PLEASE READ!
Please note that The Post Concussion Podcast has been closed for new episodes as of early 2024. Concussion Connect is also closed.
Thank you to everyone who was so supportive over the years and I hope these episodes continue to help others as they come across them!
I have set on a new venture (with a pen name - Izzy Barry) you can learn more about here
https://izzybarry.substack.com/
--
Ever felt misunderstood or belittled due to an illness? Many struggle with talking about their diagnosis to others. I dive deep into the psychological implications of naming your illness and how doing so can pave the way to a more understanding and supportive environment. This episode is all about embracing your condition, remembering it doesn't make you weak but reveals your true strength.
We've got some fantastic news for you! Our support community, Concussion Connect, has become free and supported by sponsors! We understand that brain injury and concussion survivors may face financial challenges.
Concussion Connect NOW FREE! https://buff.ly/3tcsptX
Want to find out about my future books?
Subscribe to my new email list: https://barry-writes.kit.com/subscribe
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bella Paige (00:03):
Hi everyone.
I'm your host, Bella Paige, andafter suffering from post
concussion syndrome for years,it was time to do something
about it.
So welcome to the PostConcussion Podcast, where we dig
deep into life when it doesn'tgo back to normal.
Be sure to share the podcastand join our support network,
Concussion Connect.
Let's make this invisibleinjury become visible.
(00:25):
The post concussion podcast isstrictly an information podcast
about concussions and postconcussion syndrome.
It does not provide norsubstitute for professional
medical advice, diagnosis ortreatment.
Always seek the advice of yourphysician or another qualified
(00:46):
health provider with anyquestions you may have regarding
a medical condition.
Never disregard professionalmedical advice or delay in
seeking it because of somethingyou have heard on this podcast.
The opinions expressed in thispodcast are simply intended to
spark discussion aboutconcussions and post concussion
syndrome.
(01:06):
Welcome to episode number 118of the Post Concussion Podcast
with myself, Bella Paige, andthat's it today.
This is a really importantepisode, but first I really just
wanted to start out withletting everyone know our very
exciting news.
Now, if you're in our emaillist, you probably have already
seen this, as you got earlyaccess, and if you've been on
(01:28):
social media, you might haveseen as well that Concussion
Connect.
Our support community is nowfree, so we're doing this by
getting sponsors for theplatform to help cover the costs
of running it, and also bybenefiting survivors, because I
understand how much financialstress a lot of survivors face
(01:50):
being unable to pay for medicalexpenses or not being able to
work or having to take a reducedschedule or just a lot of added
stress, and usually financialstress is really missed.
No one talks about that.
After your concussion, you knowthere's a lot more to it than
just the physical and the mentalhealth things.
(02:11):
Financial is a huge burden thatcan definitely affect our lives
.
So I just want to let everyoneknow that Please sign up.
There is three screeningquestions, because we do want to
make sure it's an inclusive,safe environment for everyone.
So just make sure you fillthose three questions out and
then your membership will beapproved, and if you don't
(02:31):
realize it, I will make sure toemail you to let you know that
it's been approved so you cansign in and join in Now.
There's lots of things onConcussion Connect and here's
just a small list.
There's our Help Series, whichis a video help series by me,
basically a small YouTube series.
There's Concussion News, whichis just me sharing news that's
(02:51):
out there in the world for youto see.
There's downloads, which hastons of things from a discount
on our coloring book that wereleased, a few recipes,
headache tracker, symptomtracker, a feel better
immediately pamphlet, and lotsof things like that to help you
out.
There's a whole comic serieswhere each month we have comics
(03:13):
with a little brain.
That kind of adds some joy towhat we're going through.
There's lots of topics, so wetalk about daily living, therapy
and treatments that people areexperiencing athletes, students,
caregivers of course arewelcome to join relationships
and mental health.
Now, of course, there's morethings to talk about, but these
are our big group of topics thatkind of help organize things in
(03:36):
a network and just keep it alittle easier to find things if
you're looking for something.
