Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals source of symptoms: 'This is scary for me'
On his weekly Dale Jr. Download podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed that doctors feel his concussion-like symptoms stemmed from his June 12 crash at Michigan International Speedway.
Earnhardt said that he and the doctors went through every process, whether it was blood tests or even testing for Lyme disease before finding the root of the issue.
"Obviously with my history of concussions, know the event I had in Michigan, that wreck right there is where they believe I picked up this issue," Earnhardt said. "I didn't feel anything that next week. We had an off week, I went to Germany, raced in Somona and felt great, ran good, felt awesome. It was strange to me why these symptoms came out of nowhere."
Out of previous concussions he has sustained, Earnhardt said he's never had one where the symptoms took so long to form because usually he has felt them immediately.
"This is scary for me because of the way it's been different," he said. "I'm having balance issues. I've never had balance issues before."
It was announced on Monday that Earnhardt will miss two more races, as Jeff Gordon will continue to drive the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in this Sunday's Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International and the night race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Overall, the recovery process has been an up-and-down for Earnhardt.
"There's days when you're feeling positive," he said. "There's days when you're frustrated. That certainly comes and goes with the process.
"There are days where I feel like the balance is better, and there are certainly days when it's not," Earnhardt added. "But I'm very impatient, and I want change now. I want improvement now. So I'm constantly texting my doctor, telling him everything I experience every day, going, 'What can I do to get better tomorrow?' He's like, 'Look, you've got to realize this might be a process.'"
The main issue Earnhardt is facing, known as "gaze stability," which is the main problem regarding his vision, but it has been helped with treatment, along with is daily physical exercises at home.
"When I first got checked out and walking into hospital lobbies and halls, that drives the symptoms pretty heavily," he said. "After an hour or two, your brain calms down and regroups and gets a hold of the situation and the symptoms calm back down. Anywhere you go where there is a lobby and a lot of movement, a lot of chatter and things happening. You're in motion, your head's turning, you're observing and looking at a lot of different things. That really drives the symptoms up. So my doctor wants me to expose. He wants me to go to the grocery store with Amy and basically just live."
Earnhardt said he has trying to get out as much as possible, whether it would be visiting his JR Motorsports shop or going out to eat in crowded restaurants with family, based on doctor recommendation.
"He said go and live your life and don't shy away from things because you think it's going to make you feel bad," Earnhardt said. "Go there and if it makes you feel bad, that's fine. Go there, but just don't make yourself sick."
"It worries me that people don't know what I'm dealing with and I want them to know why I can't drive," he added. "I'll talk to my doctors and say, 'What do I have left as far as the racing?'
"My doctors are confident they can make me stronger than I was before this event. I want to race more."
