Learning Self-Advocacy with Alison Rheaume
Show Notes:
Finding strength for your physical recovery post-concussion is no easy feat, but how do you find even more strength to speak up and advocate for yourself and your symptoms? Alison Rheaume has suffered more than one severe concussion in her life, catalyzing her passion for increasing awareness, education, and collaborative support for those with brain injuries. Ali speaks about how education, following her intuition, and hunting the root causes of her problems was pivotal to her recovery. Ali has experienced all sides of the medical system: medical gaslighting, medication-related side effects, and doctors who positively changed the trajectory of her recovery. She discusses the importance of early intervention and therapy, understanding how everything in your body is interconnected, and accepting your recovery and journey for what it is. After all the hard lessons Ali has learned, she leaves us with her two main encouragements: have fun and have gratitude.
Key Points From This Episode:
Some of the injuries Ali has experienced in her life.
Why Ali’s last concussion had the most successful recovery.
Where Ali learned information on concussions.
Why staying in a dark room is not the only answer for healing from a concussion.
Ali’s post-concussion symptoms.
Ali’s positive and negative experiences with the medical system.
The importance of concussion awareness.
How different medical professionals can impact your recovery journey.
Bella and Ali’s experience with medication and its side effects.
The importance of taking notes on your experience when taking medication.
What Ali felt helped her recovery most.
How Ali is currently managing physically and emotionally.
Ali’s two pieces of encouragement.
Get in touch with Ali!
IG: @alison.rheaume
Fbk: Ali Rheaume
TikTok: @ali_rheaume
Website: https://alirheaume.com
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[INTRO]
[00:00:05] BP: Hi everyone, I'm your host Bella Paige, and after suffering from post-concussion syndrome for years, it was time to do something about it. So, welcome to the Post Concussion Podcast where we dig deep into life when it doesn't go back to normal. Be sure to share the podcast and join our support network, Concussion Connect. Let's make this invisible injury become visible.
[DISCLAIMER]
The Post Concussion Podcast is strictly an informative podcast about concussions and post-concussion syndrome. It does not provide, nor substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice, or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on this podcast. The opinions expressed in this podcast are simply intended to spark discussion about concussions and post-concussion syndrome.
[EPISODE]
[00:01:19] BP: Welcome to Episode 84 of the Post Concussion Podcast with myself, Bella Paige, and today's guest, Alison Rheaume.
Ali is an encouraging light in the journey of overcoming brain injury. She’s a support group facilitator for the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts, and for Life After Concussion, a group she founded. Ali also served on the brain injury Council of Massachusetts and is an award-winning artist. She uses social media to help multiply hope, provide new perspectives, and apply her gift of teaching to educate and advocate. She is passionate about people and bringing the community together as a collaborative effort to support, advocate and increase awareness of brain injury. Welcome to the show, Ali.
[00:02:04] AR: Hi, thank you for having me.
[00:02:06] BP: So, to start, do you want to tell everyone a little bit about some of the injuries you've experienced?
[00:02:12] AR: Sure. So, I have sustained multiple concussions. I was a collegiate athlete. So naturally, I sustained at least one there. But the two concussions that really knocked me off my feet were in 2016. In February of 2016, I was accidentally struck in the face by a steel commercial door and had a lot of concussion symptoms from that one, and was out of work and everything. But I did start to slowly rehab back from that concussion. But unfortunately, at the end of 2016, I sustained an additional concussion, plus a medication reaction that ended me up in the hospital at a 10% functioning level. And then fast forward to about 2020, I sustained another concussion, which I love to share about because I realize all the education that I've learned up until this point, actually led to a much more successful recovery of that concussion than any of the previous ones I ever had.
[00:03:13] BP: And what type of education was that?
[00:03:15] AR: Well thankfully, social media is out there these days. A lot of great people like Molly Parker posting things or tearing from the well brain, being part of concussion compass at the time. There's a lot more research and education that's out there now than there was when I sustained the other significant concussions back in 2016.
[00:03:37] BP: Oh yeah, it is crazy how much it's changed in the last like 10 years. And then if you go back like five years, it is still a huge difference. My number one recommendation for me was go lay in a dark room and rest, rest, rest, rest. There was no like therapies recommended, anything like that. It was, here's a medication, and go rest at home and that was all I ever got told to do for probably a year or two, on and off, with different medical professionals.
