7 year old with PCS
 

My 7 year old son has been suffering with PCS since May 2012. He took a bad fall playing hockey but didn't show any signs of a concussion. He started complaining of mild headaches a week later but then the flu bug went thru the house so we ignored the headache. About 4 weeks after the hockey fall he got hit in the jaw at baseball practice. Again, he showed no signs. Three days after getting hit he was in bed with horrible headaches and he was walking funny. We took him in and found out he had a concussion. He has been struggling with headaches in the back of his head, slight dizziness, personality and mood changes. His headaches get worse when he tries to read or think too hard so he is not doing any academics right now. We have been seeing a chiropractor multiple times per week. He just started having some craniosacral therapy done. The woman who is doing the therapy said that his neck has classic signs of whiplash. She thinks this is what is causing the headaches in the back of the head. My son is taking high does of fish oil and B vitamins. Can you please recommend anything else I should be looking into for him.

Thanks in advance for your help!

mommalt,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. I am sorry to hear of your youngster's head injury.

I am concerned that his multiple treatment modalities are not under the direction of a single doctor. Whiplash is a common injury with a concussion. If his chiro is doing 'twist the head and pop the neck' adjustments, he may be getting treated too aggressively. If the CST therapist is trying to manipulate his skull plates, it also may be too much for him.

He needs quiet rest with maybe some light head/neck traction therapy. He should be icing his neck, especially his upper neck. He should not be playing video games or going to school. His cognitive load should be minimized.

I wish I could offer more help. Maybe others will. I have been struggling with a head ache since 6:00 am. I know how he feels.

My best to both of you.

I read your post because in have an 8 year old son who has been suffering from PCS since Jan 2012. He had a fall playing soccer. He has come a long way since then and continues to improve but he's really not 100% still. He suffered so much for the first 4-5 months and mainly rested his head. He had intense headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vision issues. He did manage to finish the second grade with the help of a tutor.

When the summer hit, he was able to play golf and tennis. It was so great to see a smile on his face most of the day but he would mainly complain at night having headaches. He still had his great personality and was the same sweet boy.

He started the new school year and is able to complete a full day which is huge! The teachers and nurse are so supportive and give him breaks when he needs it.
He is out of contact sports and focuses on golf and tennis. He's not a video/tv kid and prefers sports and outdoor activities so these sports have worked well.

Over the past 8 months we have seen great concussion specialists in the Boston area with good advice. Even though we did try the chiro, acupuncture, massage, in addition to the vitamins, hydration, healthy eating,etc., I think at the end of the day, it's really rest and time! I really think everyone's body heals when they are ready and in this case it's just a lot of rest and time. We've all had to learn a lot about patience in our family.

We support our son immensely and would do anything for him. It breaks our hearts for what he has gone through and what he still struggles with. He's not there yet, but I know in time he will be. It's good to keep positive and see improvements over time.

I really wish you the best!

The value of nutrition and vitamins is not to cause brain healing. It better enables the brain to heal when the brain gets the quiet rest it needs.

The same goes for many neurological dysfunctions like anxiety and depression. Many accept a doctor's prescription of medication for anxiety and depression. It only helps to the extent that the medication can overcome the anxiety and depression inducing factors. Remove the medication but continue poor nutrition and environmental factors and the anxiety and de pression will return. If instead, the medication is discontinued but good nutrition and environmental factors are maintained and the anxiety and depression can be kept at bay.

The brain is a chemical factory. Quiet rest reduces the metabolic stresses allowing the brain time to recover. Include good brain oriented nutrition and this recovery is enhanced. It is no different than limiting further brain impacts.

Quiet rest alone will slowly allow recovery but including all of the other factors will be better.

Brain nutrition allows the myelin sheath to rebuild faster and stronger. Continued nutrition helps the myelin sheath be as strong as possible. For youth, the myelin sheath is not fully developed until 14 years old or later. The myelin sheath is the covering over the nerve cells and fibers. It is like insulation over electrical wires. Multiple sclerosis is a disease where the body attacks the myelin sheath causing the nerve fibers to malfunction. It is extremely important for the myelin sheath to be strong and healthy. Recent concussion research has shown that a lot of the damage done by a concussion is done to the myelin sheath.

With 30 years experience with PCS, nutrition shows it greatest value at enhancing and maintaining stable personality and behavior. The doctor who started me on nutritional therapy changed my life. Every time I let nutrition slide, my struggles increased. It got to the point that my wife would notice a difference and ask if I had been taking my vitamins, mainly B's and anti-oxidants.

btw, Which doctors was your son seen by? Was he seen Dr Cantu? I think Dr Cantu raised the bar for concussion treatment in the Boston area. He has been promoting his concussion research and knowledge since the early 1980's.

