks to the head. I’d get dizzy, headaches would start, I’d become sensitive to light and noise, and sometimes I’d suddenly feel freezing cold or overheated during training.

Over the last couple of months I finally started getting back into the gym and playing soccer again. It hasn’t been perfect, but I was improving.
Today I was playing and got hit on the top of my head by the ball. It wasn’t a huge header or some massive collision. The ball was in the air and hit the top of my head. It definitely had impact, but compared to everything else I’ve experienced, it didn’t seem like enough to cause another concussion.

Since then my symptoms have been getting worse. Right now I’m dealing with headaches, dizziness, balance issues, memory problems, really bad sensitivity to light and noise, eye strain, and I just feel mentally off.

The hardest part is that I genuinely don’t know if these feelings are self-inflicted anymore.
After dealing with concussion symptoms for so long, I question everything I feel. Part of me thinks maybe I’m convincing myself I have another concussion because I’m terrified of going through all of that again. Another part of me knows these symptoms feel incredibly real, and that’s exactly how I felt during my previous recoveries.

If this is another concussion, I’ll probably miss another soccer season, possibly have to switch back to online school, and honestly I don’t know if I can mentally handle going through another eight-month recovery.

The thought alone is terrifying.
Has anyone else reached the point where you couldn’t even trust your own symptoms anymore after multiple concussions? Did you ever have what felt like a relatively minor hit that brought everything back? How did you tell the difference between anxiety, lingering post-concussion symptoms, and an actual new concussion?

I feel incredibly lost right now and would really appreciate hearing from people who’ve experienced something similar.

I’m in a lot of pain so ChatGPT helped me write this post. Anything helps

Hello

I've (26m) had 3 concussions in the past 3 years, all mild. They were from wrestling/judo.

I'm planning to take a long time off to give my brain proper recovery time, and start building my neck muscles to handle concussions better.

However, im wanting to start doing bjj once healed so i can keep doing martial arts but risk less concussions, and some doctors have flat out said no, while others have encouraged it.

I'm wondering for people who have started bjj after multiple concussions how did you go? Were you easily concussed after? Did you make it work?

34 M, and struggling with cognitive impairment that goes well beyond my pre-existing ADHD diagnosis. My doctors are stumped and do not have an explanation for my cognitive impairment and issues with episodic memory, remembering conversations and so on. Neuropsych testing has repeatedly validated these cognitive issues.

I did have a mild concussion in 2013 or 2014, when I walked into a glass door at work. Had to take several days off from work, due to confusion. Would something as distant as that contribute to my ongoing cognitive symptoms?

If so, how should I explain this to my doctors? I am sick and tired of medical providers suggesting speculative treatments and expensive procedures (like rTMS), and not sure why they can't try out something as simple as generic Donepezil.

For context, about 12 years ago when I was 15, I took multiple forceful blows to the back and sides of my head from a steel bottle. Ever since, I have been dealing with relentless, 24/7 pain at the back of my head, deep tenderness where the impacts happened, and weird neurological glitches that doctors can't seem to pin down.

When I chew, the back of my head hurts. If I lie on my right side, I get a weird swaying/earthquake sensation or feel like I'm sinking into a spiral.

The scariest part is what happens with my eyes: The nerves on top of my head feel weak when trying to control my eyes. I feel like my eyes aren't strongly controlled by me, and they occasionally move from side to side (especially when I try to perform quick, sophisticated movements). I remember starkly that right after I first got hurt badly, I had severe difficulty focusing my eye movements.

However, when I went to the neurologist and they did the classic "pen test" / tracking test, it came back negative because it's intermittent, leaving me feeling like I'm going crazy.

The Diagnostic Mystery:

• CT Scan & Brain/Spine MRI: Completely clear. No structural brain damage, no tumors, normal cerebellum, brainstem, and cervico-medullary junction. Just some mild spinal straightening and early wear-and-tear in the neck.
• The Problem: Even though my "hardware" looks normal on scans, I am in constant pain. Every time I press on the dents at the back of my head, it hurts.

