Hi there, I had an accident last week 31/12/23 that left me with concussion. I had an CT scan with showed nothing. After being in bed for 3-4 days mostly I'm up and about but am suffering from memory issues, particularly names of acquaintances and some friends and places. Has anyone else had a similar experience and does it get better, any tips?
Thanks
Im not sure of details in your case and so cant say whether mine was similar. But I had an accident concussion in 2022 (and was knocked unconscious). I wasnt myself at all for about amonth and in particular had depression and brain fog. Things did seem to get much better over weeks and months but cant say if all went back to normal. I think you are bound to feel sh*t in first few days. But Im pretty sure things will get a lot better and probably back to normal quickly. Phone Headway helpline for advice on what you can do to quicken and maximise recovery.
bw
Thanks Robert, I will call them. What do you still feel hasn't gone back to normal for you?
I also have an autoimmune disease which targets the brain and so for me is hard to disentangle what has caused what. It is quite possible I think that the concussion had no significant, and perhaps no, long lasting physiological impact. But I think it did contribute to depression through me blaming myself for the accident.
Im a bit obessed with cognitive tests and I did do some after the accident that I had done before. The day of the accident the score was down, which was hardly surprising having spent half the night in A&E. . But few days later was back to pre-accident level.
But I also think can be really important what u do post-concussion. e.g. I think need rest, brain healthy food etc. but Im not sure what meant to do, which is where hopefully headway will help.
Hi Skater, I had a head injury in '21 which led to a delayed concussion and post concussion.
Yes it does get better, slowly. Although I still have some short term memory, sleep and psychological issues two and a half years on.
The only advice I could give is rest. Try having a sleep or sitting in a dark, quiet room a couple of times a day to let your brain rest.
Here's my post from after my injury, there's some great advice on here
healthunlocked.com/headway/...
Hope all goes well.
Hello badskater , I had hit on head in 2021 and have had post concussion since then and now diagnosed as Functional neurological disorder. The systems are headaches brson fog memory loss , can't remember how yo fo nasoc things or people names. Have been off eirk for a year now and new symptoms are not being able to walk, larthagic , not being able to see, loss of right side arm and leg kidney pain etc the list is long. All my tests came back as clear except for age related changes which I have no idea as only 50.
I have retrained my brain using eye movement desensitisation exercises, stroke exercises for right side of body and so far it is getting better but still have headaches and am on medication amitriptyline to help with head pain as well as eating brain food like blueberries.
Keep going to your GP, in my area there is no brain injury rehabilitation clinic and GP and neurologist are no help at all. It dies seem yo be all self help.
All thr best and good luck.
Hi - I was assaulted in 2018 and suffered mild concussion at first but this progressed in post concussion syndrome. The biggest mistake I made because I am self employed was not to take enough rest and I think but can’t prove that that elongated the situation. My situation was aggravated because I was a migraine sufferer before the assault and this then started occurring daily. My husband said that I took ages to answer questions even though I thought I was responding straight away. I had some memory issues but that came back reasonably quickly, dizziness however lasted until recently when I started getting therapeutic massages - the dizziness was because I had also suffered a dislodged disc in my neck. Long story short rest as much as possible, try playing a memory game such as brain game and seek advice from headway
Hi there and bad luck about the head injury. Mine was last April and I am still suffering tiredness, brain fog, decision problems and terrible fatigue to name a few of the symptoms.
I cannot emphasise enough that you need to take it as easy as you possibly can for a few months after a TBI like yours, Its easy to shrug it off and think it will sort itself out while you get on with things, but trust me it doesn't.
The rest you take now may mean that you get back to 'normal' but if you push it you may drag it out. Many of us on here are not the same as we were before our head injury, even if we get back to a life it is often not the same one. Be gentle with yourself, there is absolutely nothing you can do that will speed it up and you simply cannot push through symptoms thinking they will go away.
