Post Concussion Syndrome? Whiplash?
Discussion
So, at the start of January I caught a heel edge snowboarding and got whipped into the floor onto the back of my head (wearing a helmet, safety first).. no loss of cosnciousness, no memory loss, just rang my bell pretty good at the time....this has happened a few times down the years and usually results in a week or so of rest then back to it with no real ill effect.
Only this time, it's 5 weeks later and i'm still feeling the effects to a degree... tiredness and fatigue, tinnitus (although i had this to a degree before), sleeping pattern is a bit all over, various headaches, and spells of feeling a bit out of it.
The first two weeks symptoms weren't too bad, but I went and got checked out anyway due to having post nasal drip, everyone was a bit concerned i may have had a CSF leak. A night in A&E and i was given a medical OK after a CT scan and various tests... unfortunately being strapped to a spine board for 5 hours pretty much annihalated my lower back. So i've been bealing with back and neck pain as well..my physio friend has given me the once over and seems happy that i haven't done anything serious, but i'm going to have a few further sessions as my neck especially is very tight and could well be the source of my headaches.
I found out at A&E that at some point in the last few years I fractured my C5 vertebrae (now healed), this would have been a snowboarding injury but i can't pinpoint which slam would have done it...this was a bit scary to find out and unpack mentally along with everything else.
As well as the concussion, I seem to also be suffering the after effects of whiplash, and it's really hard knowing where the PCS ends and WAD begins....this is also compounded by the fact that I have general anxiety disorder which is worse now than it's been for years, and i'm fairly sure this is contributing to my slow recovery.
in terms of personal history, i've had 3 concussions which required hospital stays in my late teens and early 20s (one off on a bicycle, and two drunken misadventures), since then i've had 3 or 4 minor concussions snowboarding over the years, always wearing a helmet, and only one with a brief loss of consciousness...all recovered fully within a week or 2.
What bothers me is that this latest fall wasn't a big one (i've had worse), it's been about 4 years since i last hit my head full stop (that was a small knock out in austria, carried on riding)....so is it just a cumulative thing due to a few concussions down the years? Or more down to my admittedly not great mental state with the anxiety causing symptoms to hang around?
Good news - No fractures, no bleeds, no CSF leaking I was already in the process of getting a referral for CBT for anxiety so that's started, which i'm sure will help with this.
Bad news - I'm due to go to the US for 2 weeks of snowboarding in 5 weeks time, that gives me about a week to "fully" recover, as I want to be symptom free for 4 weeks ideally before even thinking about strapping back in....no idea if i'll make that target at the moment as i seem to go up and down, couple of good days, one bad one etc.
I am also starting to realise that i'm staring down the barrel of potentially having to give up board sports or at the very least make some participation adjustments, which after 20+ years and only 34 years old is a huge thing for me.
Would be interested to hear from other whiplash/concussion/PCS survivors who have/had an active lifestyle, or anyone with some medical knowledge or good resources...it's such a vague and misunderstood field from what i've been reading sofar, and i just feel a bit lost and alone with it all.
Bit of a rambling stream of consciousness, apologies!
Only this time, it's 5 weeks later and i'm still feeling the effects to a degree... tiredness and fatigue, tinnitus (although i had this to a degree before), sleeping pattern is a bit all over, various headaches, and spells of feeling a bit out of it.
The first two weeks symptoms weren't too bad, but I went and got checked out anyway due to having post nasal drip, everyone was a bit concerned i may have had a CSF leak. A night in A&E and i was given a medical OK after a CT scan and various tests... unfortunately being strapped to a spine board for 5 hours pretty much annihalated my lower back. So i've been bealing with back and neck pain as well..my physio friend has given me the once over and seems happy that i haven't done anything serious, but i'm going to have a few further sessions as my neck especially is very tight and could well be the source of my headaches.
I found out at A&E that at some point in the last few years I fractured my C5 vertebrae (now healed), this would have been a snowboarding injury but i can't pinpoint which slam would have done it...this was a bit scary to find out and unpack mentally along with everything else.
As well as the concussion, I seem to also be suffering the after effects of whiplash, and it's really hard knowing where the PCS ends and WAD begins....this is also compounded by the fact that I have general anxiety disorder which is worse now than it's been for years, and i'm fairly sure this is contributing to my slow recovery.
in terms of personal history, i've had 3 concussions which required hospital stays in my late teens and early 20s (one off on a bicycle, and two drunken misadventures), since then i've had 3 or 4 minor concussions snowboarding over the years, always wearing a helmet, and only one with a brief loss of consciousness...all recovered fully within a week or 2.