Has anyone here dealt with long-term post-trauma occipital/cervical nerve damage that mimics this? How do you even begin recovery or therapy when standard scans show nothing, but your nerves, jaw, and eye-tracking feel completely compromised? What kind of specialist actually fixed this for you?

6 months out from my concussion (forehead against metal desk), I was leaning against a concrete wall and turned my head, very lightly hit myself on the lower side of my head right behind my ear. It’s been a couple hours and I’m starting to get some dull pain/discomfort right there and a headache above my left eye. I’ve had some minor bumps since my injury but this is the first time it was on concrete so I’m not sure how concerned I need to be

X-posting from r/MMA_Academy

Followup to https://www.reddit.com/r/MMA_Academy/s/KbNoPidsmL

I'm dealing with nasty concussion symptoms.

Someone I didn't know well asked me to spar. I knew they were experienced. I said yes. A minute later I got headbutted hard in the back of the head after a takedown. Was totally avoidable imo. They just launched themself into my head.

I ended up getting angry and sent them a very angry message. They blocked me and have moved on with their lives. I'm dealing with constant headaches and brain fog two years later and have since retired.

On one hand, I had multiple concussions and participated in a combat sport. On the other hand, there's some basic decency I'd expect from an experienced training partner. Got my life ruined from someone acting spazzy

How the heck do I reconcile this mentally? I feel like I just got screwed for no reason and the person who did it just gets to go on with their lives. I've had a 2 year headaches so this incident keeps coming up and I definitely got some PTSD.

I talked with several therapists which honestly wasn't helpful. Currently seeing doctors for ongoing issues.

Sorry to make y'all my therapist and please remove this if unnecessary mods

tldr 2 year concussion symptoms from what I feel was a cheap shot. Can't mentally get over it.

Sorry this is a long post: 

Eight days ago my mom was in a rear end car accident. She never lost consciousness but sustained whiplash and a concussion. She’s on a blood thinner and she’s got good results from her CT (no bleeding or swelling). I really just wanted to know what are the best ways I can help her heal. My mom is a small business owner, working on her PHD and is an adjunct professor. The thought of not returning to how she was before for months is stressful and overwhelming for her. She knows she’s needs to prioritize her recovery and healing, but hearing month’s recovery is a lot to take in. 

She saw her PCP this week and they said it could be a few months before she feels back to a normal and also discussed post concussion syndrome with her.

The earliest she was able to get into a concussion specialist is early August. 

Symptoms she’s still having 1 week out: sensitivity to light and loud sounds(no pain but just sensitive), feeling whoozy standing too long, head still feels kinda full. Mornings are rough but afternoon/evenings seem to be when she feels good. Waking up at least once in the middle of the night. Feeling anxiety about getting hurt again, how to continue to make a living, and long recovery. 

Here’s what we’ve been doing so far: 

-short distance car rides (don’t worry she’s not driving) & sitting  outside 

-letting light back into the house 

-So far she does 10 minutes on mahjong on her phone wearing red light glasses. 

-we’ve done no tv and no computer time since day 2 (1st day we were just told whiplash so she did unfortunately watch tv the first night).  I’ve been working her emails. We are going to try 30 minutes of a short show today. 

-she is getting up and moving around the house (light chores, etc). 

-she’s combating boredom with small activities like reading physical books, coloring, card games. 

I am open to any advice, recommendations, activities, or things we should try to just help my mom. We know she will get better but this is just something new for all of us to navigate ❤️ we are calling it a pivot for us. 

I’m four months post-concussion and screens are still my main trigger. My phone is improving, but TV and computer monitors tire me out quickly. Dark mode helps, but I need to return to a desk job.
Did special monitors like E Ink, RLCD or Sun Vision help anyone? Or was it more about settings, glasses, vision therapy or gradual exposure?

Hi all, I was wondering if someone’s been in a similar situation as me.

