[alabamaauthor]

I stumbled onto this forum out of a desparate need. Hope someone will help me. Thanks in advance. I am a young 58 yr. old woman, active, ususally happy, have struggled with drug resistant depression most of my life, but I have always coped raising four children, now have 5 grands, let me say again, very active, and try to be "up" in spite of depression, currently NOT depressed, in fact day of my fall I was thinking "How wonderful life is", had the thought minutes before my fall. I feel getting out of shower, slipped on wet floor, went into air, and fell on marble floor door thingy. I remember laying on the floor after the fall, but it is hard to remember the fall, or how it happened. I was in pain in my hip where it hit, and I felt my head throbbing, I never blacked out, I simply remember thinking "I am going to die on this floor, naked", I didn't move for a long time for fear I had really injured my neck or spine or hips or back. I gradually got up and walked and called my husband and he came home, we sat on the sofa and I felt sore, had a huge goose-egg on the back of my head, felt dizzy, out of it, went to Health Clinic and was diagnosied with concussion, I was already see Neurologist for spinal stenosis and buldging discs in cervical and lumbar regions, the Health Clinic told me to rest for a week, and take it easy, I rested for two weeks because I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING EXCEPT REST, sleep was not refreshing, I refilled my Ambien, started upping my Xanax for the increased anxiety, that was 6 weeks ago, now I have started having Migrane type headaches, had to go get a shot of Torodal, had a reaction, then went to ER where ER Dr. told me I might have PCS. I am scheduled to see Neuro next week, what do I ask, what do I do, anyone have severe headaches, most occur while I am sleeping and wake me from sleep, taking Fiorocet per neuro. Sorry so long, oh, forgot to say, I can't remember words, like the street name I live on, random words I have used everyday, and that is the hardest part for me for I am a writer and trying to finish a new novel. Thank you for reading, hope someone can give me some peace of mind, or the mind I have left.

[HeadStrong]

Hi alabamaauthor,
Welcome to NeuroTalk! There are a lot of wonderful resources here... and many people that will be able to answer your questions much better than I can...but I wanted to answer you regarding the headaches.

I am now 5 months post concussion and I am still struggling every day with debilitating headaches, so I can relate to your pain. I have been diagnosed with Chronic Tension/Migraine combo and the tension ones are contant (never go away since the injury).

The Migraines are with me usually 16 days a month, sometimes more. I have changed meds, had the Diagnostic shots and am now on Propranalol with XS Tylenol and have just recently had the BOTOX Injections to help the Migraines.

At this point it has helped about 20%, but I was really hoping for more improvement.

You said you refilled your Ambien and upped your XANAX six weeks ago, is that when you fell and received your concussion?

I am glad you found this forum and look forward to hearing about your progress.
Best Wishes

[EsthersDoll]

Write down all your symptoms so you don't forget them and so you can talk about them with your neurologist.

Rest as much as possible. Your brain is trying to heal itself and that takes more energy than usual - so when you
exert yourself mentally or physically it's going to be counter-productive towards your getting better.

No on can even guess how long it might last. Your neuro might try to do this - take whatever prognosis is given with a grain of salt. My first neuro tried to do this with me - he said it would take a few weeks and 20 months later I am still not back to normal - granted I suffered some rare side effects, but it still made me very upset and I thought I was doing something wrong when I wasn't getting better and that wasn't good for my anxiety levels.

On that note, try not to get too anxious. Although it's disconcerting to experience your brain not working the way you've come to know that it should after 58 years of life, experts believe anxiety does not help the recovering brain. Likewise with depression. I think it's only natural to freak out and get depressed about this kind of thing - but limit it, or reduce it as much as possible if you're able to. And don't get anxious about getting anxious.

Even though you were very active before the injury (which is probably a good thing and why you're not doing even worse now!) your brain is 58 years alive and typically experts say that teens and 20-something brains heal the best and fastest from these types of injuries... and gets progressively more difficult with age.

Make sure you eat as healthy food as possible. Nutrition is a valuable part of helping your brain to heal.

Stay away from processed foods, sugar, caffeine, alcohol and MSG.

Embrace taking your vitamins, including a good multi-vitamin, a good B-Complex and Omega 3-6-9 oil.

My neurologist has advised that I take B12 in addition to the B-Complex which already has B12 in it. She recommends shots of B12 but since no one in my home can administer them for me, she says sublingual B 12 is the best alternative.

Rest. rest. rest. and rest.

