2.5 years in-should I scale back?
 

I had my concussion 2.5 years ago. Many of my symptoms have lessened considerably but I still have many bad days. Initially, I took 6 weeks off but then returned to work on a reduced schedule. I've tried everything to get better. (I've seen 4 neurologists, 2 acupuncturists, 2 physical therapist, I got prismatic glasses, am going to a NUCA chiropractor, use a C-pap machine, see a dentist for jaw re-alignment, on a low does of cymbalta for facial neurologia, take lunesta, get a couple of massages a month, meditate daily, avoid alcohol and processed food). Now I'm thinking of taking a couple of months just to rest to see if that kick starts the process. Does anybody have experience with resting two years in? I wonder if this will be a waste. I will take a big financial hit, but if there is a chance it could work, it may be worth it. Or is it better for my brain to keep plugging along? I can still perform my work, it is just exhausting and I don't have much left over for my husband and kids. Any insights out there?

You can afford to take the time off, and you have a supportive family? Yes, were I in your shoes, definitely do it. It sounds like you've got a good broad scope approach to your care with traditional medical & therapeutic care, PT, NUCA chiro, acupuncture, vision/eyecare, adjunctive care, therapeutic massage, meditation, excellent selfcare. With all of that going for you and you still find your work exhausting for you/your brain, leading to bad days, definitely go for the time off, yes.

Sounds like a good plan, new approach to work-with-it-all, to hopefully experience less exhaustion, fewer 'bad days', and more quality capacity to be with your family. That's what I would choose to do, were it me.

Sincerely, concussedlawyrer,
Theta ;)

Thanks, Theta. I'm glad to hear you are feeling better. It is great that you are staying on the site to support others.

one step back two forward!
 

Hi concussed lawyer,

It will be three years for me in December and by reading your older posts I can tell we are going through a similar experience.

What I can tell you is that if you do feel like you need to take two months off you should, before you reach total exhaustion.

That happened to me this summer : I went to the point where I thought I would faint if I took one more step...and I am not exaggerating. So following the advice of a neuropsychologist I spread my work on a little longer schedule to see even less clients.

The goal here is to take one step back to be able to move two steps forward! (and not the opposite, which I think indicates that you are not respecting your limits).

Like you, I did improved a lot until now but I was sacrificing everything to get a professional career.

The danger with that is to fall into deep depression: because no one can "only work" without having quality time for themselves or with their family and friends .

I think given the right conditions our brains can still heal if it progressively did until now (although very slowly...in fact too slowly).

If you do decide to take 2 months off, maybe you should also review how you want to organise your work schedule when you come back ,so that every day you save a bit of energy for yourself instead of giving everything you have!

I know, it's a lot of "sacrifice " but in the long term it will pay...and hopefully these little changes will help you recover totally for good...if you do not , at least you will be able to enjoy your life like most people do.

Thanks, Pepa. That's my instinct also. I talked to my internist about the idea of taking some time off and her thinking was interesting. She thought I should keep plugging along, switch from Amadatine to aderol, get more cardio exercise and see a nutritionist. Her view was that I should keep working-kinda a use it or lose it idea. This is not what I wanted to hear at all. I see my neuro at the end of the month so I'll get his opinion. Did you feel better once you took some time off?

Re: "I talked to my internist about the idea of taking some time off and her thinking was interesting. She thought I should keep plugging along, switch from Amadatine to aderol, get more cardio exercise and see a nutritionist. Her view was that I should keep working-kinda a use it or lose it idea. This is not what I wanted to hear at all. I see my neuro at the end of the month so I'll get his opinion."
__________________________________________________ ________
Adderall? (Generic = D-amphetamine salts.)
Did your internist offer any reasoning for the choice?

Perhaps you might want to read this neurotalk archived thread.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/ar.../t-161501.html

Concussed lawer, it took me a month and a half to start recuperating from my exhaustion. So yes it fell much better but in my case it was a necessity.And i still need to take it very slow.

I do not agree with your internist: you need to rest. it is ok to stay relatively active but if you push too hard physically you will still pay!

I think most medical doctors are afraid that we will become lazy and never recover...Passivity is something that has to be fought againts in chronic conditions...

