UKH

Hi all. Apologies in advance that this may be a little long.

Interested in the experiences of anyone who has experienced longer-term concussion (ie not cleared up within the expected two weeks) and - hopefully! - recovery.

I have a concussion since having a car door slam closed onto my eye in early December (my own car - don't ask). Didn't feel too bad immediately, went to A&E two days later and told concussion (but scans not needed - though got strong sense this was because they were insanely overloaded), should clear up in two weeks, and if not, go back to GP. Symptoms worsened after two weeks - this coincided with visiting family for Christmas (more stress, very little sleep) but haven't yet abated. Contacted GP and was just sent a text to say recovery can take a lot longer than that - appointment booked in two weeks' time from now.

In the meantime, I'm pretty much left to my own devices. It's pretty clear that my brain just needs rest now, but I have no idea if I'm mentally preparing myself for a week or two more of this, or permanently not being able to work, drive, climb, etc (the symptoms are pretty disabling and wide-ranging) - which would mean losing my career and at worst, moving city. I know of one person who had a concussion ten years ago and had to give up work, but there is little advice online other than for the immediate aftermath of an accident. I also suspect I'm not similar to the typical 18yo male rugby player - I'm older, female, history of chronic migraines and repeated poor health this year, and vegan (so no doubt missing some kind of nutrients) - obviously, googling is not helping my unease!

I suspect there is no way to know the prognosis yet but - anyone who's been through this; is there anything particular I should be asking my GP for? Is there anything that helped?

I currently get the sense that health professionals just treat concussion like something temporary and non-serious, while I'm left alone wondering if I will ever work or climb again, be able to buy a house now, and am also housebound and dependent on one friend to even do basic things like shopping... Basically, never experienced anything anywhere near like this.

Thanks all.

Trigger Warning for suicidal ideation if it's relevant to anyone.

I had a bad MTB crash in 2019, I had 2 substantial cracks in my helmet and had badly injured my shoulder, possibly unconscious for a couple of seconds as I went from airborne to lying on my back with no memory of the impact (I pieced together the sequence of injuries based on my memory of being airborne and which bits were battered). My experiences may or may not be helpful as they interact a lot with some of my autistic symptoms/ traits.

X-rayed to determine how damaged shoulder was but none of the doctors seemed especially concerned about my head so I'm guessing it didn't seem like a bad concussion. Immediate aftermath was significantly affected by the shoulder injury and painkillers but main symptom was sleeping a lot.

Back in the UK I had surgery and was signed off work August to October, lots of sleep while recovering from surgery despite not really using morphine (felt like an instant hangover from a 4 pack of Newcastle Brown Ale without the fun bit at the start).

Work wise I found that previous issues with noise sensitivity were far worse (I was already on anti depressants due to persistently becoming overwhelmed by the noise in my open plan office), this escalated to a 3 hour long episode of suicidal ideation where I was curled up on a high back chair in streams of tears in the office as I couldn't go to my safe space of my van due to having kitchen knives in the back for cooking with. 4 years on I now work mostly from home with the odd day in the office/ client site, usually requiring a corner desk to limit the number of directions noise comes from, noise cancelling headphones and noise attenuating ear plugs (I use Loops, but do find my inner ears sore after a couple of hours so while more effective than alternatives they are still not perfect). I also experience issues with fatigue in the office sometimes, although this is likely the amount of social interaction and the effect of noise. I benefit very much from minor adjustments to my role under the equality act (employers can be a bit crap at understanding their duties under this, I am happy to discuss the process of getting these in place for you and answer any questions as I am heavily involved in my employer's inclusion network and they seem to get stuff right with a bit of guidance). During this time I also became a chartered engineer and am looking at progressing into a more senior role in the next few months.

Climbing wise I have experienced frequent issues with becoming disoriented and losing my sense of proprioception while climbing, something about my local wall seems to make me get overwhelmed more readily than at other walls, this often results in feeling very tired just as I get properly warmed up and ready to try hard on anything so climbing is now more pottering around which is very frustrating, sometimes my head will just refuse to behave and pushing through it feels horrific so I am exceptionally grateful to my partner for accepting when things aren't happening without any fuss. I have shifted more towards walking, MTB and swimming as they seem less overwhelming to me.

