Lo Bosworth, an alum of Laguna Beach and The Hills, shared that she’s been dealing with the effects of a head injury for the past two years. And her recovery journey spurred her to focus more on health and fitness during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.
“2 years ago in March I suffered a traumatic brain injury I didn’t tell you guys about,” Bosworth wrote on Instagram, explaining that it happened when she was at a restaurant in New York City “while sitting in a banquet.” One of the restaurant’s swinging kitchen doors fell off its hinges and onto her head, she said.
“I was in the hospital and suffered a moderate to severe concussion for months. I took weeks off work and the road to recovery was long. I remember visiting a friend a few weeks later and feeling totally lost on 3rd avenue and 21st street, not knowing which direction to walk in,” Bosworth wrote. “I still struggle to recall words from time to time and get my thoughts out coherently 2 years later.”
A traumatic brain injury most often occurs after a violent blow or jolt to the body, the Mayo Clinic says. Some of the symptoms of an injury like this might appear immediately, but others can take days or weeks to show up.
On the more mild end, someone might experience a short loss of consciousness, headache, nausea, ringing in the ears, or sensitivity to light and sound, the Mayo Clinic explains. But on the more severe end (as in Bosworth’s case), the symptoms can include a more prolonged loss of consciousness, a persistent headache, severe confusion, seizures, repeated vomiting, and more. A traumatic brain injury can cause real changes in a person’s thinking and decision-making skills, including their memory, judgment, attention, and communication.
Even after treatment, which can include surgery and medications to manage the symptoms, many people need a period of rehabilitation to recover from a traumatic brain injury, the Mayo Clinic explains. That could include working with a physical therapist to help with relearning movement patterns, a speech therapist to assist in communication skills, or a neuropsychologist who can work with the patient on cognitive issues, for instance.
On top of that, Bosworth said she was diagnosed with mononucleosis (a viral infection sometimes referred to as mono) at around the same time. “Also didn’t tell you guys that. One day I had to put my head down on my desk at work because of sheer exhaustion and fell asleep,” she wrote. “I laid in bed for months and months whenever I could.”
Clearly, Bosworth has been dealing with a lot over the past few years. But experiencing these issues made her appreciate her health even more, she said. “Long story short, one of the reasons I’ve been so committed to healthy eating and fitness since the pandemic started is because it took a full year from the head injury + mono for me to be in a place where I could even consider exercising with regularity,” she wrote. “This post is dedicated to my health and your health—precious and sometimes taken for granted. If you have it, take advantage of it.”
Bosworth posted an update today explaining that she’d received an overwhelming response after her first post about her brain injury—especially because it’s not necessarily something other people can tell you’re dealing with. “Didn’t expect a response like that at all but I realized after hearing from you on this topic that it’s an incredibly important convo to have,” she wrote. “Even if you look OK on the outside you may not be OK on the inside.”
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