Confessions of a Concussed Cyclist: it’s not only a rattled brain

August 5, 2020

I’ve put off writing this Confession, mostly because I was not sure if it was over sharing.  Was this particular Confession too much?  Are some things better left private?  But the more I thought about it, the more I reminded myself that I write these to 1. help me process what is happening and 2. to inform.  So that is what I’m doing here…

When I was hit on August 19, 2014 multiple things happened instantly.  My brain was damaged in multiple areas, my left shoulder and left hip were dislocated, my pituitary gland was damaged, and my adrenal glands shut down from the trauma.  When my adrenal glands shut down, my body stopped producing cortisol.  Because of my adrenal glands shutting down that day, I also entered pre-menopause.  At the ripe old age of 32 I was now entering a phase of my life that shouldn’t begin for another two decades. 

When symptoms first started within two months of getting hit, my doctors were flabbergasted.  They kept saying “she’s too young!  There is no way she’s entering menopause at her age!”  There was a lot of confusion about what was happening and a lot of denial on everyone’s part as well. 

Here’s the irony in this.  Because of my TBI I will no longer have children.  Damaged brains and kids just do not mix.  Because I was hit by a car, that caused my TBI, my body went into early menopause and I actually can no longer have kids.  Go figure. 

So what are the issues with entering menopause twenty years before your body is ready for it?  The minor annoyances are muscle weakness, fatigue, depression, issues with sleep.  The major issues are problems with bone density and your heart.  Female bodies are not meant to go into menopause so early so it’s traumatic for them.  The kicker for me is that I cannot use estrogen replacement therapies because they will exacerbate my TBI symptoms.  So,  for now, we monitor everything.  My heart was recently checked thanks to my battle with Coronavirus and I recently had a bone density scan (where yet again I heard “you’re too young for this?  Why are you here?”  When I told the technician I’d been hit by a car, while on my bike, and the trauma forced my body into early menopause, her jaw dropped, she shed a tear and apologized that this was my walk in life).  My heart and bone density scans will continue to be monitored indefinitely and I will keep my fingers crossed that for once I get a break in life and neither become an issue for me.

It’s not only a rattled brain.