It’s been four months since I got a concussion, and it refuses to go away.
This concussion has impacted me in more ways than people can see. Social, physical, and mental aspects of my life have all been affected.
I got my concussion during a field hockey game when a girl ran full-speed into me and knocked me right over. My neck bent back and I got whip lash. I don’t remember if I banged my head on the turf or not, as I had blacked out. From the time I fell to the time I got up is all a blur.
I immediately broke into tears because my brain felt like it was shaking. I was very dizzy and I’ve had a constant headache since it occurred. Seeing spots and colored dots are also a constant reminder of what happened to me.
After missing almost a month of school before even doing half days, my stress level went up and my grades went down. The doctors and all my teachers were really supportive and told me not to stress out. They told me I would get incompletes for the quarter and make up the work as I was feeling better. I immediately broke into tears because my brain felt like it was shaking.
It is still a struggle to do work as it still bothers my head and eyes. Make-up work and keeping up with current topics in classes has also been really difficult. Going from being an A student to getting all incompletes really stressed me out, but I know everything will be okay with the support of my teachers and my parents.
With the constant appointments and talk about what happened to me, I didn’t have much of a social life for a while. Going out or doing too much tired me out really quickly and gave me worse headaches.
The majority of my time was spent at home resting. I missed all my friends and never realized that a concussion would impact my social life so much.
Since the concussion happened halfway through the field hockey season, I was not able to play for the rest of the season. This was probably one of the worst parts. Although I still went to the games to support my team, not being able to play was so difficult.
Physical activity bothers my head more than mental activity does. Because of this, I have not exercised very much since my concussion. Exercise was a big part of my life and I never realized how much I’d miss it when I couldn’t bare to do it anymore.
Anxiety has taken over ever since the concussion. I am constantly anxious about things like make-up work, field hockey, and my social life. I felt like I was never going to recover from this awful thing that happened to me.
Most people aren’t very sympathetic to concussions and they downgrade them a lot. Since you can’t see the symptoms of a concussion, this is an innocent act that people do by assuming the person is over-exaggerating. Although all the doctors always tell me “It just takes time,” it is hard to believe that you’ll ever be the same person again.
Some days I start to feel better and then my headaches come back in full effect again. It is extremely frustrating. Everyone says to take it day by day and that it will get better, but this can be difficult to truly believe.
Being a teenager, I just want things to work out how I want them to right away. Slowly but surely, I have been making progress. Doing bits of make-up work and walking for 45 minutes a day takes away some of the anxiety.
I refuse to give up on school and sports because of this concussion and I will continue to push through until I heal. Physical therapy and resting often has helped me a lot.
Day by day, I am beginning to feel better and feel like myself again.
