You know I had a concussion a few weeks back from falling off the motorbike and hitting my head. Well, since then I've been having headaches, I find it hard to concentrate, remember stuff and wost of all, I'm quite down all the time. I've stopped going to yoga, I just want to stay home and do nothing all the time. I hate it, it's not me. I pinpointed the accident as the start of that spiralling down, chronologically, but never linked the head trauma with the symptoms I have now, apart maybe from the headaches.
Well It was Dan's bday drinks last night, we went to La Cooperative, which happened to be Stan's restaurant (le cousin de Marinette). I had a chat with Ben August there, I'm sure I've told you about him already, the Ben August whose blog tipped me over the edge on whether I should go to Hanoi or not. Check it out, it's a fantastic blog ("Ahoy Hanoi", on blogspot). He told me he had a concussion a few years back and suffered memory loss and depression for a year after that. He googled concussions at the time, which I never did, and told me depression and lack of motivation are common post symptoms. So this morning I googled it myself and here's what I found on the first website I checked out:
Concussions are caused by blows to the head. Immediate symptoms can include amnesia, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, headache, sensitivity to light and dizziness. Delayed symptoms can include sleep disturbance, irritability, fatigue, depression and fogginess.
That's crazy. The immediate symptoms are spot on: I had memory loss (still do: can't remember the two classes I taught right before the accident), I had difficulty concentrating that's the least you can say. I mean I didn't know how to get to the French hospital even though I had been there several times already. Dizziness, yes. For 2 days.
And the delayed symptoms all fit as well, apart from sleep disturbance. I sleep very well.
I feel much better knowing what I have, and why I have been in a constant state of PMS in the last few weeks. I'm either saddish and apathetic, or clearly in an awful mood.
Now that I know, what to do about it?
Ben says only time can heal the brain, it has been bruised and needs to fix itself. I don't think I'm going to wait another 11 months to get better though, I want to print the article and take it to Dr Thuy, my magician acupuncturist who seem to be able to fix anything. If that doesn't help, I'll consider medication, to replace whatever happy hormone my brain is no longer producing because it got punched and is traumatised. :)
To be honest, I feel better already, just by being able to put a label on the problem.
I'm NOT crazy!
Yay me!
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