r/Concussion

Is this normal?! I suffered a concussion about a month ago and my symptoms are pretty bad. I’ve been seen by my PCP and the ER doctor, and was cleared of a brain bleed. But the symptoms are making it hard to work, sometimes drive, or life my day to day life without pain.
They told me a need to see a specialist but everyone I call is booking 5-6 months out. How is one supposed to wait that long in pain? Is that normal?
I’m taking it easy as they said and things don’t be getting better. Any suggestions? I think I may have gotten whiplash during the concussion which is adding to the pain.

The title is as it says. To make a short story shorter the subway doors closed on my head and caused damage behind my right ear. A small bump that I iced and has since just become a spot that hurts when I touch it. I’ve had an incredibly dull but not painful headache since, with relief as I lay down with my eyes closed.

My question is with my only symptom being the easiest headache I’ve ever felt, should I worry about a concussion? It does feel like the headache continues as I look at screens so I’ve been avoiding that. Plus the fact my head has felt strange since. But working out/ tensing my head doesn’t seem to exacerbate the headache so idk. I’m an anxious guy so it may just be anxiety on top of a bump to the head. Everyone in my personal life says I’m barking up the wrong tree and my head just sustained a little damage, but no concussion.

I did have a pretty bad concussion when I was a kid, being knocked unconscious and having memory loss for a little bit after.

Anyways lmk what yall think and if you’d like me to answer any questions. Sorry to use this r/ as my personal dr

I’m on SSRIS for depression (long before my concussions).

I always found them gave me brain fog and reduced my capacity to think clearly.

So now, I struggle to differentiate between what’s SSRI cognitive effects and what’s due to concussion.

I’ve even heard some people are put on SSRIs to combat concussion effects which confuses things further.

The only way I can differentiate so far is that SSRIs cause brain fog, and it’s the concussion that causes memory loss? As that seemed to pop up only after concussions.

Any thoughts?

Is it possible for a 10 year old to get a concussion or TBI after getting hit in the head by a heavy pillow hard? 5 hours ago and no symptoms yet. Any insight is appreciated.

Hey guys i had a concussion in august 2023 where I hit a tree while on my motorbike and concussed and blacked out. Around a year later I started getting these brain zaps, jolts electric shocks which are instant mostly happening to the right side of my brain but then started to spread to different parts of the brain, was discharged from hospital aug 2024 with "occipital pain" diagnosis. Around september 2025 I started getting it really badly and went and saw a neurologist and told me to take amitriptyline 10mg as a preventative. Around august 2026 I went to a different neurologist to get a second opinion and then told me to get botox which caused me to have heart palpitations so stopped that and went to a 3rd neurologist which diagnosed me as primary stabbing headache, and continued the amitriptyline. I saw the same neurologist [3rd one] 3 months later and basically wanted an exit strategy off the amitriptyline and he said you can come off it cold Turkey since its a low dose and ser how you go. If you continue to get them then take indomethacin which potentially could stop it completely however need to take a counter medicine since its harsh on the gut.

Has anyone else had a similar experience to this im just worried if its permanent or is it something that can heal overtime? Its now been 3 years after my concussion

Any thoughts/tips would be much appreciated

Thanks

It's been a month since I got my concussion. I accidentally hit myself in the jaw. Went to the ER. It was nothing serious, my neck suffered a bit but it's back to normal now.

My energy and concentration were back to normal after 10 days.

However...

I can't even go for a walk/hiking or train with my dumbells because i'll be tired for an entire day, even though I didn't put too much effort. I can stay inside and read/play video games for 16 hours a day though.

It's not my first concussion. I had one 2 years ago. I hit the back of my head pretty hard but I was able to regain my energy levels faster, on the other hand I had to endure headaches for a few months, until I took suppliments such as omega 3/lecithin like a maniac.

What did you guys do to fix this?

I tried creatine but it's not for me, I had to wake up every night to go to the bathroom. Only took 5g of creatine/day.

I experienced a mini concussion in 2015 — I was kicked in the head by a stage diver wearing clunky combat boots at a hardcore show. Just an unlucky consequence of standing in the wrong place.

