Yo Stevie

I find myself in a similar boat. I'm a recent college grad and competive skier. I took my own knee to my face about 2 months ago while skiing and haven't felt good since.

I'm currently not working and trying to relax...I want to beat this thing!

I understand it playing havoc on your social life. Interestingly for me, drinking helps me feel far more normal (no, I don't do it all that much) but as others have said, it's no good for recovery. I don't notice much of a hangover difference, but then again, I don't drink to the point where that's an issue.

My main symptom is this "brain fog" and also dizziness/nasuea when I get stressed out or overly exert myself. Thankfully, not one headache to date. I also had the anxiety attack 1 hour after the incident much like you described. I thought I might die! The panick attacks have mostly subsided, but I do suffer from chronic anxiety that certainly doesn't help the symptoms. (who thinks clearly when they are constantly anxious/nervous?) I refuse to take SSRIs because I feel that's opening pandoras box persay and will only prolong this thing. I do try and stay active and actually have kept on the skis (not doing anything crazy...) I feel that there is a big mental part to all this for me and staying active helps this. Don't forget, who feels awesome all the time? Nobody!!

The reality of it is you most likely will recover, it could be another month or two it could take five but you the answer is out there. It'd really be good if you could take it totally easy for a month and focus 100% on getting back to normal...

I think you need to realize that many hockey/football players have gone through this PCS thing to come back and have great careers. (and yes, they DO get hit in the head again!) Keep that in mind and I'm sure you'll have a full recovery. Some athletes took a year to come back, but they did come back...there are only a few who didn't fully recover or retired due to fear of perminent damange (Lindros, Deadmarsh, Steve Young, Troy Aikman)

I do suggest you look into Ativan for you anxiety attacks. It certainly helps me although I usually take less than 1/week. (just when it gets REALLY bad, like right now for instance.)