You might find that any kind of mental stimulation will aggravate your symptoms. If this is the case, avoid that stimulation, like TV, Radio, etc. as much as you can.

My Primary Care Physician told me early on that if I feel like doing something do it, if I feel like resting do it. Exercise can provide your brain with more oxygen which will help it to heal -but it can also exacerbate symptoms. It can be a fine line and one difficult to discern when your brain isn't working correctly. So, try doing things, but if they make you feel worse or bring on more symptoms - which could only flare up days after trying to do that thing, then don't try to do that thing anymore for a while... it's all about baby steps. Boring boring baby steps. (Sorry, I was very active before the injury I sustained and it's been 20 months and I still want to MOVE and I'm not yet able to...)

There is a lot of valuable information and support in these threads... bookmark the page so you don't forget about it and read through and re-post with more questions as you feel the need to.

Welcome to Neuro-talk.

[Klaus]

It was months before I got to see a neurologist, and he didn't tell me anything useful. Apart from ruling out rare complications there's not really anything they can tell you that hasn't been said on this thread already, the most important of which in my experience is not to drink alcohol.

As you can see from the post above there are a lot of lifestyle changes which can give your brain a better chance to heal, so get on them straight away.

Apart from that just make sure the neurologist knows all the details so they can hopefully give you a proper diagnosis. One of the worst things about PCS is people doubting that there's anything really wrong with you, and a doctor's opinion can help with this.

Good luck!

[MalindaK]

YYou hurt your head good, then the ache and stress of it makes you moody and anxious and the anxiousness makes it hurt more and strsses you out more and hurts more.

I try slow breathing and kind of I guess meditating although I have never meditated before.. The shots are horrible but at least you get some sleep and hopefully you sleep long enough to get some relief. But the nausea of the shots.

Bless you as you work this out. I wish you good health.

Malinda

Originally Posted by EsthersDoll

Write down all your symptoms so you don't forget them and so you can talk about them with your neurologist.

Rest as much as possible. Your brain is trying to heal itself and that takes more energy than usual - so when you
exert yourself mentally or physically it's going to be counter-productive towards your getting better.

No on can even guess how long it might last. Your neuro might try to do this - take whatever prognosis is given with a grain of salt. My first neuro tried to do this with me - he said it would take a few weeks and 20 months later I am still not back to normal - granted I suffered some rare side effects, but it still made me very upset and I thought I was doing something wrong when I wasn't getting better and that wasn't good for my anxiety levels.

On that note, try not to get too anxious. Although it's disconcerting to experience your brain not working the way you've come to know that it should after 58 years of life, experts believe anxiety does not help the recovering brain. Likewise with depression. I think it's only natural to freak out and get depressed about this kind of thing - but limit it, or reduce it as much as possible if you're able to. And don't get anxious about getting anxious.

Even though you were very active before the injury (which is probably a good thing and why you're not doing even worse now!) your brain is 58 years alive and typically experts say that teens and 20-something brains heal the best and fastest from these types of injuries... and gets progressively more difficult with age.

Make sure you eat as healthy food as possible. Nutrition is a valuable part of helping your brain to heal.

Stay away from processed foods, sugar, caffeine, alcohol and MSG.

Embrace taking your vitamins, including a good multi-vitamin, a good B-Complex and Omega 3-6-9 oil.

My neurologist has advised that I take B12 in addition to the B-Complex which already has B12 in it. She recommends shots of B12 but since no one in my home can administer them for me, she says sublingual B 12 is the best alternative.

Rest. rest. rest. and rest.

You might find that any kind of mental stimulation will aggravate your symptoms. If this is the case, avoid that stimulation, like TV, Radio, etc. as much as you can.

My Primary Care Physician told me early on that if I feel like doing something do it, if I feel like resting do it. Exercise can provide your brain with more oxygen which will help it to heal -but it can also exacerbate symptoms. It can be a fine line and one difficult to discern when your brain isn't working correctly. So, try doing things, but if they make you feel worse or bring on more symptoms - which could only flare up days after trying to do that thing, then don't try to do that thing anymore for a while... it's all about baby steps. Boring boring baby steps. (Sorry, I was very active before the injury I sustained and it's been 20 months and I still want to MOVE and I'm not yet able to...)

There is a lot of valuable information and support in these threads... bookmark the page so you don't forget about it and read through and re-post with more questions as you feel the need to.

Welcome to Neuro-talk.