Facts About Concussion and Brain Injury

Don't give up! Keep searching for the right doctor who will listen to you. It took me almost 2 years to find the right neurologist who figured out what was going on with me. I was rear end at stop light by a pick up truck going 55 miles an hour. I only lost consciousness for a few seconds but was totally dazed and confused and in pain. I never felt right and knew things were wrong. I couldn\'t focus, things were too loud and too bright, I would zone out, forgot to pay my bills, couldn\'t keep my old household routine. This basically destroyed my relationship with my husband, son and daughter. I got the \"you look fine\", you\'re lazy\", \"just do what your told\". Come to find out I have a mild TBI and I suffer from frontal-temporal seizures as well. I have been in cognitive therapy for my memory issues. I am a CPA with an MBA who would have thought I couldn\'t shop for groceries for a week or decide on a parking spot or forget to rinse shampoo out of my hair on a regular basis. Some of these things have gotten better but some have lingered. I will undoubtedly have the seizures for the rest of my life. On the upside, I am more outgoing and I tend to speak my mind and say how I feel. I used to be much more reserved. So, at least I did get a couple of pluses;) Good Luck to all and keep searching for that doctor who will listen.....he/she is out there!

I am 28 and had my fifth concussion now since the age of 10, I notice my mind is clearer now then ever after this one and I suffered it by braking m left orbital against an aluminum dry rack on 5/3/13 I feel stronger rather than weaker after this one can anyone help me understand how or why that may be docs have no answers for me?

im scared i have one. whacked the hell out of the front-top (frontal lobe?) of my skull standing up to quick. Banged it on a metal pipe.... (yeah, I know, right). Have a headache, stiff neck, feel kind of like i got a lean on sometimes, every now and again will space out doing math. Today it happened. Pupils normal, no bright lights. Should i see doctor and file workers comp claim? It happened there, but god, it is just plain clumsiness!

My story is about my son and i am sharing it in the hopes that people read these stories and realize they are right they are not crazy!!! The brain is like any muscle if you injure it it needs to heal. If you don"t heal it it will protect it"s self by not working properly. I try to compare it to someone spraining their ankle then the next day running a 10 km marathon. my son's story about several concussions and his last that ended him in 2 psyc hospitals is quite long so I am posting a copy of the letter i am sending to the doctors that wouldn't listen. For those who want the whole story as told by myself are welcome to contact me at linda.hurren@hotmail.com My son is M Hurren I'm sure you have many patients over the course of a year so you may not remember him. He was 20 years old and admitted with Psychosis. April 2012. I advised you at the time my son had suffered a severe concussion but you disregarded this as impossible and diagnosed him with Pycosis or marijuana induced schizophrenia. I understand why you would have assumed this to be his condition as his behavior was matching symptoms but I am writing this to let you know my son had severe post concussion syndrome by over using his concussed brain his brain had reverted to a child like state. Things he would have been taught and would talk about when he was younger sounded strange coming from a 20 year old man. I have attached a copy of a letter that I wrote to explain what happened including all the head injury's he received as a child and what I did to survive this but all I ask is to at least look at head injury as being an option even if the head injury was in the recent past . No tests can show concussions so head injury history is important. I can't help but wonder how many women/ men are in care on medications when all they need is rest The medication made his symptoms worse as he did not need them. My son is on NO medications and is back to living his normal life. He has been back to work since Aug 1 2012. Other than not really having anyone to talk to about his ordeal, as people still have a hard time accepting a mistreated concussion could cause this state of mind, he has had no ill effects. I believe he would still be locked in a hospital environment if I had not removed him as the medications would have continued to have adverse effects. Respectively Linda Hurren

I'm 23 and I had concussion when I was 16. I was playing football and some idiot kicked the football straight at my eye (by accident). I think first of all I was worse than I am now because I suffered from headaches for a few years afterwards, but now I don't seem to get them anymore. My memory was pretty bad for a while afterwards. I am better now but I haven't exactly got a fantastic memory on me! The main thing that really ticks me off is ever since I had the concussion I've had a tremor in my neck that makes my head move to the side. This worsens when trying to concentrate looking at someone or having my picture taken, definitely when I get nervous it always happens. Now I've read people saying they've had tremors and their neck moves from side to side but mine just seems to go 1 way - pulls to the left. I was told by a neurologist, after getting an MRI scan (because of my headaches) to start lifting weights to strengthen my neck muscles and ease my headaches and I've been doing that ever since. Maybe that has helped my headaches but my neck tremor is still present and I've been trying to read up on how to fix it because it really irritates me.

I've had 17 concussions the past year, and i only went to go get my head checked out for the first one. i cant barely function anymore, its starting to get really hard to do anything anymore.... Chris Ray 18

I am 71 yr old woman and another car T-boned me and I woke up in the hospital. I was out about one hour. I had a broken pelvis and a few injuries. It took a while to recognize everybody. That was 4 mos ago and I am still confused. I am a lot better but wonder how long it will take to become normal. It\'s embarressing to realize I repeat myself.