[00:04:09] AR: Yeah, that's what happened to me, that one that I sustained February of 2016. I was told the same thing. Go rest in a dark room, don't do anything. My doctor said don't go to busy places, don't be around a lot of light and whatnot, and we know a lot differently now which I'm really grateful for. Yes, we should rest for 48 hours, but then have a gradual guided return to life, and not just be in a dark room.
[00:04:32] BP: Yeah, because getting out of that dark room is really difficult once your body adjusts to it. Well, it's also injured so it can be really difficult. I always say like rest when you need it, but don't live in that room. So, always good to take a break, but therapy is so important and I actually love how early now they recommend it. Just go see a professional right away which is slowly getting out there to a lot of people who haven't suffered from concussions, but it has a long way to go. So, you've had a lot of head injuries and quite the experience, so what are some of the symptoms that you had to deal with?
[00:05:10] AR: Sure. I remember the one I sustained in college, I probably took about a week off of classes. And the one thing I remember is having a really hard time in my classes because the professors used projectors onto the screen for slideshows and stuff, and the light was so bright, I could not look at the content. So, that's the one thing I remember from that one. But then back in 2016, the concussion I sustained in February, I don't remember a lot from that day. But what I remember is that I woke up the next day a completely different person. I had blurry vision, dizziness, really severe pain in my head, neck pain. I couldn't even hold my own head up. I had to like lean my head up against the wall or against a chair. I had balance issues. I had slow and stuttered speech, delayed processing, delayed reaction times, and I was a brick wall of emotions. There was no happy, no sad, nothing in between. I felt like I was living like a brick wall. And then, at the end of 2016, when I had ended up in the hospital, I was unable to walk, talk, chew, anything, and I had to rehab everything back to functioning again.
[00:06:31] BP: Wow, I luckily never had to do any crazy rehab or anything like that related to my brain. I used to fall over if I like stood up on one foot. But that was pretty much as extensive as it got. But the brick wall, that's an interesting way that you describe it. I used to always tell people that I felt numb. It might have been a different experience, but I didn't kind of feel like anything. I didn't get, like people would say things and I wouldn’t really get excited about anything. I didn't really feel sad either. I just kind of felt like there was no emotion to how I felt.
So, I used to call it feeling numb. But a brick wall is also a good look on it. I like naming my feelings or things like that, because I find it kind of helps either me explain it to other people or just understand it myself, because if I can kind of name it, then it makes it a little easier, because mysteries in this are one of the hardest things to deal with, because we're always like, “Why? Why? Why?” And trying to find those answers to why is very difficult, other than you hit your head, which doesn't seem like enough of an answer for some reason. So, you had to do all of that therapy. So, what was your experience with the medical system? How did that all go?
[00:07:50] AR: It was great and it was terrible and everything in between. It was the roller coaster ride that unfortunately, many people do experience where I can say on one hand, I had some individuals that have been absolutely phenomenal, and I'm super grateful for and then I've been on the other side where I've experienced gaslighting, and being told it's all in my head. And for example, when they couldn't really figure out why, at the end of 2016, I was at such a low functioning level, they were like, “This can't just be a concussion.” And I say just in air quotes because we all know that phrase needs to be erased. And they weren't considering the medication reaction, the fact that there were other medical diagnoses going on.
Instead, they told me it's all in your head, they were making it into a psych case instead, and I believe that the brain and body and everything works together, so there's not separation. However, when a doctor just looks at you and says like, there can't be any reason for what's going on, like it is just all in your head. I was so upset, because one I wasn't functioning like myself. And two, I didn't feel like myself when people around me were making me into something I wasn't. So, that was on the side of the really frustrating experience and not being guided in the right direction or being connected with the right professionals. And on the other hand, again, some absolute blessings have walked into my life for providers within the medical system. And not only that, but those people helped me gain my confidence back. That what I was saying was true. What I was experiencing was valid, that my voice mattered, which was really important to me. And that fueled my passion to say, “Hey, you know what if I end up in a really crappy be medical situation again, and I'm not being treated well, like, I'm going to speak up about it.” In the past, I literally couldn't use my voice to do that. But now I can and I've learned that the only way the medical system will change, is if we speak up.
[00:10:15] BP: For sure. I used to just sit there. They would say things and I go, “Oh. Okay.” It's really hard to speak up. I just kind of like go blank and then like, I was younger, a lot of the time, so my mum would be with me, and she would start talking for me because I would stop talking completely. And that all in your head comment is really difficult. I got told that a few times. I got asked if I was making up my headaches to skip school in high school, and I just bawled because I spiraled to, “Am I making this up? Are they really that bad? Am I really struggling as much as I say, I'm struggling? Or is it exasperated because I'm freaking out about it?“ Which is part of it. I do believe that the mental and the physical, just like you said, are very connected. I know that when my mental health thinks, my physical health tends to go with it in a way. It was very hard to get told it was in my head, because then you just question yourself, and you're like, “No, like I am in this much pain.” And trying to describe my pain levels was always interesting.