In short, it has put restrictions on my life, they can be managed but still cause difficulty, accepting the limitations takes time and patience with yourself but as things go on some of them can improve a bit.

It was a month or two before I felt right. 

I had a 15m ground fall about 4 months ago and still not completely right. I was getting bouts of dizziness and nausea from 2 weeks after the accident until about 8 weeks afterwards. This along with continuing mental fog and some memory issues did worry me. I was assured that it was harmless and would go away on its own, which for the most part it has, but still not completely right.

A big part of what helped was just knowing that my brain was (at least for the most part) fine and that the symptoms would go away, as grim as the experience was.

Sister in law had 2 concussions from rugby in late teens/early 20s. She doesn't remember a Christmas that was soon after the 2nd. Ended up restarting a uni year then dropping out after the 2nd one. Family took care of her (moved back home) so she didn't have to focus on day to day stuff, just on recovering. Did little pottery things for a while (do walks etc.) for light activity. Took a few months to get back to normal but then living on her own, back at work, exercising regularly (albeit not a climber, but including karate. Has decided rugby is a no no though!). Only downside has been that in applying for RAF they said can't fly planes (but could go into any other role)

Other people she played rugby with took similar knocks and recovered quickly. It's a bit of a crap shoot, but the 2nd knock (about a year after) won't have helped recovery.

I imagine that the Christmas period will not have been conducive to your recovery. I hope then next couple of weeks will provide a more relaxed space for you to recover. Rest up as much as you can and be kind to yourself.

No personal experience, but this might be helpful?

https://www.headway.org.uk/about-brain-injury/individuals/types-of-brain-in...

Particularly this leaflet (which is linked from the main page) https://www.headway.org.uk/media/8508/hw-booklet-mild-head-injury-2020-web....

Concussions do typically recover very well, usually fully, as there is no structural injury to the brain. Recovery within 2 weeks happens for most people, but a significant minority find it's up to 3-4 months before they feel fully recovered. Persisting symptoms of concussion (beyond 3 months) are pretty rare and even then the odds are good in terms of getting back to work, hobbies and living independently. Unfortunately, it is often very difficult to cope with or make sense of symptoms of concussion during that time because the part of your body you use to do this is the same part of your body that isn't working quite right just now.

The lack of scans wasn't necessarily due to them being too busy. A concussion wouldn't show up on scans, and in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic head injury the main purpose of scans is ruling out a bleed in the brain which is a life-threatening emergency. Given that it was a couple of days before you went to A&E they should have been able to rule this out based on your symptoms, a decent examination and the fact that you'd made it that long without requiring an ambulance.

Rest is good, but not total rest. After the first 2-3 days a gradual return to physical and mental activity is the best thing to do. Same principle as when a physio tells you to keep moving that injured shoulder even though it's uncomfortable - stimulation helps trigger recovery and too much rest becomes counter-productive relatively quickly. Don't push yourself too hard or put yourself in situations that might be dangerous, but don't aim for total rest. (When you start going out it can be a good idea to go with someone in case you get disorientated and lost, and who can remind you to pick up your keys. If you do go out on your own and are finding that memory or attention are problematic it can help to sellotape a note to the door reminding you to take things like your keys and phone).

Thank you all.

I had a significant head injury 13 years ago, requiring surgery for an orbital blowout. (Decked out onto my head, it could have been a lot worse)

I don't remember any conversation about concussion with the doctor, although there must have been something.

It was probably 12 months before I was recovered from that aspect. In the first 3 I had real issues with emotional regulation, they got better slowly, but required some effort on my part once I realised what was happening. I had concentration issues for around 12 months, with limited ability to focus on tasks and especially when things were happening fast, like a conversation with a difficult customer.

