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Concussion...

1K views 24 replies 16 participants last post by  dwnhlldav 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey everyone,

Just curious how many peeps out there have suffered concussions riding DH/FR. I went down about 3 weeks ago and didn't end up going to the doc. I've had a headache for about 2 weeks now, ringing ears and had a sick stomach for a week after. I went down over a 20' double. wheel came down on the soft edge of a new landing, tweaked the wheel sideways and kind of catapulted me sideways hip first and it whipped my head down. I didn't think much of it other than a bad fall, but i'm starting to worry if i may have hit my head harder than i realized...

Don't want to make it sound worse than it is, I've just had a dull headache for a while, and felt kinda sick for a week afterward. I'm planning on getting it checked out, but part of me can't help but be worried i'm gonna get told not to bike anymore or something crazy like that:)

thanks for any input...
 
#4 ·
I'm making an appt today to get checked out. I didn't mean to make it sound like i just wasn't going to do anything and risk it... just was curious as to what feedback other people had gotten from doctors as far as continuing to bike. I guess if you've had 7, that means you're still riding:).
 
#5 ·
I am the king of head injuries, but amazingly Ive only had 1 bad concussion was pretty out of it afterwards seeing stars etc but never went to a doctor(was camping in the middle of no where, didnt feel like driving a 3-4 hours to a doctor lol). They probably arent going to say much other than to take it easy for a bit but I would still go. As for riding they are just going to say make sure to wear a helmet.
 
#6 ·
ive had 4 concussions, 2 from snowboarding, 1 car accident and 1 lacrosse injury, my advice is to keep it slow on the recovery, just chill for awhile you might feel fine but its alot easier to get another concussion again, i would just get checked out and see what the doc says, and if it means no dh/fr for awhile then take the advice or just ride mellow stuff, you only get one noggin so save it as best you can
 
#8 ·
i've had hella concussions from bike crashes. i even suffered for a couple weeks on a few of them, one so bad that almost any head movement would make me almost collapse. the doc will just tell you to chill out for a while, but if you have the insurance, you might as well go and get checked out anyway...
 
#10 ·
WCH and others have hit the nail on the head, no pun intended. I've had a couple of really good ones now and really it comes down to time. You HAVE to take it easy until all symptoms are gone. I'd say I'm missing at least 10 hours or so of recollection from my life due to head trauma. The last one accounts for about 6 hours of "missing" time. Took me a good 6 weeks to fell "normal." Headaches, dizziness and nausea are all the symptoms to expect from a serious head shot. Go get your CT scan and chill for as long as it takes. Remember, they are accumulative, not individual/separate injuries.
 
#12 ·
I actually just got a mild one this weekend; didn't duck when I should have and hit a nice size tree branch. I broke my helmet and was fairly incoherent for a bit but nothing as bad as what you're describing. Fortunately one of our riding buddies is an EMT so I got the on-the-spot checkup as well as multiple follow-ups. Mine was last sat. and the headaches have pretty much gone away (just pain from spine compression, bruising, etc...). The nausea makes it sound like you have something pretty serious going on, I only had that for a few hours...2 weeks is a bit scary.
 
#13 ·
Prolonged nausea can certainly linger. My last header which I'm missing 6 hours of my day from caused some nasty headaches for about a month and nausea for almost three weeks. I'd also have these severe bouts of being tired. I'm at my desk working and it went like this:

- typing, working everything's ok
- sharp headache pains for 5-10 minutes
- then I absolutely can't keep my eyes open; super tired - like someone turned a light switch off. again, 5-10 minute episodes
- waves of nausea throughout
-15-20 minutes later, I'm feeling ok like nothing happened
- hour later, repeat the above

Again, get alot of sleep/rest and take it easy for a while.
 
#15 ·
Another knock on the head right now could do you in... take it easy for at least a couple more weeks. If you still have symptoms go to the dr, if they are gone you're probably ok (but still at risk if you hit your head again anytime soon).
 
#16 ·
yomattyo said:
I'm making an appt today to get checked out. I didn't mean to make it sound like i just wasn't going to do anything and risk it... just was curious as to what feedback other people had gotten from doctors as far as continuing to bike. I guess if you've had 7, that means you're still riding:).
Yes... and still rockin' the 4.0 gpa in school... kinda makes me wonder what kinda' genius I would be If I hadn't killed off all those brain cells in such brain-cranium collisions... :confused:

Biggest lesson learned tho after that many is the value of a quality helmet... No price is too high for protecting my head :thumbsup:
 
#17 ·
thanks for all the input/stories. Helps to hear other peoples experiences. I went to the doc about 6 hours after i posted this and all is well. He didn't think it was serious enough to get a scan done. I didn't black out and he did all the checks he could. So, it went as well as it could, just have to lay off the jumps for the next 2-3 weeks.

I'm bumbed cuz i'm gonna miss a few rides in the sun we FINALLY are getting this weekend in the NW, but i'm perfectly fine with waiting. He said i'd be fine to do some trail riding, so time to get on the enduro and train.

thanks everyone again for the input.
 
#18 ·
For those who are curious, here's the jump it happened on. First pic is of me (in yellow) the week before cleaning it just fine, the second is of my buddy the day i crashed, you can see the dirt marks in the landing where my wheel hit, then folded my bike over and my handlebars hit after it catapulted me to the side....

 
#19 ·
chooofoojoo said:
Yes... and still rockin' the 4.0 gpa in school... kinda makes me wonder what kinda' genius I would be If I hadn't killed off all those brain cells in such brain-cranium collisions... :confused:
GPA grades doesn't really mean much, a dumb guy could study really really hard and memorize the book and probably get good grades in most courses, while a really smart guy could be getting low grades.

If you get good grades doing almost nothing, then that's another thing (like me).. :D
 
#22 ·
Thanks for the symptom list Surfinguru! Now I know that the fatigue I've been feeling all week is most likely just my body telling me to take it easy for a while. I've been unbelievably tired, even after 9 hrs sleep!
 
#25 ·
Take it easy,

I've had 2 confirmed and 1 unconfirmed.

First one I flipped my go-cart end over end the first day I had it. Mom went cheap and I just had a cheap bike helmet.

Second was skiing and the day I decided to get a ski helmet. Carving over a roll in the trail got some unexpected air, came down with my skis across the fall line and got slammed hard. I think that one was even more painful then the last which was another skiing, but was knocked out.
 
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