We also have three coursesavailable on the network and I
just had a meeting yesterdayabout even more courses that are
being added, but they will beup in a few months, so make sure
you don't miss out on those anda lot more that keeps coming up
.
On Concussion Connect, we havesupport groups and even more
(03:58):
support events are being addedsoon, so make sure you check
that out and just go to, and youcan just go to the link in our
episode description or just goto postconcussioninccom, click
Concussion Connect and hit Joinnow and you can join.
Don't forget and I am so, I amjust looking forward to it.
So far, we have had over 80people request to join in just a
(04:21):
few days of when I recordedthis.
So don't forget to join, and Iam so excited for everyone to
enjoy it and I think it'll be agreat, safe place for concussion
survivors and brain injurysurvivors to go when they need
somewhere separate from socialmedia.
And I had a really big problemwith Facebook groups and I think
that's just because sometimesthe regulation in them is really
(04:42):
not controlled.
Another issue is ads, andanother issue I found is that I
get a lot of messages to mepersonally, which is totally
okay, but my everyday life wasattached to that.
So it's kind of nice havingsomething separate and something
more private and, of course,all the large, immense benefits
that Concussion Connect hasbeyond just a group.
(05:04):
But I'm really excited aboutthat.
We are working on our YouTubesetup so people can watch parts
of the podcast instead of justlistening, if that's more of
your realm.
But make sure you sign up todayand I'm very looking forward to
that.
But with that, I'm going to takea very quick break and be back
to our episode for today.
Did you want to createawareness about concussions?
(05:25):
You can check out our entireclothing line through the link
in the episode description or goto our website
postconcussioninccom and clickawareness merch from t-shirts,
sweaters, tank tops and multipledesigns, including the podcast.
Nothing mild about a concussionand more.
Make sure to pause this episoderight now and order yours
(05:47):
before you forget, just like Iwould.
What I really wanted to talkabout today and why we're having
a little mini episode here isactually something that came up
in my family and that's namingyour illness, and I mean like
saying I have post concussionsyndrome or persistent
concussion symptoms, or I have abrain injury or any illness.
(06:10):
I have cancer, I haveParkinson's, I have an
autoimmune disease, I have POTS,and I'm talking about this
because being upfront with ithelps your confidence and it
helps it a lot.
Being able to use those wordscan make a really big difference
.
You know, it really helpsclarify things when you tell
(06:31):
someone I have POTS, becausethen they can take their time to
research it.
If they want, they can go onGoogle.
They can find podcasts, theycan find videos, they can find
articles, they can read researcharticles, they can read up on
it.
But if you just say I'mnauseous a lot of the time or my
(06:52):
health's not the greatest rightnow, or I'm dizzy some days, or
I'm tired some days, it's notthe same thing and it's not
helpful.
Because what are they going toresearch?
How are they going to educatethemselves?
We talk a lot on the show aboutgetting people to educate
themselves and they can'teducate themselves on PCS.
(07:13):
If you've never used the words,if you just say it's from my
concussion, that's not enough.
If it's from you hitting yourhead or you know bright lights
bug me, you know that is okay.
But you have to realize thatsometimes you have to use the
term, you have to name yourillness, because if you don't
(07:34):
name it, you're not helpinganyone and you're not helping
yourself.
And I get that there's a lot offear sometimes or it's a pride
thing for some.
They don't want to admit tobeing sick and I feel like men
probably have this problem alittle bit more than women and
that is because you know there'sthe whole.
Men are tough and they can'tshow weakness and they can't be
(07:59):
sick.
And why not?
Why can't you be sick?
It doesn't make you not tough.
If anything, it makes you ahell of a lot stronger than
anybody else.
So I think using your illnessand naming it also proves how
strong you are, because here youare in this moment, with this
illness, with all these symptoms, but you're still here, you're
(08:22):
still doing things, you're stillliving your life and, like I
said, it helps clarify things sopeople can do their own
research.
You know, maybe the new personyou're meeting and you're going
on dates, you know you'rementioning issues that you have,
and I get that you don't wantto scare anyone, you don't want
to make them run away, but maybeif eventually you do say it,
(08:46):
then it could have helped themso much.