All the best with your recovery
Thanks for the reply , advice and wishes.
hi and welcome to this group .. I’m unsure with your case but the advice on contacting Headways is a very good place to get more information .. the only thing I do know from others is that you will feel bad for a few days and yes others have seemed to improve . Everyone is so different and even the Drs have don’t know how long it will take .. this is the best place for getting information on what has happened from the people who so know / understand ..Sue 😁
hi - it took about three months but would probably have been quicker if I had rested more
I can remember names of close friends and family but struggle with some people I don't know in the public eye for example struggled to remember Princess Charlotte who I probably could have remembered before. Also some capital cities. Its torture as my brain is wandering trying to check what has gone. Not sure if that matches with your experience?
Yes. I struggled to find words. I could remember the first letter sometimes but not the word. Once I heard a name again, I would repeat it to myself and it sunk in. If it helps write the name or word down a few times. Remember that anxiety will reduce your ability to remember too so try and relax, be honest with people what the issue is and that will also help.
Yes but I would still suggest you speak to Headway as they may be able to give you more insight.
Hi BadSkater,Sorry to hear this, but welcome to the forum. Post concussion symptoms are very real, and do vary very widely in the time they take to resolve. They can clear up in a couple of weeks, and many resolve within a few months - but sometimes it can be longer than this. Even the oft-quoted three months can seem a very long time, as often it can be the first time you've had any sort of prolonged ill health, and it can feel very confusing indeed (My neuropsychiatrist said that fatigue was usually the last symptom to resolve). It is 'normal' to have clear CT and MRI scans, by the way, but it is good to have these to rule out a more serious bleed. However if you get a sudden severe migraine at any point, get yourself straight back into A&E.
It's only in relatively recent years that the stronger scanners like fMRI have been used in research situations, and have shown that there are previously undetected changes in our brains triggered by a concussion (otherwise called a 'mild traumatic brain injury' or MTBI) and you can get a wide raft of odd symptoms from this.
Ring the Headway helpline in office hours for an informed and helpful 'listening ear' and advice at any point - and read some of their literature online. You probably won't feel like doing a great deal at the moment, but be aware that noise and light and any screen use and reading, can make things worse, so although it's very tempting to play brain training games and so on online, be aware that these can add to your fatigue and exacerbate your symptoms generally. The advice used to be to just rest in a darkened room, but some research ( look at Leddy's work in Buffalo University in the USA) indicates that while we can become exercise intolerant, this is an autonomic dysfunction, which can be alleviated by gentle exercise of twenty minutes a day at well below the pulse rate level that exacerbates any symptoms you may get (such as nausea or a feeling like a tight band around your head - as you have to stop at that point, and when you exercise the following day, importantly work at a much lower level, because the idea is to exercise without triggering any symptoms).
My neurologist's advice was to get a secondhand treadmill or similar and practice on this for ten minutes a day, or whatever you can manage without making any symptoms worse - a stationary bike can be better though because it doesn't affect any vestibular or oculomotor issues you might have.
You can do gentle repetitive exercises for any oculomotor or vestibular dysfunction that have been triggered by the concussion, such as holding a pencil up level with your eyes, moving it from side to side, and tracking it with your eyes without moving your head a few times a day - start doing this sitting down, and when you can master that reliably without nausea, you can try the same exercise when you are standing - surprisingly this is much harder! You may find going in supermarkets or large shops is difficult, it's a combination of noise and lighting, and any oculomotor or vestibular problems that have been triggered. There are physio exercises that can help this, but any fatigue tends to make everything worse, so it's a good plan to first work on reducing fatigue by having a 'brain break' from light, noise and screens for ten to fifteen minutes every hour of the day. This can simply be done by lying down quietly with your eyes shut - though some breathing meditations, like those on the Headspace app can also work - but I found that any visualisation type meditation was next to impossible - so avoid those! A neuropsychologist who carried out a barrage of tests on me which identified executive memory issues, and other stuff, suggested trying a mindfulness based stress reduction course (MBSR) - mindfulness doesn't fix an MTBI as such, but may help you to find a meditation practice that helps alleviate the fatigue, and the techniques it introduces do help you become more aware of your physical reactions to stress, which can give you a good reminder that you do need to take a 'brain break'- and it did help me cope better with my original 24/7 headache.
Hope some of these ideas help - sorry it's such a long post to read. Take things gently, and do come back on here for more moral support!