There was one time I got in an accident and got a concussion, and I wasn't bawling, and I wasn't screaming, and I was laying on a stretcher now in the hospital. And the doctor asked me what my pain level was. And I said, “11 out of 10.” And they're like, “But you're not like freaking out.” I was like, “Yeah, but I live at a 10 out of 10.” So, I lived with severe headaches, I couldn't open my eyes. I was on insane different types of medications to help calm them down and I was in that much pain, but I wasn't screaming and crying because it was just – I just get really quiet. And so that was really tough and I had the same thing with medical professionals, some were amazing. And a lot of the time, some of the people that were really helpful, I wouldn't have even [inaudible 00:12:07]. My massage therapist has helped me in so many ways and I met him way before my concussions. Or I had a school guidance counselor who like saved me in high school because they believed everything I was going through and helped me be able to graduate and all those types of things.
So, sometimes it's the people you're not looking for, and it's kind of great to have them because they're like, “No, I believe you.” And you're like, “Oh, thank you. Thank you.” It's just getting someone to believe you when you are struggling, because like a lot of your symptoms were visible, like when you're really struggling in that way. But a lot of them aren't as well. So, trying to argue with people that you're struggling, it's like exhausting.
[00:12:55] AR: It is. And Bella, I feel like everything you're touching on is so important for concussion awareness overall, too, because think about how many people end up either at the ER or maybe at their primary care physician's office, either the day of the concussion or maybe within that first week, and how you and I just talked about having felt like minimal emotions, or no emotions, or having such slow processing. We struggled with what to say or what we even needed, or how were we even feeling and that's the reality for a lot of people who sustained concussions. And many people even go undiagnosed because say they do get in a car accident and they get sent to the hospital just to check them out. But they're not evaluated for a concussion, because they're laying there, unable to either express how they're feeling or even recognize that they're not feeling well. I know that has happened to me.
So then as you keep going, and then you start to try to speak up, it is really important to find people who are validating and who do listen to you, and you talked about having a couple people from prior to concussion who really helped carry you through after. I actually got rid of my entire medical team from either before concussion, or whoever was treating me like fairly close after I switched everything. So, my whole care team that I have now are all new people that I've met within the past couple of years.
[00:14:33] BP: If it works, it works. That's what I always tell people, and always just keep looking. I've met many medical professionals where I never went back for a second appointment and I've met many that I worked with like my neurologist, I worked with for 10 years. She actually just retired. So, I worked with her all the way until she retired. That was like very interesting because it was quite the roller coaster. So, she dealt with me. When I was in high school. She's the one who told me to drop out of high school, dropped out of university, three times. She was like, “You need to stop.” Or what did she say to me. the last appointment we ever had, because she was retiring that month was, “You've always been really intense”, because I was like, telling her how, I kind of pushed myself too far. And she's like, “You're an intense person. You always have way more on the go than someone else. But you have to remind yourself that you are an intense person who's ill.”
So, being that intense person is wonderful, but you have to remember that it's going to catch up with you. Just like it's always going to catch up with you. Because it's just part of who you are. I'm always a push the limits type person. She just said, get to the point where when you push yourself too far, you don't beat yourself up about it, and you just kind of, you don’t let yourself rest. Make some changes, and then carry on again, and I've gotten really good at that. And it's helped me mentally so much, because when I do have downward spirals, now, I can go, “Okay, well, you know what, then this whole week is cancelled. We are taking a week. We are taking a month off. Maybe we start vision therapy again and that is okay.” And then our life, it doesn't stop, but it changes for a bit, and then we carry on. But I was not like, “You asked me to do this”, I would have slammed the door in her face.
[00:16:22] AR: Yeah, right?
[00:16:26] BP: It takes a long time to get to a very different accepted mental state. Like, this is how my life is and it's not a bad life. It's just how it is. And that's okay. But something we talked about a little bit before the show and something I've talked about on here before is medications, and how I used to get all the scary side effects on medications. So, if it had all the effects on the bottle, mine would be the one at the bottom of the paper that you got.
[00:16:55] AR: Me too.
