Douglas F. Transcript

My name is Douglas. I’ve had like three concussions, and they have all happened, they’ve all mainly happened from playing college football. I got one my freshman year during a kickoff and knocked someone out and started walking to the wrong sideline, and that was pretty brutal, and I was better in about like three weeks, but I just didn’t really do much for it. I just sat in a dark room and just lived my life. And they only really got bad after, after maybe my second – my second and third concussions were really bad. These happened both my sophomore year, so I had three concussions in the span of a year and a half, which were pretty intense. The first one I had my sophomore year was around 12 week recovery period, and that was with headaches like every day. And then the third one was around 14 weeks, and that happened about like four months after the second one, or three months after the second one, and I had no idea what to do, like my second concussion. I didn’t even know I could not lift weights, and that’s really why the process took so long. I–week and a half in, I was really eager to get back in playing, and it was probably a little too early, and I was worried about, like, not

getting starting spot. So I pushed myself, probably harder than I should have, or pushed at all, which you should not do in a concussion, you should absolutely just be doing much of nothing.

And, yeah, I lifted weights, and that was about a week and a half after my concussion. That was– and I was just not informed correctly, and did not know that was something I couldn’t do, or at least the extent in which I was lifting, and that just caused me to have really bad tension headaches for weeks. I think for the first four or five weeks, I had awful headaches. And then from then on, I’d have headaches every few hours until the 12th until, like, a few weeks. I guess on the 10th week is where I just started, finally, like, starting to get better. I only have a headache a day for like, an hour or so. And, yeah, that’s, that’s where that took me. Through that whole process, I think my anxiety around the concussions with specifically my first one, I didn’t really have anxiety about it. It was like, I don’t care, I’m just it’s my first concussion, and it’s like, it’s not that big of a deal, which probably isn’t the best way to look at it, because it’s my brain. But with my second and third one, I had really bad anxiety due to it, and I think that anxiety caused me to do everything I possibly could to help with the concussion. 

So I was eating extremely clean. I did a Keto diet for a while because it’s supposed to lower inflammation in your brain. I was taking Omega Threes. I was taking Riboplasm. I was taking a whole bunch of other supplements that I felt would help me based on the research that I did with that concussion, because at week four or five, I was like, why am I not getting better? Why is this continuing to happen? So I tried finding solutions and solutions and solutions, and yes, they may have helped at some level, but like, I just think, you need to calm down when you have a concussion and not think about everything. Like after a few weeks through concussion, try, or if you’re still having headaches a few weeks, try and get back into your normal routine. Don’t overdo it. And if you are having anxiety with these, with your concussion, try not to think about it, because that was my biggest thing. I’d overthink about it all times. It was always just trying to make it better. And like, it just didn’t, didn’t help. It just made it worse in the end. And then it’s and then I ended up getting on anti-anxiety medication because of it, and that, I think helped me at some level, because I just– it gave me the ability to stop thinking about the effects of my concussion. So maybe that’s a solution for someone who’s been dealing with, for a while and feels like it’s an anxiety issue. 

I also have extremely bad ADHD, which I think added on to the anxiety, added on to my constant thinking about it. So yeah, that’s that’s really how I dealt with my third, my second, and third concussion. But yeah, I do think I isolated myself a lot in the very beginning, because I was trying to get better as soon as possible and try and do everything correctly. And I think I sat in a dark room for my second concussion for about like, four or five weeks, and like that just wasn’t the best thing to do. And I was misinformed. I should have been going on walks every day. I should have tried, tried going on a bike, like a stationary bike or something that didn’t aggravate me, but gave me some exercise and helped with my overall mental health, because that was just a huge part of why I continue having these issues.

I do think, for me, it’s a pretty extreme case. Most people aren’t having concussions for 14 weeks. But yeah, that’s a little bit about my story. And when you do have a concussion, I do think like, don’t get anxious, but make sure you’re asking questions, because it’s your brain. You gotta take care of that. You gotta make sure you’re not gonna start forgetting stuff as you get older. But yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s my story, a little bit. Ask questions. Don’t overthink it, though. And, yeah, that’s really, really what I got to say about my story.

I just felt like I isolated myself a lot, like I said, and  I think that’s at some level, that was my fault, but I also feel like there weren’t enough people just like deciding to check in, like, hey, Doug, how’s it going? Do you want to go for a walk? Do you want to do this? Because I couldn’t like, I see my friends playing video games in the room. That’s not something I could just go do. The sound would bother me. The TV would bother me. So maybe just being around friends who are able to just do things that you’re able to do, you’re very limited. Go on a walk with them. Go, if you can listen to music a little bit and that doesn’t bother you, go do that. If you can read a book and that doesn’t cause you a lot of cognitive stress, do that. But don’t, again, don’t overdo it. But yeah, I just, I think, really, just having people around you who are going to connect with you. Like my family was huge, I tried going home a lot when I had the concussions, traveling didn’t help, but getting to see them and having a home-cooked meal was definitely something that relieved my anxiety and stress around the situation. So being around family was huge, and then also just there’s other guys on like, like, having this, like, this is great, like, having a place where you can just go and hear other people’s stories and take their advice and/or leave the rest, like, whatever it might be, but a community of people who’ve had similar experiences is a great, a great way to connect, maybe even something, this is, this is sort of a question. This is sort of something that I thought, but I actually, I started a program at Wesleyan. It’s injured athletes and just a support network, and just, we’ve put up flyers and had some people talk to us, but not, not that much, but just having our phone numbers on. If people are willing to have their phone numbers up on, on concussion box, and people can call them, or they can set up a meeting with them through Google Docs and just have a quick conversation with them about their experience, instead of just listening to their experience. Actually full conversation might. Be more fruitful and definitely gives more of an emotional connection than just listening to a recording.