Combating Isolation in Concussion Recovery with Eliana Bloomfield
Show Notes:
What happens when a concussion takes away more than just your physical comfort, but also severs ties with your community? You'll find out in our enlightening conversation with Eliana Bloomfield, the founder of Concussion Box. Eliana brings firsthand insights into this misunderstood area.
As we peel back the layers of concussion complexities, we delve into the often unseen isolation that accompanies this condition. Conversations, shared experiences, and the simple pleasure of being in company are often stripped away, leaving an overwhelming sense of solitude.
The last leg of our journey takes us through Eliana's inspiring story of creating Concussion Box. You'll hear about their unique offerings, including audio stories from fellow survivors and a concussion care package. Eliana also shares the empowering process of sharing your concussion story and how it can be a path to healing for both the storyteller and the listener. So, join us for a conversation that not only educates but also connects those on a post-concussion journey.
Listen to audio stories: concussionbox.org/stories/
Submit a story: go to concussionbox.org/submit-story/ or email info@concussionbox.org
Follow Concussion Box on social media: https://www.instagram.com/concussionbox/
Order a care package: https://concussionbox.org/the-box/
Join Concussion Connect Today!
We understand the need for a safe place to go separate from your regular social world, less overwhelming and more personal. Join Concussion Connect to have a place to share and get support along your survivor journey!
Though a place for survivors, we also welcome all loved ones and professionals who are out to learn more about this invisible injury.
Follow Post Concussion Inc on Social Media to stay up to date on the podcast
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Bella
Host
00:03
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.
00:29
The post concussion podcast is strictly an information 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. Do you feel constantly overwhelmed by your concussion symptoms and life changes? This is where Wombat. Wombat can help you A new breathwork and somatic therapy app powered by neuroscience. Let's slow down those racing thoughts and give ourselves the ability to breathe. Wombat is designed with an understanding of the impact of trauma on individuals, ensuring a safe and supportive environment for users dealing with stress, anxiety or post traumatic experiences. Go to their website today at hellowombatcom.
01:39
Welcome to episode number 108 of the post concussion podcast with myself, bill Page and today's guest, Eliana Bloomfield. Eliana is the founder of Concussion Box, a concussion support nonprofit dedicated to fighting isolation. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and studied neuroscience at Wesleyan University. Eliana is an EMT, a baker, lover of the outdoors and an enthusiastic language learner. Eliana sustained a concussion in 2014. Now, with many years of distance and seeing several friends suffer from concussions too, eliana has come to see that the very nature of concussions prevents people from finding a sense of community. Concussion Box is working to change that. Welcome to the show, Eliana.
Eliana
Guest
02:23
Thank you. Thank you, I'm so honored to be here. Thank you so much for having me.
Bella
Host
02:28
So, to start, do you want to tell everyone a little bit about your concussion experience?
Eliana
Guest
02:32
Sure, so that you know I've had five concussions, if we're going technicalities, but there's one that I sort of refer to as the big one and that happened about seven years ago. So I'm in college right now and the big one happens when I was a freshman in high school. I was a big soccer player and it was tryouts. My freshman year of high school I'd been working for this. I was super excited, super nervous. First night of tryouts went great. First night of tryouts, on the other hand, not so great. We were warming up and there's the stretch where you lean down, touch your toes, kick your leg back and the girl in front of me and I were too close together and her cleat collided with left temple and I remember it hurt. There's some fuzzy things. I mostly just remember kneeling down and that I really wanted to keep playing.
03:38
I've been working for soccer tryouts I mean this is my whole plan and I kept playing. And a little bit later I just something felt off. That's the best way I can describe it. It wasn't like there was one overflowing symptom. I didn't have a horrible headache, I didn't have extreme nausea, just something was off and I cried and called my dad and he picked me up and the next day I wanted to go back to school and because there was a rule at my school that if you go to a sports event, like soccer tryouts, you have to attend school that day and I really, really wanted to make the team, so I went to school that day.
04:19
There was a point midway through that day when I really knew that something was seriously wrong. When the teacher asked me to read and I looked down at the page and just didn't know what I was seeing and that was really scary and I went to the doctors and they told me I'd be better in a week and that didn't happen and I think that's a pretty common story and I spent the next few weeks out of school, then school part time with accommodations. For a long time I saw a wonderful physical therapist who I now work with I know we'll get into that part more later and she really helped me through a lot of my recovery saw sports medicine, doctors, neurologists, the whole shebang and it took about a year for me to be officially cleared, which I think is I mean, I can get into this more later but I think the whole are you recovered or not that that is not as black and white, as it's often painted, but that is, in the nutshell, my concussion experience.
