concussion anyone?

[ebott2015]

Sorry to keep everyone worried-The past week felt surreal and I wasn’t quite back in full gear but I was lucky that there was no severe damage to my brain function-the process was interesting though just wanna share my experience
I was a neuro ICU nurse so luckily had some colleague physicians who was willing to evaluate me without going to the ER-they did advise if symptoms escalate definitely get to the hospital-
first 12hrs post injury-husband woke me up and did some neuro exams on me every 4hrs, basically the where, who, when questions as well as some vision checks.

Morning after-slept for 20hrs, not consecutively but napped throughout the day, ate a lot, rested a lot, but no problem with memories or vision just headaches controlled by Tylenol-I was advised not to take NSAIDs just in case there’s minor bleeding

Sunday-slept a lot, less headache but dizziness was real. Attempted to study for an hr but couldn’t really focus and got tired very quickly. Not trying to be a maniac but I had a pathophysiology exam on Wednesday so really had no options.

Monday-didn’t go to class but rested at home. Basically no symptoms, occasional headaches but very mild. My sleep pattern was weird though. I slept a lot during the day and couldn’t sleep at all that night. Studied for a few hours, a little better concentration.

Tuesday-head feels good, no pain, no dizziness, went to class and felt fine. Studied for about 4hrs and had no problem, just tired quickly and also insomnia was still a problem.

Wednesday-had my exam, got an A, so at least I’m still functional. Feeling pretty good, mostly normal. I took the advise to go for some light aerobics so went swimming. Tired quickly but slept better.

Thursday and Friday I felt mostly normal. Still have this fatigue thing going, but I worked out on Saturday and Sunday and actually felt better afterwards. Oh and also if I stood up quickly I get a “zing” of headache but other than that basically no issues.

Let me say that I made the dumb decision to get back in the saddle today(Tuesday)-bad idea. I know. I think he learned that bucking will get him out of work from my fall-vaguely remember there might be some bucking involved. Therefore, he started with little bucks which soon escalated to full on broncos. Very fortunately I had the few seconds to prepare myself for a landing and landed on my feet then my bum but DID NOT hit my head again. Later lunged the hell outta him but the plan is to lunge him for a few days and then my trainer is gonna get on his before I do again. Anyone had similar issues with their horses after a bad fall?

[ebott2015]

@RMJacobs

I am still having problems from a concussion I had in November 2000. It is nothing to play with or ignore.

Rebecca

What are your residual problems?

[ebott2015]

@4LeafCloverFarm

I’ve been thinking the same thing all day… Hopefully the OP has been to a Dr. and is feeling better.

Yes feeling all better now. Thanks guys for the support!! Really have been consciously limiting TV/computer times unless absolutely necessary thus the delay!!

[stryder]

@ebott2015

Sorry to keep everyone worried-The past week felt surreal and I wasn’t quite back in full gear but I was lucky that there was no severe damage to my brain function-the process was interesting though just wanna share my experience
I was a neuro ICU nurse so luckily had some colleague physicians who was willing to evaluate me without going to the ER-they did advise if symptoms escalate definitely get to the hospital-
first 12hrs post injury-husband woke me up and did some neuro exams on me every 4hrs, basically the where, who, when questions as well as some vision checks.

Morning after-slept for 20hrs, not consecutively but napped throughout the day, ate a lot, rested a lot, but no problem with memories or vision just headaches controlled by Tylenol-I was advised not to take NSAIDs just in case there’s minor bleeding

Sunday-slept a lot, less headache but dizziness was real. Attempted to study for an hr but couldn’t really focus and got tired very quickly. Not trying to be a maniac but I had a pathophysiology exam on Wednesday so really had no options.

Monday-didn’t go to class but rested at home. Basically no symptoms, occasional headaches but very mild. My sleep pattern was weird though. I slept a lot during the day and couldn’t sleep at all that night. Studied for a few hours, a little better concentration.

Tuesday-head feels good, no pain, no dizziness, went to class and felt fine. Studied for about 4hrs and had no problem, just tired quickly and also insomnia was still a problem.

