Originally Posted by Canada

Hey all, and Temporary

My recommendation to all concussion sufferers:

Meditation, if you never have, find a group, or an audiobook to teach you, practice Meditation every day. Start small, then go for longer periods of time.

Go in for a Vestibular Therapy right away after a concussion for an assessment, and then you would be given recommendations and possibly you will be given exercises. Some exercises might seem silly, but do them as prescribed, these exercises are REALLY important.

My Sports Medicine physician managing my concussion recently went to a conference in Boston in May 2017, on recent advancements and discoveries in concussion management.

At the Boston conference, my doctor told me two NFL team doctors spoke at this conference about how they have discovered that when their athletes with concussions go in for Vestibular Assessment and Therapy early on, meaning shortly after the concussion, even when the Vestibular Therapy made them feel really terri ble and some felt nauseous with a lot of symptoms triggered, the athletes recovered much faster.

My Sports Medicine doctor realized at that conference that he was perhaps managing my concussion too conservatively.

The recommendations my Sports Medicine doctor made after attending that conference, is for me to get more active, and get into Vestibular Therapy and don't stop if it makes me feel terrible. If I felt terrible, track for how long the symptoms stayed with me, and let the Vestibular Therapist know.

Vestibular assessment and Therapy is VERY important right away for faster concussion recovery.

I had to edit the following and delete links because I'm not yet allowed to post links because I just joined this forum. (silly rule, I think)

GOOGLE

Parachute Canada, look at the concussion management informtaion.

GOOGLE

Concensus Statement on Concussion Management in Sport


VESTIBULAR THERAPY:

For me, Vestibular therapy at first was mostly upper Cervical spine physical therapy and range of motion manipulatiin by a physiotherapist trained in Concussion management. The ligaments up in the Upper spine where the spine connects to the base of the skull, if those ligaments are injured, they can trigger symptoms of headache and other symptoms that seem like brain injury and concussion symptoms but are actually neck injury symptoms.

This physiotherapist also gave me a lot of take home daily eye and Vestibular and balance exercises.

Eye exercises included early on:

Pencil push ups (convergence work)

Hold a pencil vertically, straight ahead of your nose, focus your eyes on the pencil as you slowly move the pencil toward your nose. When you can't focus on the pencil and it becomes blurry/two pencils, stop, move the pencil slowly away until you can focus on it again, and hold for 3 to 5 seconds.

Simple eye muscle exercises from left to right, up and down, and diagonally both directions

The simple eye exercises all were really tiring at first for me because I had spent 3 months of quiet rest in a quiet dark room with no screen time (no TV, computer, phone) and I rarely left the house, because I felt so terrible with symptoms.

Eye focusing exercises such as near and far

I did this sitting outside on my deck, looking at a tree and then a house, pick something near and far, and repeat it.

Eye exercises progressed to turning my head while looking at the last line I could read on an eye chart and reading that line of letters forward and backward while turning my head.

Hold my arms straight out in front of me, clasping my hands. Look at my clasped hands, then rotate my torso from left to right, all the while I am looking at my clasped hands held straight out front. I started that exercise sitting down because I was so dizzy.

Look at an object straight ahead, focus on that object (like a picture on a wall) and then turn my head side to side while focusing my eyes on the object on the wall. I had to staer that one sitting down because it made me so dizzy.

BALANCE EXERCISES

For me, that meant standing in a corner with my hands holding the wall for balance, trying to stand without needing to touch the wall. I gradually could make it more challenging by standing on one leg, then with two feet on the ground but eyes closed, then graduate to a wobble board or just standing on a couch cushion on the floor on two feet then one foot, first eyes open, then eyes closed when safe to do so and I was confident I would not fall down.

PACING POINTS

There is a points system designed to measure activities so it is easier to determine how much activity is too much for an injured brain.

For example, a person, depending on where they were in their concussion recovery, could have a maximum of 15 points for the day if they are really having problems with their symptoms being triggered.

Watching TV would be 2 points per hour, going out to a restaurant with one person would be 5 points. Attending an appointment would be 3 - 5 points. Meal preparation would be 3 - 5 points, grocery shopping 5 points, talking on the phone 2 points per fifteen minutes.

I still find in person conversations draining and difficult because I struggle withprocessing the conversation cognitively as well as I sometimes struggle with word finding. The best way for me to communicate right now is by text, so I can think out a measured response.

For information on Pacing and the Pacing Points, google pacing points and click on the PDF that is titled:

GOOGLE

Pacing and Planning with Becky Moran

Reading and downloading that PDF I found was very helpful in understanding what is more draining to our concussed brain, and helps with having a tangible way to figure out how much stimulation and activity is too much for me.

JOURNAL

Journal everything you do, for how long, and if you feel okay or not. this is especially important if litigation is involved.

SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT:

PHOTOPHOBIA:

GLACIER RATED SUNGLASSES, HATS:

I bought a pair of Glacier rated sunglasses (let in only I think 5 % of the light) with those side blinders . I wore those sunglasses everywhere at first, when going outside the house, it helped a lot because visual stimulation was overwhelming for me, especially in a place like a grocery store.

I also wear hats all the time to block light indoors like overhead fluorescents, and outdoors like streetlights and the sun. The hat also limits visual stimulation.

PHONOPHOBIA:

HEARING PROTECTION:

At first I used arplugs AND external hearing protection (from a hardware store) in cars,, going out anywherer, really, and also when I walked around my neighbourhood.

Someone mentioned noise cancelling headphones are good for phonophobia.

COGNITIVE OVERSTIMULATION:

GROCERY STORES:

Hat, glacier rated sunglasses with side blinders, double hearing protection at first, and looking down at the floor when walking around. (but I did so safely) I also learned to go 30 minutes before closing when my grocery store was quiet with almost no customers.

CROWDS:

Crowds were very difficult to navigate because it was too much visual and auditory stimulation for me, for example at a street festival. I ended up holding onto the arm of my companion and looked straight down at the ground ahead of me and my companion navigated us through the crowd. I would look up when we were at a booth of interest for example.I also wore a hat, sunglasses, and at first double hearing protection meaning earplugs and external hearing protection.


WALKS

At first, I discovered it was best for me to walk the neighbourhood when it was not busy, and looked down at the sidewalk in front of me to avoid too much visual stimulation. (only do in a safe neighbourhood and it is good to walk with someone, I carried bear spray with me for safety).

PHONE SCREEN DIMMING APP

I use Night Owl, it's awesome for dimming out light that can be harmful and disruptive to sleep patterns.

MEDITATION APPS

There are a lot, I ended up using the fifteen minute meditation in the Deep Relax APP but just try an APP and see if it works for you.

I tried those coping strategies to get to a point where symptoms were not triggered, then gradually increased stimulation when I was feeling well, like purposely not wearing the glacier glasses and trying my regular sunglasses instead, then see if my symptoms were triggered.

Sometimes it takes a day for me to feel crappy after doing too much, for me, anyhow, and then I had no idea why I felt terrible, what I did that was too much.

I think that's it for now.....Good luck with your recovery....