Hello and welcome to our little brain boo boo club.

At one month, you are early in the recovery process. While there is absolutely no way to predict a specific recovery date, many mild concussions resolve themselves within six months. On the other hand, some don't and the patient is left to deal with Post Concussion Syndrome (PCS) symptoms for years or even a lifetime.

That said, don't panic. Assuming this was a first injury and you didn't lose consciousness, your relative youth should allow you to make a good recovery. What's important is that you don't do anything to make your recovery slower or less complete.

I can't emphasize enough how important it is for you to rest physically and mentally. Talk to the disability office at your school about making accommodations for you while you heal. As much as possible, remove stressors from your life - nothing is more important than your recovery.

In addition to rest, it is important for you to abstain from alcohol and eat a healthy diet. Other members will be along who will be able to recommend supplements that you might find helpful.

To make your life more bearable, you need to seek help for your concussion symptoms. Depression is very common after concussion. Some people also experience anxiety and panic attacks. You might want to meet with a psychologist versed in brain injury to discuss how you're coping. While I'm not a fan, some patients find SSRIs helpful.

How is your sleep? Many of us have sleep issues. There are many drugs available, but low doses Amitriptyline are usually the first meds tried. Some folks also find that Amitriptyline eases their headaches. Depakote ER, imitrex and midrin are among the many medications available for headaches. I personally haven’t had much luck with headache meds and have resorted to acupuncture, ice and quiet, dark rooms for some relief.

If your injury persists, you may want to consider other treatment and testing options. At this stage, I would like to warn you that a “clean” MRI means little. Conventional MRIs and CAT scans are not sensitive enough to image tears and damage in the tiny axons that cover the brain. Consequently, folks with obvious cognitive deficits can scan “clean.” If you really want to know how your brain is functioning, you’ll need to have neuro-psychological testing. Neuro-psychs are valuable for targeting cognitive therapy and for helping patients gain access to needed services and assistance.

PCS patients often have to advocate for themselves to get care. On that score, I would urge you to learn as much about head injury as you can. Some excellent sources for further reading include: the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA)www.biausa.org; www.tbiguide.com and our own TBI forum here on NT http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum92.html If that's too much reading, there are a number of excellent Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) videos on You Tube. (Who knew it wasn’t just idiots surfing on cars?)

Wishing you a speedy recovery,
Hockey