After five months of pushing physical training too hard, and taking days to recover (like you said) I finally got help from an agency up here in Canada (www.alliance-cns.com). I was in a vicious circle of feeling better, pushing too hard, and starting over. And of course anxiety went up.

To summarize what I learned for return to physical activity:
- start very slowly and find what you can do without ANY symptoms. For me it was walking for 6 minutes.
- then we (the physiotherapists) slowly increased the walking by 1 minute each couple of days. Over four months I increased to walking 3 minutes and running 8 minutes I am working towards running for 20 minutes.
- resistance or weight training began very lightly and cautiously. We started with only a couple exercises and avoided anything pressing above my head (produced symptoms). Now I have an hour's worth of exercises that I chart and increase only every couple weeks. First I increase repititions, then weight.
- I gave up volleyball (my favourite) for almost a year. To get ready to return, I started tossing a ball around with my kids and against a wall first. Then I practised setting against a wall and with my kids. Then just went to a practise, then played 1 game, then played 2 games. You get the idea.

- also critical for me was my neck. Due to my injury and the anxiety/stress of PCS, it had become tighter and tighter - just making all kinds of symptoms worse. So the physiotherapists gave me neck exercises which I still do 3 times/day. Also I'll use a heat pad to keep things loose there.

Now I'm a stubborn person and have always been able to take care of myself, but I had to "hit bottom" and surrender to what this agency was telling me. I had to baseline work hours as well and gradually increase that slowly. I was at the point of quitting as I would get such bad headaches and fatigue. The workouts improved my energy level, which helped work and so on.

It's sort of like you have to retrain your brain to handle motion again. Stroke victims have to relearn things like walking and talking. It's not as severe for us, but in a sense, our brains do need to relearn things. My damage seemed mostly in the vestibular/balance/motion region of my brain. I still have tinnitus and ear popping and sensitivity to excessive noise. I carry a set of ear plugs everywhere. I make sure I sleep 8 hrs/day. I take breaks regularly and pace myself (VERY important). I don't drink anymore and I even gave up caffiene (though I still luv my coffee).

It truly is one of the most difficult experiences of my life. On the flip side however, I learned a lot about myself and have had time to think on how I want to spend my time. I'm a little less "frantic" and pushy and "busy". I try to just "be" a little more and listen. Very enlightening.

MargN