Concussed in the New Year

When you start the New Year with a concussion, it can only get better from there. Right? (She typed hopefully.) Yes, I was concussed at the end of December. No, there’s not a good story about it. I wasn’t drinking or skydiving. I wasn’t in an accident or daring fight. No, wait… I was fighting ninjas. I forgot, when there’s no good story for an injury, I should always say I was fighting ninjas.

Except I wasn’t fighting ninjas. I fainted and hit my head on the kitchen floor. Concussed isn’t that bad of an outcome. It’s a mild concussion and I didn’t break any bones, unlike the very broken foot I managed when I fainted in 2018. It’s relatively fine. In fact, let’s lighten the mood with a happier pic from our recent trip to New York City. (Cheers!)

Fainting is Not Fun

Why did I faint? Well, we’re not sure. It’s some kind of ongoing dysautonomia that we’re still investigating. Soon with the help of a promising new (to me) neurologist.

If you’ve never fainted, it’s not fun. Zero out of five stars. And it’s not like in the movies. You do not gracefully crumple onto a nearby couch or a hidden crash pad. As my doctor puts it, you drop like a rag doll. You are completely and suddenly unconscious and gravity flops your body to the floor with no care for your fragile head and breakable bones.

From the mental perspective, it’s seriously awful, too. One minute, I’m fine. The next there is a flash of nausea, a flush of sweat, everything sways as my brain tries to frantically understand what is happening and then… nothing. Consciousness is cut off mid-thought. I open my eyes and I’m on the floor, staring at the ceiling and trying to piece together where I am and what happened.

Back to the ER

This fainting spell happened at night, when I was alone in the kitchen after Peter had gone to bed. I knew enough to call for help before moving, and Peter helped me check for injuries before gently sitting up. (Poor Peter, startled awake for this.) Aside from a sore head, I seemed to be fine. We applied ice, checked my pupils, made sure I was coherent, and went to bed.

But in the morning, I began to get a migraine with symptoms that were unsettlingly close to more worrisome problems. Being a Sunday, we ended up at the ER where I was seen by the same doctor who took care of me when I fainted and broke my foot six years ago. She also happens to be my former yoga student, and I was very glad to see her.

We did all the important tests: EKG, imaging, etc. and found it was a combo of mild concussion, migraine, and neck strain from the fall. I expected to be fine in a day or so. It took longer than that…

Concussions Take Patience

Here’s what I learned about concussions: they take 7 to 10 days to resolve. Ugh. My migraine was gone by the following morning, but the concussion headaches were harder to shake. Each day was better than the previous day, but simply standing up too long, moving too much, reading too much, thinking too much… brought an instant headache.

At my follow-up check, my doctor recommended rest with limited stimulation. That meant limiting light, sound, screens, movement… pretty much everything. Did I mention that was the week we were having our siding replaced? Yeah. Not a great time for all that banging, but I rested as best I could.

I wasn’t entirely laid up. I did teach most of my yoga classes, subbing a few to lighten my schedule (thanks, Gretchen and Kate!) I didn’t demo during those classes and still had a headache at the end of each one. Or soon after. But on day 10 of being post-concussed, I made it through the whole day sans headache. Huzzah! My head still felt a little fragile and now, a couple of days later, I’m still gently easing back into my normal routine.

It was a not great way to start 2025, a year that I’ve been dreading since the election. I could see this as an ill omen for what’s to come or I could say that my year will get better from here. I’ll chose the latter and hang on to some hope for 2025. There will be challenges, for sure, but here’s hoping we can weather the next four years together and get through with minimal damage.

On that note, you can now find me on Bluesky social: @SusanQuilty.bsky.social Hope to see you there!