Concussed jockey with severe headaches says every day feels like 'my brain is on fire'

A concussed jockey has opened up on the aftermath of a heavy fall which has left her with such severe headaches she feels like her ‘brain is on fire’.

Group 1-winning rider Nikita Beriman, 39, has been one of the most successful jockeys in Queensland, Australia with nearly 800 winners from more than 8,000 rides. She was in contention for the Brisbane Jockeys Championship until July when she experienced the after effects of a heavy fall in which she came down in a four-horse pile-up at Ipswich.

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Despite knocking her head, Beriman passed a subsequent concussion test and was allowed to ride two days later at the Sunshine Coast where she rode a winner she no longer remembers.

Speaking about the incident and the reason for her long 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 continued: “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 very 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.”

Mother of one Beriman had to cut short the interview with Steve Hewlett because another headache was coming on but called for a change 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.”