Things I wish I had known when I had post concussive syndrome:

1) Doctor intervention is important. Getting to the right doctors always makes a difference. Headaches and anxiety were treated, plus Occipital Neuralgia.

2)Keeping a diary of your symptoms every day is important. You can look back and feel good about progress, also it is a great tool to show to your doctors and therapists.

3)"Rest? What rest? I can't sleep! I am lucky if I get sleep at all!". This is the very thing I said to the doctors, and was later prescribed on mirtazapine, which controlled sleep, nausea and appetite. 4 months later, I successfully tapered off of mirt and have beautiful sleep. Do what you can to get rest. I can't express that enough.

4)Nutrition is important. Mark's Vitamins and Supplements thread helped me a bunch. I still take the vitamin regimen every day, and to be honest, even though I have recovered, my ADD brain performs better and I can calm down when frustrated.

5)Avoid going out into crowded places. The stress, nausea and pain from going out actually make me run back into my car, plus it takes a bit of time to recover from a place called Wal-Mart. Now, I can go into Wal-Mart without problems now that I have recovered.

6)Remember that song It takes two to make things go right? Well, that is correct. In fact, sometimes more than two people is great. People need support from other people, especially during PCS/TBI. I can't express how great it was to have my friend watch over me everyday. She supported me during my dark times and understood my triggers, and on good days, we would do low stimulation activities such as art.

7)"Being normal" are two bad words during PCS, and should never be used. You will never recover to "normal". It's not possible. During healing, the brain changes so much and ever so slowly, and during your PCS journey, your personality does change. Mine changed for the better, I feel more grateful towards life and I am no longer afraid to ask for help when I need it. However, the hot-headed stubborn part hasn't changed. lol! I am still 98% recovered with symptoms of Occipital Neuralgia since April of 2013.

8)An anti-depressant helps sometimes in some situations. During my PCS journey, I was extremely anxious and depressed. My brain was screaming for help as I felt I had lost everything in my life and wanted it back. This caused major depressive disorder caused by both my ADHD and PCS. Having both didn't help plus being anxious all the time didn't help, I got on board with Paxil. I have not tapered yet since it helps me with my troubling ADHD symptoms since childhood, such as depressive episodes and some anxiety.

9)"I'm having a good day, can I watch some television?" Absolutely not. You need 2 weeks of good days to determine if you feel better, and even then over-stimulation should only be increased little by little daily to see what you can handle. I was an avid gamer before my PCS and it killed me to not have gaming in my life. 2 weeks passed, and I slowly got into video games slowly. Proteus and the game Flower was very easy on my brain, and so was brain training games like Lumosity. I went into increasing by 5 minute intervals each day.

10)Life is full of ups and downs. This is a down that will soon become an up. I promise, its gets better from here. You will improve in some way. Take care of you during this time. I felt grief and mourning over my life during PCS, which later turned into acceptance and happiness after a while.

I really hope this helps you all as this comes from a PCS survivor. If you have any questions, drop me a message. I will be happy to help. Brain injury awareness is important and the support is lacking.

Warm wishes to you,

Elisa (Consider)