So a few months ago, I face-planted while rushing to work and broke my nose and orbital bone. Luckily, I didn’t need surgery, and they seemed to have healed okay.
However, the much bigger problem turned out to be the concussion. As is apparently often the case, the symptoms didn’t appear for a couple of days. I was so dizzy that I couldn’t go to work at all for a week (heck, I couldn’t even reliably walk straight across my living room), and it was only sheer force of will that got me there that quickly. I was dizzy and nauseated for months, and still am when I am tired or have been looking at a computer for too long (work involves two monitors, plus documents spread all over my desk). The dizziness was horrible when I turned my head or bent over, or had to switch my focus from one point to another. The standard medical advice is not to exert oneself physically or mentally, and avoid screens, but as I said to the neurologist, “exactly how is THAT supposed to work?” It’s been difficult enough to stick to what is supposed to be a normal workday with an hour lunch, let alone “breaks as needed.”
So the dizziness is mostly gone now, but unfortunately the memory issues and cognitive fatigue and problems multitasking are not. What doesn’t help is that I was only 3 months into a new job, where we are slammed and understaffed and the expectation has been that people should work evenings, weekends, whatever it takes to meet some pretty unreasonable turnaround times. If I had been there long enough to be eligible for FMLA, I would have taken some time off, even unpaid, but I wasn’t. I actually had to get a letter from my neurologist in order to be spared working overtime. Never thought that would have been necessary in my professional career, but it was. Someday I hope our society is better about making provisions for people with genuine medical issues, but in the meantime it pretty much sucks.
Anyone have coping strategies or experiences to share? I guess it could be worse - one college friend apparently had something similar a few years back, and he said he felt like he was drunk for 5 months straight. I am not due for a followup with the neurologist for another few weeks, and feel like I am losing my mind (and I guess I am, in a manner of speaking). I feel like my multiple bosses at work need to be continually reminded that I am not making this shit up; my brain really isn’t working right. I guess it’s a compliment to my ability to fake normalcy? But I am simply not capable of working at warp speed right now, and attempts to multitask just result in my not actually accomplishing anything at all. It’s hard to force myself to do one thing at a time.
(Yes, I realize the irony of writing this on a computer when I am supposed to avoid screens.)
My daughter had several concussions and still has problems.
What I’ve been told is that if you’re still having symptoms, you need to cut back on activities until you’re not. In my daughter’s case, she spent days in bed with no reading, tv, or music. Nothing at all to work the brain.
I strongly suggest you contact your neurologist and explain your situation. I don’t think waiting is helping you at all.
I was 2 years into a concussion before I felt ok. The Doc who took care of me said there would be life time issues.
The only time I get dizzy now is walking up stairs while looking up. I’ve learned to watch my feet.
My longterm memory didn’t seem to be affected. Short term was a bitch. I think I’m good now. I did brain games and crosswords to reform neural pathways.
Good luck.
I’m sorry you’re going through this. my wife slipped on I’ve last year and got a concussion. She went to a concussion specialist and physical and speech therapy for several months. She also had headaches and dizziness regularly for about seven months. She was finally given a prescription to help her sleep and the side effect for her was that it helped with her dizziness.
Her biggest frustration was that people just didn’t take her symptoms seriously. A lot of “Oh, that’s still a thing?” Even nurse friends.
But if echo the suggestion of doing nothing any chance you get. Dark room, no screens, no reading, just laying or sitting. Resting your brain will help it heal. But don’t let the people around you devalue what you’re going through. It seems people who have gone through a concussion, or had a child/spouse go through it, were the only ones who were truly sympathetic. It can be frustrating when your symptoms are so “hidden.”
Anyway, rest, rest, rest. I’m sorry I don’t necessarily have anything else to offer, but my wife has said a lot of what you’ve said regarding having to convince people she’s still not “right.” It’s been one year this week, and she’s for the most part doing much better, but still doesn’t sleep as well as she used to. But if she can take a nap here it there, it helps with the fogginess and occasional dizzies.
Thanks, it’s helpful to hear things like this. The one problem with just lying in a dark room (and I was lucky in that light hasn’t really bothered me through this debacle) is that I fall asleep, which screws up my sleep patterns, which have been an issue for me anyway. (I have definitely been needing more sleep than normal, though.) Just another thing to talk to the neurologist about, I guess.
A big part of the problem is that my work is super detail-oriented, and I just don’t have the focus right now to do my best work. And the people who review my work don’t have the time to be so careful because we are so busy and short-staffed, even though it’s their job. Mental fatigue is a real thing, folks, and it doesn’t mean I am slacking!
