I got a concussion when my horse spooked and threw me on Wednesday and my mom FINALLY sent me to the ER to get it checked out on saturday.They basically did a CAT Scan-which was fine,gave me pain meds for my massive headache i’ve had and sent me home.Now I’m really frustrated.the ER doc told me no riding until im totally better and i just want to get back on the horse.But it seems like for every day I feel better,I have another day or so that I feel as sick as i did the day i went to the ER.At this point it looks like I won’t be riding til after New Years.And its really frustrating me-and totally messes up my winter show plans that i had.(my barn does schooling shows in the indoor in winter).
Some things, like retaining your cerebral capacity, are more important than winter show plans.
Your age is showing.
It can take a while for the brain to heal itself, and you only have the one, so its best to take extra precautions!!
On the Horse and Hound BB, there was a thread about a young girl in Ireland who recently died after a fall while hunting. The girl had a bad fall the day before that had left her unconscious. She had another fall while hunting after a jump and then died. The newest studies state that you are more likely to have a fatal injury after suffering a concussion that has not fully healed. Also your coordination and timing are not the same until it has healed. This is one instance where following the doctors orders is a life or death situation. Stay off the dear pony until you are fully healed so that you may live to ride/show another day.
My daughter is recovering from a concussion as well. She is doing relatively well when at home on the couch but has not been able to handle more than a couple hours at school before the headaches get overwhelming. These things take time and all you can do is wait it out. Much better it just be headaches than hoping to regain movement or hoping that the swelling subsides enough that you may regain consciousness someday. Be thankful for what you have.
Yeah, it sucks. But, you’ve got to let your brain heal. And you really want your brain to heal. Nothing is more important.
I guess the main thing i’m frustrated with is that for every 1 day i feel fine,i have another 2 days where i don’t feel good
Most likely because you did too much the one day and paid for it for two days. Take it easy until you start stringing the good days together.
There have been a lot of threads in Eventing about concussions/TBRs.
I never had any noticeable concusions till several years ago, despite having evented all my live and having had a few very good unvolunteered dismounts, lawn darting.
Than I lawn darted 2 times in 4 weeks, both with concussions, not any major, just got two brain cells, 1 in a wheel chair and one pushing. But since numero uno was still in efect, number 2 made things worse. 2 in a chair and no one pushing.
Took close to 2 years to get over all the problems.
So my advice, be realy carefull, heal it out very good. Don’t think no headachse and you are as good as new, wrong. Treat it like a broken leg or arm, which takes 4 to 6 weeks and than retraining for a few weeks.
Aconcussion is a more serious injury than any broken bone. I had to learn that and luckily I had a dead honest Doc.
yeah, it sucks, but there it is; when i got my (very mild) conk (horse related, of course) i’d feel fine one day, then funny the next, then fine.
you just have to lie around on the couch and wait it out. i think the general consensus among MD types is that concussions are cumulative; do not try and overdo it until you’re completely better. (–and that may take awhile.)
use the time to catch up on your horse related reading and video watching. 
Be sure to buy a new helmet!!! Let yourself heal. There is no need to push yourself for a local indoor show…actually for any show. Without a brain, there won’t be any riding! Feel better
buying a new helmet may be a good idea,my helmets been through about 4 or5 falls this year.and i bought it in September of 2009
helmets are designed and rated for ONE fall only. sucks but true. when you buy a new one, be sure to keep receipt, some manufacturers replace at a discount.
Find a doctor who has the ImPACT program. It’s a neurocognitive test that helps tell when you’ve recovered from a brain injury.
You won’t have you’re own baseline, but they’ll compare you to the standard. It’s widely used in the NFL, NCAA, NHL, MLS, etc. as the primary tool for telling when an athlete can return to competition.
I cannot stress enough the importance of letting your brain heal. I know the NFL is pressuring Congress to come up with a federal standard for kids in sports and many many states are considering legislation about brain injuries in kids.
Although we have all lived by the “get right back on” adage when you fall, in reality, we all need to make sure our brains are OK before we get back on.
Good luck!
Please take all the good advise given here seriously. I suffered my last serious concussion 10 years ago. I have had several “minor” ones previous to that. (There is no such thing as a minor concussion, you have bruised your brain!)
After 3 days in the hospital I was required to take a month off of work. I was kind of shocked, but you know what? I needed that month off. Not only did I deal with the worst headache I ever had for weeks, it effected my balance, my thought process and I was a weak as a kitten.
Since then, I suffer from short term memory loss, concussion syndrome and migraines. And I consider myself lucky.
Oh, I hear you sister, but you have to wait it out. Same thing happened to me in November, the best riding month. Started with a sprained ankle and ended with a concussion (2 incidents). I lost November for riding and can finally start riding again.
When I was healing from the concussion I felt the same way: this is never going to heal! But it did, and now I feel completely normal and realize that I didn’t feel normal before, even though I thought ‘maybe’ I did.
Stick it out, it won’t be long. Soon you’ll be giving advice to the someone else!
Healing from a concussion is not fun. Only bonus part is when the lights and noises from the tv don’t bug you so much you can actually watch it. Most of my concussions have come with lay ups from other injuries so I’ve never been of sound body and needed the mind to heal. My last concussion still affects me. I have short term memory loss, vertigo, and major light sensitivity. It takes an extremely long time for the brain to heal sometimes. Just hang in there and pace yourself.
