My story won't exactly cheer you up, but I had a seizure and fell off of a stairmaster over 5 years ago, hitting my head on the metal base of another exercise machine and knocking myself out about a half hour. It hurt well over a month, though the scans were clean.
I've had a headache nearly every day since, ranging from manageable periods to downright terrible ones. I've learned there's not much doctors know or can do about chronic headaches. In addition, many days I still wake up feeling as if I slammed the injury site into a brick, though that "shakes off" a minute or so after I get out of bed.
The timing would naturally suggest my headaches and fall are linked, but my father also had headaches that went on for years (I would diagnose his as something called New Daily Persistent Headache, though his doctors eventually just chalked his up as part of his Alzheimer's once he was diagnosed with that). My fall may have therefore just accelerated --or even be totally unrelated to-- some headache curse that was already programmed in my genes.
Closed head injuries are still not taken as seriously as open ones, though as far as I know they can be even more dangerous and also deceptive. I've read you need to be aware that it can cause new problems as far as five years out, so if you have something funny pop up (even something as simple as weird smells), ask your brother about it or seek medical attention if it frightens you. But please don't drive yourself crazy in the meantime; trust me, there are always weird smells out there, etc. It's a weird world and if you are on the lookout for weird, you'll find it even without a brain problem.
A while ago, Natasha Richardson died after a CHI and I hope ER's treat people differently now with that information. The staff couldn't have been less excited about me, I know that.
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Sarah
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