[00:16:57] BP: I remember like the neurologists, I was just talking about just like how, she was like you are getting the side effects –she just retired in her 60s. She had been a neurologist for years by the time I met her. She's like, “I've never had someone have this.” And I'm like, “Sorry?”
[00:17:14] AR: I’m an overachiever.
[00:17:16] BP: Yeah. It’s like, “I'm so sorry.” And it's always funny, because that one medication I went on, there was one I went on, and what happened was I got night terrors, and I was with my partner at the time, and he's like, “You can't take this.” And I was like, “Why?” And he's like, “Because you're screaming in your sleep, even when you go for a nap on the couch, you're sweating and crying and you're not always waking up to it.” And I was like, “Oh.” He's like, “No wonder you're so tired.” I was like, “Oh, that makes sense.” So, I stopped that one. And then I started another one, which he was on because he had had a few head injuries, and he was doing fine on it. We were on the exact same medication, had a very similar diet, we ate in the same house most of the time and same lifestyle, and then all of a sudden, I couldn't eat. In three months, I lost over 20 pounds, and then I went and saw that neurologist again. I was like, “I can't eat.” And she's like, “I noticed because you're like” – I was like, there was nothing to me at that point, and then I had to spend two years with a dietitian and nutritionist learning how to eat to get to full size meals again, because everything would just come – I just throw it all up or the pain would be very extensive just from eating because your body's so used to not having it.
So, very interesting experience from one medication that I only took for three months. But things happen from medications. I'm very pro med, like these things can help you always try, but just pay attention to symptoms. Don't do it for three months like I did. I should have said something. Way before then I just was young and didn't even think about it. I just thought, I don't have an appetite, but my headaches are getting better. So, I thought it was worth it until I realized how much it was affecting my ability to eat. But I know you've had some medication side effects. So, how did that go for you?
[00:19:11] AR: Yes, the medication side effects have been a huge part of my journey, because I actually say that had I not experienced a medication reaction at the end of 2016 in conjunction with recovering from concussion, I really don't think I would have been in the hospital at a 10% functioning level and needing to relearn how to walk and talk and chew and everything. Because I did have a lot of experiences similar to you as well, Bella, where there was one medication that I lost like 30 pounds. People were blaming me for having an eating disorder because it didn't make sense.
But post concussion I had been vomiting or having a lot of nausea. I'd be forgetting to eat, so I'd have to set alarms on my phone anyway, but I didn't lose weight from those things. I was doing okay, but then I was put on medication, and over a course of a few months, I lost 30 pounds. And so just like you Bella, I can relate with that situation. But then, at the end of 2016, with the really severe reaction that I had, I laughed when you said, like, “Oh, I'm the one that would get the reactions that are like, maybe not even on the list, because that happens to me all the time, too.” And side note, I'll get to the reaction in a minute, I'll leave it as a cliff-hanger.
But I have to say, like, in terms of advocacy, and encouraging those listening, if you start to experience side effects from medication, take notes, take copious notes about when you're taking the medication, when you start it, what time of day. If you have any other diet, or exercise or lifestyle changes around it, you can be an overachiever for note taking, if you want, but take notes. And if you start to feel something's off, please express it, because it could be literally life changing, if it's ignored. I don't say that either to scare anyone, it's simply awareness and empowerment, that the ball is in your court there. You do have the ability to speak up if something's not feeling right. And if a physician is not listening to you, speak up again. And again, and again. If they're still not listening to you, go find a new one. Your intuition is always greater than, honestly, anything else out there. If you're feeling like something is off, follow that.
I mean, here's why I say this, why I'm so passionate about it. The really severe reaction that I had, it started simple, but then it got bad. It started simple with I had been put on multiple medications, including an SSRI, because I said, “Hey, I'm feeling really tired and I want energy again. I want to do things, I have a desire to do things, but I don't have the energy to match it. So, my doctor was like, “Oh, here's an SSRI for you.” And my neuropsych, was like, “I don't agree with that. But if you're already taking it, I mean, we'll see what happens.” So, I was put on that in addition to one or two other medications. I ended up having really rare reactions to that slew of things that all happen. So, the SSRI led to something called serotonin syndrome, where I was having really severe muscle contractions in my body, like my arm would twitch all the sudden, or a leg would just twitch out of nowhere. And at first, it was more subtle. It was just like a little movement. But I recognized it, and I reported it to the doctor. And then over time, it was getting worse and worse and worse, more often more severe, more body parts.
