I have concussion :-(

I fell out of bed on the night of January 16th - or rather, forcefully shoved myself out of bed, as I was was trying to move up higher in the bed but misjudged the direction and moved out of it instead.  I fell on my back, hitting my head and upper back hard.

Initially I thought all I had was a scraped and swollen ankle, as well as a sore right side to my body; it wasn't till later that I started to wonder about concussion.

The first thing was a couple of bouts of intense nausea and blotchy/blurry vision - that happened on the Wednesday when I was getting ready to go camping, and again on Thursday en route to camping.  I initially put it down to a migraine aura, but eventually realised the visual disturbance was quite different.

I wondered about trying to see a doctor in Māngere Bridge, but nothing seemed seriously wrong and, with my complex medical history, waiting till I could see my own GP seemed better.  We Googled concussion and found that the main treatment seems to be rest, which we were doing anyway :-)

image credit: Mayo clinic

I was also basically fine - I had a few specific symptoms, but biked home from Ambury Park comfortably; I was also able to bike to Blockhouse Bay on Thursday and swim for 45 minutes with no problems.

I saw my GP last Friday. The symptoms I reported were:

• dropping things a lot
• trouble with various 'figuring out' tasks (like setting a date for the Just Kai picnic)
• constant mild headache

My GP confirmed concussion and asked me to come back in a week if things weren't settled - and to go to A&E if I started vomitting, having serious headaches etc.  In the meantime I was to lay off anything that made my symptoms worse, rest when I needed.  However, biking and swimming were fine if I felt find doing them :-)

I since realised I have one other potential symptom: a mild tremor that comes and goes, but shows up most days.  I'd initially put it down to hypoglycemia, but have since realised it seems quite unrelated to when I've eaten, so is presumably something different.

Friday after I got home from the GP I became really tired - but I had had a long day on Thursday (including a lovely swim!) so wasn't particularly concerned.

Yesterday morning when I was pottering in the kitchen I suddenly became tired, nauseous and generally unwell.  I left what I was doing and went straight to bed.  For the rest of the day I found myself becoming unwell if I was up for more than 30 minutes or so.  All up, I was only out of bed 2h45 that day - far less than my usual 7-ish hours.  I also found the computer screen brought on an instant headache, plus I couldn't concentrate on an audiobook for very long, a combination which made for a pretty boring day!  I did eventually realise I could tolerate the computer better at very low brightness, which meant I was able to note down a few bits and pieces and choose stuff to listen to without too much discomfort.

Today I've been pretty tired and still feel a bit dizzy and ill, but I have been tolerating the (very dim) computer screen a bit better and did manage to write most of this in one hit.  I've also got a few small bits and pieces done (including sowing a bunch more salad greens for the garden - something I've been trying to fit in since we got back from Ambury Park a week ago), but I didn't make it to church and have mostly been resting.

It does feel like I've been dealing with an awful lot of health stuff recently.  As well as the Covid before Christmas and a sprained rib I got from my fall out of bed, in recent months I've been doing heaps of physio exercises for strained tendons in my knee and elbow.  One of those exercises appears to have given me an inflamed nerve in the other elbow... sigh...  Between two sore elbows and a sprained rib, moving around in the bed has been challenging in recent day!  Thankfully the rib, at least, is definitely on the improve!

I'm hoping rigorous resting will turn things around for the concussion at least, but would appreciate your prayers over the next wee while.  It sounds like there is a concussion clinic I can go to if things don't resolve quickly, but I'd love to avoid that as my time and energy is already so limited by the CFS!