Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
Having had 8 documented concussions when I played sports, with at least three really serious ones, you have to be exceedingly patient with your recovery and realize that there's no quick miracle cures.
Concussion symptoms can fade to the point where you feel normal, and then one day they return with a vengeance.
Monitoring is hugely important in terms of concussions, as well as managing symptoms. If you feel good for a couple of days you still have to be careful and aware that you have a concussion and not be surprised by any set back. You also have to be aware that you can't push past a concussion. Its not like pushing through pain from a body injury, if you try to push through discomfort with a concussion or symptoms with a concussion you could wind up with a longer recovery or worse.
Just be careful going with the physio route, make sure that you can trust the therapist. You should make sure that before you do anything that you go and see a doctor and get a proper diagnosis, concussions come in all different sizes in shapes right from mild discomfort, headaches, general fatigue, right up to nausea to a feeling of general misplacement.
Beyond that, try to find a clinic that has access to a physician with experience in managing concussions.
Maybe vette your therapist in terms of their experience with working with concussions, make sure that you absolutely trust the person that's trying to help you through.
Maybe I missed it, but what you have doesn't sound like a mild concussion, especially if you're suffering from disorientation and after 5 weeks your symptoms are becoming more frequent. I think that before you go to physio, you should return to your doctor and get a new assessment.
Just to put it this way, I got my last concussion about a decade ago playing flag football. I fell backwards and banged my head and I lost a few minutes of time, I went to the sidelines and started feeling normal, but I decided not to risk getting back in. A week later I had crushing headaches and I was throwing up like crazy because I felt like I was walking on a canted floor. I went to my doctor, he went through the assessment and deemed that I probably had a mild concussion, but because concussion injuries can be cumulative we treated it like a major concussion. Lots of rest, no heart raising activities, no TV or anything. Eventually the symptoms faded after a long time, but the first time I went back to the gym, blammo, there here it comes again. After that last concussion, I don't think I ever got back totally to normal.
so the lesson is, take care of your brain, its ok to be overly cautious since brain transplants are years away. Make sure that you get a good assessment and a plan for recovery from your doctor and a referral if you need it. Most importantly let your brain and your body be your guide, you can't push through this.
Good luck.
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The problem with this is that we can only diagnose concussions somewhat reliably if you've done baseline testing. Otherwise, it's a guess based on patient reported symptoms.
I imagine it was a scary time for you, especially given some of the effects concussions can have on mood. Pair that with the symptoms and timeline and it's a nightmare. But the problem with only resting is that you aren't giving the body the stimulus to recover. That stimulus has to be safe and not provoke symptoms, but if you don't use graded activity then you encounter the issue that you had, which was a severe flare in symptoms as soon as you tried to return to the gym.
Symptoms also come from the neck injury and the vestibular injury. Doctors do not treat either. They may prescribe anti inflammatories, pain meds, or anti nausea meds but none of these fix anything, they just allow you to do a little bit more to heal from the concussion.
Returning symptoms can be due to the fact that you've had many severe concussions, but you may also have residual effects that may improve with some rehab.
Kathryn Schnieder out of U of C (and the Evidence clinic I mentioned above) found a huge decrease in recovery time with the right treatment.
You're right though, do your research when finding a therapist.