Next Step? Neuro doc/Amantadine or Natural Alternatives
 

Hello,

I am searching for the next step in our healing journey for our 15 year old son who got a concussion in August 2014 and is still struggling in his recovery.

My question is do we make an appt with a Neurologist who will most likely prescribe drugs, or try to find a doctor here in Georgia who is more holistic in his/her approach and considers chiropractic, massage therapy, nutrition, and supplements as part of the healing process.

Here's my son's story:

I am a parent of a active teenage boy injured August 2014 during a swim team practice. He took a powerful hit in his left eye from a fellow swimmer in his lane.

He has had a rollercoaster recovery journey, and now seems to be at a standstill. Son is still suffering with brain fogginess and loss of concentration all these months later. (He gets headaches also, but takes tylenol and they go away so he isn't as frustrated by the headaches.) He struggles with his academic work, and the stress of previously being a Straight A very responsible student and knowing how far behind he is now causes more stress. Neuropsych testing didn't give us any leads to pursue, since my son did fairly well on his testing. Looking at what our next best step should be.

We are willing to consider drugs, but also use chiropractic, essential oils, and nutritional supplements. I see that Amantadine is having some success with helping brain fogginess and concentration in early research. We are cautious when choosing to take drugs, mainly the side affects are usually overwhelming and add in additional issues to deal with. But after all these months we are more ready to do something to jump start recovery.

My son says he will take medicine, but doesn't want to have any shots or have to be stuck inside an MRI tube.

Asking for suggestions on planning our next step. I have procrastinated for 3 weeks while researching the "perfect" next step. I know I need to just make a decision and move forward with it.

Do we go with a regular Neurologist, or keep searching for some other kind of holistic doctor, or try alternative therapies on our own?

Thanks for reading this and offering suggestions.

Mom2PCS,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. I am sorry to hear your son is struggling so.

You don't say what you have done or been doing so far so I will respond as if you are doing nothing.

Nutritional supplements are not a quick fix but do have long term benefits and are a valuable way to move forward. There is a sticky thread at the top called Vitamins. The vitamin regimen listed in the 1st post has been updated at post #101. Here is a link to it: http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread181974-11.html

Chiro can be helpful if he suffered an upper neck injury but you need to find someone who is good with subtle upper neck injuries. The above thread list the upper cervical chiro organization that can direct you to a local chiro.

Sometimes, brain fog can be self-induced by anxiety. A little bit of brain fog is made much worse by the resulting frustration and anxiety. Learning to accept the current need to slow down thinking so one can focus will be a big help. As an A student, he may have been a quick learner but now needs to develop new study skills to learn, understand and retain information. I went through this at his age from trauma heading a soccer ball. It gets real frustrating to have been able to read the material once and retained it and now needing to study three times as hard and still not do as good on exams.

He may need to find ways to quiet his study environment so he can rebuild his ability to focus. Sound reducing head phones or foam ear plugs may help him shut out external stimuli so he can focus better.

The reports on Amantadine were interesting but there either has not been any follow up studies or they did not support further use. We often see these these blips of interest in a certain treatment but follow up study show the inconsistent value of the med or treatment. Currently, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy appears to be a big focus. HBOT requires 40 to 80 treatments to see any improvements. That's $4000 to $14,000 depending on what the local HBOT center charges.

Most neuros are of little help with concussions. I would not recommend seeing a neuro unless you can find one who has a good reputation for understanding and helping with PCS. Is there a concussion clinic nearby ? They are hit and miss with prolonged concussion issues but finding one of the good ones can be worthwhile.

I find it interesting that your son's struggles are not severe enough for him to be willing to tolerate shots or an MRI tube. Decades ago when I was just getting started with nutritional therapy, I got weekly B-12 shots that appeared to be helpful. Today, B-12 tablets are very common and help many people. At this point, there is not likely anything an MRI would show.

I can understand his frustration with SAT's and ACT's. He will be able to take them a second time. I improved 50 points on the math SAT the second time as I was more recovered. And, I had not even taken a math course since my sophomore year. I was advanced in math and had finished taking the math courses available as a sophomore. But, my late junior year SAT went up 50 points. We did not have SAT prep courses back then. An SAT prep course may help him with his test taking skills.

If he already has chosen some schools to apply to, he might contact their admissions department and see if they have any accommodations for students who took SAT's during recovery from concussions.

So, I hope this is a start for how to move forward. I look forward to hearing more about his struggles: What you have tried and what you are going to try. What has his activity level been since his concussion ?

My best to you.

[QUOTE=Mom2PCS;1130783]
[I]We are willing to consider drugs, but also use chiropractic, essential oils, and nutritional supplements. I see that Amantadine is having some success with helping brain fogginess and concentration in early research. We are cautious when choosing to take drugs, mainly the side affects are usually overwhelming and add in additional issues to deal with. But after all these months we are more ready to do something to jump start recovery.

I have been taking Amantadine for two years and have had no problems with it. It is not a stimulant like Ritalin was, it increases alertness without over stimulation. I can tolerate and concentrate a lot more and handle stimulating environments.

It does not help or repair cognitive problems, but being more alert and aware of my surroundings. I can interact and have better conversations with others with more tolerance to mental fatigue.