They could have done their ownresearch, they could have looked
up things so that theyunderstand why not to bring you
to a rock concert, why a barmight not be a great setting for
you right now.
It can help you.
It can help you in so manydifferent ways going to doctor's
appointments, going to events,dealing with family, dealing
with strangers.
(09:06):
Naming it makes a differenceand the biggest way to really
understand this is this Go witha few comparisons.
Here's a couple I am sad versusI have depression or not the
same thing.
I am nauseous some days and Ihave pots or not the same thing.
(09:28):
I have headaches, versus I havepost concussion syndrome or not
the same thing.
And you know they're not.
So why use them when you'retrying to explain your illness
to someone and you don't use thename?
It's not that you can't explainsymptoms to people, it's not
that you can't mention that youhave headaches.
It's not that you can't mentionthat you're sad, it's not that
(09:50):
you can't mention that you'renauseous.
It's that these don't help you.
Really, these don't help youget across your point of what is
wrong.
You know people are like oh, Ihave headaches too, I get
nauseous too, I'm sad some daystoo.
That's where you get a lot ofthose comments where I get that
(10:10):
I have depression is a reallybig thing to say to somebody
else, and of course, not everyenvironment is built for that.
But it is very different than Iam sad, and that's why I really
wanted to talk about this today, because I think we don't think
about this stuff as survivors.
We just talk.
You know You're going to anevent and you need special
(10:32):
accommodations.
So you mention a symptom anddon't get me wrong, that's
really important.
But if they could justunderstand what the real term is
, maybe they know someone whodeals with it, maybe a family
member, maybe a cousin, maybe asibling, maybe a partner.
Maybe they know more about itthan you think, maybe they deal
with it themselves.
But if you don't say the word,then they can't relate.
(10:54):
And I really want to talk aboutbreaking stigmas, because
conditions aren't a bad word.
There's nothing bad about postconcussion syndrome.
There's nothing bad aboutpersistent concussion symptoms.
There's nothing bad about theword chronic illness.
There's nothing bad aboutdepression.
(11:14):
There's nothing wrong withthese words.
But I think stigmas get builtup around a lot of them because
we don't use them, because weare afraid, because we're
nervous, because we don't wantto get judged and you know what.
All these reasons are valid.
But to get stigmas to go down,to get people to be okay with
talking about depression, to getpeople to be okay with
(11:36):
understanding that lots ofpeople have post concussion
syndrome after their injuries,it's okay to talk about it.
But we don't always feel thatway and that's okay too.
I'm not saying in every momentof your life.
You need to say what you have.
I'm saying think about how muchyou don't say it when you're
explaining things to others.
You know, a lot of times I feellike people just mention I had
(11:58):
a concussion.
Okay, that is true, that isreal.
But maybe if you added thatnext little layer of your story,
it might help a lot of peoplewhen they're looking it up.
Don't tell me people don'tGoogle things, because people
Google everything.
Everyone has Google in theirpocket nowadays.
They always search things up,they're always looking for
(12:19):
answers.
So that is where something likethat can be really helpful.
And you know, this isn't thelongest episode because I really
just wanted to throw it in hereand I really want to talk about
a few things that postconcussion Inc does that a lot
of people might not know about,or maybe you know about but
forgot.
The first one is we have ourpost concussion cookbook, which
(12:43):
has been a great hit.
I have gotten so many messagesabout it helping survivors get
back into the kitchen and reallyloving that.
You can find that on ourwebsite.
We do one-on-one coaching whichhelps survivors.
I've helped survivors fromgetting back into work.
We got a teacher back into theclassroom just this spring.
We help find medicalprofessionals.
(13:04):
We help relationships at home,because I understand what you're
going through and I thinkthat's really important now we
can do these things together.
And lastly, Concussion Connectis something that continues to
grow and is there to stay.
It's really here to helpsurvivors, so make sure you
(13:24):
check that out.
There's support groups and somuch on there and you know we're
continuing to grow.
There's a lot more thingsgetting added and you know we're
not going anywhere, so checkthose things out.