But perhaps 4:30 on a Friday is not the best time to explain a complicated new assignment to me, and if you keep scheduling lunch meetings for the whole team, those are actually work and I am going to need another actual break if I am going to be able to think by the end of the day. I think I need to be pushier about reminding them of that.
Ugh - I must have missed the earlier thread. So sorry to hear you’re having such long-lasting issues.
Have they put you on any medication? A friend’s son had a concussio after a little roughhousing with his brother, and he had some fairly significant issues right away. I think it was amantadine that they put him on. The doc said “either it won’t work, or it will work dramatically”.
Nope, except for Vitamin B12 supplements, I have basically been told that it will just take time and I should be patient and get lots of rest. I was hoping I would feel better in a couple of weeks, but we are going on month 5. How much longer is it going to take??? It’s very frustrating.
The problem is that getting lots of rest is pretty incompatible with my work situation. I did finally talk to HR again this week and got the written policy document on unpaid leaves, reduced schedules, etc. I honestly don’t know how I would manage a reduced schedule with the insane expectations we have on turnaround times and the unrealistic deadlines given the resources we have to actually get the work done, but that’s a whole different rant. (For one thing, the IT and general information infrastructure is such that it takes me a good 30% longer to do the same work than it did at my old job because I have to go hunting around for things that may or may not be in several different places.) And switching my visual focus constantly in order to do that is part of what exhausts my brain; things moving on a computer monitor are the worst.
In any case, now that it’s the weekend and I have had a little bit of rest (though I am still doing things like waking up at 3 a.m. with my heart pounding from anxiety that I will miss something that won’t be caught on review, because everyone is too damn busy to take their time reviewing, and screw something up badly). So maybe now I can read and digest that HR document and message my neurologist about my options, accommodation-wise. Just have to figure out how to condense the questions into 1,000 characters until I can get in for a followup in a couple of weeks…
Meanwhile, I keep having to remind management that if we have a lunch meeting, that is actually work, and I am going to need a break afterward. We had one this week (which we weren’t even told in advance was going to be a lunch meeting), and afterward I literally went to an empty lounge and stared out the window for an hour until I could focus again. Sigh. It’s almost like the time at my old job when I was literally leaning on a cane in the door of my boss’ office, and he kept asking me to run and fetch him things and I had to remind him that it was painful for me to walk, and that’s why I was leaning on a cane.
Luckily I have a stepmother who is a recently retired employment attorney and is glad to give me free legal advice I don’t feel the need for anything more formal at this point.
Honestly, the expectations at the job are so unrealistic (and so far from what I was led to believe when I interviewed, given the resource infrastructure) that I almost wish they would fire me for not meeting them so I could get some freaking rest!
I would seriously suggest you track down a concussion speciality clinic if you have not done so already.
I just found out this week that one of our clients had a concussion recently; among other things, she has been referred to a cognitive therapist (I think that’s the term she used). She’s only been once so far so did’t have much to say on what all was to happen there.
Unfortunately, you’re in the US and we have far fewer protections here to help the ill
I would seriously suggest you track down a concussion speciality clinic if you have not done so already.
I just found out this week that one of our clients had a concussion recently; among other things, she has been referred to a cognitive therapist (I think that’s the term she used). She’s only been once so far so did’t have much to say on what all was to happen there.
Unfortunately, you’re in the US and we have far fewer protections here to help the ill
Would a place like that really be able to offer options beyond what the neurology department of one of the top regional teaching hospitals is likely to have up its sleeve? Because that’s where I am going currently. (Though honestly, they were the first people who could get me in for a consultation; most people were trying to book me 2 - 3 months out at the earliest.)
ETA: I just checked - they are ranked in the top 10 in the country in neurology.
AAARGH one of the hardest parts of this is having to learn how to compensate for having a memory like a goldfish. I used to be a court interpreter and am used to having a better memory than most people. These days I am literally having to check email and physical files before I can say with authority that, for example, we have everything needed to file a case (which is a moving target because if there is any kind of delay, some things will need to be updated). BC (Before Concussion), I might remember that there was an email on the subject, if not all the details. Now I often have no memory of the specifics at all, and often don’t remember at all that there was an email on a particular subject.
Multitasking is also a huge problem - I think I really frustrated one of my several bosses on Friday when she started to launch into a complex rapid-fire explanation, but I had to tell her that I appreciated her explanation, but simply was not going to be able to process what she was saying and take useful notes at the same time.
It’s hard to learn to manage one’s recently acquired shortcomings, especially in an environment where there is very little in the way of checklists or specific case management efficiency tools.
I don’t feel the need for anything more formal at this point.