Copper,

Anger, rage, the inner beast that never fully sleeps...there is the very worst part of the sum of my injuries. The limbic system in the brain controls these emotions, and I'm beginning to believe that's the part of the brain slowest to adjust to PCS/TBI.

It's been about nineteen years since I went through a long period of medication trials to stabilise mood. One of the many meds I tried was Prozac, the first generation of SSRI's. I went from depressed/enraged and partially sleepless to thoroughly depressed and totally sleepless in seven days. But the rage was gone. I was also ready to die and I'm glad I was able to see that and check back in with my Dr.. All that on a beginners dose.

Celexa is a second generation SSRI and, while much improved over its predecessors, is still a powerful drug. Many head-injured persons do fine on this class of med. Then there are critters like me whose chemistry is a bit more touchy.

The best Dr. ever to work with me and the only Dr. to this day who truly understood head injury in child and adult populations stated it best whenever she encountered a person nonresponsive or with idosynchratic reactions to the common meds used: "Try one tenth of the dose. I don't know exactly why it works this way, but try it".

Keep a close eye on it in these early days. If you have any doubts, check in with your Dr. If you ever need to get off this med, you may need to wean off it to prevent serotonin syndrome.

If you are open to dietary supplements (and I don't babble about these lightly) may I suggest a healthy dose of green tea extract daily, or L-theanine, the most active ingredient of green tea. As always, check with your Dr. and/or pharmacist but I believe it to be one of the most safe supplements in existence. I've given it a two-month trial with pleasant results and nothing negative to report. My wife says I'm slightly easier to live with. Hey-ho.