Bella
Host
05:28
Thank you for sharing. It's definitely tough when people talk about like that. You know, oh, I had a brutal headache after. You know everyone's experience is so different right after the incident of getting a concussion. I know the hard things. That makes it tough, because you're like, oh well, I didn't feel that bad after, but then it took you a year to feel better. So it doesn't always match up. I think a lot of the time we expect okay if you blacked out, it's more serious if you didn't, you're okay, but not the case at all. And you mentioned that one week recovery. That's actually something that's been coming up a lot the media in Concussion Connect about. Did you get the beginning of your recovery of how long this would take? And there's been responses from a week, three weeks, two weeks is really common. Three months, six months a year. There's a lot of truth injuries like you're out or you'll never get better. This is like who you are for life. So well, you're not a lot of consistency, well, and I think so many other injuries.
Eliana
Guest
06:33
You know you can say okay, you'll be in a cast for X amount of time. This is.
Bella
Host
06:38
It gets so different when you're dealing with your brain and like we know how long it takes for bones to heal and things like that, where it's a lot more complicated when it comes to the brain. So I think that's really important that you pointed out that one week to one year and you also mentioned something really important that we haven't talked a ton on here about. It comes up a lot in support groups in that is what is recovered, because I tell a lot of people that I'm recovered, but I also have chronic illnesses now as a result of my PCS. So it's really complicated and we've talked a lot on the community and I think it's really important to understand what is recovery to you because, like that can be such a big thing.
07:19
For me, recovery was getting rid of the headaches. I needed to get rid of them. Getting healthy Mentally was a big part of my recovery. It's not that all the symptoms were gone at that point, but the big ones were, and to me that was like life is better. I feel like I'm not like being held back by my illness 24 seven. So I think that can be a really big difference.
07:40
But recovery for everyone is so different. I've met people who have recovered in their eyes, where they still have some like sensitivity, some noise sensitivity, some headaches, if they do things that are too extreme. And I've met people that are recovered where they have no symptoms, nothing. There is no concussion kind of things in their life anymore, and that's great too. So it is really important to remember that. And you mentioned the recovery thing, and one of the big parts of going through this is isolation, and so for myself, I dealt with this as I isolated a lot, mostly because I stayed in a room a lot, because that was the number one recommendation and things like that. So how is the isolation factor in all of this? For you, it's a great a great question.
Eliana
Guest
08:22
I think that the stay in a dark room piece of advice is really changing, which I am really happy to hear.
08:32
To me the isolating part of a concussion is really intangible, which is very on par for concussions. I think it comes from that. Concussion symptoms as a general and you know of course it differs from person to person as a general cut off all these avenues for connection. Like in a typical daily life, we connect with people by making eye contact, having a conversation, going on a walk, sharing an experience, maybe athletic, maybe playing a game, maybe reading together, thinking together, watching the movie, and if you're listening to this and you've had a concussion, I bet I just named a bunch of things that felt really impossible or hard for you at one point or another. So to me it's the fact that all these avenues for connection are really hindered that brings in the isolation factor, for a statement that really marks how isolating that time was for me was just that I was a 14 year old girl and I had more plans with doctors than I did with my friends.
Bella
Host
09:38
That's not a good thing? Yeah, for sure. That's a really good way to put it, because how much it kind of like cuts off a lot of those things for people. And it's kind of funny they use the word connection, because that's why concussion connect came from, because it was something that was missing for me and that was connecting with other survivors, but also just connecting with people in general.
09:58
Like you're not going out with friends like you used to. Depending on, you know, your age, there's a lot of different factors of where it's cutting out things in your life, and so it's important to really, you know, push through some of that isolation. Try to stay connected with friends, make different types of friends. Maybe, if they are friends that you always went out with to restaurants, maybe ask them if they want to eat inside and order in once in a while. You know, or we've talked about on here going to smaller restaurants, go to local restaurants. Sometimes they're a little less busy. There's only 10 tables, you know things like that. Try to, you know, still be social but also still being cautious of all the symptoms that we've all dealt with. I mean, if I could.
