Young Writers Society

I have a character who suffers a fairly bad concussion, but I myself have not. Has anyone here experienced a concussion/ been with someone having a concussion?

- What does it feel like?
- How does the person act?
- Anything in particular you noticed (for instance, something you weren't expecting to happen)?
- How long did it take to recover?

Much thanks!

Traumatic brain injuries are very unpredictable. (The word "concussion" sounds so much less scary than "brain violently slammed into skull causing traumatic injury".) A friend of mine is still suffering from concussion eleven months after the head injury - severe headaches, nausea, blurred vision, etc. She's been in and out of school the whole time. Her condition improved for a while, but then relapsed. Hope that helps. If you're interested, I could put you in touch with my friend.

I had two mild concussions that I fully recovered from. The last one was a couple of months ago, actually! I didn't lose consciousness or anything. But for a couple of days, I was on heavy meds. Without medication, it literally felt like someone had split my head with a pick ax. It took me about two weeks to recover from both.

For the first time, I accidentally slammed my head into a cabinet... really hard. I couldn't see straight for about a half hour and I had a nasty headache. Funnily enough, I was still able to do math tutoring.

For the second time, I accidentally fell off a cantering horse. Oops. I don't really remember landing... I remember knowing I was about to fall and I remember being on the ground and I remember that my horse had stopped and was looking at me like an idiot. I think I could see straight, but what had happened at first was my body had gone into shock and I felt absolutely numb. They made me go on the horse again, which I did, and I managed to clean Corky up and bring her to the folly, but as soon as I sat down in the car, the most awful headache came to me and it felt like a sledge hammer had just split open my head.

I don't think I acted strangely. It just hurt.

For both times, I did a CAT scan. It was highly boring. They just put you in this device, tell you not to move, and look at your head using cool medical devices. A little bit claustrophobic, but whatever.

The last one was a bit strange... I didn't know whether I had landed on my head or what because it happened so fast. But I found out later that the headaches were mostly due to whiplash. My neck had snapped to the side and that bruise on my neck was causing the headaches.

So yeah. Not very helpful, sorry!

Ha. Yep. Been knocked unconcious. Gee, helmets are a good thing after all?

Anyway... I was out, accoring to my sister for about five minutes. She claimed I was drooling and "thumping on the ground." These were mild siezures. While unconcious, I was dreaming. I dreamt, oddly enough, that I was skateboarding expertly on a half-pipe, which ironically was the nature of my injury.

When I came too, there were two cops standing over me, asking if I was all right. I told them, low, and feebily, "I'm tired."

They asked if I needed help. I nodded. Each arm was wrapped around their neck for support as I walked with great difficulty keeping my balance. After being put in an ambulance, I do recall memory loss. That is, I didn't know where I was, who I was, nor barely reconized my own father.

I had a Cat Scan. I guess I was ok because I was released that same day. I wasn't allowed to sleep for a full twelves hours- doc's orders, but man, was I exhausted! So, so very tired.

For two weeks I sat on the sidelines in Gym. Again, Doc's orders. Apparently a slight whack could trigger another concussion.

In conclusion, it took two weeks to fully recover. As for the memory loss, I regained it "fairly quickly." The Medics told me if I had stayed under for another two minutes, I could have suffered brain damage.

As for my little sis, she told me she was terrified and crying, mostly because she felt helpless and didn't kno what to do. She was twelve, and I, seventeen when this incident happened.

Haven't suffered it myself, but I word of advice.
Stories about people who're injured and lose their
memory are as common as leaves. Make sure, if your
character suffers memory loss, it's convincing.