College/University with PCS
 

Hi guys, I have been lurking on this forum for quite some time, and I have a few questions and I need some advice. Firstly let provide you with some background information.

Firstly, I am 20 years old. About two and a half years ago I took a pretty hard hit to the temple. I retained conciousness and started getting quite frequent headaches and ear ringing starting a few days later. I have tried resting, living in a bubble, but the mild headaches and tinnitus are very persistent and do not seem to be going away.

I have been putting my education on hold for quite some time in hopes that it would help my symptoms improve, but they have not. I am trying to live my life in a way where I will not have anxiety, and I weigh the risk vs the rewards of all my activities.

Now I am going off to university in a couple of months (chemical engineering). I am staying in residence. I am wondering if anyone has any advice as to any strategies that will help me through this experience.

Also I have seen two neurologist's, one neurologist told me that my symptoms were not real, and the other told me that all I can do is rest. So I have some questions about what is okay and not okay to do with a head injury (keep in mind that I am a young adult)

-jogging
-sexual intercourse (sorry)
-very intense kissing

There is so much controversial research on what type of forces should be allowed on a person who is trying to recover from a head injury, I do not even know what to think.

I am just nervous that I will hurt my intellect and be unable to finish school.

very intense kissing = brain bleeds
i hope you are aware of that

Humorous.

But honestly any advice would be very much appreciated.

Additionally it would be a great benefit to myself to be able to drive. This would require training and being able to shoulder check, I have read some threads on this forum saying quick head movements should be avoided. So would this be too much of a risk?

I do not have any subtle neck injury.

College student too
 

Hi...I realized you posted this awhile ago but I'm lurking around the board as well so figured I'd respond.

I'm in school currently and it's definitely a struggle with PCS. For background, I got concussed 8 months ago and have constant mild headaches and eye issues as my main problems.

School can be a really good place, as there are some services that are more readily available. Counseling is a free service at a lot of universities and it has helped me through some of the anxiety. Most universities will also have medical transport services if you need to get to a doctor's appointment. Given your symptoms, getting a doctor to write a note saying that you should be allowed extended time on homework, tests, and projects could be very helpful. You can take this note to the disability services office, but I've just been dealing directly with the professors and it's been fine. That way, if you have a rough week, you don't need to stay up late working and cause more problems through that. I'm still figuring out how to balance what I can do and had a bad relapse last semester so do be careful!

As to your specific questions, I have been encouraged by a physical therapist to exercise and get my heart rate up for ~20 min/day. She did caution that jogging can be difficult given the up and down motion. I haven't had trouble jogging, and would imagine it's worth trying for you. Similarly, driving is something I've gotten back into. I don't like to drive long distances so just drive around town and it's been fine. If you go to an ocular/occupational therapist, they can do a test to see if your response time is fast enough for driving, although that's not the same as turning the neck. I'm not in a relationship so can't advise on those questions, sorry!

Nema,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

How high do you get your heart rate ?

What effect does it have on your head aches ?

Do you have any other symptoms besides the head aches and eye issues ?

Hi Mark,

I aim to get my heart rate up to 130 or higher, but don't always manage to reach that as my heart rate doesn't increase much unless I'm working pretty hard. The goal is to get exercise but not to worsen any symptoms so will vary based on the person and day. It sometimes elevates my headaches a bit but the physical therapist and I think it's worth it since my headaches never go away. Generally, I think her recommendation is not to exercise to the point where it causes any symptoms. Exercise also helps me with stress relief so it's pretty helpful for me.

I also have anxiety, whether that's cause of the concussion or situations caused by the concussion I really can't say. My skin tingles a lot as well. I occasionally get bouts of insomnia, but melatonin is generally effective. The constant headaches are the worst, and the eye issues include over-converge, fourth nerve palsy, and light sensitivity, although I'm kinda losing track of the specifics as we're still in the process of figuring out what's going on.

Regarding jogging: I found this to be abnormally tiring; however, using a cross-trainer at the gym was no problem, perhaps because there is no jolting of the head and you can basically turn your brain off while you are doing it, so it doesn't seem to be a strain. If you want to get some exercise I would try that rather than jogging until you know how it is going to affect you.

I use the stationary bike instead of the cross trainer because I like to sit down :P but I agree using either of those machines makes me feel better as opposed to jogging