Eliana
Guest
10:37
If I could go back in time, I wish. I wish I would have just asked my friends to be with me where I was at I'm. I feel very lucky to have had really wonderful friends all throughout growing up, and I wish I had just said hey. Where I'm at right now is that I can sit on the couch and listen to an audiobook for an hour. You want to sit with me, and I feel so lucky to know that. I have friends who would have said yes, no question, but I never asked.
Bella
Host
11:06
Mm-hmm, and that's pretty normal. It's a lot to ask. It's a lot to ask for help and it's a lot to you know, kind of admit that you're struggling. In a big part of the isolation, austin comes with something called depression that we all know about and that's. You know, isolation is kind of interesting because depression is interesting.
11:27
Depression you can get depressed for being isolated and then you get depressed and then you want to be isolated more because your depression isolates you even more. It's a horrible circle. It's like now you're isolated because of your concussion symptoms and then you know you sit with your thoughts a lot, you're alone a lot more than you usually would be, and you know you're dealing with a lot and so usually depression does kick in for a lot of people Dealing with the physical, dealing with the mental. You know it's a big combo and then that isolates you, so that isolation just grows. And do you want to talk a little bit about how our mental health really intertwines with that physical health? Because for me it was not the only answer, but I remember telling myself that if my headaches went away, my mental illness would go away. It didn't really work that way, but I did think that for a really long time.
Eliana
Guest
12:16
I mean it's the chicken or the egg. You know it's there's. I think, like you said, it's a vicious cycle and I think, especially when it comes to two concussions, it's your brain. It's your brain sustaining physical injury and your brain sustaining mental injury. When it's your brain that's sustaining the physical injury, there's no way for it to not be mental too. And I think, just to make concussions more complicated, if they weren't already complicated enough, is that all the stigma that goes along with mental health. Just slap that onto the concussion experience too, and I think that that adds another layer of struggle for concussion patients. You can't un-intertwine them. I think it's really important that if someone gets a concussion, you take a look at their mental health and physical health in one, and honestly, you could say that for just about any, any issue, whether you're starting at the mental health point or starting at the physical health point, you know holistic medicine, that's that these are. These are buzzwords. I think that concussions should be at the top of that list, where you're taking a holistic look.
Bella
Host
13:34
I really like that. You mentioned kind of the layers of concussion, because it's really what it is. There's so many and when you start to go through this, nobody prepares you and nobody tells you about any of these layers that you're about to walk into. But you do have to kind of figure out how to navigate them all and then also navigate them all with each other, like you said, and so we have talked a little bit so far. We are going to talk about a wonderful mission that Aliana is on with concussion box and things like that, but before that we'll take a quick break.
14:07
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15:16
Welcome back to the Post Concussion Podcast with myself, Bella Paige and today's guest, Eliana Bloomfield. So we've been talking a lot about isolation, the layers of concussion which are. You know, it's a lot. It's a lot of layers. You could probably make a book, and something that Eliana is a part of and has started is really interesting and that's called concussion box. So I'm going to let you start talking about that and we'll go from there. Sure Happy to.
Eliana
Guest
15:44
So concussion box is a nonprofit organization and our mission is to fight the isolation of concussions. It was an idea in my head when I was 14 and sitting on the couch with my eyes closed recovering from a concussion. That's where it began Because, as we've already talked about, I was feeling isolated and thinking there's got to be another way. This can't be it. There's got to be a way that we can make this just even just a little less isolating. And it took me six years to let those middle of the night ideas daydreaming your thoughts start becoming a reality. I think it was New Year's and I said, ok, it's time. I think about this all the time. I'm going to spend $100 and buy a domain. And so, essentially, from their concussion box grew concussion box. At its core is a collection of audio stories the five to 15 minutes line, they're authentic, they're raw of just somebody telling their concussion story. So in something unique about concussion box is that when we say concussion stories, that could mean from a conpatient. That could mean from a medical professional. What's it like to work with concussion patients all day, every day? What if he learns? Does that affect you? Or it could be from their caregiver, perhaps a parent, perhaps a friend, so we really look at it as who a concussion story comes from someone who has been affected by a concussion, and that doesn't just mean the person who sustained a concussion. So that is the core of our organization.
17:42
We also have a concussion care package that's concussion box the name. Our care packages in the works. We're still in testing mode right now. Some of the items that we have in the care package include a handmade eye mask made at intergenerational volunteer events. So this year we had a few events where college students and seniors at the local senior center near where I go to school came together and learned about concussions, and so these eye masks. We've got chocolate because who doesn't need a little chocolate when you're going through a hard time earplugs and a few other useful resources. So those are two of our main foundations.
