How long did it take for your PCS symptoms to show up?
 

Topic.

It took me about 3 months before I started getting symptoms. I was injured in June, took me till about early August to start feeling better. I thought I was fully recovered so I started doing normal things...working, partying and even drinking alcohol. Then BAM, in September I was smacked in the face with PCS symptoms. It seemed like every day I would wake up with a new symptom. I ended up going to the ER numerous times because of them.

I always wonder if the alcohol I was drinking when I thought I was recovered triggered the symptoms or screwed me up permanently =\... Only time will tell!

I had symptoms day one which only increased the following few weeks. I started by that foggy feeling. I was swaying on my feet and if I closed my eyes I would fall. I had head pain, neck pain and back pain. Over the following weeks my unsteadyness got worse, the headache got worse. The whooshing sound didn't start until a couple of months out.

My symptoms took a week to kick in. I then felt 100% a month later, and after a few weeks of this, like you I felt safe to get drunk. This brought a lot of my symptoms back, and a month after that a jolt at work took me back to square one.

I sometimes wonder whether if I had stayed off the booze I would have been well enough to withstand the jolt, which wasn't violent enough to be a big deal to most people.

On balance, I think if I had been told not to drink, and to continue this for a few months even when I felt fine I think my PCS would have been over in one month rather than 9 and counting.

Yet even the simple piece of advice 'don't drink alcohol' was beyond the knowledge of the doctors I had seen. In fact no health professional has actually warned me against alcohol until this week, 9 months in!

You wonder what they were doing for 7 years in medical school....

I am grateful to having had a good neurologist way back in 1970 who told me to stay away from alcohol, that my concussed brain would not tolerate it.

The research is sparse except for the research that says a single drink per day may be OK.

Think of it this way. A hang over is like PCS. The brain is responding to getting assaulted with a chemical impact. It is having a reaction to the toxicity left over from the drunk period.

I tried one glass of beer while in college. It alone left me hung over the next day.

Aside from an immediate headache, blurred vision and nausia, the rest of my symptoms gradually started the next evening. For the first week I felt as if I was on some really strong cold medicine (very spaced out). I didn't actually know I had a concussion for 4 days after the accident. The Emergency Department said contusion, the work doc (4 days later) diagnosed concussion. The hard part was that no one prepared me for the cascade of symptoms that I could expect to come. I thought I was going crazy with each new issue. Strange how you can feel so unlike yourself. Glad I found this place!

Hi - My fourteen yr old son got his first major concussion when he was away with a youth group - fell full force backwards onto a wood floor - had initial dizzyness, nausea and an extreme headache - we were never called.
The next day he went straight into moving logs and doing landscaping (probably did some shearing damage at that time) He was thankful to feel good - did not experience extreme symptoms for 6 weeks. Went into full blown Post Concussion syndrome and was petrified. We did not leave the house the whole summer (2010). He has suffered 3 setbacks and is still recovering - he is extremely brave and courageous as I'm sure you all are.
As an Integrative Health and Nutrition Coach now working with MTBI survivors, alcohol is very bad for you - especially hard alcohol. Sugar really affects your brain's ability to heal and alcohol is basically fermented sugar. Google sugar and the brain.

Hope that this helps.
Warmly,

Tina Sullivan
Nourish Your Noggin

Mine began immediately after impact but they changed and became more intense over the first week. Around the second week they settled into symptoms that continued over the next 5 to 6 months. In the 6 to 9 months after impact, they changed again and lessened at the same time.

Nourish,

What do you mean by <probably did some shearing damage at that time)>?

How is sugar bad for the brain? I have never heard or read this before.

I have no problem with sugar but can get messed up from alcohol.

Hi Mark:
Thank you for responding. I have replied to you privately regarding the "shearing" comment.
Here is some information regarding sugar that you and others on the forum may find helpful:

One of sugar’s major drawbacks is that as it raises your insulin level, inhibiting the release of hormones, which then reduces your immune system’s ability to protect you against infection and disease. Back in 1970, Linus Pauling realized that white blood cells need a high dose of Vitamin C to fight the common cold. Because glucose and Vitamin C have similar chemical structures, they compete with each other to enter the cell. Too much sugar may reduce your white blood cells’ ability to combat disease by up to 75%!

According to Malcolm Peet, a noted British psychiatric researcher, there is a strong link between high sugar consumption and the risk of depression as well as schizophrenia. There are two ways that sugar may exert a toxic effect on mental health. First, BDNF, a key growth hormone in the brain, is suppressed by sugar. This hormone promotes the health of neurons in the brain and assists with memory by creating new neuron connections. Second, there is a cascade of chemical reactions that occur in the body when ingesting sugar that create chronic inflammation. Over time, inflammation suppresses the immune system, which then negatively affects brain function.