What bothers me is that this latest fall wasn't a big one (i've had worse), it's been about 4 years since i last hit my head full stop (that was a small knock out in austria, carried on riding)....so is it just a cumulative thing due to a few concussions down the years? Or more down to my admittedly not great mental state with the anxiety causing symptoms to hang around?
Good news - No fractures, no bleeds, no CSF leaking I was already in the process of getting a referral for CBT for anxiety so that's started, which i'm sure will help with this.
Bad news - I'm due to go to the US for 2 weeks of snowboarding in 5 weeks time, that gives me about a week to "fully" recover, as I want to be symptom free for 4 weeks ideally before even thinking about strapping back in....no idea if i'll make that target at the moment as i seem to go up and down, couple of good days, one bad one etc.
I am also starting to realise that i'm staring down the barrel of potentially having to give up board sports or at the very least make some participation adjustments, which after 20+ years and only 34 years old is a huge thing for me.
Would be interested to hear from other whiplash/concussion/PCS survivors who have/had an active lifestyle, or anyone with some medical knowledge or good resources...it's such a vague and misunderstood field from what i've been reading sofar, and i just feel a bit lost and alone with it all.
Bit of a rambling stream of consciousness, apologies!
Sorry to see this didn't get any attention.
I hope it was useful at least to write it out - I did similar last month and it seemed to help something click - it's definitely been positive although not in an overnight / awakening kind of way.
I'm no expert, and I had to give up my active lifestyle because of a knee injury rather than head injury, but I know exactly where you are in not knowing where a problem is originating: is it the neck, the brain, the back? It helps a lot to know, strangely, and it's frustrating when you can't assign symptoms to areas or reasons.
All I can say is that I had to concede that my last head injury was minor - it wasn't a big impact, wasn't even a concussion - but it did the most noticeable damage. I'm sure much more damage was done in earlier, harder impacts but the one that turned my life on its head was a relative tap, on soft ground, was wearing a good helmet (this was motocross).
So while I don't want to scare you, and would never say don't follow your passion, be f
king careful next month. My gut feel, based on nothing but my own experience, is that you can't afford to bang your head any more.
I hope it was useful at least to write it out - I did similar last month and it seemed to help something click - it's definitely been positive although not in an overnight / awakening kind of way.
I'm no expert, and I had to give up my active lifestyle because of a knee injury rather than head injury, but I know exactly where you are in not knowing where a problem is originating: is it the neck, the brain, the back? It helps a lot to know, strangely, and it's frustrating when you can't assign symptoms to areas or reasons.
All I can say is that I had to concede that my last head injury was minor - it wasn't a big impact, wasn't even a concussion - but it did the most noticeable damage. I'm sure much more damage was done in earlier, harder impacts but the one that turned my life on its head was a relative tap, on soft ground, was wearing a good helmet (this was motocross).
So while I don't want to scare you, and would never say don't follow your passion, be f
king careful next month. My gut feel, based on nothing but my own experience, is that you can't afford to bang your head any more.Hey FNG, thanks for the reply.
So two weeks later and things have improved somewhat, albeit slowly.
My neck and back seem to have sorted themselves out, and the headaches have receded... the spaced out feeling hasn't occured for a few days which i suppose is a good sign.
My general energy levels still aren't the greatest, and i think the concussion has left me with an inner ear issue as over the past week or so, looking down then up or vice versa is giving me small bouts of vertigo.. i may go to the GP about this as it could be wax build up related to the knock, my sinuses have been playing up since the initial concussion as well... but i figure whatever it is will probably just improve over time as everything else has.
So overall I do feel better in myself, the anxiety over it has receded a bit, but I'm kind of dodging the bigger questions at the moment over my future in snowboarding...i can't really handle that emotionally right now.
The trip away is in 2 and a half weeks so i'm getting close to having to make a decision on it... based on how i feel right now, I don't think I could handle it physically... but i do feel markedly better than I did two weeks ago, so don't want to swing the executioners axe on it until I have to.
So two weeks later and things have improved somewhat, albeit slowly.
My neck and back seem to have sorted themselves out, and the headaches have receded... the spaced out feeling hasn't occured for a few days which i suppose is a good sign.
