Hi there,

I've been checking in with these forums for ages and thought I'd make a post myself. I'm a 26yo male.

I was knocked out briefly (few seconds) playing Australian Rules Football. I jumped up to mark a ball, and as I came down a knee caught the right side of my head, and I was knocked out when the back of my head made contact with the ground. My head bounced when I hit the ground in a whiplash kind of way.

I haven't been well ever since. My major symptom is brain fog. I feel this persistent fog that never alleviates. It's hard to separate the fog from fatigue, but I'm always tired, and I tire quickly from activities. I also get nauseous, have difficulties concentrating and remembering, and get headaches and migraines (though these are manageable compared to the fog).

Prior to the accident I was studying a law degree and was very active. I also worked part time. All these endeavours have come to a grinding halt.

My GP and Neurologist have trialled many medications with me. From the studies I've read, and my own experience, I don't believe that these are beneficial for PCS. I've tried a number of anti-depressants and beta-blockers but I haven't found anything helpful. For the last two weeks I have been taking sleeping pills to better regulate my sleep but this is not a long-term thing.

My current treatment regime is as follows:

Following the Buffalo Concussion Treadmill Test Protocol. This is 6 days/week of sub threshold intensity cardio with regular reviews. I think this is the most promising of all my treatment avenues. I have had a high resting HR since hitting my head, which greatly increases with exercise. I've been following this protocol for the past month and I'm finding improvements to my HR.

Prism glasses and vision therapy. I have had poor eye coordination since the accident as well as a peripheral vision loss in the left eye. I was prescribed training prism glasses to help with reading 3 months ago. With the glasses I have been able to do some reading which I wasn't before. At my review, wearing the glasses had lead to a noticeable improvement in eye coordination/tracking. I will begin Vision Therapy next week.

Neck physiotherapy. I think a portion of my fogginess comes from the damage the whiplash motion caused to my neck. I've read a number of studies that indicate that a neck injury alone can lead to PCS, i.e. the same collection of symptoms. The physiotherapy has been helpful but I now need to work on strengthening the neck muscles for sustainable posture improvements.

Cognitive behavioural therapy. I had never spoken to a psychologist before this accident. I have a number of high standards which I set myself, that have become unobtainable with the concussion. This naturally brings my mood down so I'm trying to have a more healthy relationship with the standards to better cope with PCS.

Occupational therapy - which has mainly been around planning my weeks.

So it's a fairly comprehensive treatment plan that I'm going through. I see these areas as very important for my recovery.

My guiding principal at the moment is around de-conditioning. Over the last year I have had days/weeks of rest believing that this was the best thing for my concussion. As a result I think being de-conditioned from life is my number 1 encumbrance. As I'm not used to driving, socialising, working, studying, etc jolts of such activities make me very tired. I try and reintroduce these things where I can but this is a difficult task to balance, and I constantly hit set-backs where I've tried to do too much.

For all of the above though, I'm just as symptomatic as I've ever been.

I'd appreciate any feedback/suggestions on my approach. There seems to be a wealth of knowledge in these forums.

I have seen a number of suggestion in the forum which I have never seen in a study or heard from any of my specialists.

One is coffee consumption - I drink 3-4 cups/day. I trialled dropping this to 2 and
maybe noticed slight improvement but haven't managed to maintain it.

I have a low carb diet - I haven't found a link between this diet and PCS.

Vitamin regime. This seems to be very important within the forum. The lists of things a lot of members are taking is very overwhelming to me. I don't like the idea of is taking a long list of vitamins, finding an improvement, and then feeling as though I need to take 10 supplements forever, when maybe there was a specific one that helped. I'd really appreciate a methodology for introducing some key vitamins in a scientific way, where the outcome can be monitored.

Screen time. My number one biggest hobby is TV/Movies. I watch SO many. I have cut this back because I physically can't watch as much as what I once did. Early on I cut all screen time but didn't really notice a benefit. But still, the combination of TV/Movies/iPhone/iPad/Computer usage would be very significant every day. I see this area as a conditioning one. If there's a TV show I know and I watch an episode at home I will be fine. But one time I went to the movies and watched Mad Max and was sick all week. One task I'm conditioned too the other I'm not.

Masturbating/porn. This is embarrassing to ask but there are many posts on here regarding it. Is it genuinely detrimental to recovery? If so, what is a realistic approach to take.

Thanks for reading. I'd appreciate any tips/suggestions.

Also I'm a bit nervous about having my medical information so available. Is there anyway to hide my post from search engines etc?