I also take Creatine which also helps with mental stamina.

One 100mg every morning is enough for me, anymore as it interferes with the vital sleep and repair.

More details about what we've done so far...
 

Accident happened at an evening swim practice, and we went to a Children's Urgent Care center the next morning. Diagnosed without any brain scans according to level of symptoms and no loss of consciousness. Given phone number of Children's Concussion Nurse Hotline, which we have utilized multiple times for advice.

Initial symptoms included massive headaches, slight dizziness, extreme sensitivity to light and sound, and fatigue.

Followed the instructions given by Urgent Care to the letter including isolation in dark bedroom, no electronics at all, no schoolwork, no physical activity, no nothing but eating frequent meals and snacks that focused on whole grains, drinking lots of water daily, and sleeping as much as he could stand. We did take him to our chiropractor to get adjustments during this time period.

Followed the proctocol by stages, and then followed up with Primary Care Doctor to get officially "released" to go back to swim practice. Slowly eased into practices, missed a number of swim meets, and slowly added in academic work and classes.

8 weeks into recovery, after successfully attending one loud, noisy swim meet, attended a second meet and was overwhelmed by the noise, conversations, physical exertion, and general chaos of a large swim meet. Sent back to Stage 1 of Recovery. Took 6 more weeks off of swim practice, pulled back from academics. Continue to receive specific phone counseling from Children's Concussion Team, and following nurse's instructions for recovery. We were counseled it hadn't been long enough to consider other doctor intervention, just let the body heal itself.

Tried again later to ease into school and swimming, still having struggles. Stop and regroup. By this time, sadness sets in at being cut off from the world, and frustration at doing everything we were told to do, and still not seeing results. (Must say that no one counseled us of the long term recovery process. We kept thinking something was "wrong" because he was so far past the "normal" range for recovery.)

February started with him going back to swim practice, and he managed to work out enough to get back in shape in time for metro championships. (Won 1st place, even as a 15 year old racing against 15-18 year olds.) That was a great emotional victory for him, and he is encouraged to be getting more physical exertion back in his life.

We were given options of pursuing neurologist or neuropsychologist, and we chose neuropsych testing. Took several months to get an appt, then testing, then 3 weeks before followup appt. We got a Big fat packet of info that cost us thousands of dollars and didn't really tell us anything. IQ is above average, testing doesn't document the troubles he is having with focus/concentration and headaches that vary from a 3 to a 10 on 10 point scale.

Neuropsych doc recommended we visit a neurologist and get on preventive headache medicine, and see what brain function could be if the headaches weren't there. We have not made that appt yet, and struggle with what is the best next step in this journey.

And that's what brings me to the internet now, researching alternative treatment options and ways to encourage the body to heal without medicating the symptoms (and having to deal with side effects.)

We are open to more specialized chiropractic care, massage therapy, neurofeedback, more intentional nutrition/supplements, etc. And we are also open to meeting with a neurologist, since we don't want to dismiss medical intervention without understanding how they might help us. I would love to find a neurologist that is open to holistic/alternative treatments in addition to medicine.

We think we see small increments of improvement in his overall health and well being, but we also realize now that this is a much longer journey than we had been told to expect.

Thanks for caring about my son's health!

Mom2PCS,

Urgent care gave you questionable/controversial advice. "Followed the instructions given by Urgent Care to the letter including isolation in dark bedroom, no electronics at all, no schoolwork, no physical activity, no nothing but eating frequent meals and snacks that focused on whole grains, drinking lots of water daily, and sleeping as much as he could stand. We did take him to our chiropractor to get adjustments during this time period."

Many believe that there is a need to have a moderate level of stimulation to enhance brain blood flow. Short sessions of mild stimulation with rest between sessions is considered best. Night time sleep to try to maintain a normal schedule. Daytime sleep as fatigue suggest. The concept is moderated stimulation to avoid causing fatigue/over stimulation.

A slow return to more activity and stimulation is considered the best way to return to normal function. His swim meets would have been better if he was only at the pool during his races and warm up. Return to normal activities should be done in steps. Many use 2 weeks as the step interval.

At this point, he may need to use this stepped process to return to activities. It is important for him to learn to recognize when he is overloading. Needing to reread a line of text, struggling to focus, tired eyes, and any sense that thing are not right but you were OK just minutes before means he should take a break. Pushing through is counter to recovery.

Regarding chiro. Twist the head and pop the neck is too aggressive for many subtle upper neck injuries. His head aches may be caused by upper neck issues. More gentle techniques are usually more beneficial. It is important to work to minimize upper neck inflammation. Icing, disciplined neck and head posture, especially when sleeping or resting is important. It takes weeks for the neck to heal.

My brain has hit its limit. More later.

My best to you.

Hi.
I'm really sorry to hear about your son's injury. Please stay hopeful.

I used amantadine for one full year. I ended up just taking 100 mg in the morning because I found it hard to sleep at night. I stopped it for a while and then realize that it had great benefit in terms of fatigue and lethargy. It is a pretty benign drug as far as drugs go. I would definitely give it a try. It works on the dopamine level and the neuro transmitter level. These are things that chiropractic treatment cannot do.

I am not someone who feels comfortable with medicine but I felt completely comfortable with this one.
Take care!