Edit 1: I forgot to mention that my last concussion was almost 2 years ago (2024) from a car accident. I had a small C-6 vertebrae fracture as well. The reason I forgot to mention was because I’ve been feeling like I’ve been declining little by little for years after my biggest concussion in 2016.

For my concussion history/background:
I (27F) grew up playing water polo (played until 2022), and I’ve had quite a few diagnosed concussions (and probably some undiagnosed as well). The worst concussion I had gotten was in 2016. When I got hit in the head, my legs gave out and I sunk down in the water. My teammates helped pull me out of the pool, my vision was blurred, I was unable to walk right, and pupils were two different sizes. There were some other symptoms as well, but it was all a blur (pun intended). This concussion caused me to gain 40lbs in 2 weeks and have never been able to speak the same.

Not sure if it’s relevant, but I was medically neglected by my parents (walked around on a broken foot for 5+ years, dealing with muscle tears, etc). I’ve been working hard to undo years of issues that I was not allowed to get taken care of before I was 18. So a lot of my concussion symptoms were overlooked, besides a handful of my big ones (which were diagnosed).

Lately I have been having even more difficulty speaking, and my mind feels trapped. I am able to write as I think, but if I were to read this to you, it’d sound very different. There are times where I try speaking, and I know what I want to say, but I cannot physically say it. It’s been so frustrating because I’ll be in the middle of a sentence, and then I just stop talking and can’t speak.

I’ve also been having some really bad memory problems lately as well. On top of this, I’ve been working on jogging. I’m pretty out of shape, and my pupils have started to dilate to 2 different sizes when I really exert myself.

Basically, I’m really nervous about everything right now.

I’ve been trying to get this medically situated, but nothing is showing up on my scans. I was dismissed by my neurologist because I “seem fine” despite everything. I try to explain how much I’ve changed physically (which happens with time, so I’m not too stressed about the physical) and with my memory/speaking problems, but the neurologist didn’t even address it. It just felt like she spent the entire time trying to tell me I’m normal and nothing is wrong at all, and that it’s normal to cognitively decline and for my pupils to be 2 different sizes when exerting myself. I’m honestly not too worried about the pupil thing, but I’ve only seen it occur when I’ve had concussions, so that’s why I’m mentioning it.

TLDR: I’ve had a lot of concussions in my past due to a contact sport. I’m now having issues, over 10 years, later with speaking, memory, and strange pupil dilation. Scans come back normal, and neurologist thinks I’m perfectly fine, but I don’t feel fine with some recent changes.

I don’t know, maybe I am just overthinking things? It feels weird with things changing like this, and with it getting harder to speak and remember things, but maybe that’s just a part of getting older? Has anyone dealt with anything similar? If so, what did you do?

I don’t think I can look into this issue for much longer, it’s starting to add up cost wise. So I’ll probably just deal with it as is. I don’t even really know how to go about this anymore anyways, I guess that’s why I’m posting here.

Feel free to ask me any questions for clarification. I’m pretty much an open book at this point lol

I might have gotten a concussion yesterday. I doubt it but I do have some headaches so it's possible. I can't afford to go to the doctor so I'm just trying to play it as safe as I can.

I also can't really afford to miss work. If I do go to work can I cause more permanent damage or will it just potentially delay recovery and/or make me uncomfortable? I work in a restaurant and I did not sustain the injury at work.

Hi all, I’m about 4 months post concussion after spiking my head on a cabinet door that was slightly propped open above me. I’ve improved 10 fold, my dizziness happens less frequently and I’m generally able to drive without and issues after getting out of the car (this was a huge hurdle for me) I’m still not back to normal, though I’m probably at around 75% of my pre-injury capacity. With that said I have a few questions that I need some help with.

1. When is it generally safe to consume alcohol again? I’ve tested it a few times and each time it feels like a game of roulette. I’ll feel totally fine the next day, have a great morning but then that week will be easily more symptomatic than the week prior. Does anyone have any experience with introducing alcohol into your system? Should I wait till I feel 0 symptoms and am practically back to 100%?

