NeuroTalk Support Groups

NeuroTalk Support Groups (https://www.neurotalk.org/)
-   Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Concussion Syndrome (https://www.neurotalk.org/traumatic-brain-injury-and-post-concussion-syndrome/)
-   -   Hi. How long after a hard concussion can i activate and train my brain? Or is rest.. (https://www.neurotalk.org/traumatic-brain-injury-and-post-concussion-syndrome/248891-hi-hard-concussion-activate-train-brain-rest.html)

temporary 08-19-2017 05:14 PM

Hi. How long after a hard concussion can i activate and train my brain? Or is rest..
 
Hi. How long after a hard concussion can i activate and train my brain? Or is rest the best medicine for a while if symptoms/dizziness still are felt?

--
Hi. I skateboarded 3-4 weeks ago, and went up like a big wall in a pool, but made a big fall backwards, and hit the back of my head hard! (Aouch!) I was unconscious for 3-5 min i think.. Was not many people there at that time, late. Nobody saw my fall, etc. Bad luck. (But i got some info after, and guessing 3-5 min unconscious.)

I still have a headache now 3-4 weeks later on, and my balance is a bit slow, and my thinking/memory/concentration also. But i mostly feel lightheaded and dizzy when i am out just walking. And i have of course never experienced that before the fall. That is what i feel is the most uncomfortable, and the headaches. And yes, it was very stupid to not wear a helmet that time. Was very close. Bad accident, bad luck. I have bought an helmet for next year, if i feel better then. ;) I must, i really hope so!

I hope i will be good as new this Christmas.. Then it has gone some time. I found this link:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-concussion_syndrome

Anyways. I try and sleep good and eat good.. What are the best ways for me to become fully healed in the next couple of weeks/months? Should i just take it easy and listen to like sound books, or watching movies? Should i sleep much/more?
If anyone has the knowledge of how to recover after a concussion, i would really appreciate the help. My dizziness and slow pace when walking, i hope and think it will go away eventually. But, i actually did *not throw up* after, and that's good. (But i was feeling sick to my stomach days after, but did not throw up.)
I just felt asleep for a while after. And the first week was really slow. I'm better now, but i'm not fully recovered... I'm at 80-(90)% maybe. I do not want to feel dizzy and lightheaded outside, and stuff. Walking slow and a bit "shaky". Also, i have headache in the back of my head right now a bit.. (But mostly just have a headache, which i rarely have otherwise.) Need to take an aspirin. But i would very much appreciate advice on a full recovery of my brain. ;) Meditation? Rest?

I have been in front of my computer the last weeks, and have played some games. But, i do not know if it's healthy for me..

That's mostly what i want to know. If i should rest/meditate.. Take it very slow. OR if i can read books and activate my brain more? Can i play myst like games, etc? The witness games, puzzles and train my brain, or should i cut down on it? Might be good to activate the brain as much as possible, or not, and listen to sound books and stay away from flashing games, etc. I do not know. Might just be the first days or weeks they recommend that for people perhaps? Might be cool now to put "pressure" on it/challenge it, i do not know.

What is the best for recovery?

(Also.. If i get back to myself and feel fully recovered later on.. Will i have lost a big part of brain cells, or intelligence, or does that come back normally in time?)

Thanks allot! Please answer if you have knowledge on this topic with concussions, and recovery, or in general. ;) Peace out

smutsik 08-20-2017 05:47 PM

Hey dude, welcome!

I think almost everyone here has been through the symptoms you're describing with dizzyness and lightheadedness. If I would sum up what has worked for me, getting better after almost 5 months of PCS it would be active rest. If something makes you dizzy, stay away from it. If it doesn't make you dizzy, you can keep doing it (until you feel symptoms returning, then stop). One could say that you experience symptoms when your brain is trying to tell you to stop doing what you're doing because it doesn't have the resources to process that task.

Computer games really messed me up when I tried playing some League of Legends after a long day, just a month after I hit my head. I experienced a really significant setback from doing so. You don't need to activate your brain in order to get it healing, you just need to rest. You won't lose processing power from taking it easy for a while, and your brain really needs it. If you want to do anything - that is, if you're feeling energized and it doesn't induce symptoms - you can try exercising. And when I say exercising I don't mean going for a run or going to lift weights (or god forbid, skating again, look up second impact syndrome, don't die on us), I mean taking a walk until you start feeling tired/dizzy. Remember how long it took you to get symptoms and stay below that threshold next time you take a walk. When you've been taking walks and going about your days without symptoms for some time (general consensus seems to be two weeks), you can ramp up your intensity slightly.