We're here to help you and ifyou ever need help with
something specific you don'tknow which place to go, feel
free to send a message to theemail on our website or click in
(13:48):
our episode description andfind a way there, because we can
help you.
I promise we can.
Life can get a lot better thanit might feel like right now.
Need more than just thispodcast.
Be sure to check out ourwebsite, postconcussioninccom,
to see how we can help you inyour post concussion life and
(14:09):
support network to one-on-onecoaching.
I believe life can get betterbecause I've lived through it.
Make sure you take it one dayat a time.
Hi everyone.
I'm your host, Bella Paige, andafter suffering from post
concussion syndrome for years,it was time to do something
about it.
So welcome to the PostConcussion Podcast, where we dig
deep into life when it doesn'tgo back to normal.
Be sure to share the podcastand join our support network,
Concussion Connect.
Let's make this invisibleinjury become visible.
(00:25):
The post concussion podcast isstrictly an information podcast
about concussions and postconcussion syndrome.
It does not provide norsubstitute for professional
medical advice, diagnosis ortreatment.
Always seek the advice of yourphysician or another qualified
(00:46):
health provider with anyquestions you may have regarding
a medical condition.
Never disregard professionalmedical advice or delay in
seeking it because of somethingyou have heard on this podcast.
The opinions expressed in thispodcast are simply intended to
spark discussion aboutconcussions and post concussion
syndrome.
(01:06):
Welcome to episode number 118of the Post Concussion Podcast
with myself, Bella Paige, andthat's it today.
This is a really importantepisode, but first I really just
wanted to start out withletting everyone know our very
exciting news.
Now, if you're in our emaillist, you probably have already
seen this, as you got earlyaccess, and if you've been on
(01:28):
social media, you might haveseen as well that Concussion
Connect.
Our support community is nowfree, so we're doing this by
getting sponsors for theplatform to help cover the costs
of running it, and also bybenefiting survivors, because I
understand how much financialstress a lot of survivors face
(01:50):
being unable to pay for medicalexpenses or not being able to
work or having to take a reducedschedule or just a lot of added
stress, and usually financialstress is really missed.
No one talks about that.
After your concussion, you knowthere's a lot more to it than
just the physical and the mentalhealth things.
(02:11):
Financial is a huge burden thatcan definitely affect our lives
.
So I just want to let everyoneknow that Please sign up.
There is three screeningquestions, because we do want to
make sure it's an inclusive,safe environment for everyone.
So just make sure you fillthose three questions out and
then your membership will beapproved, and if you don't
(02:31):
realize it, I will make sure toemail you to let you know that
it's been approved so you cansign in and join in Now.
There's lots of things onConcussion Connect and here's
just a small list.
There's our Help Series, whichis a video help series by me,
basically a small YouTube series.
There's Concussion News, whichis just me sharing news that's
(02:51):
out there in the world for youto see.
There's downloads, which hastons of things from a discount
on our coloring book that wereleased, a few recipes,
headache tracker, symptomtracker, a feel better
immediately pamphlet, and lotsof things like that to help you
out.
There's a whole comic serieswhere each month we have comics
(03:13):
with a little brain.
That kind of adds some joy towhat we're going through.
There's lots of topics, so wetalk about daily living, therapy
and treatments that people areexperiencing athletes, students,
caregivers of course arewelcome to join relationships
and mental health.
Now, of course, there's morethings to talk about, but these
are our big group of topics thatkind of help organize things in
(03:36):
a network and just keep it alittle easier to find things if
you're looking for something.
We also have three coursesavailable on the network and I
just had a meeting yesterdayabout even more courses that are
being added, but they will beup in a few months, so make sure
you don't miss out on those anda lot more that keeps coming up
.
On Concussion Connect, we havesupport groups and even more
(03:58):
support events are being addedsoon, so make sure you check
that out and just go to, and youcan just go to the link in our
episode description or just goto postconcussioninccom, click
Concussion Connect and hit Joinnow and you can join.
Don't forget and I am so, I amjust looking forward to it.
So far, we have had over 80people request to join in just a
(04:21):
few days of when I recordedthis.