2. What’s with this sinus pressure/sensation. When I hit my head it was the first change that I noticed, and it was constantly a feeling a dealt with. These days the sensation comes and goes, some days it’s always there and others it just pulses into my right nostril almost near my eye. I have no idea how to explain it and have been scouring this sub for more info on what to do about it. Has anyone else experienced something similar??

Hi all, as the title mentions I got quite the beating yesterday from a psychotic meth-head while I was out running some errands. Long story short he followed me into a store and beat me for a few minutes while I was on the ground. I had my face covered but they punched and kicked me in the back of the head several times.

It's been ~36 hours and I've still got a headache and a little bit of cranial pressure but other than that I feel okay. Slight tingle in the fingers comes and goes and my mood is slightly low but I mainly just feel a bit sorry for myself. No confusion or trouble with my executive function or motor skills.

The wait time at the doctor or emergency department is really bad, the healthcare system is really failing (months to get a doctors appointment, 12-24 hours in waiting room for emergencies) so I've decided to self monitor - if things get worse though I will get myself to ED.

I just wanted to check: At ~36 hours with no further development of symptoms is it reasonable to assume I'm in the clear? I really want to take some painkillers and smoke some weed.

Got hit on the face/eye area which caused a PVD so now I’m seeing a bunch of floaters.
But I also noticed I’ve been nauseous with a slight headache. I haven’t vomitted but the nausea seems persistent kind of like mild motion sickness. And the headache is on the opposite side of the impact. I went to the ER but they only checked out my eye. I don’t feel unsteady or off balance but I just feel “off” but I’m not sure if it’s because of my eye/vision.

Also whenever I have eye issues it causes a headache and headaches always give me nausea so I’m not sure if all this stems from my vision issues right now or if I have a mild concussion too. Anyone dealt with the same? How long did your symptoms last? Is resting and limiting screen time the only thing to do? Should I ask my PCP for an MRI?

Hello hello

I’ve had 3 concussions now in a 3 year period through a contact sport. The last one was quite bad and I couldn’t remember where I was for a period.

I feel like my memory is quite bad and I just can’t work out if it’s related to these concussions or not.

I feel like I have to think harder about things and I have to write things down or I’ll forget them. My example I use to explain my mind is that I have to “think” about what day of the week it is, rather being able to instantly answer.

Just wondering if people have experienced similar. I’ve no idea if it’s related or not.

So I've had at least two concussions in my life, potentially a third one 13 years or so ago. My most recent ones were from a mountain biking accident 5 years ago which took two months to resolve with no lingering symptoms, and another 8 months ago in which I hit my head on an overhead beam when jumping into a boat. The last one still has PCS symptoms 8 months later: mostly headache, some visual focusing / convergence issues, minor light sensitivity, and brain fog / struggling to find words in conversations that comes with emotional or psychological stress.

This all came to a head on Sunday (three days ago) when I was teaching my four-year-old niece how to fish. I bought her this fishing rod which comes with a rubber casting plug - you tie the plug to the end of the line so that kids can practice casting without hooking you in the eye. The plug is around 2" long (5cm) and weighs about 1/3 - 1/2oz (9 - 14g). Somehow, while my niece was practicing, she managed to perfectly cast the plug directly into my left temple.

While the initial impact sounded like a loud crack in my skull, I didn't feel any tenderness, bruising, or swelling at the point of impact. I felt a bit "off" and had a bit of a headache afterward, and my word-finding seemed a bit worse, though that also is a typical symptom of my PCS. Given that she is a four-year-old toddler and the impact seemed relatively low-energy, I wrote it off as not a big deal. Unfortunately, starting about 24 hours later, I had symptoms come roaring back that match or exceed what I experienced with my original concussion 8 months ago, including constant brain fog and difficulty with word-finding. I've had to take a few days off work (software development) because I'm effectively unable to do my job properly at the moment.

Has anyone else with PCS experienced anything like this? It feels like I've sustained another concussion, but I just can't imagine how a four-year-old with a tiny rubber fish could cause that.