Yes, Dr. Cantu is very well respected and most of the good concussion specialists try to model their management of concussion patients from his research and advice. Dr. Meehan from Boston Children's Hospital is also excellent and we have been fortunate to get advice from him. We are pretty lucky to have a some good concussion specialists in Boston and the surrounding areas. Even the doctors that might not be nationally popular are good. Most of them use the advice of these excellent doctors.

Thank you again for your thoughts. I always appreciate the information you give.

Thank you so much for sharing your story with me. It gives me hope. Would you be willing to share some of the advice your Doctors gave your son?

Mom and Son may have some things to add but Dr Cantu's primary treatment is to prescribe quiet rest. Limit cognitive load and sensory load. This can be difficult with youth. They get board so easily. If you can find some very simple activities that have a low mental load and physical load, the peaceful stimulation will give his brain time to heal.

If he has access to a fishing pond, that would be a good outlet for quiet activity. Cast and retrieve is about all the effort he should endure. Training a dog, building models, Lego projects as long as they do not have frustrating directions, and other activities can provide just enough effort to keep blood flowing through his brain.

His school efforts need to be moderated. Finding a pediatric concussion specialist will help at understanding school issues. He will be more able to catch up from missed school later than any benefit from trying to push through the efforts of a full school work load while he is struggling.

What part of the country do you live in? Maybe someone can refer a good doctor.

My best to you.

Thanks Mark for your advice. We live in the Milwaukee, WI area. Fortunately, I homeschool my son so I'm keeping his schoolwork work very light. I'm not having him do any math or reading. I'm just reading a few things to him that he enjoys. I've been having him draw, play legos, build with blocks, put together puzzles. He is a very active 7 year old so it is hard to keep him still and quiet.

Yes, I would be happy to share some advice from the concussion specialists we've seen. Mainly, it was a lot of rest and gradually getting him back to his normal life. I knew nothing about concussions before this happened to my son and all I've done this past year is immerse myself in concussion mangement!

Good news is that Dr. Robert Cantu just came out with a new book this week called "Concussions and Our Kids". I would highly recommend getting this book.

In my son's case, he initially had very severe symptoms with very painful headaches, dizziness, light and noise sensitivity, blurry vision, and nausea. He could hardly function, walk outside, go in the car without feeling sick or be around a group of people. We even had to get him eye glasses. So in the beginning it was exactly what Mark said and a lot of quiet rest and him lying down with a cold face cloth on his head. He had no interest in doing much for the first few months and was out of school.

This was a huge adjustment for the little boy who is a big athlete playing hockey, lacrosse, soccer with a lot of friends and used to having fun! He went from that to complete misery. We had so much support from family friends and the school and we are thankful for that.

My son has always been a healthy eater and huge water drinker so that was good, but we added vitamins like Omega 3 and riboflavin. Good nutrition is important.

After three-four months of a very low key lifestyle and a lot of resting, he was ready for some tutoring (she came a few hours a week). Then he finished the last few weeks of school going half days.

6 months later and into the summer, he was running around with his friends, swimming and biking. In addition he played tennis and golf. He no longer needed his sunglasses, which he couldn't walk outside without earlier in the year. He didn't even need his eye glasses and I would catch him reading signs from far away and tiny words on a book. He laughed a lot and and we would have really great conversations and it was so great to see our little boy back!

8 months later he is making it through a full day of school and is a happy boy. He still sometimes gets headaches at night. The doctor says 1 out of every 5 kids can take a year or longer for the headaches to go away. Until then, he is out of all contact sports and we make sure he still rests and takes breaks. We are rethinking what we will do as far as sports for the future because kids brains are still forming until the age of 14 and another blow to his head could be devastating.

His improvements were slow and steady. We made sure he was comfortable and gave him a lot of love and encouragement. Looking back at that first day of his concussion in January and watching him be in so much pain and seeing him now as a happy boy is really great. But we are so cautious with him and will do anything for him so this does not happen again.

From one Mom to another, I know how difficult it is to see your son suffer so much. I feel like I hardly slept at night because I worried so much about him. I have talked to so many Mom's whose kids have had concussions and have recovered. But you really don't want that second or third one. It's important to think about that and the doctors tell me that often! It does take a lot of time for concussions to heal but do be encouraged by the small improvements your son makes.

If you want to discuss more, please feel free to send me a private message and we can talk that way too. Take Care!!!!

Mom and son is right. Dr Cantu's new book "Concussions and Our Kids" is very good. I have already read it as a prepublishing reviewer. It is more oriented for parents whose children have not yet suffered a concussion or have only suffered mild concussions that resolved quickly.

He does not discuss much about recovery except quiet rest. He tells about many patients and their recovery profiles.

Mommalt, Good for you for homeschooling your son. He has a great opportunity to avoid the recovery struggles common at a campus school with all the sensory over-stimulation. Our 3 kids were homeschooled and are doing well in their adult lives. The ability to teach to their learning styles was a great advantage.

My best to you.