Wednesday-had my exam, got an A, so at least I’m still functional. Feeling pretty good, mostly normal. I took the advise to go for some light aerobics so went swimming. Tired quickly but slept better.

Thursday and Friday I felt mostly normal. Still have this fatigue thing going, but I worked out on Saturday and Sunday and actually felt better afterwards. Oh and also if I stood up quickly I get a “zing” of headache but other than that basically no issues.

Let me say that I made the dumb decision to get back in the saddle today(Tuesday)-bad idea. I know. I think he learned that bucking will get him out of work from my fall-vaguely remember there might be some bucking involved. Therefore, he started with little bucks which soon escalated to full on broncos. Very fortunately I had the few seconds to prepare myself for a landing and landed on my feet then my bum but DID NOT hit my head again. Later lunged the hell outta him but the plan is to lunge him for a few days and then my trainer is gonna get on his before I do again. Anyone had similar issues with their horses after a bad fall?

Getting back on was just plain crazy. Your brain isn’t healed even now, and anyone following the generally accepted sports concussion protocols would recognize this. It’s how brain injuries develop into CTE.

Your brain, your life.

[TWH_Girl]

@ebott2015

Sorry to keep everyone worried-The past week felt surreal and I wasn’t quite back in full gear but I was lucky that there was no severe damage to my brain function-the process was interesting though just wanna share my experience
I was a neuro ICU nurse so luckily had some colleague physicians who was willing to evaluate me without going to the ER-they did advise if symptoms escalate definitely get to the hospital-
first 12hrs post injury-husband woke me up and did some neuro exams on me every 4hrs, basically the where, who, when questions as well as some vision checks.

Morning after-slept for 20hrs, not consecutively but napped throughout the day, ate a lot, rested a lot, but no problem with memories or vision just headaches controlled by Tylenol-I was advised not to take NSAIDs just in case there’s minor bleeding

Sunday-slept a lot, less headache but dizziness was real. Attempted to study for an hr but couldn’t really focus and got tired very quickly. Not trying to be a maniac but I had a pathophysiology exam on Wednesday so really had no options.

Monday-didn’t go to class but rested at home. Basically no symptoms, occasional headaches but very mild. My sleep pattern was weird though. I slept a lot during the day and couldn’t sleep at all that night. Studied for a few hours, a little better concentration.

Tuesday-head feels good, no pain, no dizziness, went to class and felt fine. Studied for about 4hrs and had no problem, just tired quickly and also insomnia was still a problem.

Wednesday-had my exam, got an A, so at least I’m still functional. Feeling pretty good, mostly normal. I took the advise to go for some light aerobics so went swimming. Tired quickly but slept better.

Thursday and Friday I felt mostly normal. Still have this fatigue thing going, but I worked out on Saturday and Sunday and actually felt better afterwards. Oh and also if I stood up quickly I get a “zing” of headache but other than that basically no issues.

Let me say that I made the dumb decision to get back in the saddle today(Tuesday)-bad idea. I know. I think he learned that bucking will get him out of work from my fall-vaguely remember there might be some bucking involved. Therefore, he started with little bucks which soon escalated to full on broncos. Very fortunately I had the few seconds to prepare myself for a landing and landed on my feet then my bum but DID NOT hit my head again. Later lunged the hell outta him but the plan is to lunge him for a few days and then my trainer is gonna get on his before I do again. Anyone had similar issues with their horses after a bad fall?

Glad you’re doing okay!

My one guy definitely does remember a fall and it can scare him. He doesn’t buck or try to get you off, but in going to get on him, he is very tense and flighty at first. The more good rides he gets after the incident the better he will be! Having trainer ride is a very good plan. Take your time getting back into it. Sometimes an accident is cause for us to step back, take a breath and regroup.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

Glad to hear you are on the mend @ebott2015 .

Don’t forget to replace your helmet ASAP!

[ebott2015]

@4LeafCloverFarm

Glad to hear you are on the mend @ebott2015 .

