The elavil took almost two weeks to kick in and really show me what it can do. With it, i'm about 75% well. I can run short errands, have short client meetings, work a full day, and care for things around the house just fine. I cannot run, swim, or bike yet... or simply go out for a walk.

I went to see a doctor who is one of the leading doctors in the nation for concussion. he's a prominent doctor for an NFL team.

He helped me to understand my next steps. He gave me a graduated exercise plan, meaning an exercise plan that starts small and provides for small increments over time.

I am symptom free at rest. I am to do something like swim or walk for 5 minutes at a target heart rate of under 100 beats per minute. I am to do that, for example, on a monday, then take tuesday without exercise to analyze how I feel and if the exercise brought on any symptoms. Then if okay, proceed to exercise on Wednesday, and take Thursday off to again analyze symptoms, etc. Exercise again on Friday and again, analyze symptoms the following day. Do this for a week and if no symptoms increase, increase my duration of exercise to 10 minutes. Increasing by 5 minutes each week. Continue with this until I reach 30 minutes at under 100 beats per minute.

Then at that point I can increase intensity little by little and keep the exercise duration at 30 minutes, until I get up to my max heart rate.

At that point I should have the hang of it and figure out how to keep progressing onto a regular exercise routine like I used to do which was up to 2 hours at a pretty nice heart rate and fluctuating heart rate as I go.

He thinks it should take a few months to get back to running a few miles. It may take some time (no idea) to get back to my 6 days per week for an hour or two schedule. But I don't care! As long as I can feel normal again.

No doctor could yet tell me if/or how long this headache issue will continue. HOwever, he seemed to think that by one year I should be back to 100%. He did comment that the headache could be the one symptom that persists for some time.