But I do not think that a highly carreer oriented professionnal lacks the drive to recover...usually it is the opposit.And I think you should make sure that your doctor understand (or realise) who you are and what you need.

If you keep doing too much you might become exhausted and you might fall into depression...like theta said overdoing it "its no fun"...indeed it makes you doubt your own recovery and your ability to have a normal life...and on top of that you just cannot do anything besides resting...so beware.In my case i NEVER want to go through that again.it is to painful.

AS for medication, from the 7 to 10 month post concussion I took ritalin (concerta,vivanse) and i think it contributed to my actual exertion and chronic fatigue.
On ritalin I was walking one hour , training one hour, cooking and...not sleeping much everday.
On top of that it made my attention deficit worst! (i had more impulsivity).

It might be good for some poeple but be careful because it is really hard on the adrenals...so on the long run it can cause a burn out because it hides the symptoms of fatigue.

I think in retrospect that this was true in my case.
 

pepa wrote: " It might be good for some poeple but be careful because it is really hard on the adrenals ... so on the long run it can cause a burn out because it hides the symptoms of fatigue. "
__________________________________________________ __

Looking in retrospect at my now just 4-yrs post-injury, year #3 last year was my 'good year'. While Rxd low-dose generic adderall & the provigil certainly did help my focus, concentration, capabilities to function highly, to stay on task & keep going, for a period of high-productivity ... I did not take it daily... & I still had to simply rest & not do much else for a day or two after completion of each week's project.

As pepa said, it didn't take long for me to reach 'burnout' w/o realizing that it was indeed happening. (After all, I was still 'resting' for a day or two each week. :o) I think that by the time I realized that I was, e.g. 'running on depleted adrenals' (in my personal experience/opinion --- medically considered 'bunk', I realize) --- I think I'd already overdone my true capacity. And the burnout required a long, long recovery (months) of nothing other than quietly resting, because I was incapable of anything more.

I can well appreciate and do respect the "use it or lose it" approach to one's professional capacities. There is validity in that. In my own case, in the long run, it simply wasn't worth the 'costs' to my overall wellbeing.

The professional creative project work over a 4-5 month period of time --> 'recovery time' was over a period of 9 months --- & given that I am older, that has its factor in all of that as well. As Mark often says here, "Your mileage may vary". ;)
Whatever you chose with your drs to do, concussedlawyer, you are your own best judge of your capacities & your greater wellbeing.

Best regards,
Theta

thanks to you both. Your insights are very helpful. My reaction to the stimulants was the same. I know when I overdo it I pay so it doesn't seem to make sense to be hyped up on stimulants. I've ended up going back to a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor, I'm not sure if I am wasting my money but I think I am going to give this another shot. I so appreciate your support!

For what it is worth, I agree that you should take the time off. It took me well over a year after my accident to cut my activities (work and caring for my small farm) WAY back. I was able to get help on my farm and work minimally (as a massage therapist), but slept alot and forced myself to just do as little as I could. Watching tv was very helpful (I know some people can't tolerate tv, but for me it was bliss and I'm not a normal tv watcher). It gave part of my mind a place to focus while the rest of my brain didn't have to "work". Doing nothing for several months sped up my recovery in the end. I was having great difficulty before doing that. A sports medicine Dr advised me to do this. There is a protocol that activity (Any and ALL activity) stops until concussion symptoms are gone. You may slowly increase activities at that time and if symptoms come back, you lay off activity again until the symptoms go away again. This can take a lot of time, so give it a chance. Doing this gave me the ability to become aware of activities that made me feel worse. I took all activity away and slowly added things in to see how it was tolerated. I hope this makes sense.

I don't think the "use it or lose it" theory applies when healing a brain...that comes at a later point in the healing. It's like working out a broken arm before the bones are fully fused back together. Think of this time like the time a broken arm has to be in a cast.

I just can't stress enough what rest will do for healing a brain injury. REST as much as you can and you will see the benefits. I am back doing my farm work with less help now and I owe it to taking that time off. (you may be even discover that 2 months may or may not be enough, I suggest just keeping an open end on that in the back of your mind).