11 years later, I have migraines pretty regularly on the side of my head where I was struck, but I always notice that the exact point of contact with the boot on the top of my head (closer to my forehead) tends to still feel very sore and tender for days afterwards when most, if not all, of the pain has subsided. Also as a result, I still feel rather lightheaded. I’ve had several MRIs and they showed no signs of any issues.

Is it normal or expected for that exact area to still be affected by the kick all this time later?

28M 6 ft

5 days ago I was boxing with some people I knew. My first time really fighting someone else. This guy punches my head about 4 times. (Side of head and back of head) Didn’t hurt too bad at the time. A couple days passed and I didn’t notice anything.

3 days after, I started noticing symptoms. Head swelling and feels tingly, slight pressure around head and on temples. Mild fatigue. Now like 4-5 days later I’m noticing fogginess and slightly processing information slower. No slurred speech or balance issues and I still feel like my brain is working, other than the grogginess.

I haven’t been to the doctor, I don’t have insurance. I heard the concussions symptoms show up immediately. I’m curious because my symptoms showed up later and they don’t exactly feel like they’re getting better.

Would love an opinion on this. Thank you.

I'm an idiot, and yesterday, I bumped my head pretty hard against the wall in my house. I was cleaning up my cats food dish area and turned the wrong way.

Anyway, it hit hard and hurt, but I didn't lose consciousness or vomit or anything. The spot I hit my head doesn't hurt to the touch, but I did have a mild headache yesterday.

Today, I woke up, and I'm super dizzy. It feels like when you've had one too many drinks and the room spins (but milder), especially when I put my head upside down to tie my hair up.

Pupils are fine, no light sensitivity or slurred speech or confusion.

The problem is, I don't have primary care. We don't have walk-in or urgent care in my area. We just have the ER with a 12+ hour wait for non-urgent issues. Do I REALLY need to go there today? Sources online seem to say you should be seen, but surely if I have a mild concussion sitting in a bright and loud ER for 12+ hours isn't the best idea. I mean, it's not like there's a treatment for this other than rest, right?

So I (27M) got drunk the other day, my leg gave way apparently and hit my head on a steel frame, I think I passed out for a brief moment according to people I was with. I have no memory of the incident and also the period before that.

When I got home I got sent to the ER by my parents, the doctors assessed me and told me that they don’t think I need a CT or anything and sent me home.

The second day I was nauseous, vomitted once, was bloated, tired and generally not well but I wasn’t confused, didn’t have blurred vision, balancing issues or any other major concussion symptoms. The nausea went away after the second day.

Today’s the 4th day and over the past 2 nights, I get dry mouth and dry eyes, and they disappear when I wake in the morning. I have problems falling asleep as I felt pressure in my head when lying down for a while, and generally during the day I fell the pressure a bit as well but they are not strong. I’m fully conscious and aware, it’s really just some pressure in the head and troubles at night. I am also back at work today and haven’t had problems with tasks so far.

Should I visit a proper neurologist and get a CT scan to confirm if anything’s wrong? I’m generally anxious about any medical conditions so I’m not sure if that has contributed to my symptoms.

I already posted what happened to me , but in short : 11 days ago in a trampoline park from a 1 meter fall my knee hit my jaw , ever since then I've had balancing issues eye strain and my head always felt off and pressured and I've had some mild headaches. I've been to the doctor THREE times and said this , they keep saying it's nothing and just give medicine but none of them say anything about concussion, what should I do ?

Hi. 3 years ago in November 2023 I suffered a tbi/concussion that produced odds symptoms but basically everything went away after 4 weeks.

2 1/2 years later in April of this year 2026 randomly a lot of these symptoms just came back out of the blue but kind of came in stages.

April 2026- urinary issues no thirst.

May 2026 - no hunger no sign of fullness.

August 2026 - lack of sex drive and cannot fall asleep at all or feel tired. Literally 1 hour sleep maybe max a night. Randomly came previous night was sleeping fine next night nothing working can’t sleep.

I’ve tried reading and scoping the internet to find anything similar but just can’t. Looking for some people that can help guide me.

Also all my hormone in a test that was done in June when the symptoms were active came back all clear and within normal range. Also 3T MRI of the brain and pituitary with contrast came back clean as well.

Looking for help.

It's now day 10 , in a trampoline park my jaw got hit by my knee while falling from roughly 1 meter height. Since then my head has pressure that won't go away and I feel dizzy. I am young and very scared if this will ever go away , especially because I've been watching a lot TV and been on my phone alot during this time.