Take your brain injury seriously. I don't know if I could have shortened my period of illness by much, but if I could, it would have been by taking the injury more seriously. I went on to complete a university course with client interactions even though I had pretty severe symptoms and now I've been unable to function at more than 50-60% of my healthy capacity for almost 5 months. You can shorten your stay in bed if you take it seriously.


Things I believe have helped me recover, apart from resting:
- Vitamin regimen. You can find it linked in the forum head. Don't skip curcumin! Studies have shown that mice improve greatly from traumatic brain injury if they are supplementing curcumin. Buy a curcumin pill that has piperine included, without it the curcumin has poor bioavaliability.

- Meditating consistently. Studies have connected increased density in white matter in the brain to meditation, and PCS is believed to be caused to a large extent by disruptions in axons in white matter.

- Doing as much exercise as I can do without inducing symptoms. For me this has been walks and recently running for short sessions of 6-7 minutes on a cross trainer. Physical exercise is much, much more efficent than cognitive exercise when it comes to improving cognitive functioning and secretion of sweet, sexy proteins that our brain uses to rewire itself. If you want to you can look up BDNF (Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor), but if not, take my word for it. Exercise and specifically cardio is the bomb when it comes to brain function.

- Getting good quality sleep. Turn down the lights an hour before you go to bed and try to chill out, listen to/read some fiction to get your mind focused on something that you can't really stress out about. Get your room pitch black or buy yourself a sleeping mask. Earplugs help me too.


Things that are fun that I've been doing to not want to jump off a cliff when resting:
- Audio books. Man, I've gone through a few. Goodreads is great to get some recommendations if you haven't read a whole lot (I hadn't). Podcasts get stale after a while because they are designed to keep you occupied for an hour at a time. And with PCS, you need to kill a lot more than an hour. I see audio books as a way for me to do something constructive while I'm impaired due to my PCS and I've read and learned a lot during these months.

- Podcasts. If you have a particular favourite that is just a couple of people hanging out and talking, this can provide you with a great comfort-entertainment when you're in a slump and experiencing symptoms. Whenever I feel like crap with symptoms I come back to a particular podcast that makes me feel better. Makes the anxiety go away.

- Youtube videos of relaxed things. If you're well enough to look at screens (took me about two months before I could), you can start looking at calm things that are just engaging enough to not make you want to turn it off. If you can find some channels that feature some interest that you can watch for longer periods of time, these are a great way to kill off some time. For some reason I come back to car- and cooking shows. I don't even have a drivers licence.
Watching movies and series often seems to be a bit much for me, in comparison to youtube stuff. The question of following a narrative set by someone, I find myself reviewing aspects of the movie/show from the perspective of what the director wanted to achieve, different symbolic interpretations of the story and so on. Watching someone chop an onion or installing a turbo unit on an old piece of junk seems to be working better for me - look up Roadkill if you're into cars and Brother Green Eats if you're into food!


There's a bunch of knowledgeable people on here, so don't be afraid to ask for help. Mark in Idaho has a lot of info and always wants to help out, a real stand up guy.

temporary 08-20-2017 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smutsik (Post 1249322)
Hey dude, welcome!

I think almost everyone here has been through the symptoms you're describing with dizzyness and lightheadedness. If I would sum up what has worked for me, getting better after almost 5 months of PCS it would be active rest. If something makes you dizzy, stay away from it. If it doesn't make you dizzy, you can keep doing it (until you feel symptoms returning, then stop). One could say that you experience symptoms when your brain is trying to tell you to stop doing what you're doing because it doesn't have the resources to process that task.

Computer games really messed me up when I tried playing some League of Legends after a long day, just a month after I hit my head. I experienced a really significant setback from doing so. You don't need to activate your brain in order to get it healing, you just need to rest. You won't lose processing power from taking it easy for a while, and your brain really needs it. If you want to do anything - that is, if you're feeling energized and it doesn't induce symptoms - you can try exercising. And when I say exercising I don't mean going for a run or going to lift weights (or god forbid, skating again, look up second impact syndrome, don't die on us), I mean taking a walk until you start feeling tired/dizzy. Remember how long it took you to get symptoms and stay below that threshold next time you take a walk. When you've been taking walks and going about your days without symptoms for some time (general consensus seems to be two weeks), you can ramp up your intensity slightly.