Something that was a real eye opener for me too: write down everything you do in a 2 week time period. Then take an over all look. I was shocked to see how much I was doing, even though in my mind it was "cutting back" from what I used to do. No wonder healing was taking so long...I never gave my brain a chance for rest and healing.

Sorry to jump in here, I am in the same boat as concussed lawyer, well 3 years today.

Eponagirl,

Did you just sleep and watch tv all day? Did you go on walks or exercise? Read books/ computer time? Please elaborate your "rest time". Thanks for the invaluable info.

Also do you have headaches still?

Hi Postconcussion,
I watched alot of tv, took naps during the day, would go online a few times a day, read books (not sure how much of reading actually got in my brain, but I read. I bet if I re read those books now, more would be absorbed). Light walking was fine, but I was told to not even lift my horse's water buckets. I remember specifically holding myself back from doing things even when I started to feel better, just to make sure it wasn't too soon. I struggled with overdoing things for a long time, so really tried to pay attention. Finding the balance takes some time.

I have animals to check on, so would be taking my dogs out in our yard, checking on the hens and horses. I had to count my hens each night before locking them in the coop. That task used to take awhile even though there were only 16 hens. I had to recount them several times before making sure everyone was accounted for. It's not like they are all the same color either. Now counting them feels more "normal". It's still a good guide for me to know if I am stressing myself even now. When counting the hens gets slower, I need to be alerted to cut back on how much I'm doing again.

So, not sure how to tell you about how much to do or not. Basically if you keep things really minimal for a week and feel better, add one thing, and if after a couple of days it didn't make you worse, doing that activity will be ok.

One thing to point out, I noticed that the effect of overdoing wasn't always immediate. Sometimes it wasn't until the next day or later that same day that I would realize that doing something was too much. Journaling quick notes each day on your activity and how you felt are invaluable during this phase.

I really hope the importance of resting gets out. It seems really simple, but in our society it can be really hard to do, so it actually takes some work to stop doing so much.

For the brain, resting or slowing things down really makes a difference. Eventually you should try to increase activity, so I do not mean rest doing nothing forever...but everyone has a different time frame depending on their own injury, could be weeks, months, or for some of us years.

Sorry for rambling on...

I'm sorry your in pain
 

Hello first off sorry for your constant head pain and all the syptoms. I can kinda relate with you. I have psdotumer papademia, meaning there was too much spinal fluid on the brain and actually almost cost me my sight in the beginning, when we didn't know what was going on. That was in the 80s and I happy to say we have kept it at bay with no need of surgery only meds to keep under control. However a concussion is by far the sickest I have ever been. I had a provoked brain stem when they let pressure off the brain.
I am so sorry for your long time discomfort.
Personally I would live for yourself and your family, meaning be the best you can be by takeing care of your body. Rest its what your body is telling you. Maybe if you try that you'll heal faster, from your bruised brain. It slowed me down and I do have it return once in a blue moon, but rest makes my body feel its best and that makes my family happier too. Of course they worry and I don't like to cause it as much as possible.
Money isn't everything, you are more important then that, and if you heal, you'll be back in the office again. what ever you do decide, take it slowly because I'm sure that you are precious to them.
God Bless and Good Luck,
SalfuZ:hug:

You here serve as a reminder for me of the benefit of my own self-limited recent 'confinement' of 9 months earlier this year after terrible relapse. While it's certainly not 'fun', the necessary quiet rest as I can see it now, was absolutely crucial to any potential for 'getting better again'.

While it can feel interminable and we may wonder everyday, "Is this it?? Is this as good as I get?" --- it is amazing truly the wonders that the "Golden Rule" of quiet rest/simple activity can work over time.
Mark refers to this repeatedly. And it's a tough one for us as Americans to genuinely grasp --- especially as newcomers to pcs life, or in my own case as one 'seasoned' (and hopefully wiser) now over these 4 years post-injury. :o

Thanks again for your own wise sharings here, eponagirl!

All the best,
Theta

Thanks for jumping in! PCS can be lonely business for me so I am really eating up the support/wisdom on this website. Anniversary dates are hard -thanks for sharing.