Ok Ladies it is confirmed you do get PCS worse tha... - Headway

Headway

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Ok Ladies it is confirmed you do get PCS worse than us

sospan profile image
19 Replies

The have just confirmed the new that in sport a pitchside saliva tests can diagnose concussion with a 94% accuracy.

However, the test cannot yet be used on women because of a lack of data. Renowned head injury expert Professor Belli believes women suffer symptoms that are "more severe and more prolonged" than men"

Several pieces of interesting news

bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union...

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sospan profile image
sospan
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19 Replies
Painting-girl profile image
Painting-girl

Ooh that's really promising info - thanks Sospan.

Would be really good if they can get to the point of getting people with concussion off the field quickly. Should help in the military too hopefully.

Apparently I had the double whammy of having had a previous concussion and being an older woman....

sospan profile image
sospan in reply to Painting-girl

Mine couldn't understand why I had been knocked out 9 times and somewhere around 40 concussions. 8 months after my career ending concussion fell down the stairs and hit my all the way down. Been back to A&E 3 times since then with other concussions and head injuries.

Painting-girl profile image
Painting-girl in reply to sospan

Ouch - you really went for it then. Can sympathise on the career ending thing 😱

How come you had so many?

Definitely don't get any more!

Jen 🌸

sospan profile image
sospan in reply to Painting-girl

School, rugby, security forces, wife, children, active social life.

100 plus broken bones, 20 pieces of surgery including reattaching bits that had been cut off. Relearned to walk 5 times.

Not much I don't know about healing, recovery and rehab - out of necessity !

Painting-girl profile image
Painting-girl in reply to sospan

Oh no - you have been hard on yourself! Ouch! ( Wife and children involved in some of these injuries - how???! )

And there I was pretty upset about my first ever broken finger last month... Yes, you're right, it is necessary to give your body some leeway to heal up.

charlie5540 profile image
charlie5540

I don't suppose post concussion stress is worse than PTSD or any other trauma related damage which is what I have

sospan profile image
sospan in reply to charlie5540

Medical and Legal people generally agree that there are around 4 classifications each for General Psychiatric stress(damage) and PTSD . Within each there are multiple manifestations of mental health conditions.

However, it is quite often difficult to compare someone with a degree of PTSD to someone with a medium degree of psychiatric disorder.

At the end of the day it is how it affects the individual and how much support they have access to when needed.

Statistically, the numbers show that women suffer more with PTSD than men. Although, that is more likely because men typically will not discuss mental health issues.

charlie5540 profile image
charlie5540 in reply to sospan

You seem to have done a lot of detailed research and still been able to hand falls etc. Down the stairs....

sospan profile image
sospan in reply to charlie5540

Part way through my previous life I went through a lot of medical training. Which is quite of useful when you have holes in you or bits sticking out that either should be on the inside or not their at all. It has been quite useful fixing myself and others.

Also my wife and her sisters and prospective daughter in law and a daughter that is a Pyschologist/ Neuropyschologist and Criminologist.

One of the most difficult medical situations was when I was in hospital after an injury on a different ward to my wife's. I had both arms immobilised and elevated sat up in bed with just a sheet over my man bits. In those days graduates of St Trinians normally went into nursing. That was a few days of being terrorised with sponges and razors - not sure to put a smiley or sad emoji

charlie5540 profile image
charlie5540 in reply to sospan

Thank you sospan having man bits either exposed or messed up with is hard enough ...I am of the ilk that thinks my medication has significantly affected my manliness.

sospan profile image
sospan in reply to charlie5540

The whole thing around a head injury is very emasculating. from being dependent on others, not being able to do things, the emotional effects and mood swings. Plus the pain and medications that goes with it.

I once bit back (metaphorically) ar very eminent NeuroPsychologist. In my fist session he asked what affected me post injury. I gave the usual memory, concentration, balance etc. and also mentioned that my sex life was pretty poor. In the follow up session just over a year later he passed a rather snide comment about my sex life. It just came back with - "Have you ever tried to have sex with a raging headache, vertigo when you shake your head, fatigue, a broken knee and all these pain killers!" All he said was he had considered that with patients before!

charlie5540 profile image
charlie5540 in reply to sospan

Like painting girl without seeing it my career was brought to an end by trauma connected with brain surgery ages ago and stress ........... I could name several other factors

Pairofboots profile image
Pairofboots

I saw last night that a gum shield has been developed to monitor head injury in rugby, it also calculates cumulative effect. Two football clubs are starting a trial. And it is being rolled out to women's rugby teams.

sospan profile image
sospan in reply to Pairofboots

It has been around for a couple of years but seems to be slow on the uptake. bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union...

Whether there are so many application for it even for non contact sport. When I used to ride motorbikes the combination of wind and vibration and the shaking from bumps in the road could give concussion like symptoms after a long day.

Pairofboots profile image
Pairofboots in reply to sospan

I rode a motorbike for many years, assuming I stayed upright I'm not sure how much bumps in the road had much of a problem. I used to have to decompress after long ride's, but that was due to the amount of concentration.

sospan profile image
sospan in reply to Pairofboots

I used to clock up 50 to 60.000 a year on a bike mostly big one but the naked ones were the worst with no protection, skinny tyres and rubbish suspension.

Day after day pounding up and down the UK roads wasn't good on the body.

Pairofboots profile image
Pairofboots in reply to sospan

Well anything is possible, but how probable???

sospan profile image
sospan in reply to Pairofboots

At the time we (Police, BSi,TRRL, BMF, Snell institute) did lots of research into head injuries, vibration, hearing loss, hyper and hypo thermia.

Head injury then was a very taboo subject. Vibration however, was high priority after a number of Police bikes crashed due to the way the radios were mounted on the frame. At certain speeds and frequency a feed back loop was created making the frame shake, sometimes violently

Pairofboots profile image
Pairofboots in reply to sospan

Maggots (CX500) and the CBX 550 had a similar problems because the tanks didn't have fins in them. If the tanks were below half full, all you needed was a twitch crossing a road marking, and the fuel started to swish about turning them into a bucking bronco. Great fun on a freezing cold day on a motorway 😁

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