I passed out a few hours ago (most likely from my POTS) and I hit my head pretty hard on our cast-iron sink. I have a pretty big bump in the area is kind of tingly my head honestly doesn’t hurt that bad but I feel drunk. Like a little bit of balance issues, but also like happy and giggly. I had a concussion over 10 years ago and all they did was told me to rest so I feel like there’s no point in going to the doctor even if I do have a concussion because all they will do is tell me to rest. What do you guys think? Anyone else felt like this after a fall?

Two nights ago I hit the back of my head with force on a wooden floor (wearing a helmet). I immediately had some ringing/rushing in my ears but that subsided within minutes and I otherwise felt generally fine. There might have been a bit of foggy/loopy-ness, but I wasn’t completely sure if I was making that up. Yesterday I was ok too, I didn’t have to do anything cognitively or physically demanding but did some socialising. I did at times feel like I had a bit of pressure in my head, but nothing completely out of the ordinary that couldn’t have been explained by not drinking enough water or spending time in a room full of people.

At about midday today however I felt insanely tired and ended up napping for 2 hours. I am now getting like pangs of sharpish pain in the top and back of the head. this has gotten worse after coming back from grocery shopping. Is this kind of delayed onset consistent with a concussion?

Early in August 6th morning I (24M) fell and hit my head. Got stitches in my eyebrow and head, then had a brain scan done and they found a small concussion, measuring 8x7mm. They had me stay one night in observation just in case. They did another brain scan the next day, and the hemorrhage/concussion hadn’t grown at all which was a good sign so they let me go and just told me what I had to do to take care of myself, assuring nothing bad would happen now.

I have copy pasted the full medical report of the second brain scan at the bottom of this post.

The only effects I’ve had after the accident are dizziness which is steadily getting better (today it has been very mild), tiredness (nothing that crazy, I can stay awake with no problem but I just don’t feel well rested and have very low motivation), and bad mood/low patience (irritable as hell and emotionally down/sad). I’m on a low dose of antidepressants (10mg of Brintellix) so this isn’t too uncommon for me, but I was doing pretty well before the accident. I’m not very depressed, just some mood swings and rumination (possibly slight OCD according to my psychiatrist) that the antidepressant has helped with, but since the accident I’ve been feeling noticeably more down and tired. I went to another doctor 2 days ago, he saw both brain scans, and he didn’t seem worried at all. He said all of this is normal and that it’ll gradually get better and that I just need some rest. He even said that I could do exercise if I wanted to and that I just had to listen to my body if I wasn’t reacting well (the first doctor where I was hospitalized said no exercise for 1 month, no drinking/smoking for 2 weeks).

It’s been more than 8 days since the accident now and I was wondering if it would be an issue if I get high with THC. I think it would help me relax and not have a bad time now that I’m at home doing nothing and feeling down.
I want to know if I can do it with peace of mind knowing I’ll be fine, and if the no smoking thing is more of an exaggerated precaution than an actual danger.

I have the option to smoke the weed or eat it with edibles, in case one is preferable to the other.

Here’s the translated report I mentioned:

Brain CT Without Contrast

Indication: Follow-up of head trauma due to a fall from standing height, with impact to the left frontotemporal region.
Comparison: Brain CT from August 6, 2026.

FINDINGS

Brain Parenchyma
A hemorrhagic contusion focus in the left occipital lobe, measuring 8 × 7 mm, stable in size and density compared with the previous study, with no surrounding edema or mass effect.

The remainder of the brain parenchyma demonstrates adequate differentiation between the gray and white matter, with no new hemorrhagic lesions or areas of acute ischemia.

Ventricular System
Normal position, size, and morphology. Midline is centered.

Extra-Axial Spaces and Cisterns
No epidural or subdural collections are observed. No evidence of subarachnoid hemorrhage. Basal cisterns and convexity sulci are preserved in size.

Posterior Fossa
Cerebellum and brainstem appear preserved.

Osseous Structures
No fracture lines in the skull vault or skull base.

Orbits
Preserved morphology, with no fracture lines involving their walls.

Paranasal Sinuses and Mastoid Air Cells
Adequately aerated, with no opacification or air-fluid levels.

