[rick92]

im 19. its been 9 months since my concussion. these pcs symptoms didnt start till a month after it. i can honestly say i dont see any improvement in my symptoms over the whole period. im scared ill never get better

im stuck with what to do. i dont have a college degree. i dont know if i could even tolerate a part time job right now. i live with my parents. dont know what to do or which direction to take. should i continue to wait to heal or try to get on with life and just struggle thru with what i do

any suggestions appreciated

[Mark in Idaho]

What changes have you made in your life to help with recovery?

What are your most problematic symptoms?

[rick92]

i have quit college, quit my job, and just have been goin to doctor appointments and therapy

worst symptoms are constant headache, constant dizziness, and vision problems

[Jeffrey]

Thank God you have a place to stay while you wait this out, hoefully stress free. You are young, which I hope is an advantage.

[rick92]

yeah im very thankful my parents are letting me stay and putting up with me, i dont know where i would live if they kicked me out, that would be awful

[Mark in Idaho]

What do you do to busy yourself with during the day?

What kind if diet do you consume?

What kind of therapy?

What are the objectives of the doctors' appointments?

Do you listen to music? What kind?

TV? What kind of shows? MTV?

Video games?

Any physical activity?

What is your parents' home like?

Describe the rooms where you spend most of your time, including the smallest details, wall decor, sounds, voices, etc.

Have you read the TBI Survival Guide?

Have you watched the "You Look Great" YouTube videos?

Have your parents read the TBI Guide and watched the YouTube videos?

What is it like where you live? Urban, suburban, rural? Desert, mountains, forest, ???

[rick92]

Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

What do you do to busy yourself with during the day? just watch tv, surf the web, and take naps

What kind if diet do you consume? i eat healthy and take some vitamins, i also count calories because i dont wanna gain weight because i cant run the weight off if i did

What kind of therapy? physical therapy, vision therapy, and occupational therapy

What are the objectives of the doctors' appointments? i just go to see what they say, but the neuro surgeon iv been seein literally told me he's never heard of this happening or people having problems beyond 6 weeks

Do you listen to music? What kind? not too much anymore

TV? What kind of shows? MTV? yeah i watch some mtv, fuel tv, two and a half men, just anything to get my mind off my problems

Video games? i play a little xbox from time to time but hav to limit it or my headache and dizziness get worse, i cannot play games on my phone or my dizziness goes through the roof

Any physical activity? i got an exercise bike and do 10 min. 2 times a day, just light cardio

What is your parents' home like? its 3 bedroom 2 bath brick home

Describe the rooms where you spend most of your time, including the smallest details, wall decor, sounds, voices, etc. i spend the most time in my room and the living room, walls are just painted plain colors, my rooms like 12 x 14 living room probably like 18 x 20 just a guess though, its pretty quiet during the day just the sound of the tv

Have you read the TBI Survival Guide? no i havent

Have you watched the "You Look Great" YouTube videos? i started to watch it but then quit

Have your parents read the TBI Guide and watched the YouTube videos? no but they started to read a different brain book

What is it like where you live? Urban, suburban, rural? Desert, mountains, forest, ??? its urban, texas, which gets very hot in the summer and fairly cold in the winter

i filled in the blanks

id also like to add:
my head starts to hurt even worse when i talk loud, or talk for too long, when i laugh or sneeze, basically any movement too fast makes everything worse too. my head is just super sensitive it sucks.

seems as if maybe i popped a blood vessel in my brain or something because anytime i get nervous or raise my heartrate my head hurts extremely bad and i get super dizzy, im not sure if a cat scan or mri could show something like that though, iv had both and both came out fine

thanks for any help, it means alot

[SmilinEyesMs305]

Have you tried vestibular (balance) therapy? It sounds like a lot of your issues revolve around head movement, etc. I had the same problems at the beginning. Vestibular therapy has taught my brain to tolerate head movements, how to keep my body in the right places to keep my balance, and has gotten rid of a good chuck of the general dizziness I had when this whole mess started.

Hoping you can find some relief.

[Mark in Idaho]

rick,

Thanks for your answers. It appears you have been making some good choices. The MTV may be a negative influence on your symptoms. Contemporary music has beats and lyrics that do not fit in the more normal flow of brain processing. Your head aches sound like blood pressure head aches. The concussed brain often loses it ability to properly shunt blood flow and control pressure within the brain.

Some things to consider. Your brain like any human brain is designed to organize stimulus so it can process it in a functional way. the concussed brain often loses the organizational function. As a result, when you stimulate your brain with disorganized information, it has to work harder trying to organize the information and gets over-whelmed and frustrated when it fails to do so.

Think of is as trying to read a road map while riding down a bumpy road. The frustration can be exhausting.

The short term solution is to establish an environment where stimulation is controlled and limited to that which your brain can easily understand. This is the only way your brain will get any rest. Simple wall, like you have described are good. Not too many things hanging on the walls. Smells, sounds, visual and even tactile (sense of touch) stimuli can be moderated to be easily recognizable.

Recognizablity is the important concept. When your brain does not have to work to understand your environment, it can rest and relax. I listen to the same music and even watch the same videos when I need my brain to relax. I know others with TBI who do the same successfully. It allows your brain to stop paying attention to all of the chaos and get into a "I know what is going on so I can stop being vigilant" mode.

Now that Texas is starting to cool down, is there any place where you can take long casual walks? maybe drop a line in the water and quietly fish? Maybe find a fishing pond with an older gentleman who can just talk with you about simple things. Nothing that causes tension. Stories of the old days, old guys often love to tell stories of the old days.

The idea is to engage your mind in simple, pleasurable conversation and activities. I used to spend hours in my garage sorting out decades of collections of nuts, bolts, screws and odd things. No pressure. Just something to do without pressure. Now, I will spend hours fixing cars.

Others can get perturbed watching you do nothing or act lazy. You brain needs this lazy like activities, at least for a while.

Slowly read the TBI Survival Guide. Not all at once if it overwhelms you. Identify the symptoms you have so you can better understand them. Then, show those pages to your parents if they are interested. They could benefit from the You Look Great YouTube videos.

You need some people who understand you and your symptoms enough to help you when they can and leave you alone when you need it.

What book are they reading? Not many get the story across well.

When you listen to music or watch TV, try doing it with head phones. It will lessen the load on your auditory processing system. Try turning the volume of on the TV or stereo speakers and put the ear phone volume low. You will be surprised how quiet sounds help you relax. I have a long cord to the audio out of the TV so I can listen with head phone. You can also get wireless head phone systems system.

Give these ideas a try. Print this post so you can reread it without having to go online. Try to set a routine for your day. Doing the same things over and over from one day to the next sounds boring but it is what your brain needs.

My best to you.

[rick92]

Originally Posted by SmilinEyesMs305

Have you tried vestibular (balance) therapy? It sounds like a lot of your issues revolve around head movement, etc. I had the same problems at the beginning. Vestibular therapy has taught my brain to tolerate head movements, how to keep my body in the right places to keep my balance, and has gotten rid of a good chuck of the general dizziness I had when this whole mess started.

Hoping you can find some relief.

thanks, yeah im doing physical therapy which consists of balance tests and those sorts of things, which i guess would be considered vestibular therapy