Karen’s Summary Story

On November 16th, I was in an indoor sand volleyball tournament.  I went backwards for a ball and fell.  My back broke the fall but my head hit just after.  I went to the ER the next day and was told I had a concussion and to take it easy and take Tylenol if I had a headache.  By Wednesday, November 20th I was actually feeling worse and was taken to the ER again.  I had a CT scan done and they said that everything looked normal but diagnosed me with Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS).  Basically, my concussion was not healing the way a ‘normal’ concussion should.  

On December 3rd, I started to twitch in my arms, back and torso.  There would be times where I would just twitch uncontrollably for minutes on end.  The twitching also affected my speech as to where I could not really communicate by talking.  I went back to the ER to get an MRI. It came back negative and I was not trying to have a seizure, but no doctor could explain the reason for the twitching or my struggle with speech.  I would later be diagnosed with a Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). Sometimes TBI patients get FND.

In February, my legs decided that they did not want to really function anymore. I could no longer walk without help. This only lasted a month.

I wore a weighted vest to help me from twitching as much and it allowed me to talk better. At least people could understand me.

I lost all my primitive reflexes, so I had to relearn those. I went to therapy daily, sometimes more than one in a day. It was tiring but I had to push through.

I started to drive again 9 months after my incident. I went back to work 10 months after my incident. Going back to work was tough and beyond exhausting.

In June of 2021 I went to ‘concussion camp’ at Cognitive FX in Provo, Utah. They work miracles there and were able to re-wire my brain un-invasively through their multi-therapy program. Camp was not fun. It was a lot of hard work. I went to therapy from 8-5 every day for a week. In the end, all the hard work was well worth it as I am 90-95% back to being my old self.

I still have good and bad days like anyone else, but my bad days might be a bit more extreme. I am still sensitive to loud noises and flashing lights. I still go to vision therapy and might have to for the rest of my life. The rest of my therapies and doctors are now on a yearly checkup rotation.

You have to have HOPE that you will get better. There is HELP out there, you just have to ask!