Thanks again, Mark. I may try for a physiatrist. I read a peer-reviewed study on EEG Biofeedback for treating PCS and it looks extremely promising. Has anyone here done this? It isn't available here in Madison (there's a center, but they don't have the equipment needed for treating brain injuries), but I'm moving to the Twin Cities in June and I'm sure I can find one there. It will have to be out-of-pocket, which I think I will be able to manage with help from family members.

Hi, I just wanted to back up what had been said re optometry.

I am from the UK and here we call it behavioural optometry and it really helped me with light sensitivity, improving the tracking of my eyes (they had stopped working together so well), focus, eye tiredness, computer work, reading etc.

And I didn't have this until several years after my original injury, so would strongly reccomend this.

I also wanted to give you some encouragement, whilst also emphasising that everyone's injury, as has been said on here many times, is unique and therefore unique in recovery.

I had fairly persistent symptoms for 18 months, but since that time, apart from occasional relapses, caused mainly by little jolts in the car, bangs to the head etc, I am generally symptom free.

I personally achieved this through massage, cranial osteopathy, acupuncture, behavioural optometry and an adjustment to the very top of my spine (totally forgotten what that was called............).

Anyway, the key is to find the unique combinations of techniques that maximise your recovery.

For the emotional side of your recovery, and as a wealth of ideas of practical things to try, I highly reccomend Gail Denton's book Brainlash, and I also had a small number of telephone coaching sessions with her which were extremely helpful.

Best of luck to you,

J

J: Thank you for this information. I just did a search and there is a center for this type of therapy right here in Madison. It is expensive, and I'll have to figure out whether I can get insurance coverage. I may be able to still pay for it even without insurance, but I'll only want to do that if it looks really promising. I'll get more info. from their website later.

My PT suggested that I get a referral to see a migraine specialist and get on some meds for treating persistent migraines. I tried Gabapentin awhile back and it didn't seem to help, but he said there were other meds I could try. I'm also going to get an MRI done.

That's excellent there is a centre near you, hope your insurance covers it.
The guy I saw treats a lot of youngsters for ADHD, headaches, dyslexia etc, and mentioned to me one time that people often have headaches because of their eyes not functioning properly (which is common after an accident/head injury) so it is possible that your headaches could be relieved by this kind of therapy.

It certainly worked for me, and means that you may be treating the root cause rather than just the symptoms, with medication.

But I totally get that you would also want to get rid of those headaches in the meantime! I remember them, they are nasty!

All the best to you,

J