Bella
Host
18:27
I think it's really great. I loved your like six years because I get that. I spent like years thinking of things. Everything I wanted to do was like too big and I didn't know how to like start small. It's not that you can't start big, but it's really hard. So you have to start with something and then let it grow. So I had to like figure out like what am I even gonna start with? Picking the name is actually that took something. That took me forever. I actually bought domains for a completely different name for all of this.
18:56
I spent like all my savings on like podcast equipment and all these things and I was like this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna help people. I was like that's it. That's all I knew. And I really love the concussion box and its mission and I love how people can submit stories. That's something that anyone can do. Anyone that listens to this show can do. It's really not hard. You can hit record on your phone. You can work with people at concussion box to record your story as well, which I think is a great opportunity, because sometimes it's hard to do. Do you wanna talk a little bit about?
Eliana
Guest
19:27
that. Yeah, I can talk about the storytelling process. I guess, before going into that, I totally hear what you're saying. In the wanting to be ambitious Concussion box definitely taught me a lesson in patience. But now we are a team of seven wonderful people and we have a specific storytelling coach named Sophia. She is wonderful. So the typical process for telling your story is that either you reach out to us or we reach out to you via Instagram or email or word of mouth there's all the ways and Sophia and you can have a call and chat through how. What do you wanna say? What do you wanna share? We've got some lists of guiding questions that you can look through.
20:15
It's something we really believe in is that there is no one right way to tell a story. If you're being authentic, if you're speaking your truth, that's what counts, and we believe that. How do I say this? Something we tell people when they want to tell their story is you don't want any sugar coat right, because a lot of concussion experiences are really hard, and where the hope comes from in these stories is that people are talking in the past.
20:47
Tense People are sharing their stories once they're through the brunt of their recovery. I know we've already talked about how recovery is not so black and white, and then your story is out there and can help so many other people who are currently recovering from a concussion. And we're working on right now creating a search function so that people who are listening to these stories will be able to say hmm okay, I'm struggling with dizziness, I am a woman in my 30s and I've received my concussion playing rugby and I want to find someone who's got a similar story, that you can really easily select all those things and find stories of people who you may be able to relate with.
Bella
Host
21:37
Yeah, hearing from others can be huge. It really helped me. I know it's helped a lot of people. This podcast has helped a lot of people. Just listening other people's stories and, you know, and telling your own story is really helpful.
21:50
I did it for the first time three years ago, now four years ago. Now four years ago. That's actually what kind of sparked my interest in doing all this was I wrote an article in the horse world and it kind of blew up. And after that blew up, I was like, well, now what? But it really helped me to just get it out.
22:07
You know, like even to a ton of people I had no idea who they were, who was going to listen to it.
22:12
It just helped me get, you know, a lot of that out and you know it was emotional to talk about, for sure, but it's definitely something that can help you and help other people and really just hearing other people's stories can be like, you know, it kind of just makes you not feel so crazy. That's a really big part of all this is you kind of feel like you're the only person you know going through all this, and so being able to tell your story is something that we really love to do. If you have any questions, you can always send me a message as well, because I know all about it, as I have submitted the story to the concussion box. So yeah, so that's really awesome, and so I really love everything you're doing. You know the isolation factor. The more people out there trying to help concussion survivors, the better, because there's so many people to reach that I feel like there hasn't even been a dent made, so is there anything else you'd like to add before ending today's episode?
Eliana
Guest
23:07
I think I just want to really stress the point that you started to bring up about how, telling your story, it goes two ways that it's really beneficial to others and that it can really help you. You know, I think the more clear one is that it can help others. Right, you're sharing what you've learned from your experience and I think what sometimes overlooked is how empowering it can be for the storyteller. You mean just knowing that you had this hard experience and that by sharing your story you are helping other people. You can't overlook how empowering and healing that that can be. And I guess I would just love to say that, if you're out there and you're in need of connecting, that there are stories out there, and if you want to share your story so that you can help others connect, we would love love to hear from you.
Bella
Host
24:09
That's awesome and I just want to thank you so much for sharing with us today your post concussion life and your wonderful work with Concussion Box.
Eliana
Guest
24:18
Thank you so much. It's been such a pleasure to be on the show and I'm so grateful for everything that you're doing with the Post Concussion Podcast.
Bella
Host
24:28
Need more than just this podcast. Be sure to check out our website postconcussioninccom 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.
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