Don’t forget to replace your helmet ASAP!

Yep I did! Got the back on track helmet with a good discount

[MidlifeCrisis]

@ebott2015

What are your residual problems?

Here are my residual problems. 2015, I think or maybe 2014, but not important, I was climbing out the bed of my pickup truck and I had one foot on the bumper and was stepping down and I slipped and must have landed on my head. Thank goodness I didn’t hit the trailer hitch. I got up (was it seconds or minutes, I don’t know) and walked to the barn and asked for help. Was driven to the hospital and had a CAT scan which was normal and sent home.
My job at the time was as a senior scientist at a major public university (#1 in the world in case you want to look it up) running 2 mouse research programs. I was in the middle of a major breeding project and forced myself to go in to collect data. I don’t remember any of that time so I guess the data is worthless.
About 6 months later, I was reading the table of contents of a major journal and an article caught my eye. I thought "what is this protein? I used to study this phenomenon. Why don’t I know this protein? Then I googled it and found out that I had published 2 papers on that protein. I immediately went to my neurologist and he said you need to take at least a year off. I opted to retire.
So my long term issues:

1. I can no longer multitask. Therefore, I can’t be competitive in a scientific lab. I used to keep everything in my head. Now I am the queen of index cards to keep track of my tasks and thoughts. Everything has to be linear. One task at a time from start to finish. I am incredibly lucky that I had a good retirement package and a loving DH with a good salary.
2. Noisy environments bother me. Barking dogs-Ack! Concerts. Movie theaters. Crowds. Anything with too much stimulation.
3. Visual stimulation is annoying. Movie theaters. Too much computer. Video games. Flashing lights.
4. Short term memory is shot. I used to love reading books. Now it is frustrating because I often don’t remember what I read the previous day. This issue is getting better so I’m hopeful that some healing is happening. Now I am very proud when I finish a book.
5. I used to watch football. I no longer can because I know of the damage that those young men are enduring.

So, concussions can have real consequences. And I can’t stress this enough: a second brain injury before the first one has healed can be catastrophic. That is what we’re seeing in football players. Don’t mess around.

[Scribbler]

Stay away from horses. Just the jiggling from the bucks can redamage a concussion.

I have never had a concussion personally, thank goodness. But back in my late 20s my boyfriend at the time had a freak head injury, and I watched him slowly rebuild his life. Some short term memory and multi tasking skills never returned. At the time I was doing adult literacy work and it was clear many of my students had head injury problems from years back that made it hard for them to learn.

Flash forward to now. I am riding again, and teaching college composition, and every term some student turns in a paper on TBI in hockey (its Canada). I get to observe several horse trainer friends get concussions and come to realize about 75% of the weirdness in the horse world is due to the fact that every single pro probably has had multiple TBI. Reading the hockey papers reminds me that other sports are way more advanced in their recognition of TBIs than riding is.

So I feel I’ve been observing TBI for most of my life now. Here are some things:

Your judgement will be shot. You will lose a certain amount of inhibition and you will go and do dangerous things way too soon. You will get reinjured.

Also watch for mood swings. Whatever basic emotional orientation you have been keeping in check will be erupting, whether that’s irritation, rage, depression, etc.

Stay off horses. Stay away from horses until you are healed. If you broke your foot last week you would not be trying to ride (been there done that). Why risk it with similar damage to your head? Even joggling your concussion can make it worse.

[RMJacobs]

@ebott2015

What are your residual problems?

I have some vision missing from one eye that isn’t apparent unless I do a visual field test. I have to be careful driving with this because my brain fills in the blank, but not with what is there. So I can easily miss seeing an oncoming car. I change my angle of vision before trusting that one area. Luckily it just takes a small head movement and can be done very quickly. I have a floater in one eye that never goes away. When I drive at night, I see afterimages of red tail lights, especially a long stream of them such as on a busy road. I don’t drive at night any more as it has gotten to be too distracting. I also think some of my cognitive issues are from concussions, but don’t really have a way to connect the dots for sure. I have enough other stuff going on that could cause those particular issues. But the vision stuff all started with concussions–some of it after a bad rollover car crash in 1978, and the rest after lawn darting off a bolting horse in 1999.