Thanks very much for the reply, very helpful.
What are all your symptoms at the moment BadSkater, and what happened to you? I forgot to mention that what is referred to as a 'boom and bust' pattern is common after an MTBI. It describes how you feel rough and totally knocked out for a few days, then feel better and try and go about things as you normally would - which is then followed by a total slump for however many days it takes, because you've 'overdone' things.
I was told to try and break this pattern because overall it makes things worse over time and ultimately harder to recover from. The regular 'brain break' rests every hour help. Try and note what you can do and fit how long, on a 'bad' day and then only do that much on a 'good day ' when you can cope with that level of activity - just try and increase one thing by just 30 minutes a week.
Hope this helps
I fell over ice skating, more or less stationary, I slipped and fell on my head. I had a big cut too probably from my glasses. I was maybe out for a few seconds but not sure. When I came round I was on the floor and I remember being helped up into a wheelchair. I knew where I was and can remember being bandaged up. Then off to hospital where they stitched me up did a few basic coordination tests , gave me some codeine and sent me on my way! Spent the next 2 days in bed taking cocodemol with a massive headache not being able to function. Moved over to paracetamol and then realised I couldn't remember some names so went to Dr's who sent me back to the hospital for CT scan which came back clear. Since then I've been recuperating at home, each day I seem to improve but it's been 8 days now and I still have memory issues although they are getting better slowly. My speech is OK and so is my coordination. My memory issues that I've noticed so far relate to names and places. For example there were some celebrities whose names I knew , but now I struggle to remember them. I also dont feel like reading much and concentration on anything is hard. When I try and do something like make lunch it takes a while and is disorganised. I impacted on the side of my head towards the end of my eyebrow. How about you, what was your situation? I'm going to ring Headway now.
That sounds like unfortunately normal classic injury and symptoms BadSkater. It's very early days for you though, and every brain injury has a different time trajectory. My first one was all cleared up and I was back functioning in a couple of weeks, the second was more long term, and then I managed to faceplant the pavement when it was starting to clear up - so in effect had a third ( but I am older and female, and had prior history and had migraine previously - which are all more likely to produce problems - but it's important to remember everyone really is different) Basically a box fell on my head from off a high shelf at home, and I had a memory loss for six hours or so afterwards.The hospital will have just been checking to see if your injury was life threatening. Try and rest up and wait and see how you go. Keep talking to your GP, some are better than others, but if it drags on, a referral to a neurologist specialising in mild traumatic brain injury would be sensible.
Can you walk heel to toe across your living room by the way?
Sorry to hear your story and hope you continue to make progress. I'd not tried the heel to toe walk but I just tried it and seemed OK actually. My coordination and balance seem generally OK and also my speech, mostly. I've not tried any logic puzzles yet as I've not felt up to it yet, plus would just scare / depress myself. Looking where I hit my head it would be by the temporal lobe on the right hand side (my right). Are you still seeing people in the medical profession? Thanks for your replies, they have been very helpful. I'll let you know how it goes with me.
Glad your balance is ok, that's good. I was being signed off by everyone around 2020, had a few lockdown zoom appointments, and then stopped all treatment - my injury was in July 2018. The team I first saw in March / April 2019, had said they were throwing everything and the kitchen sink at me in one go, because there was a chance of them pulling me round because I'd got in front of them so quickly (by just coincidence and luck) My recovery had got entirely stalled by the time I saw them, and I improved dramatically under their care, and was very relieved from day one that someone just thought all my weird symptoms were just normal. Things haven't been at all bad though this last year, for me, except I caught a bad dose of Covid in the summer which knocked me back badly for some months, with a sharp uptick in my fatigue levels which was hard to cope with.
Glad you have been better this year. The last round of COVID did seem quite bad, lots of people quite ill. For reference I'm 47 soon.
Hello, I fell and bumped my head 3 years ago. I had post concussion. My recovery has been very slow, 2 steps forward and 1 back. I am not the same. I still have issues with memory, names and a lot more. As I have said progress is slow, but there is some....take care.....everyone is different. I hope you improve quickly
Post concussion exercise
Post concussion syndrome
Post-concussion syndrome
