What do you do when you sense your threshold approaching?
 

Just a general question (and there may be no obvious answer) - what are the best strategies for coping when you sense you've reached your mental/physical limit? Taking a tylenol and lying down? Putting your feet up? Meditating? Calling a friend? Drinking juice, water or tea? I would be interested in hearing how people slow down, get some restorative rest, and mitigate symptoms when PCS is at risk of flaring up.

While I know that rest is key, sometimes I'm reluctant to lie down (at least right away) - maybe because I spent most of my time right after the injury lying down, and I associate it with feeling headachey, unstable and anxious.

I find sitting better than going horizontal. When I lay down, I end up in more pain. The blood flow may have something to do w/it. Maybe it is just me.

The first thing you should do is take inventory of the previous time so you can understand how and why you have hit your threshold. You may need to do this after you have removed yourself from the situation that has cause the overload.

Don't fret about it. Think back and try to identify if there were signs much earlier that were a warning that you were overloading.

PCS is a learning game. The more you come to understand how and why you over-load, the sooner you will learn how to avoid such times. Over time, you will be able to avoid most overloads.

Until then, quickly remove yourself from the situation and seek a quiet and relaxing place, whether it is just sitting, taking a quiet walk, taking a nap, etc.

For me, my best approach was to go lie down and turn on my reboot music. Each person will need to try different systems to find what works for them.

I close my eyes, and prefer to stay sitting. The worse it is the more I have a compulsion to just shut my eyes.

Eyes closed
 

I seem to be in the same boat as everyone else. The worse it gets, the more I really need to close my eyes. Laying absolutely still seems to help as well.

As Mark said, I've learned to spot my triggers and attempt to avoid them, however, in some cases that's hard to do. So if I must run into a trigger, I do the best I can to get away from it ASAP and take time for my brain to regroup with my eyes closes, being still.