Concussion

Gaaah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concussion

"The forces involved disrupt cellular processes in the brain for days or weeks."

I think I have a mild one. The feeling is really weird, and subtle. I thought I was "hazy" all last week because I was just returning from vacation. I have historically had difficulty concentrating when just back from vacation, especially the second day. This lasted all week and was different somehow. Caffeine didn't do anything for it. I struggled hard to function. I have also been experiencing mild intermittent nausea.

My neck and lower back were hurting too much last week for me to really notice anything else, though. I got some bodywork on Wednesday, then Friday afternoon went to a chiropractor. After the chiropractic appointment, I felt totally relaxed, neck and sacrum felt aligned, and my brain felt like it was in a pea soup fog.

Saturday I had a relaxing day and did very little thinking. Sunday I went to the Huntington Gardens with some friends, which was fine -- again, very little thought required, and it felt like therapy to be around all the plants. Monday morning I went jogging, then to work, where it finally occurred to me that haziness plus nausea equals probable concussion.

At the urging of coworkers, I went to see an MD, who had me get a CT scan. The results come in tomorrow. While driving, I felt like I shouldn't have been driving; my concentration was affected. When I got home, I felt very groggy and actually fell asleep in the car outside my house, waking up half an hour later covered in drool. I went to bed at 4:30 PM and slept for the better part of the next sixteen hours.

Why am I suddenly knocked on my ass now, after a solid week of non-knocked-on-ass-edness? I'm staying home from work today. My head hurts and my cognitive functions feel disjointed somehow: they're all there, I'm all here, but there have been lots of tiny blips and glitches and slownesses, like losing track of time or forgetting to prepare for a meeting or having a hard time making a decision. This is not normal. It's like I'm not sober, except I haven't had anything to drink.

When I fell, I landed on the back of my head, which I think means the main impact to my brain would have been from the prefrontal cortex, the front part, knocking into my skull. I have indeed noticed a little bit of degradation in planning and decisionmaking abilities, which reside there in the front. The overall "haze" or "pea soup" effect is hard to describe, to the point where it's hard to believe it's even there. It's like one of those optical illusions where you try to look at the gray dot and it disappears, but it's the most specific thing I can point to as far as a symptom. That, and the occasional nausea, and the feeling that as long as I stay put, I'll be fine.