My general energy levels still aren't the greatest, and i think the concussion has left me with an inner ear issue as over the past week or so, looking down then up or vice versa is giving me small bouts of vertigo.. i may go to the GP about this as it could be wax build up related to the knock, my sinuses have been playing up since the initial concussion as well... but i figure whatever it is will probably just improve over time as everything else has.
So overall I do feel better in myself, the anxiety over it has receded a bit, but I'm kind of dodging the bigger questions at the moment over my future in snowboarding...i can't really handle that emotionally right now.
The trip away is in 2 and a half weeks so i'm getting close to having to make a decision on it... based on how i feel right now, I don't think I could handle it physically... but i do feel markedly better than I did two weeks ago, so don't want to swing the executioners axe on it until I have to.
Yes to all the above.
Concussion is a weird one. I've had concussion a couple of times, and if you look at my MRI, you can see the damage.
Try giving up drinking for a while. Maybe do the eply procedure if you have dynamic balance issues. Drink coffee. Live healthy. And just be patient. It took me about 3 months to feel close to normal last time, and even then, the world just felt a little different for years after.
And watch the BBC interview with Dario Franchini where he talks about his concussion. For me, that vid was the bingo moment.
Concussion is a weird one. I've had concussion a couple of times, and if you look at my MRI, you can see the damage.
Try giving up drinking for a while. Maybe do the eply procedure if you have dynamic balance issues. Drink coffee. Live healthy. And just be patient. It took me about 3 months to feel close to normal last time, and even then, the world just felt a little different for years after.
And watch the BBC interview with Dario Franchini where he talks about his concussion. For me, that vid was the bingo moment.
Since it happened I've been having a beer here and there and that's about it... when you feel drunk half the time anyway there isn't much incentive to drink on top of that.
My sleep is a bit all over the place which isn't helping... initially after the fall i slept normally for about 4 weeks, then out of nowhere (with seemingly no trigger) i was waking up 3 or 4 times a night every night, that''s been going on for close to 4 weeks.
Unfortunately i work a desk job at screens all day and under office lights, photosensitivity hasn't been too bad but i've been trying to break it up as much as i can... the late afternoon is a bit of a slog to get through.
A couple of weeks ago I went to a gig with the wife (somewhat of a special occasion so wasn't going to bail)... that was tough to get through, I really should have taken earplugs with me... paid for it for the following 2 or 3 days.
Watching TV has been fine but I can't really play xbox for more than 30 minutes without feeling a bit off. Driving is fine fortunately, and my general cognition and mental awareness has been OK throughout.
Obviously haven't done much physically other than walking every day, i walk to and from work so manage about 2 miles a day...i figure this must be helpful.
Having to learn my limits as I go... unfortunately i've had 2 weeks in a row of cancelled CBT due to the therapist not being available... hoping that getting back into that regularly will help my general state of mind, as I have some pretty bad lows alongside the normal-ish days.
My sleep is a bit all over the place which isn't helping... initially after the fall i slept normally for about 4 weeks, then out of nowhere (with seemingly no trigger) i was waking up 3 or 4 times a night every night, that''s been going on for close to 4 weeks.
Unfortunately i work a desk job at screens all day and under office lights, photosensitivity hasn't been too bad but i've been trying to break it up as much as i can... the late afternoon is a bit of a slog to get through.
A couple of weeks ago I went to a gig with the wife (somewhat of a special occasion so wasn't going to bail)... that was tough to get through, I really should have taken earplugs with me... paid for it for the following 2 or 3 days.
Watching TV has been fine but I can't really play xbox for more than 30 minutes without feeling a bit off. Driving is fine fortunately, and my general cognition and mental awareness has been OK throughout.
Obviously haven't done much physically other than walking every day, i walk to and from work so manage about 2 miles a day...i figure this must be helpful.
Having to learn my limits as I go... unfortunately i've had 2 weeks in a row of cancelled CBT due to the therapist not being available... hoping that getting back into that regularly will help my general state of mind, as I have some pretty bad lows alongside the normal-ish days.
Seriously. Watch this:
"But from the inside, it felt different"
"Damage is Cumulative"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-37089485...
Patience. There is no other fix, really.
I had no short term memory for a while - so once I became aware of this, I had to teach myself a different way to memorise things.
"But from the inside, it felt different"
"Damage is Cumulative"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-scotland-37089485...
Patience. There is no other fix, really.
I had no short term memory for a while - so once I became aware of this, I had to teach myself a different way to memorise things.
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