Personally, I think it’s a very bad idea for you to get back on your horse. After my lawn dart experience in 1999, that horse figured out he could get out of work by dumping me. And he did. I would throw him in the round pen and work his butt after each fall, when I was too shaky to get back on, but it never helped. I finally had to sell him with disclosure of the problem.

Rebecca

[Willesdon]

[QUOTE=ebott2015;n10370261
I was a neuro ICU nurse…[/QUOTE]

A neuro ICU nurse comes on line to ask for advice about concussion?!? THAT alone is an indication of the weird and severe effects of concussion.

And I will add, as always, everyone, please be aware that it is possible to get concussion by landing on your feet.

[Scribbler]

@Willesdon

A neuro ICU nurse comes on line to ask for advice about concussion?!? THAT alone is an indication of the weird and severe effects of concussion.

And I will add, as always, everyone, please be aware that it is possible to get concussion by landing on your feet.

And the danger here is that the OP, the nurse with concussion, may have the most official credentials of everyone in their world. So everyone defers to them.

But concussion completely messes up your judgement in amazing ways.

So OP you need to be under the care of a competent neuro doctor who will give you an objective timeline and orders. Don’t continue self diagnosing.

Now if someone else was injured you’d be an invaluable resource. But you can’t do medicine on yourself. And you are already showing the typical poor judgement.

[Tyrus_Mom]

@ebott2015

Let me say that I made the dumb decision to get back in the saddle today(Tuesday)-bad idea. I know. I think he learned that bucking will get him out of work from my fall-vaguely remember there might be some bucking involved. Therefore, he started with little bucks which soon escalated to full on broncos. Very fortunately I had the few seconds to prepare myself for a landing and landed on my feet then my bum but DID NOT hit my head again. Later lunged the hell outta him but the plan is to lunge him for a few days and then my trainer is gonna get on his before I do again. Anyone had similar issues with their horses after a bad fall?

Yes, years ago with my previous horse, I had him a week and he was a huge step up from 1st horse, quite bigger, stronger and a month from the racetrack (running quarter with a sensible brain) and I rode him in a field where 2 pit bulls attacked him. Idiot had them off leash and told me to say put and he’d grab the dogs. I had to spin the horse to keep them from biting him and the guy couldn’t grab the dogs. One of the dogs jumped up and took a chunk out of my horse’s chest. He reared and I let myself fall off. I had all of these issues running through my head. My prevous horse would run and not respond to a pulley rein and I had been on a falling horse a year previously and broken my arm. I didn’t know if I could run the horse away and be able to stop him, and if not we’d be running on pavement and he would surely fall (which a neighbor told me he did on the way home). At any rate, I let myself fall to the ground and inadvertently taught him to rear to dump me to run home. As soon as he healed from the chest wound and I rode him again he tried to dump me by rearing out of the blue. I spun him, cropped him mightly. He tried one more time with the same result and that was it. He unlearned it.

[DarkBayUnicorn]

Please remember that you do not need to hit your head to get a concussion! All it can take is your brain sloshing around inside your skull – especially an already injured brain.

[streamline]

My first and last time I evented training level my horse slow motioned over a cross country jump, I went head first into his neck, I remember losing my stirrups and jumping 3 more training level jumps without stirrups, then retiring.

All I remember after that was sitting in the back of the truck, pucking up water and being extremely dizzy…

Before that same horse went straight up in the air and flung me onto his neck again and went straight for the fence… throwing me into the fence… I caught him and and got back on and he did the exact same thing (silly me) I started to cough up blood so I went to the er. I don’t remember much after that except I was down and out for a few weeks.

I use to have great vision. If I don’t have glasses or contacts in I can’t even make it from my bed to the bathroom etc, I can’t listen to background noise and write. Thank the lord for spell check because I put Ds where Bs are suppose to be same with q/p q/g and so on. My memory is good. It’s more so vision etc