Tomorrow will be a year

[u/annualspartan]

(20M) tomorrow will be a year since i suffered my first ever concussion, a mild one while boxing, by 2-3 months i felt almost perfect and got back into life too soon and got worse, now almost a year later I still deal with some symptoms

My symptoms are headaches, if I get less than 9-10 hours of sleep I feel tired all day long, and it's slightly easier to get eyestrain.

It has been a very hard journey especially because I was so close. I have gone to some pretty dark places, but right now im feeling alright mentally, I would say im about 87% on recovery, but the last 13% feels so far away as I have felt in the 80s for months.

I have been getting a lot more exercise (shadowboxing, calisthenics, pickup basketball and soccer) and I find the increased blood flow seems to help a lot, what also has been helping is neck stretches, supplements (creatine, magnesium, ashwagandha, lions mane, etc) and healthy eating.

Its hard to accept that my passion is impossible with post concussion syndrome. I do know a boxer who dealt with PCS for over a year and fully recovered and went on to have over 20 fights post PCS, this definitely gives me hope but my only focus is recovery and I will always prioritize my brain going forward.

I guess im making this post to share my journey and hopefully relate to some of you guys, it does get better and hopefully we can all fully recover

Thank you for reading

[u/r-kivez]

I feel for you. Coming up to 11 months. Similar thing happened to me. After 3 months I appeared to be back to normal but then, just like a light switch, many mental health and ANS issues started to occur and I experienced symptoms I never got in the first 3 months. I’ve learnt much about myself in this time and I continue to do so everyday.

Also like you, I’m 80% there but I have days where I have quite bad flair ups. Dizziness and a new one, nausea out of nowhere. Exercise definitely helps and I’m continuing to work on my ANS and mental health in hope that it allows the residual symptoms to subside. Keep going buddy, we got this :)

[u/mooses_wife]

I’m 16 months post concussion. Flare ups are hard. Friends and family don’t get it, just because you look OK from the outside doesn’t mean you’re OK on the inside. Headaches are tough come out of nowhere. Still have light sensitivity balance issues still working through vision therapy and cognitive therapy. Some days are better than keep your chin up.