Concussion Symptoms
Concussion can be sneaky. It happens when your brain hits the inside of your skull. You don’t even need to hit your head. Whiplash injuries, that are common in car accidents and sports, jar the head forcefully and can cause just as much damage as being struck. Concussion is considered a mild traumatic brain injury, (mTBI). The classification of severity of head injuries is based on how long you were unconscious, but you do not have to lose consciousness to have a concussion. While a head injury may be classified as mild, the symptoms may not feel that way to the patient who has post-concussion syndrome. Another sneaky thing about head injuries is that the symptoms may not occur right away. You may feel a little off. Maybe you blame it on adrenaline and shake it off and get back in the game or the car, but the next morning or even a week later, things may be different. Here are symptoms to watch for that may indicate you have a concussion:
- Headache
- Confusion
- Dizziness
- Foggy thinking
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Memory issues
- Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
- Behavior or emotional changes
- Light or sound sensitivity
What to Do if You Have a Concussion
Seek Medical Attention
You have had an earthquake in your skull. The communication grid is scrambled. Water and sewer pipes are compromised. Structural damage abounds. There is a raging fire everywhere creating chaos and preventing clean up and rebuilding. First things first, you need to call in emergency services and seek medical attention.
One of the greatest dangers of closed head injury versus an open head injury in which you bleed on the outside or your skull is actually broken, is that you look fine. Because it can’t be seen by you or others and the idea that you have injured your brain is very scary, denial may be the most common first response to head injury. Add the confusion and poor decision making caused by the injury itself to the fear and you may find yourself locked in conflict between thinking something is just not right and “it will go away”.
You need to see a doctor! If you were injured recently and didn’t go to the emergency room, go now, especially if your symptoms are getting worse. Imaging will determine if you had any bleeding or if you have a lot of inflammation around your brain. SPEC scan is the most effective way to identify areas of the brain affected by both severe and mild Traumatic Brain Injury. Many facilities don’t have SPEC. In that case an MRI or CT scan may be done. Even if it has been months since your injury, it’s good to know. The best news you can get is that they can’t see anything. The really ugly stuff has been ruled out. Sadly, that doesn’t mean nothing is wrong, just means they can’t see it. You may walk away with a prescription for anti-inflammatories or a referral to a neurologist or neuropsychologist.
Get Support
We live in a world that values independence. The strong are able to take care of themselves. Let me tell you that the truly strong are able to recognize when they need help. My advice would be to have one, maybe two people. Talk to them. Tell them that you are having some issues and you are not sure what to do about them. You don’t expect them to solve the problem, just listen and maybe help navigate the health system. They could go to your doctor’s appointments with you, take notes or record them. Maybe they just remind you to record them. It’s also important to have someone objective who knows you well to help point out symptoms you may not register. The most important thing they can do for you is understand. It makes it real.
Calm the Nervous System
Rest
To recover, both your body and mind need to rest. Now is the time to allow yourself to heal. As hard as it may be, you need to put the demands of life aside and know that rest is the best thing for you at the moment. Just like a strained muscle, if you try to work your brain while it is healing, it will damage it more. There will be a time to challenge yourself and “rehab”, but not in the days, maybe weeks after impact.
Initially, you may find yourself very tired and easily fatigued mentally and physically. This is your brain talking to you. Listen. If an athlete returns to play too soon, they can lose a season. Better to miss a few games. Challenging your brain too soon will make you more fatigued, upset and maybe even depressed. This slows your healing. You may not be able to focus well, but you need to put that focus on healing.
Unfortunately, many of the things we think of as relaxing put a lot of demand on the brain. Reading is very strenuous and will cause your brain to fatigue quickly. Watching TV, while seemingly passive, also engages many parts of the brain. In fact anything involving a screen, (even reading this article), can drain the brain’s energy due to the nature of the light they emit. So that means no games on the phone, no scrolling on the tablet. It’s a good time to get together with friends one on one to talk or take easy walks in nature.
If you need to do work that requires mental focus, build in frequent breaks before you become fatigued. The ultimate brain rest is meditation or an activity you find meditative, but not strenuous such as T’ai Chi, creative arts or crafts. Five minutes of strenuous exercise a day will actually stimulate brain recovery. But be careful not to over-do it because exercise can also create inflammation.
Restore Cranial Function
Concussions happen when your brain forcefully moves within the skull, maybe even striking the inside of the skull. This movement can stretch and twist the membranes that suspend and support your brain within the helmet of your skull. These membranes are called dura. The dura attaches to the many skull bones and is a major part of the system that moves those bones to pumps nutritive fluid around the brain. Concussion disrupts this system even more so if your head actually struck something.
Cranial Therapy is a very gentle technique used to restore the Craniosacral system. Taking tension out of the dura relieves physical stress on the brain allowing neurons to connect. Restoring the natural pumping mechanism of the system brings in needed nutrients for healing and clears out toxins from normal metabolism and brain inflammation. Perhaps the most significant benefit of having cranial therapy soon after a concussion is it’s soothing effect on the nervous system allowing your body and mind go from an exhausted fight flight state to a safe, rest and recover space.
Address Other Injuries
Conclusion
Once you understand that you have a concussion, it’s important that you take care of it as soon as possible. While some people recover within weeks or months of a concussion, others have symptoms that linger on for years. The sooner you recognize the symptoms and take the above steps to control the damage, more likely you will have a speedy, full recovery.
