Post-Concussion Symptoms nobody talks about.


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Concussions are a traumatic brain injury. What most people don’t realize is the aftermath is the worst part of the injury. This is because of how unwired the brain becomes which leads to some uncommon symptoms that can last a lot longer than ‘just’ headaches.

In the past I have been diagnosed with several concussions. Two were after major car accidents and one from a fall training as a figure skater.

For example; the first car accident I had it was when a car hit me from behind and sent my car forward. I did not appear to have any symptoms right away, but a few hours later they appeared. I was getting dizzy, tired and had massive headaches.

The worst symptoms with that concussion were the headaches…but when they say headaches, they mean death migraines. The ones that never go away. You lock yourself in a dark room with pure quietness and the pounding is still happening. You cry until the gums of your mouth hurt and they are still there. It doesn’t go away until one day you wake up and it feels like you broke out of jail.

But the next slip, fall, bang or whatever they are back. No matter if it is 24 hours later or a week later. Which is how I ended up getting the second concussion. I began training about three weeks after the car accident, 48 hours after being symptom free and following protocol. I ended up missing an entry to the jump and I fell so hard that I remained on the ice. I couldn’t move. There were people zooming past me and I could not figure out how close they were. That became the worst symptom from the second one.

Since then, I have not been able to focus, and when I do I get massive headaches.  Every time I try it ends up taking like 1-2 hours to accomplish something. It bothers me. It is kind of like anxiety to get a task done. Depression because it is taking so long and then when it is finally done it is fatigued.

This leads to the third and most recent concussion which has not even been two weeks since it has happened. I was in a massive head/side of car collision into a metal rail post. Again, the symptoms did not appear right away even after being taken by ambulance. I was more in shock but the day after I was zoned. I had headaches and I was emotional and my best friend came to spend some time with me and I fell asleep on him crying from the pain.

However, the pain soon went away but the main symptoms were all different.

It is like you are staring at the wall and you can’t make out anything. You lose your ability to be fast and miss out completing a program. My body is not connecting. When there is a neurological and non-connection issue it becomes a major problem. More-so when your head constantly spins.

I studied concussions for many years so I know the symptoms. But when I was rushed to the hospital on February 5th, 2018 after a car accident. I waited there and I noticed they did not know how to spot a concussion. And this is why they go unnoticed and why many people are aware of them and why a lot of people suffer the longer term consequences.

Some of the warning symptoms to spot after a sudden head/spine injury are:

  • Headaches
  • Dizziness
  • Fatigue
  • Irritability
  • Anxiety
  • Insomnia
  • Loss of concentration and memory
  • Ringing in the ears
  • Blurry vision
  • Noise and light sensitivity
  • decrease in taste and smell

2 Comments Add yours

  1. Jayna says:

    Deirdre, thank you so much for sharing this. I am so sorry that you are going through this, and I hope you feel better.


    1. Deidre Matthews says:

      Thank you 🙂


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