Listen to the ladies who have posted above.
Brain injury is not something to trifle with. Take as much rest as you can now.
If you don’t you will pay the price later.
You could do permanent damage if you even have a slip or trip on the stairway.
I agree with those who say to replace your helmet. One bang on it and it is likely to be toast after that.
I know there are those who will argue that they have had several crashes and their helmet is still OK. Until the next one when the helmet cracks and breaks.
Take time off to heal.
sadlmakr
[QUOTE=EightBelles134;5269399]
I guess the main thing i’m frustrated with is that for every 1 day i feel fine,i have another 2 days where i don’t feel good[/QUOTE]
September 11, 2010 was the last day that I felt normal. It was also the day that changed my life forever.
I was riding my green project horse at her first recognized novice event. She stopped in front of a ditch, going downhill, and I supermanned off and hit my left frontal lobe on the log revetting the bank. I remember very, very little from that day and from the next 2-3 weeks. What I do remember is lying on the ground and “feeling fine”, despite the fact that I could not produce voluntary movement or speech. I suffered a moderate traumatic brain injury in the fall.
Over the past three months, I have had more bad days than good, but the trend is slowly changing for the better. I cannot begin to express the frustrations I have had through this process. I’m a college senior, pre-med/animal science major, 4.0 student, and in the top of all my classes. I’m also a high-performance athlete - not only do I ride and train eventing horses, but I’m a distance runner and triathlete.
For the first seven weeks after the fall, I could barely make it through three hours of classes, a trip to the grocery store, or even just feeding the horses. Gradually, I improved to the point where I could “make it through” a typical day, but even now, after several weeks of speech and physical therapy, I am not back to normal. I will probably never be back to 100%. I have a lot of good days, some great days, and my share of bad days. The bad days usually follow the great days, because I overdo it and end up paying for it. I’ve learned to ration my energy and prioritize tasks. Schoolwork and horse work are the most important things, so I save my energy for that. Other things fall into place or are just not important enough for my energy. Right now, I can run, swim, cycle, and do flatwork. I still have not started jumping. I decided to go snowboarding on Friday, the first time I have been in several years. I went the morning after my finals were over, running on about 15 hours of sleep for the previous 8 days. I’m still paying for that, physically and cognitively. Was it worth it? Maybe.
I must emphasize, along with everyone else, that there is NO SUCH THING AS A MINOR CONCUSSION! PLEASE, take it easy. Find a specialist who uses the ImPACT program. I didn’t believe that I was seriously injured until I took the test and scored <1%. The ImPACT program will tell you when you’re ready to return to play. The most important thing is to let yourself heal! You might not believe that you are seriously injured, but you are, even though the CT was clean…mine was too. “Feeling fine” is actually a symptom of the head injury.
Here are some things you can do now to test yourself: Try counting backward from 100 by 7’s. Try spelling these words backward WITHOUT CHEATING: world, truth, backward. Write down the first five words that come to mind, then try to remember them without looking. Try again in five minutes. I’ll bet anything that your performance is not up to par. Have you noticed problems with your balance? Please don’t try to test it - I don’t want you to fall and hit your head again 
All in all, as others have said, there are things in life more important than making the winter show season. There are things more important than getting to ride, having fun, or pretending that you’re normal (I’m sure your friends at school and at the barn have not been very understanding). What is important is preventing permanent damage. Believe me, you don’t want to deal with that.
So until you have met with a neurologist or another practitioner who uses ImPACT, stay off the horses (better yet, away from the barn altogether), take it easy on schoolwork and LISTEN to yourself. If you don’t feel right, then you’re not. And just because you feel great one day doesn’t mean you should overdo it.
Feel free to PM me if you have questions, need advice, or just need to vent.
Jingles to you and I hope you have a quick recovery and get back to riding when you’re ready.
[QUOTE=Laurierace;5268167]
My daughter is recovering from a concussion as well. She is doing relatively well when at home on the couch but has not been able to handle more than a couple hours at school before the headaches get overwhelming. These things take time and all you can do is wait it out. Much better it just be headaches than hoping to regain movement or hoping that the swelling subsides enough that you may regain consciousness someday. Be thankful for what you have.[/QUOTE]
Same thing happened to my son and it ruined his senior year in high school. His CT was also clean, but he lost his senior year of sports, could not attend school more than an hour or so, could no longer study, etc. He almost did not graduate. It was a relatively minor blow to his head so we were surprised at the affect it had on him. It took at least 6 months of recovery. We have a friend whose son has never gone back to the way he was before his concussion and it has now been over 2 years.
OP, I know it’s frustrating but be thankful that it looks like it will be short term!
[QUOTE=Laurierace;5268167]
My daughter is recovering from a concussion as well. She is doing relatively well when at home on the couch but has not been able to handle more than a couple hours at school before the headaches get overwhelming. These things take time and all you can do is wait it out. Much better it just be headaches than hoping to regain movement or hoping that the swelling subsides enough that you may regain consciousness someday. Be thankful for what you have.[/QUOTE]
I can’t second this notion enough. No one should have to go through something like that when it is preventable. Unfortunately, it’s not always preventable.
Godspeed to your daughter. I hope she heals quickly and completely. She’s lucky to have you as a parent.