Take your brain injury seriously. I don't know if I could have shortened my period of illness by much, but if I could, it would have been by taking the injury more seriously. I went on to complete a university course with client interactions even though I had pretty severe symptoms and now I've been unable to function at more than 50-60% of my healthy capacity for almost 5 months. You can shorten your stay in bed if you take it seriously.


Things I believe have helped me recover, apart from resting:
- Vitamin regimen. You can find it linked in the forum head. Don't skip curcumin! Studies have shown that mice improve greatly from traumatic brain injury if they are supplementing curcumin. Buy a curcumin pill that has piperine included, without it the curcumin has poor bioavaliability.

- Meditating consistently. Studies have connected increased density in white matter in the brain to meditation, and PCS is believed to be caused to a large extent by disruptions in axons in white matter.

- Doing as much exercise as I can do without inducing symptoms. For me this has been walks and recently running for short sessions of 6-7 minutes on a cross trainer. Physical exercise is much, much more efficent than cognitive exercise when it comes to improving cognitive functioning and secretion of sweet, sexy proteins that our brain uses to rewire itself. If you want to you can look up BDNF (Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor), but if not, take my word for it. Exercise and specifically cardio is the bomb when it comes to brain function.

- Getting good quality sleep. Turn down the lights an hour before you go to bed and try to chill out, listen to/read some fiction to get your mind focused on something that you can't really stress out about. Get your room pitch black or buy yourself a sleeping mask. Earplugs help me too.


Things that are fun that I've been doing to not want to jump off a cliff when resting:
- Audio books. Man, I've gone through a few. Goodreads is great to get some recommendations if you haven't read a whole lot (I hadn't). Podcasts get stale after a while because they are designed to keep you occupied for an hour at a time. And with PCS, you need to kill a lot more than an hour. I see audio books as a way for me to do something constructive while I'm impaired due to my PCS and I've read and learned a lot during these months.

- Podcasts. If you have a particular favourite that is just a couple of people hanging out and talking, this can provide you with a great comfort-entertainment when you're in a slump and experiencing symptoms. Whenever I feel like crap with symptoms I come back to a particular podcast that makes me feel better. Makes the anxiety go away.

- Youtube videos of relaxed things. If you're well enough to look at screens (took me about two months before I could), you can start looking at calm things that are just engaging enough to not make you want to turn it off. If you can find some channels that feature some interest that you can watch for longer periods of time, these are a great way to kill off some time. For some reason I come back to car- and cooking shows. I don't even have a drivers licence.
Watching movies and series often seems to be a bit much for me, in comparison to youtube stuff. The question of following a narrative set by someone, I find myself reviewing aspects of the movie/show from the perspective of what the director wanted to achieve, different symbolic interpretations of the story and so on. Watching someone chop an onion or installing a turbo unit on an old piece of junk seems to be working better for me - look up Roadkill if you're into cars and Brother Green Eats if you're into food!


There's a bunch of knowledgeable people on here, so don't be afraid to ask for help. Mark in Idaho has a lot of info and always wants to help out, a real stand up guy.

Thanks allot dude. I really appreciate the answer!
I will listen to sound books more and try and limit the screen.. I have an headache most of the time now..
But when i am out and trying to take a walk, i get dizzy right away. And i need to stop walking for a bit, and just look around.. (Feeling Lightheaded.) Then continue walking.
The first week i was out and doing stuff, but i needed to sit down between walks. (And one time i just fell on my *** like a baby, the first week and that was not good.)
I just sat on the ground or on the grass when i was walking. Then walked more.. But slow. Now i don't really need to sit down, but i'm still dizzy, and feel like wanting to sit down. But i will try active rest then. ;)
...
And if i knew this before, i probably would not have walked much or used the computer or phone as much. Been so active..
But i will rest for some time, and i hope the dizziness walking will go away. Because i feel dizzy when i get outside. But i walk anyways, in a slow pace... Lightheaded.
And i was worried that it was going to be permanent, but i think and hope it will go away eventually.
But alright. I will try and take it easy. And i will listen to your advice on what you wrote, and vitamins also. Learn to meditate also, and take it easy.