Soft Tissues
Left parietal subgaleal hematoma, with volume similar to the previous study (approximately 14 cc).

Left periorbital hematoma, unchanged.

IMPRESSION

1. Follow-up study with no changes compared with the CT from August 6, 2026.

2. Stable left occipital hemorrhagic contusion, with no surrounding edema or mass effect.

3. Left parietal subgaleal hematoma and left periorbital hematoma, without significant changes.

TLDR; I had a minor concussion (7x8mm in size) after hitting my head. It’s been more than 8 days since the accident with no worsening effects (I just had dizziness that has been improving and almost absent today, have been feeling tired, and very irritable/moody and low motivation). Is it safe for me to consume THC? I have the option to smoke it or eat it, in case one option is more preferable than the other.

It’s been two days since I was hit in the head and I’m curious how my symptoms compare to others, how your recovery is going, and what you do to stave off boredom. Also, what helps nausea that isn’t medicine? I have no access to medicine for the next 23 hours lol. Google & mayo clinic freaked me out so I thought I would ask real people instead.

Current symptoms:
Headache on left side, head pain on left temple and radiating around area struck, left ear feels strange and full, nausea, light sensitivity, sound sensitive, sense of balance comes and goes. Pressure/ mild pain behind left eye and at the back of my head. I haven’t thrown up again for 8 hours, but it happened many times.

The backstory:
While taking off on a nine hour flight, I was resting with my head down and another passenger dropped a full large metal water bottle on my temple. It was an accident, but it fell from the overhead storage that I was sitting under. I don’t exactly remember it. I just was so confused because I was in pain and everyone around asking if I was okay. Then when I opened my eyes I was scared the flight attendant was trying to kick me off the flight to get EMTs to meet us. I kept saying I was okay and another attendant brought me Tylenol and ice. So I used headphones to noise cancel and covered my head for the next 9 hours while icing off and on. I didn’t want to get stuck in the random layover country, so I boarded the next 3 hour flight then went straight to the hotel. After resting in the dark, I tried to take a small walk after sunset but it didn’t go well. I then started throwing up again. I’m in a small town so there’s no ER and the doctor’s office is closed until Monday. The pharmacy is also closed, so no more Tylenol until Monday 🥲. I’ve slept off and on since it happened with someone checking in every couple of hours. Two hours ago I was able to eat a small amount and kept it down, but it was a struggle since I had to take a short walk. Now I’m back in my hotel room with soft ambient lighting to try and stop the photophobia from getting worse. 12 hours on a plane immediately after concussion was not ideal, so I feel I’ve put back my recovery time.

So around 9 days ago I fell in a trampoline park backwards from a high place (1 meter )onto a soft surface but while jumping my knee hit my jaw , at first I didn't know what this was and it's only now that I'm pretty sure I have a concussion. I know that the first 48 hours are important, but in those I already f*cked up . I watched alot of tv and was ok my phone alot and played soccer , for the first 7 days at least. Only on like day 8 I actually started going easy. I even went to the doctor and described this TWICE but he just said it's likely nothing. Well it doesn't feel like nothing, I already have extreme anxiety and paranoia so ig I might be overreacting but I've definitely been having a weird feeling in my head , occasionally headaches and sensitivity to light and sound a bit and I also feel off balance and dizziness.

I already posted once asking if this was a concussion but now I believe it is , any tips would be greatly appreciated and I would also love to know if what I did leading up to this day has made this maybe permanent or take a very long time to heal. Thank you.

I hit my head pretty badly a couple of weeks ago. The spot hurt for a couple of days and after about 72 hours I woke up to non-stop vomit and had to go to the er. They said I had a concussion and I’ve definitely been disoriented for a couple of weeks, But I also get chronic migraines and fatigue normally. I haven’t had any headaches or real pain, just some dizziness and fatigue if I over exert myself.

Is it possible to have a concussion without headaches and light sensitivity?

29F. 4 seasons of contact rugby.

I know it’s impossible to answer this, but just looking for some perspectives from actual players / former players.

I had two BAD concussions last season, and I’m not feeling sharp mentally now. Just a bit forgetful and struggle to concentrate sometimes.

But it’s hard to pin down whether that could be down to medication (SSRIs), stress, etc.

At what point would you / did you retire due to concussions?