Alcohol can be a neurotoxin. According to the American Society for Nutrition, the single worst thing that you can do to your brain is to consume distilled spirits. Distilled spirits, such as vodka and rum, affect carbohydrates, which your brain needs to thrive, and they also slow down metabolism. Drinks also drain the body of Vitamin B and affect liver function.

Much of the above information comes from an article written in Psychology Today by Dr. Ilardi, author of The Depression Cure and the link between sugar and the brain, July, 2009.

warmly,
Tina Sullivan

I am with you on the damage caused by alcohol. The sugar studies are anecdotal and have not been scientifically studied. I believe there is value to moderating sugar intake but not to the level some suggest. The sugar in an apple or carrot is very concentrated, too. The young growing brain is more susceptible to the BDNF effects of sugar since the brain is still growing and maturing.

Please tell us more about your son's concussions and recovering. As I said, adolescence is a tough time for a concussion injury.

Hi Mark:
Yes, an apple, carrot and many fruits contain natural fructose, but the fiber eaten from the fruit allows your body to take up the sugar at a slower pace.

My son sustained his first concussion in May, 2010 while away at a retreat - falling full force backwards onto his head. We were never called. Six weeks later while playing badminton, he fell to the ground returning a shot and thus began full blown post concussive symptoms. Two months later, he fell onto his forearms playing and he was almost back to the beginning with symptoms. In Feb 2011, he had a door opened into the occipital part of his head and his symptoms were incredible. His visual processing and auditory symptoms were exponential. He missed a month of school and also suffers from occipital neuralgia as well. Without going into additional detail, he still suffers from extreme visual and auditory processing difficulties, word finding, etc. He is very brave and courageous to be living with with adult pain and symptoms at an age where he should be living large.

I continue to rack what's left of my brain, but it was so long ago (35 years ago). The chronic fatigue, headaches, muscle pain. The symptoms may have started immediately after the accident, or may have not manifested for a year post. I really don't remember. What makes it tough, besides the memory defect, is I sort of grew up with that "real men don't discuss their health problems" attitude. So I myself was in denial of PCS symptoms for many years.

I do know it was not longer than a year, since shortly post-trama I started on a pre-med degree. I held straight As for two semesters, then eveything went to hell.

My symptoms started to show up about 3 weeks after the accident. Of course, by that time, I was off meds and I could tell I felt different. I was constantly fatigued. I also forced myself a little too much. All this time passed and me without a neurologist. Only recently did I get one. August 17th was the day of the accident.

This sounds so much like me in the first couple of weeks...

One of my main symptoms was a lack of awareness, so in the months that followed, I lived in a horribly confusing, frustrating, and distressing world; but I couldn't process what was going on - or even that it was abnormal. I was only aware of each moment as it was happening. "Waking up" began to dawn about 3 months in.

Alcohol...
 

It's amazing how little the doctors and nurses at the hospital tell you before they discharge you. The discharge nurse didn't even give me a checklist when leaving making sure I didn't do the things which can prolong recovery. Especially alcohol. It's crazy.

The doctor that discharged me from the hospital told me not to drink for 4-6 weeks. I started drinking regularly after 6 weeks, because I thought I was all better. Then in September I got smacked in the face with symptom after symptom.

I believe that drinking so much after that 6th week is what brought on my symptoms and prolonged my recovery. Wish I would have never started drinking...

My symptoms appeared within an hour of my injury...which was very, very frightening for me. Of all I can recall about that day, this is what I would like to forget about the most....
I began to feel dizzy, then I was speaking...but it was if I was listening to someone else because the words didn't make sense..."word salad"...
When I realized it was me, I began to cry...
That lasted for months...one day, I felt like I had just "woken up"...that was 2months after my injury...this has been very rollercoaster like for me...when I feel good, it's good (not great, my deficits are still present though somewhat manageable with rest)...when I'm bad...well, it's awful...nothing seems to alleviate the symptoms...not even rest...:(

I have a similar story regarding alcohol. I think Mark said that there is actually not much formal evidence that alcohol is harmful - sure enough a big, expensive and up to date neuro rehab book I am currently reading does not even have alcohol in the index, despite going into great detail about the effects of all sorts of different substances, foods, hormones etc.

If it is really the case that people like us aren't being told about this because of a lack of research then some needs to be done pronto, since alcohol seems to have had such an obvious and hugely detrimental effect on so many of us, which we have had to work out by trial and error and to our own great cost.

Like it! Sorry to hear about your troubles, hang in there...