So don't forget to join, and Iam so excited for everyone to
enjoy it and I think it'll be agreat, safe place for concussion
survivors and brain injurysurvivors to go when they need
somewhere separate from socialmedia.
And I had a really big problemwith Facebook groups and I think
that's just because sometimesthe regulation in them is really
(04:42):
not controlled.
Another issue is ads, andanother issue I found is that I
get a lot of messages to mepersonally, which is totally
okay, but my everyday life wasattached to that.
So it's kind of nice havingsomething separate and something
more private and, of course,all the large, immense benefits
that Concussion Connect hasbeyond just a group.
(05:04):
But I'm really excited aboutthat.
We are working on our YouTubesetup so people can watch parts
of the podcast instead of justlistening, if that's more of
your realm.
But make sure you sign up todayand I'm very looking forward to
that.
But with that, I'm going to takea very quick break and be back
to our episode for today.
Did you want to createawareness about concussions?
(05:25):
You can check out our entireclothing line through the link
in the episode description or goto our website
postconcussioninccom and clickawareness merch from t-shirts,
sweaters, tank tops and multipledesigns, including the podcast.
Nothing mild about a concussionand more.
Make sure to pause this episoderight now and order yours
(05:47):
before you forget, just like Iwould.
What I really wanted to talkabout today and why we're having
a little mini episode here isactually something that came up
in my family and that's namingyour illness, and I mean like
saying I have post concussionsyndrome or persistent
concussion symptoms, or I have abrain injury or any illness.
(06:10):
I have cancer, I haveParkinson's, I have an
autoimmune disease, I have POTS,and I'm talking about this
because being upfront with ithelps your confidence and it
helps it a lot.
Being able to use those wordscan make a really big difference
.
You know, it really helpsclarify things when you tell
(06:31):
someone I have POTS, becausethen they can take their time to
research it.
If they want, they can go onGoogle.
They can find podcasts, theycan find videos, they can find
articles, they can read researcharticles, they can read up on
it.
But if you just say I'mnauseous a lot of the time or my
(06:52):
health's not the greatest rightnow, or I'm dizzy some days, or
I'm tired some days, it's notthe same thing and it's not
helpful.
Because what are they going toresearch?
How are they going to educatethemselves?
We talk a lot on the show aboutgetting people to educate
themselves and they can'teducate themselves on PCS.
(07:13):
If you've never used the words,if you just say it's from my
concussion, that's not enough.
If it's from you hitting yourhead or you know bright lights
bug me, you know that is okay.
But you have to realize thatsometimes you have to use the
term, you have to name yourillness, because if you don't
(07:34):
name it, you're not helpinganyone and you're not helping
yourself.
And I get that there's a lot offear sometimes or it's a pride
thing for some.
They don't want to admit tobeing sick and I feel like men
probably have this problem alittle bit more than women and
that is because you know there'sthe whole.
Men are tough and they can'tshow weakness and they can't be
(07:59):
sick.
And why not?
Why can't you be sick?
It doesn't make you not tough.
If anything, it makes you ahell of a lot stronger than
anybody else.
So I think using your illnessand naming it also proves how
strong you are, because here youare in this moment, with this
illness, with all these symptoms, but you're still here, you're
(08:22):
still doing things, you're stillliving your life and, like I
said, it helps clarify things sopeople can do their own
research.
You know, maybe the new personyou're meeting and you're going
on dates, you know you'rementioning issues that you have,
and I get that you don't wantto scare anyone, you don't want
to make them run away, but maybeif eventually you do say it,
(08:46):
then it could have helped themso much.
They could have done their ownresearch, they could have looked
up things so that theyunderstand why not to bring you
to a rock concert, why a barmight not be a great setting for
you right now.
It can help you.
It can help you in so manydifferent ways going to doctor's
appointments, going to events,dealing with family, dealing
with strangers.
(09:06):
Naming it makes a differenceand the biggest way to really
understand this is this Go witha few comparisons.
Here's a couple I am sad versusI have depression or not the
same thing.
I am nauseous some days and Ihave pots or not the same thing.