And then, the reason I say it's important to know that there was a slew of medications going on is because there's this other condition called tardive dyskinesia, that often occurs from anti nausea medications, but also more so occurs when they're taken in conjunction with particular other medications. And now, I'm trying to stay a little bit vague here because I'm not a researcher. I'm no physician. Please speak to your physicians, if anything that I'm saying relates to you. But I'm not like the research paper you need to read. Okay?
But when this tardive dyskinesia, started to happen, what occurred for me was, I would start to have this grimace, I would smile so hard. I call it a grimace, because I wasn't just casually cute smiling. It was like this really hard setting like, “Wooh” of a smile. And it will happen completely randomly. I had no control over it, and I reported that to my doctor, still no change there. And then I would start to have tics with my mouth. So, “Tic, tic, tick”, things like that. I was just starting to lose the ability to control my own mouth movements, and I had no idea there was a thing called tardive dyskinesia, but that's what was happening to me. And I reported it to my doctor. And he said, “No, there's no way these medications are causing these reactions for you. In fact, you could probably use more of it. So, let's increase it.” If you all could see Bella's face that she just made when I said that, it was epic. Right? It does. It boggles your mind hearing this now, but like, at the time, again, I had sustained brain injury. My advocacy skills were not there. I had felt like I was being gaslit. I didn't know how to speak up and advocate. I was just like, “Okay.”
[00:24:55] BP: And we are taught to trust medical professionals like it's totally fair. You are taught to trust them and I like that you mentioned that connected medications because they do bounce off each other, and you do always, like if you are with more than one specialist, and they are prescribing you different things, make sure they know what you're on and that's everything you take from vitamins to medications, to something you've heard of that you wanted to try that they don't know about. You should tell them because they need to know.
I remember, I had blurry vision at night for a while. So, I went to my eye doctor, and she's like, “Well, what are you taking?” Because she's like, “You have all your head injuries. Have you been taking anything else?” I was like, “Oh, I'm on this.” And she's like, “Well, if you're taking it a lot, that could definitely be adding to your vision.” My sight, at night, everything would go like super blurry and it was just happening really extensively compared to normal. By dinner, I couldn't see. And she's like, “Medication.” And I was like, “I should have thought about this.” But I was like, “Maybe there's something wrong with my eyes. So, I got this checked out.” But it is important to see how things are linking because your whole body is connected. So, just because you take them at different times of the day, it doesn't mean they're not intermixing.
[00:26:14] AR: It's true. I also really encourage people if you do start a new medication, not only take notes, but tell one or two of your closest friends, or family members that you're starting it. Like, people you talk to all the time, because I can't tell you how many times I would have started medication, and one of my friends are who pointed out to me, similar to what you were just saying, Bella. I was like, “Oh, I didn't even think about that.” But in this type of situation that I ended up in, when I honestly, I was like trying to follow my intuition, but feeling kind of squashed. So, it was a big lesson for me. But I kept going with the medication and it just got more and more severe and I ended up having non-epileptic seizures. And that's when I ended up in the hospital at a 10% functioning level, and those symptoms didn't get better until I came off the medication.
I don't really speak about it a ton because it also takes a lot of education to speak about what is tardive dyskinesia? What is serotonin syndrome? And I will say they're rare. They are very rare. However, I like to share about it because if you take a medication, and you start to experience, things that you hadn't experienced before, it is important to speak up. So, I'm glad we got to touch on that today.
[00:27:29] BP: Yeah, it's great. And thank you so much for talking about, telling someone, because it actually happened unrelated to head injuries, but my best friend's dad went on migraine meds and didn't really mention it to anyone, and he was getting really angry all the time, and he wasn't like himself. Two weeks later, they're like, “Okay, what is up? Why are you acting like this? You're not really yourself. You're making unusual comments.” And it was actually – he's like, “I started a new medication. And they're like, “Oh, oh, okay.” But like they noticed it before he did. So super important. But we've talked about so much so far, but we are going to take a quick break before we talk about where Ali is now.
[BREAK]
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[INTERVIEW CONTINUED]
[00:29:49] BP: Welcome back to the Post Concussion Podcast with myself Bella Paige, and today's guest, Alison Rheaume. So, we've talked about a lot so far from how Ali got injured, to symptoms, to medical system, to medications and so much, but I just wanted to ask through all of this, what do you think helped you the most?