I lost my driving licence for 12 months due to the seizure I had during the accident. I was a sales rep at the time, so that wasn't ideal! It was a particularly stressful part of the experience because the DVLA were useless, and wouldn't give clear information, and none of the forms they sent applied to my situation, even though it can't be uncommon. I had to submit doctors letter confirming no more seizures after 12 months and eventually my licence reappeared in the post.

2 weeks for a concussion that sounds like it's causing you significant problems sounds very optimistic! Learning to spot when I was overwhelmed and finding ways to calm down was important for my recovery, and while climbing just trying to avoid situations that were stressful, or carefully managing them, much the same as managing a fear of falling.

Thanks. Yes I suspect when I'm better it'll be a long time before I feel confident driving and climbing again (already struggled with both before tbh) but living alone without driving for several months or years is lifechanging.

Just struggling to get help from GP at present. Mum (visiting) just stormed down there to try to get them to see me earlier at least, but I've got no energy or mental wherewithal to fight the medical system myself and god knows how I'm going to get through a GP appointment on my own (I am useless before about 2pm).

This morning I seem to be worse and am struggling talking whole sentences and feel very dizzy and nauseous. Family kind and want to help but it's so stressful dealing with anyone (even things like them not waiting for me to finish a sentence) so I'd half rather be left alone to sleep.

Anyway thanks all. Seems the outlook is pretty bleak in that case...! 

“This morning I seem to be worse and am struggling talking whole sentences and feel very dizzy and nauseous.”

That does sound like migraine…I’m suffering right now. I’m actually typing this lying in bed feeling dizzy and nauseous and my partner having just asked me why I’m jumbling my words.

It may be helpful (or it may be stating the obvious) to say that a concussion or a brain injury is an isolated injury and not a progressive disease process. If symptoms seem to be getting worse after this long or change across the day then the exacerbating factor is likely to be something like stress, anxiety, poor sleep, fatigue, low mood, illness etc. Any of these and more can mean substantial additional load on the brain or reduced ability. When things aren't working as they should, additional cognitive load can easily overwhelm your brain and then the wheels fall off. Fatigue in particular is debilitating and really common after a concussion. But any damage or disturbance to the brain caused by a head injury has already happened, and doesn't get worse over time. Even in extremely severe brain injuries the first few months is a period of relatively rapid recovery, even when it doesn't feel that way day-to-day, so don't give up hope.

This is very helpful. Thank you. 

Good news - receptionist was no match for the mother and now have GP appt today at least.

Thanks all.  

I also have long term migraine so possible concussion is also interacting with that so to some degree but also causing other, different symptoms (and different pattern - migraine doesn't usually come on after stress/exertion and then go away again as quickly, albeit this keeps them coming back - migraine tends to settle in for the whole day). This is definitely concussion.

You have my sympathy though! 

Long lasting concussion symptoms suck. You can expect improvement although not necessarily full or at a linear rate. There is not much that your gp or sny other doctor can do for you. A break from screens is often advised. I believe that this has been shown to improve recovery speed. The rest of the advice generally equates to healthy living. Minimal alcohol consumption until you're much better and enough gentle/moderate exercise that you sleep well at night. You didn't mention poor sleep but it is a very common symptom. Above all, absolutely minimise your risk of further head impacts (although it sounds like yours was freak rather than sports related). If you can take a break from work without it being ruinous I would but it is a big decision. Wishing you all the best

More explanation on full recovery or not, most people have some level of brain injury from minor knocks but aren't aware of it. The brain has the ability to make new connections to try and compensate for damaged ones. I have very slight tinnitus in one ear from concussion over 10 years ago but no other identifiable symptoms. It is quite possible, indeed perhaps the most likely outcome, that you will get back to a good functional state but that it's not identical to your pre concussion state. It's a long process and it also may not be possible to determine what is due to aging and what is due to concussion. A family member in their 70s had a bad brain injury a few years ago. They now need a lengthy nap most afternoons. We think that they're probably linked but it's not impossible that it's just their age. Working your brain is good as it encourages the formation of new connections but you really don't want to tire yourself out.