A jockey who suffered a concussion has revealed the aftermath of a severe fall that left her with such intense headaches she feels like her ‘brain is on fire’. Nikita Beriman, 39, a Group 1-winning rider and one of Queensland, Australia’s most successful jockeys with nearly 800 wins from over 8,000 rides, was in the running for the Brisbane Jockeys Championship until July. Her championship hopes were dashed when she experienced the repercussions of a heavy fall during a four-horse pile-up at Ipswich.
Despite hitting her head, Beriman passed a subsequent concussion test and was permitted to ride two days later at the Sunshine Coast, where she rode a winner she no longer recalls. Discussing the incident and the reason for her prolonged absence, she told RadioTAB: “My horse was favourite. We were leading 100m from home when unfortunately she broke down, she fell, I fell. I hit the righthandside bottom of my head in the fall. Unfortunately she passed away. It was very sad. It was a freak accident.”
She added: “I drove home and I thought I was fine. I didn’t have any symptoms. I did the concussion test the next day and passed it. I rode a winner and I don’t even remember it. I ended up losing all of my speech three days later and then I couldn’t even bend over to touch my knees.”
Beriman was diagnosed with post concussion syndrome nostalgia and her recovery has been painstakingly slow.
“I don’t have a very good memory and I have headaches every single day, severe ones,” she explained. “The best way to describe it is it feels constantly like my brain is on fire. Like I can’t stop my brain burning.
“I’m so slow at talking. It’s difficult when you can’t spit your words out and say what you’re thinking. I also have chronic insomnia and the best way for the brain to heal is to be able to rest it and my brain doesn’t rest.”
The mother of one had to cut short her interview with Steve Hewlett due to an impending headache but used the opportunity to call for changes to jockeys’ concussion protocols in her state.
She continued: “The brain needs at least 14 days for any inflammation to settle. Our standard protocol is 12 days but I didn’t have a concussion.
“Like a lot of people I thought concussion was being knocked out but it’s not like being knocked out. It’s vigorously shaking the brain. It doesn’t matter whether you’re knocked out or not. I have a brain injury now which is classed as a traumatic brain injury.
“We only have one brain and you can’t replace that. We should have better protocols in place and look after our head the best we can.”
