How do you recover from PCS?
 

In early November last year I hit my head off the car door and experienced concussion 30 minutes later, I don't know how long I was out for but they were more concerned about my heart because it dropped to 45bpm. I had a CT which was clear but the following day I felt dizzy. After 3 weeks I was back at work and went to the gym, also had a few glasses of wine over the weekend, after which I felt a pain behind my eye.

By the middle of the week I was feeling dizzy again and exhausted, and from this point until now have experienced insomnia. Initially I got a feeling of fuzzyness from about 3pm onwards. Along with this I developed post concussion headaches involving earache, pain in cheek, sinus and through my teeth. Cold feet and chronic fatigue, noise and light sensitivity, hypersensitive hearing, tinitus, and pain caused by extractor fan noise etc. I also get numbness/dizzyness when stooping, fuzzyness (which has gone), motion sickness, and aversion to Tv and computer brightness. I have been taking regular breaks and have had all responsibility taken away from me, which is helping greatly. I am now stepping things up after numerous relapses.

Currently many of these symptoms have gone. Instead of headaches I have pressure on the left side of my brain moving to the right side, but this pressure will be extreme and cause headaches if I over exert myself, I think swimming provokes it more than anything. I now just have ear ache, and occasional tinitus and noise sensitivity, and light sensitivity is reducing. I also notice that when I concentrate for too long this causes fatigue. I still am only getting 3-4 hrs sleep a night, but on a good night have had 6-7hrs on rare occassions. I seem to react to physical activity, stress and noise.

Any tips on recovery.

Also want to add that I have found taking hot baths with epsom salts very helpful for relieving fatigue, I am also am finding reflexology and regular neck, shoulder and back massage very helpful.

Meditation
 

Thanks for the above tips. Those are helpful to me. I have found meditation works good for me. Also, coming here and talking with others who understand helps. I have always found good support here even after admitting to some of my weirder symptoms. I have found that emergen-c helps. It is a vitamin packet you mix with your drink. It has a lot of b vitamins. Here's to hoping we can all find some ways to cope with this awful condition. Oh and praying, definately praying.:hug:

Thanks for this information, and I am sorry to read what has happened to you - I wish you well. Your right about the need for supplements, I read somewhere that magnesium may help with light sensitivity so I am taking this along with omega 3. I do think I will recover, the key isn to do the things that you can and avoid the things that provoke PCS symptoms. Overall it has been the biggest battle of my life, but one I will hopefully win.

Mouse1 - You could not have said it better. I have been through hell and back in my life and this by far is the hardest battle I have ever fought. It is currently winning. I am 10 months in from a dual concussion myself. The hot baths help me on occasion also. It's so weird, it like something works one day and nothing the next! If there were more consistency with brain damage or goal markers or something, we would all know what to expect or at least what we are in for. I'm shooting for 13 months myself. I feel that I have not left many rocks unturned and praying this will all be behind us all in a few months! Good luck to you and go slow. People tell me that often and I still am not good at slow. I might have been healed already so try that for sure!

Mouse1,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. You experience sounds very familiar.

Nobody can say how long it takes to recover. We can say that you need to get quiet rest to recover from prolonged concussion symptoms. 85% recover spontaneously. The other 15% can take weeks, months and years.

Your head pain from swimming may be from upper neck inflammation. Neck injuries are often overlooked after a concussion.

If I understand correctly, you passed out 30 minutes after your injury ?

The low heart beat sounds like a brain stem injury/inflammation causing your heart beat to slow. This again can be a neck issue. C-1/atlas to occiput is an unsupported joint. The lower vertebra have more socket/mechanical structure. Dislocating the atlas-occiput joint can put stress on arteries and cause inflammation that can effect the whole system.

Has anybody suggested icing your upper neck while in a good posture ? This would be worthwhile.

The Emergen-C packets do not have nearly enough B vitamins for an injured brain. Read the thread Vitamin Supplements and check out the links at the bottom of the post. There is a lot of good info there.

Feel free to ask or tell us anything. We have heard it all. Lots of good people here.

Now, try to get quiet rest with minimal visual and audio stimulation, this includes work.

Good luck and I wish you well. Concentrate on the things you can do, rest before and after them and listen to what your body is telling you.

Mark,

Thanks for your help, I have only noticed about my neck following a black out in January, this resulted in another CT which was clear. I started to get pain in this region after the fall and it hasn't gone away. Thankfully this hasn't happened again. I use a heat pack on it, but haven't tried ice yet!

I think that its only when you begin to recover that you realise what really helps and what the problems are. Things were clear in November, but December and January were a foggy haze full of fatigue and pain where I was living hour to hour. It was only at the end of January when I requested migraine medication that I had relief from the headaches.

I have got lots of quiet rest since, I am not in work, but am thinking of going back - although my job is very stressful. Going back to work might get me back into a routine and help my sleep, the only trouble is it is about 25miles away from my home and takes 40 minutes to get to.

I was able to weed the garden for an hour the other day with no reaction, have mopped and hoovered house (with earplugs) and no reaction, I have also walked half a mile with no reaction straight away, but admittedly felt a bit fatigued later that day, but a hot bath resolved this. If I tried any of these tasks last week I would have had severe symptoms again! I have recently experienced fatigue and the aura that post concussion headaches/symptoms are coming (which previously resulted in 3 day bouts of headaches, fatigue and noise/light sensitivity) - but this is no longer happening anymore.

My main issue is insomnia at the moment. I am wondering if as people improve, does insomnia become more of an issue? Or perhaps I am just more aware of it now, getting to sleep isn't the problem, it is waking up at 2 or 3am in the morning and not being able to get to sleep that is the issue. Does anyone have any tips on this? I think that if I get back to 7hrs sleep again instead of 3/4 hrs sleep per day I will fully recover.

Mark...I have a neck MRI coming up in a month or so....first one since the accident. Does that tend to show the problems you discuss in your post? My neck is awful.

Mokey,

If the MRI is of your neck, you probably need it to be with your head turned sharply to the right and left to open the joint to show any instability. Your doctor or the radiologist will need to sign off on these positions. Good luck convincing them.

My best to you.