Originally Posted by Margarite

Sorry to hear about your problem, the dizziness, for me at least and for most people that I have read about, goes away after about 9 months, if not before. For me the dizziness ended about five months after my second concussion (which was two weeks after my first). It came back at 10 months because I went sledding and jostled my head a lot doing that. It took almost five full months to subside, from all the time to just when I exercise, again. Now, during the past two weeks I have been feeling so dizzy that I almost fall over at just really random times. It is strange and sometimes scary. I have not had a single day since March 21, 2009 without a headache. Most of the time it starts as soon as I go outside or if I put on my glasses instead of my contacts or if I eat too much or too little of something. Noise bothers me, not so much the high pitched stuff, but more the amount or loudness of things. I am grumpy all the time because of the pain. The biggest problem is that it isn't constant, but rather ebbs and flows getting worse one day or one week than before. I have seen 6 docs, had 2 CT scans, 1 MRI, and the only info I got was to not take pain killers, not to hit my head again or I could die, and that I would just have to live with it until it went away. Well, I have through all sorts of weird accidents hit my head about 8 times in the year following the first concussion. The first one I fell off a horse and still cannot remember the ten hours surrounding the accident. I was told that I went to the hospital and went to dinner and asked the same questions again and again every five minutes. I even forgot that my uncle had died two years previous. During the three months following the accident I managed to stay in college only because my friends were kind enough to read my homework to me when my headaches were so bad that I couldn't open my eyes. My grades went down to where they had never been in my life, but I passed.
So, anyways,
Because I was getting no answers and because the symptoms were kind of scaring me, I started doing research. I have read for countless hours online and like my doctors there isn't much info out there. The most promising thing that I have found is a treatment where PCS patients slowly increase their physical and mental activities, and when I say slowly I mean very almost excruciatingly slow progress. This is as of yet unproven, but I am trying to work out a plan on my own to do this, because I cannot afford a trainer.
The biggest things are first get a CT to make sure that nothing can be done by doctors for you. Do not use meds they make the headaches worse and hide where you really are on the road to health. Keep living life, but don't hit your head again. Try to spend a little time each day on mental and physical activities.
This is from a non-medical expert, but someone who has spent hours and hours studying this.
Good luck with your journeys!
Margarite

Originally Posted by BeccaP

Well, the third attempt at the blood patch didn't take so I made the plunge and had the surgery. I'm a little past the specified recovery period and am very pleased to report that it worked! I can sing, talk, listen to my husband's voice and other low tones without the vertigo. Now it's just the insta-headaches, if I'm too loud, I do still have some sound sensitivity in both ears, a brain thing not an ear thing. ;-) I am ultra paranoid about doing something to mess up the graft now.

The bad news, while the surgeon was in there he found signs of increased intracranial pressure which may explain why it didn't heal. So he put me on something to cut the fluid production while the graft was healing, sent me to a neuro-opthamologist to get my eyes checked (they looked okay but said the meds could be masking any problems so I have to go back a month or so after I stop the anti-fluid med). The neuro-optho ordered some MRI's to check things out, I'm waiting for that now. Then back to the neurologist, then who knows what?

The brain stuff is about the same as usual (sadly it hasn't changed much for the past 8 months), the neuro-optho thinks that most of my eye issues are from the brain injury which fits what the other docs have said. I still have some dizziness but it isn't the same as the vertigo I was having. I'm thankful for the improvement from the surgery, one piece at a time...I'll post more when I know more.

Originally Posted by melek

Sounds to me you are having vestibular issues. I have the same symptoms of most that have posted here. My Mild TBI was 10-05. I have been going to vestibular therapy since 2006, it helps, not cure the problem but with the therapy, I'm learning to when I'm unbalanced and how to work around it. As I said, it helps but does not cure.