Diagnosed & Misdirected - The First Time
Per the ER’s recommendations I decided to follow up with my primary care doctor at University Hospitals. She ran a Calibration test on me to evaluate my saccadic eye movements. I could not make it through one eye stroke without closing my eyes. The pain it caused in my eyes and in my forehead was excruciating.
She diagnosed me with a concussion immediately. No further testing was necessary. She signed paperwork to keep me out of work through April. April!?! There’s no way I’m going to be like this for 3 months lady {insert eye roll here - pun intended}
Her instructions were as follows:
1) Brain rest is best
2) If symptoms do not improve over the next several weeks consider Physical Therapy
3) Schedule follow up appointment with a concussion specialist (which took 10 days to be seen)
Naturally I am a pusher and tried pushing through symptoms for the first 2 weeks despite the doctors order of brain rest.“I ain’t sick. I got this. I can push through anything” was the type of attitude that I had. “I’m still going to the gym! My head may feel like a balloon about to pop and yet I’m still going to the gym.” Fitness has always been my lifestyle and the thought of not being able to do it crushed me.
For the next 10 days I would continue to drive to the gym with blurry vision and walk on the treadmill. The thought of lifting weights made me cringe (again think of a balloon ready to pop and as more pressure is added to it, it gets ready to explode) yet despite the icky feelings and doctors orders, I was determined to keep moving. I would wear a baseball cap to shield my eyes from the tv’s/lights as I continued to go to the gym. Each day at the gym I was able tolerate less and less stimuli. What I was typically able to tolerate was slowly declining. I became more and more nauseous each time I went.
I didn’t realize it at the time but the moving belt on the treadmill, the drive to the gym, the lights, tv, people moving around all made me nauseous and dizzy. What started out as “scaling back” on daily activity to a simple walk on the treadmill quickly became impossible to tolerate. My brain did not understand how to process the moving belt and moving my feet at the same time. The daily treadmill walk turned into a stretch session since I couldn’t tolerate a simple walk. Then eventually I couldn’t even tolerate stretching at the gym. I had stopped going to the gym by day 22 as I was unable to tolerate the stimulation. Not only was the gym too much but so was the drive there. The drive there started to drain my energy tank to where I almost fell asleep on the drive there.
In my journal I wrote:
“My body is getting sorer by the day. I hope one day again I will be able to deadlift and do clean and jerks. Things that were once so easy to do are now difficult. Watching tv, texting, scrolling through a computer. Never take life for granted. My head feels like a balloon. Never take life for granted. In the end I realize it’s only me and God.”
“I have been waking up at 4am the past 2 nights which is weird because the past 10 days since my accident I have been sleeping 12 - 13 hours at night. I think I have insomnia now.”
Below Video: my twin sister aka roommate describes my decline in normal daily function
Hindsight is 20/20
Brain rest the first 24-48 hours after the initial injury is best
After the first 24-48 hours, introduce a light outdoor walk as tolerated {provided it does not provoke symptoms}
Physical Therapy- enter immediately after a concussion. Waiting to do so may prolong recovery. Do not go to the ER or wait to see your PCP. Enter yourself into PT immediately.
Meet with a Concussion Specialist as soon as possible
If you listen to your body and do only what it will allow it will speed up recovery
Swaps I wish I would have known to do:
Swap the gym —-> for outside
Swap the treadmill walk —> for outdoor hike or walk
Swap driving —> for asking a friend to drive me places
Swap pretending to be ok and be a tough gal —> for listening to my body and tell people I am not ok.
Work can wait. The gym can wait. Health is the most important. I can’t help but wonder if I didn’t try to be such a tough girl and push through symptoms in the beginning, if recovery would look different knowing what I now know about concussion recovery.
