Concussions are becoming an increasingly popular topic. The concern mainly being focused around professional athletes and the increasing literature in the dangers of suffering from multiple concussions or back-to-back concussions. This is a topic that strikes me in particular. I have suffered from multiple concussions throughout my life, a couple of which were rather severe.
After suffering from a traumatic blow to the head there is a rush of neurotransmitters into the synapses of neurons. This rush creates a large number of unchecked ionic fluctuations. This series of initial events after an impact result in some small changes in cellular physiology. The brain responds to these fluctuations by trying to restore balance. In the process of balancing, the brain experiences the hypermetabolism of glucose. This hypermetabolism of glucose is one reason why some researchers think a second concussion so early is so dangerous. The brain cannot respond adequately to a second impact, because it is already doing too much. The third stage is a depressed metabolism.
The more we know about concussions the better we can respond to one when it occurs. Unfortunately, the literature is lacking when it comes to the long term effects of suffering multiple concussions, spaced generously apart. However, many athletes have reported experiencing CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalitis, after their playing careers are over. The cognitive impairments involved in CTE are obvious and measurable. It is the subtle cognitive changes after one or a few concussions that plague the average concussion sufferer.
I hate to indulge in self-absorbed story telling in a blog, but I find this particular personal dilemma too common to not be compelling. Don’t we all wonder if something from our past or our gene pool affects us now in a profound way? I often wonder these things, and the concussions I’ve suffered from often make me wonder how different I would be if I hadn’t had them. I will reserve myself to two telling.
My first major concussion occurred when I was around three years old. I fell out of the basket of a grocery cart at my local COSCO store. I landed on my head of course. I don’t remember much of it and the story’s facts rely on my mom, who was there to witness it. To this day she gets the chills going into COSCO. I had lost consciousness that time, and often wonder how this major concussion at the age of three affected my cognitive and personal development. The second major concussion occurred when I was about 6 or 7. Me and a friend at set up a nifty “dive down the stairs onto cushions” game and were having fun. It only takes one bad jump and one misplaced cushion to make the fun go away. This is what happened. I leaped from the top of the stair case, began toppling down the cushioned stairs, and eventually slammed the back of my head at the bottom of the stairs on a cushionless area of the carpeted floor. I didn’t lose consciousness this time, but I distinctly remember seeing stars. Apparently the expression isn’t metaphorical but literal. This is it I guess. It’s interesting to wonder how these have affected us. But inevitably we can’t really know. There are just too many variables, and we really shouldn’t spend too much time worrying about it. We are who we are, regardless of what causes us.
Who are we? Concussions and the like