I have had 2 concussions in 1 year and now I have so much head pain I can hardly bare it. Both times I lost conciousness. The first time I was 26 years old playing with my 2 year old son when he caught me off guard and tackled me so hard, I fell back and hit my head on my kitchen floor. I woke up when the EMT put me on the gurney and I can only remember bits and peices of the ride to the hospital and the stay. The second time I fell down the stairs. I dont know how I made it to the stairs because it was the middle of the night. My husband thinks that I may have been sleep walking. He said he hurd me scream and hurd several thuds. I dont remember any of that. All I remember was waking up on the floor. Since that last fall, I cant tilt my head to look up. I have a constant nausious headache, I cant think straigt, Im easily destracted, and I have this horrible pain on the base of my skall. I have had 2 MRI's but they show nothing. Im suppose to go see a nurologist but I cant find the time with 2 small boys. I dont have the time to rest. The pain has make me very depressed. All I want to do is to be the best mom to my boys and I feel as if im failing. I really need some help. -Alisha Johnson 27

I had a mild concussion 2 years ago. I was rear ended. I had a torn ligament in the back of my neck and the whipping of my head caused the concussion. Among other symptoms, memory problems etc... I have notice that I don\'t seem to handle stress very well. I feel like flight or flight and the pressure of the stess is overwhelming. Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced this? I would really appreciate any input someone might have. Oh, I don\'t do it as much now, but I also will repeat words or actions when typing.

I had a pretty bad concussion two years ago when i was in the eighth grade. I was out of school for a week with a really bad black eye. When the swelling went down, the whole white of my eye was bright red. That went away. I fractured my skull right beside my eye. Ever since my concussion, i get sick after i eat. I don't throw up, but i experience nausea, i get really pale, and sometimes i get blotchy. When i finish eating, i can't look at anyone elses food or smell food, it discusts me. It usually starts out with tremors going through my body, starting in my stonach area, sometimes my legs go numb, and my heart feels fluttery. I've lost 16 pounds because of this and have never gained it back. Sometimes i get really bad acid reflux if i eat greasy food, but thats gets better when i take a few Tums. I also get really bad depression and cry a lot, lose my temper for no reason, and have trouble learning in school. I've had to pause a few times while writing this just because i forgot what i was going to say. If anyone knows a way to help with my nausea after eating, please let me know.

I just got a concusion saturday I am just wondering, the doctor sent me omeand said get some rest, but my speech is the same and everythingi do is so much slower. My talking, writing anf typing. It takes me longer to remember things and I ger a bad taste in my mouth. I dont feel as tho i am gettig better. I get dizzy and so tired. Will this go away

thank you for your information my huspand has brian injury what kind of question can i ask the doctars when i will meet them i am very confuse

wow!! thanks to all. I was at work and a box fell about 24ft and hit me on top of my head. I was diagnosed with a cervical neck sprain. I continued to work while going to physiotherapy, accupuncture, and massage for over 18 months. 28 months with symptoms of nausea, headaches, ringing in my ear, pain, numbness, confusion, cognitive problems, memory, strange decisions, and then completer exhaustion my GP diagnosed pain disorder and depression. I met the best Dr. in the world who said obviously you had a concussion and post concussion sydrome. I burst our crying as i thought i had lost my mind. since then she has sent me to pain clinics, to a brain injury clinic and although i still suffer many symptoms 4 years later i have worked on the loss of my life as i knew it, i know i am not imaging anything and now i am working on what to do with the rest of my life. God bless to all

Get Dr. Daniel G.Amen's book Change Your Brain Change Your Life. He shows you in pictures using SPECT imaging about what happens to the brain. He has offices in California and Washington state.

Sometimes it is made worse by the providers..............and psychologists that do not have enough medical knowledge to help people get the treatment they need instead of giving them a mental illness they don't have............and performing a mental privacy rape............asking too many personal questions. Or at teaching hospitals............performing tests such as speech iq garbage when a patient has said no.....is strung out on drugs such as fentaynl morphine lortab and other drugs............or has gone with out pain meds for 09 hours.....they just want to use people as lab rats....

i have read your comments and post and hopefully once i show these to my son he will try to get some therapy he was dropped from a over pass six years ago and was in a functional coma where he was catatonic but had the ability to speak and semi understand his surrondings but his whole personality changed once he woke up and from what i read here today i see it can be helped if you se somebody

God has a funny way of getting our attention. I know what I have to do now. THANK YOU ALL FOR SHARING YOUR STORIES.BEYOND THE dOCTORS THERE IS NEVER COMPINSATION FOR LOOSING YOUR LIFE AND STILL BEING ALIVE

I am amazed at this. I read up on concussions and learned what the symptoms are, and that it is crucial to get medical attention and rehab as soon as possible; yet, according to your comments, it is the same as with my good friend...dizzy, weak, unbalanced, nausea...and yet none of the Drs. seem concerned. They do not think there was a concussion sustained (rear-ended by a semi, no skid marks, and forced into a line of three more stopped vehicles); 150 stitches in the back of the head, with deep abrasion on forehead. But a concussion? Doubtful. So, what do you do? Pray. Pray for a competent Dr. to help you out. And believe in the Power of God--then live as a Witness to Him. God bless each of you with a healing. Judy, IN

Guy, I so know your situation as I was a student at Harvard and had an accident and was treated very similar. After five years of living with this, my conclusions are that the medical industry has no idea in general how to look at this, and honestly after going to one of the best rehab facilities in the world, they have no idea how to treat it.... seriously, they don't. They cannot prove anything by looking at exrays because to them it does not exist. When you look at the fact that anything that truly exists is made up of energy and matter. We are energy and it damages our brains, system, and energy flow. I was healed by a tremendous woman who healed her own daughter with TBI from a car accident. Please contact me at lcampbell@pvgasset.com and I can help you... trust me. Laura

i have a concussion. this article has helped me to understand!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you for writting this. christy linnean james