[00:30:12] AR: What helped me the most was, oh boy, so many things. Where do I even start? Well, because there's a different, there's emotional, social, all the things. From a medical standpoint, I'm going to say that working with a functional medicine practitioner was one of the best decisions I ever made in my entire life. It totally changed for the better, the trajectory of recovery for me, because I'm a huge advocate of trying to get to the root cause rather than just covering up things, but you do also still need to survive day to day, when possible. And then medically, also seeing a concussion specialized physical therapist and speech language pathologist, huge, huge help, as well as a chiropractor. Those are like my top three.
And then just in general, in life, more of that socioemotional support, what has helped me. One has been my faith. If it weren't for that, I would not be where I am today. And then not really digging deep to get vulnerable with one or two friends, making new friends, connecting, finding these communities, either on social media or in person, to share your stories together, and to connect over the things that you're going through and get advice from each other. And then as well as my family, they've been a huge support for me. So, I'm very thankful.
[00:31:38] BP: That's wonderful. My family is like, I don't know how I would have made it without them, despite how I treated them through some of this. But yeah, I had a lot of anger. But they are still here, because they are wonderful and so how are you doing now? I know you've come a very long way from that hospital visit a few years ago.
[00:32:04] AR: So, I am in a place now where my motto is wake up and show up. Like literally every day, I am grateful to be alive and awake and tell myself do your best, do your best with every single day, and that's what leads me to honestly a whole bunch of random things. When people ask me like, “What do you do now? Who are you now?” I'm like, “I don't even know how to define it. I just do a bunch of random things and sometimes they're cool and sometimes I never do them again.” For example, I never thought I'd be an artist. But now I do acrylic painting and watercolours and I embroider and I take art commissions now and I make apparel and sell it and all this cool art creative stuff. And then I'm really passionate about supporting others who have sustained brain injury, or other medical conditions as well, because I understand that life.
So, I started a support group called Life After Concussion that we meet once a month, and I also helped facilitate a support group for the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts. And I'm on the Brain Injury Council of Massachusetts. So, I tried to use my teaching background, and I love encouraging people to do all of that.
[00:33:27] BP: I think it's wonderful. And I love everything that you do, especially your social media. Your social media is like, it has to be like the best one.
[00:33:34] AR: Oh, my God, thank you.
[00:33:36] BP: Your reels kill me, all the time. These are wonderful.
[00:33:40] AR: You got to have fun. You got to have fun in life.
[00:33:42] BP: They're great. I know and they're just so encouraging. I’ll make sure I will have links to everything, so that everyone can check it out in the episode description. But we've talked about so much and I just want to ask, is there anything else you would like to add before we end today's episode?
[00:34:01] AR: Oh, sure. I will pick two pieces of encouragement. One would be to daily have gratitude for the things that you can do and the people who are supporting you, rather than living in the hole of what you're not able to do and who is not supporting you. It's real and you have valid emotions about all of it and that's okay and express it. But as much as you can, try to switch perspective and that gratitude to what you can do. And then the other thing, I would say, is have fun, whether you're in the middle of doing rehab or you are trying to pursue a new career post concussion, or you're like, “I'm just trying to survive out. I don't know what you're talking about.” Either way, have fun. If you have to do vision exercises, laugh at yourself putting on some coloured onesies and what you look like. If you need to do some PT, and you're doing a balance exercise, relate it to a goal that you have, “Oh, I want to do this because I want to be able to walk on the grass again.” Or, “I want to be able to go play with” – I have nieces and nephews. “I want to go out to play with them again.” Make it functional, make it fun. So that way, it's a little bit more joyful every day.
[00:35:30] BP: Mm-hmm. I love that because it's actually something – I used to coach students to ride horses and I used to never say good luck. I used to always tell them to have fun before they entered the ring. Because that's the whole point. Why are you stressing yourself out if you're not enjoying it? So, same thing, and that is a great outlook to kind of add a spin to your therapies because some of them are very tiring and exhausting, so you can have fun with it, go ahead. Or something I always recommend is to find new hobbies, to give yourself something that you can do, depending on where you're at in your recovery. Sometimes a great hobby is finding hobbies and testing different things out, like that can totally be a hobby. It's just every month you're trying something totally different. But that's totally okay that you didn't stick to one thing, just as long as you're enjoying yourself. So, I just want to thank you so much for coming on and sharing some of your story and some of what you went through today.
[00:36:29] AR: Thank you for having me.
[END OF EPISODE]
[00:36:34] BP: Need more than just this podcast? Be sure to check out our website, postconcussioninc.com, to see how we can help you in your post concussion life, from a support network to one on one coaching, I believe life can get better because I've lived through it. Make sure you take it one day at a time.
[END]
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