(09:28):
I have headaches, versus I havepost concussion syndrome or not
the same thing.
And you know they're not.
So why use them when you'retrying to explain your illness
to someone and you don't use thename?
It's not that you can't explainsymptoms to people, it's not
that you can't mention that youhave headaches.
It's not that you can't mentionthat you're sad, it's not that
(09:50):
you can't mention that you'renauseous.
It's that these don't help you.
Really, these don't help youget across your point of what is
wrong.
You know people are like oh, Ihave headaches too, I get
nauseous too, I'm sad some daystoo.
That's where you get a lot ofthose comments where I get that
(10:10):
I have depression is a reallybig thing to say to somebody
else, and of course, not everyenvironment is built for that.
But it is very different than Iam sad, and that's why I really
wanted to talk about this today, because I think we don't think
about this stuff as survivors.
We just talk.
You know You're going to anevent and you need special
(10:32):
accommodations.
So you mention a symptom anddon't get me wrong, that's
really important.
But if they could justunderstand what the real term is
, maybe they know someone whodeals with it, maybe a family
member, maybe a cousin, maybe asibling, maybe a partner.
Maybe they know more about itthan you think, maybe they deal
with it themselves.
But if you don't say the word,then they can't relate.
(10:54):
And I really want to talk aboutbreaking stigmas, because
conditions aren't a bad word.
There's nothing bad about postconcussion syndrome.
There's nothing bad aboutpersistent concussion symptoms.
There's nothing bad about theword chronic illness.
There's nothing bad aboutdepression.
(11:14):
There's nothing wrong withthese words.
But I think stigmas get builtup around a lot of them because
we don't use them, because weare afraid, because we're
nervous, because we don't wantto get judged and you know what.
All these reasons are valid.
But to get stigmas to go down,to get people to be okay with
talking about depression, to getpeople to be okay with
(11:36):
understanding that lots ofpeople have post concussion
syndrome after their injuries,it's okay to talk about it.
But we don't always feel thatway and that's okay too.
I'm not saying in every momentof your life.
You need to say what you have.
I'm saying think about how muchyou don't say it when you're
explaining things to others.
You know, a lot of times I feellike people just mention I had
(11:58):
a concussion.
Okay, that is true, that isreal.
But maybe if you added thatnext little layer of your story,
it might help a lot of peoplewhen they're looking it up.
Don't tell me people don'tGoogle things, because people
Google everything.
Everyone has Google in theirpocket nowadays.
They always search things up,they're always looking for
(12:19):
answers.
So that is where something likethat can be really helpful.
And you know, this isn't thelongest episode because I really
just wanted to throw it in hereand I really want to talk about
a few things that postconcussion Inc does that a lot
of people might not know about,or maybe you know about but
forgot.
The first one is we have ourpost concussion cookbook, which
(12:43):
has been a great hit.
I have gotten so many messagesabout it helping survivors get
back into the kitchen and reallyloving that.
You can find that on ourwebsite.
We do one-on-one coaching whichhelps survivors.
I've helped survivors fromgetting back into work.
We got a teacher back into theclassroom just this spring.
We help find medicalprofessionals.
(13:04):
We help relationships at home,because I understand what you're
going through and I thinkthat's really important now we
can do these things together.
And lastly, Concussion Connectis something that continues to
grow and is there to stay.
It's really here to helpsurvivors, so make sure you
(13:24):
check that out.
There's support groups and somuch on there and you know we're
continuing to grow.
There's a lot more thingsgetting added and you know we're
not going anywhere, so checkthose things out.
We're here to help you and ifyou ever need help with
something specific you don'tknow which place to go, feel
free to send a message to theemail on our website or click in
(13:48):
our episode description andfind a way there, because we can
help you.
I promise we can.
Life can get a lot better thanit might feel like right now.
Need more than just thispodcast.
Be sure to check out ourwebsite, postconcussioninccom,
to see how we can help you inyour post concussion life and
(14:09):
support network to one-on-onecoaching.
I believe life can get betterbecause I've lived through it.
Make sure you take it one dayat a time.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.