Thanks allot! Keep it up. Hope you feel better. Now i need to rest, and sleep soon.
Peace out

Mark in Idaho 08-20-2017 10:27 PM

smutsik,

You are on your own. You appear to have all the answers. You must be fully recovered.

smutsik 08-21-2017 06:38 AM

Mark,

I'm sorry, I'm not quite following you. I'm not yet fully recovered. Are saying something that I'm not getting?

temporary 08-21-2017 03:26 PM

Btw, english is not my native language.. When you wrote active rest, i thought you meant rest.. As much as possible. ;) But i googled and got this:
**
...

But i will try and rest normally much also. ;) And try and sleep much. Sleep must be the best. Just taking it easy... Normal rest.
And later on when i feel better, active rest. And exercise later on. ;)
Listening to a nice soundbook on mindfulness right now, and that's nice.

Will try and stay away from the computer. As a "computer junkie". hehe. I like technology too much. But soundbooks are awesome. Learning and just sounds. And resting.. Sometimes a movie. Sometimes walks, etc.
But rest and sleep must be the best for healing, probably. And some light exercise later on, or walks. Or sitting in nature. Thanks.

smutsik 08-22-2017 05:00 PM

Cool! Keep it up and I'm sure you'll feel better soon. Take care!

temporary 08-22-2017 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smutsik (Post 1249432)
Cool! Keep it up and I'm sure you'll feel better soon. Take care!

Thanks dude. They removed my link. But active rest... I googled it and it was like "workout rest"..
But maybe you meant more normal rest... ? ;)

Like rest as much as possible, etc..
And yes, i hope so. Today i cleaned the apartment and threw out some old garbage. But i felt dizzy (almost drunk dizzy feeling as usual and hope it will be gone later on in a few weeks or months) when i walked to the container and threw the heavy bags in it...
I will just try chill at home most of the time. But i also need to walk some, etc..

Anyways. yeah. I will try and take it easy. Hope you also will be fully healed later on. Take care you also. ;)

Mark in Idaho 08-22-2017 06:34 PM

temporary,

You should not be sleeping other than your normal night time sleep period. Daytime sleep, except for the occasional short nap, disrupts proper night sleep. Proper night sleep with all of the different stages of sleep is the most important. Neurons heal during the REM sleep stage. Toxins get flushed from the brain during the slow wave sleep stage.

Low stress brain stimulation is best. Nothing that causes excitement or adrenaline. Action video games, no. Working on puzzles online or doing games like Minesweeper, Free Cell, Solitaire, Spider, are fine unless your eyes start to fatigue. If you need to put in extra effort to focus and understand, take a break. Minecraft might be OK if it does not over-stimulate you.

Any time you feel a bit of fatigue or a need to focus harder, take a break. Maybe move to a different activity or take a short walk.

temporary 08-22-2017 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho (Post 1249435)
temporary,

You should not be sleeping other than your normal night time sleep period. Daytime sleep, except for the occasional short nap, disrupts proper night sleep. Proper night sleep with all of the different stages of sleep is the most important. Neurons heal during the REM sleep stage. Toxins get flushed from the brain during the slow wave sleep stage.

Low stress brain stimulation is best. Nothing that causes excitement or adrenaline. Action video games, no. Working on puzzles online or doing games like Minesweeper, Free Cell, Solitaire, Spider, are fine unless your eyes start to fatigue. If you need to put in extra effort to focus and understand, take a break. Minecraft might be OK if it does not over-stimulate you.

Any time you feel a bit of fatigue or a need to focus harder, take a break. Maybe move to a different activity or take a short walk.

Thanks.
Well, i rest sometimes during the day, but i sleep good at night also. And i agree that sleep is the most important for healing of neurons, etc. ;) (And just resting sometimes during the day, taking it easy.)
Might just take a while until fully recovered.

And yeah, i agree that low stress brain stimulation might be the best. That's why i'm learning to meditate also. ;) It might be fine to do puzzle games.. I'm not fully sure.. I have put that on hold for some reason, until i'm not feeling dizzy when walking outside. (I might heal faster with sound books, chill movies, etc.)
I will try and learn stuff with sound books instead for a while. That's fine with me.
Anyways. Thanks for the answer. It's late here and i need to sleep now. Take care. Peace out


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:31 AM.

Powered by vBulletin • Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

vBulletin Optimisation provided by vB Optimise v2.7.1 (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.