Silvana G. Transcript

Hi, my name is Silvana, and I am going to be sharing my concussion story.

So, I feel like this story should start with my first concussion. So, in the beginning of 2019, while I was playing soccer for Florida Gulf Coast, I had a concussion playing soccer, and my concussion only lasted a few days. I felt great. And I went on with my life after that.

Because of that experience, I viewed concussions as a joke, and, you know, I was never– I never understood why people, you know, took so long to recover from them.

Well, at the end of 2019, I had a second concussion. I was out at the bar with my friends. One of my friends was dancing. And she had a glass drink in her hand. And while she was dancing, I turned around to talk to her because she was behind me. And at that same time, as she was dancing pretty intensely, she ended up accidentally whacking me in the back of the head. And all I could hear was the glass kind of smashing through the back of my head. I didn’t pass out. But immediately, I thought to myself, “Oh, crap,” because suddenly the music felt so loud. And I remember just feeling so out of it. And I remember just feeling so disoriented. So after that, I was like, “You know what, I should go home.”

So, I ended up going home after that, and I had been drinking that night. So, I went to bed, and I ended up sleeping for like three days off and on, only really getting up to use the restroom or to eat. At first, I thought I was just hungover or something. I was like, “You know what, maybe I’m just hung over, like, I’ll be fine.” I ended up not being fine… at all. So, after those first few days, anytime I tried to go on my phone, or, you know, talk to people, I got the worst headache. I had such bad nausea. I couldn’t eat– I felt like I had the flu.

I just remember thinking to myself, “What the heck is going on?” And it just didn’t occur to me that it could be from the concussion that I had sustained that night. So anyways, eventually I ended up calling one of my friends who’s a physical therapist, and I was like, you know, “What is going on? I feel so nauseous. I’m so out of it. Like, like, what should I do?” So he told me he’s like, “Why don’t you come in to see me?”

So when I went in to see him, and he quickly figured out that I had a concussion. I had some nystagmus. I had some, you know, vestibular issues. So I was like, “Oh, this is great.” Meanwhile, I’m a very positive person. So I thought, oh, you know, “I’ll clear up in a few weeks or whatever.” So that ended up not happening. I also noticed, in addition to like the nausea and everything, that I couldn’t, it was so hard for me to talk to people and follow conversations. Because it would just really make me nauseous and very dizzy. I got dizzy quite frequently. That was probably my biggest symptom.

So yeah, I couldn’t be near any loud sounds. I remember my one friend picked me up because I was like, “I need to get out of the house” because at the time I was on winter break, and I remember she locked the car door, and the sound it makes when you lock your car door, I guess– I don’t know– it sounded so loud to me. And even to this day, it’s still wild to me to like, think back of how sensitive I was to, you know, light and to sounds. It was just so awful. I felt like I couldn’t go out into the to the world because it was I was just freaking out and it would just make me anxious and angry and upset. And I remember crying every day because I’m just like, “Why am I not getting better? Like, what is going on?” Because I just didn’t understand. I felt like at the time, you know, I played soccer in college, so I felt like, I was a pretty fit person, I felt like I eat healthy, and I just didn’t understand why my symptoms were going on for so long. It was very frustrating. And it was just such a vulnerable time as well. I view myself as someone that can put up walls, and I don’t always deal with my emotions and things like that. But with the concussion, I couldn’t keep anything in. If I felt an emotion, or if I needed to cry, like I would cry right then and there. So it was crazy.

So anyway, these symptoms that I had went on for six to seven months. And during that time, I was seeing the physical therapist, and he gave me exercises to do, which, again, at the time seemed so strange, considering the fact that my previous concussion, I didn’t need to do any therapy. So, I was just very confused about the whole process. And I couldn’t really read at the time, because my vision was off. And so I couldn’t really research anything. So I remember my sister, at one point was reading me out loud books, to help me, you know, with my recovery.

But other than that, you know, my family was not very supportive because they were used to me being the person that could do it all. I mean, in college, I would be able to go out and play soccer and get through my classes and not have a good night’s sleep. And, you know, at that point in my life, I couldn’t do anything. I was struggling to sleep well, I mean, I could barely, I couldn’t even go on my phone, like, it was just such a traumatic time. But I will say going through that has really, like inspired me to help others going through that same situation.

So, that’s why I decided to go to physical therapy school, and be able to help patients, you know, going through similar struggles.

But going back to, you know, that seven, seven month period of time where I just felt so lost. It was in my senior year at Florida Gulf Coast, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my career at that point. It wasn’t until later on that I decided that I wanted to do PT and work with concussion patients. But yeah, I just, I really, really struggled. I struggled, also the most socially, because again, it was like my family didn’t understand. They didn’t know why I was always in bed and like, couldn’t talk with them for a long time because I would just, you know, get very dizzy, and I’d get very frustrated and very emotional.

You know, my friends didn’t understand. Because at the time I was living at school, and they would all constantly ask me, “Why can’t you go out with us? Why can’t you, you know, do anything?” And it was just so hard for me because of course, they’re sharing their concussion experiences of “Oh, yeah, you know, I only had my concussion for a few days. And I was fine. Like, I don’t know you what you’re doing.” And it was just very, again, very frustrating to not have people understand because it’s just such a invisible illness.

But yeah, in the beginning, with my exercises, they’re meant to induce symptoms. So, I was very just frustrated with the exercises as well, because again, it was just hard for me to understand at that point in my life because I had such bad brain fog. And I think that my processing cognitively was not there as much. So it was just really hard for me. So in the beginning, I didn’t really do my exercises as much as I should have, because it just made me so nauseous. But then, you know, I kind of had a moment where I was like, “You know what, I am going to stop getting down on myself. I’m going to stop being negative and I’m going to get through this the best that I can. I’m going to do everything possible for myself. I’m going to be an advocate for myself in every way.”

So this is again is where I started getting really involved with everything concussion. Once I was able to read and go on the computer again, I did, you know, floatation therapy. I changed my whole diet. I did meditations. I did yoga. I did you know, the exercises that they recommended. I did sunlight viewing. I mean, I did every possible concussion treatment you can think of, and I finally started turning the corner. And that was a huge breakthrough for me.

I’m also someone that’s always on the go, and I always want to try and work and do things for myself. But um, it was a journey, even past those seven months, where I had active symptoms. Beyond that, I have struggled, you know, going out, and I struggled drinking again and reintegrating into society, because it was just a lot for me. But I will say, over these past few years since 2019, I’m just a completely different person. And I really like the person I’ve become since this experience. I feel like I was more reckless before. And now I just take so much more care of my health and my sleeping, and my nutrition and just, you know, everything like that. So it’s ended up, you know, giving me career as well and just changing my whole lifestyle and perspective on life.

So, in the end, I am grateful for that experience, because I would have never been able to relate to patients how I can now. And for anyone who’s listening, I would say that you can and will get through this. You can improve every day you can advocate for yourself and for your health, and you can get better.

Anyway, thank you for listening.