2nd time through PCS... questions & company
 

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've been on this forum, which is because my symptoms were gone!

Long story short, 2 years ago I had a bad concussion, developed PCS, was off work for 7 months, BUT after 18 months was totally symptom free.

Unfortunately, that was short-lived and I've hit my head again and despite being more knowledgeable this time and taking care of myself, I still wound up deep in PCS land.

Some thoughts on my plan for this time:

- Go back on 50mg daily of Amitryptyline... seemed to help last time
- Yoga + meditation
- Experiment with CBD. Anyone have luck with this?
- Not baby my symptoms quite as much - last time I tried to rest enough to be totally symptom free every day. This time I'm going to try to push a little bit more, and allow myself to trigger mild symptoms. For example, typing this right now is causing pain, but I will get off the computer immediately afterwards and meditate to try to relax.

Anyone else a second-timer? Any advice or morale support?

Best,
Erik

Erik,

I bet you do tasks just waiting for symptoms to manifest. Paying attention to symptoms will make those symptoms manifest much sooner and to a much higher degree.

The anxious mind works by increasing awareness of every sensation. That headache that would be ignored will rage on with just a bit of anxiety.

The Amitriptyline acts to reduce anxiety levels and responses.

Have you ever tried volitional neurofeedback where you watch the brain's response and develop processes to subdue those responses?

I don't agree with pushing into symptoms but I do believe in easing into higher levels of stimulation. I also believe in accepting that some activity levels will cost a price. I would save up prior to an activity and expect to lay low after the activity. By managing these issues, I could do many things that would otherwise cause a setback.

The research shows that most who struggle with prolonged PCS had a pre-existing anxiety or depression condition. The experts can use this to accurately predict who will have a prolonged struggle. Addressing this is important to recovery.

Thanks for the post - you had some great insight last time as well. Have you found any good reading on whether anxiety actually slows healing?

It's so interesting to consider that perhaps my head isn't in any worse shape than last week, yet I feel far worse because I am more anxious and obsessed with my symptoms.

I have not tried volitional neurofeedback, I'll have to learn more.

Best,
Erik

The studies are quite obvious about anxiety making recovery last much longer. As I stated, they can use prior anxiety or depression to predict a prolonged recovery.

I believe you should not be reading about concussions. Information is your enemy. The anxious mind will make a very rare and minor issue into a life threatening event.

Hmm that's probably a good idea, to reduce reading. As my final article, can you send a link to a study about anxiety and the link to PCS?

I stopped collecting links ages ago. I already have hundreds in my bookmarks.

Even posting the links for others did not help them believe the research if they wanted to be anxious.

Anxiety can increase symptoms for many illnesses /conditions..
Related-
https://www.neurotalk.org/traumatic-...-disorder.html