Hello,

I stumbled upon this forum looking for information on PCS and I have been very impressed by the caring as well as the knowledge of some of the posters here. I was hoping somebody could give me some advice.

I played basketball in college, where in addition to a few diagnosed concussions, I had many minor blows to the head. I'm sure people are tired of hearing the depressing specifics, so I will paraphrase. I had head injuries that did not completely heal before I started playing again. When I started playing, I received more head injuries.

It has been over a year since then and my headaches have not gotten any better. In fact, several of the foolish decisions I have made (Jet ski-ing, riding roller coasters, boating, drinking alcohol) since then seem to have made them worse. I have learned that I have to change my lifestyle to avoid these things, but I was wondering if anyone here can give me any advice on how to get my condition to improve. Doctors and Neurologists have not been helpful at all. I am taking a low dose anti-depressant, which has had a very slight benefit, but is there something that I can take? The doctors have told me that the only thing that will make my problems worse is physically jarring the brain, but I have issues with light, sound, alcohol, exercise (Exercise leads to bad headaches) and sleep (When I don't sleep well my headaches are always worse). Will avoiding these things actually help my condition or will it just control the symptoms?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Tom

Hi Tom, welcome to neurotalk.

I'm a little confused about the details you've posted about... has it been a year since your first concussion?

If that's the case, you still have a lot of time to heal to a feeling "normal" point.

But in order to do so, you really need to rest as much as possible. When I say rest, I mean rest your brain, not necessarily sit in a dark room.

Resting will give your brain the energy it needs to continue to heal.

It's very important that you eat nutritious food and take all your vitamins and minerals, including the omega 3-6-9 oils. You should avoid alcohol, caffeine, MSG, processed foods with little nutritious value, refined sugar, etc.

Other than time, there's little Doctors can give to people like us, who are recovering from mild traumatic brain injuries. So, making sure your brain has all the right "food" to give it the best kind of energy to heal is essential. The cells in your brain are working hard to repair themselves and it takes extra energy for them to be able to do so. And that's why you don't do so well after you haven't slept well.

As you've noticed, exercising can exacerbate your symptoms. You should probably avoid it. I'll bet your doctors are not concussion experts... but I'm still a little surprised that they've told you the only thing your brain can get worse from is more jostling to your head. My own PCP keeps reminding me to take it easy and pace myself and to gradually increase activity as my brain can handle it and concussion experts seem to agree with that kind of thinking and advice.

But, it's still important to provide your brain with lots of oxygen to help it to heal, which you can get from very minimal exercise. (Not the kind of exercise people who are used to exercising would really call "exercise", but gentle walks and stuff like that...) until you can build up to something more strenuous. Personally, I miss the endorphins my brain used to give me after exercising a good deal. But I'd rather have my brain working to its full potential again, and I'm hoping that I'll get to experience a lot of endorphins again in the future.

Your brain is working hard to repair itself. It's best for your recovery if you try not to force it to do things that it has trouble doing.

Overstimulation can fatigue the brain and take all that energy it's trying to use to heal itself too. Loud places, fast-paced television, (or even any television at all, depending on the injury), reading too much, conversation, drinking caffeine or taking another stimulant - all of these things and more can potentially overstimulate the healing brain. Only you will be able to tell when your brain is overstimulated. If you pay attention to what your body and brain are telling you with the signs and symptoms you experience, you'll eventually be able to recognize when you're brain is getting overstimulated early on, when the signs are very subtle. Then you can cease whatever it is you are doing and that will allow your brain the energy it needs to heal. Fighting it, overdoing it and pushing through those signs can cause set backs and prolong your recovery.

Pacing yourself, eating well, resting as much as possible and accepting your current limitations are going to help your brain to heal a great deal.

So, to try to answer your question, I believe that those symptoms are signs your brain is trying to tell you that it needs you to rest. So, avoiding the things that trigger those symptoms might not actually "help" your condition (there's really no way to know) but it will probably make your recovery go faster. Prolonging your recovery is what you will most likely end up doing if you don't avoid those things.

Thank you very much for your response.

It has been a while since anyone who knew what they were talking about gave me advice. I saw a sports medicine doctor and a concussion specialist last year and they were fairly knowledgeable. This year, after I moved home, I have seen a family practice doctor and a neurologist and both of them had absolutely no clue. The neurologist spent more time telling me what the book definition of concussion is than giving me advice.

To clarify, I got my first concussion three years ago. It was minor and though I played through it, the symptoms went away in a few days. Two years ago I got another minor concussion. The symptoms lasted a few weeks- probably because I polayed through it again. Last year (16 months ago) I suffered multiple blows to the head in one game. Afterwards, I was not in good shape. I sat out two weeks, during which time I did everything I could to limit stimulation to the brain. My head was feeling a little bit better, and the season was ending so I decided to finish the season. In the final few games of the season I took a couple more blows to the head- one of which was enough to cause dizziness and nausea.

I have since quit basketball, though a year ago I had hoped to play professionally and got a desk job.

I miss the endorphins from exercise as well, but I agree with you that it should be avoided. I think I will start walking though- that seems like a good idea.

Are there any specific multi-vitamins that you would reccomend in addition to the oils?

Again, thank you.

There are a lot of knowledgeable people on this forum. Much of what has helped me to recover has come from this board. I'm also lucky that I have a great PCP who knew me before the injury I sustained and a very good neurologist.

I am unsure about what multi-vitamins to recommend. I purchase a proprietary blend from a co-op in Santa Monica. I would prefer to be able to purchase some from online, because it would be easier for me, but there is so much contradictory advice about vitamins that I just keep getting them from the co-op; they've been working great for me.

Personally, I prefer to eat organic, non-GMO foods. So if I had to look for a brand of vitamins - that's probably where I would start.

I take a sublingual liquid B12 daily in addition to the B-Complex vitamin I take on the recommendation of my neurologist. She would really like me to get shots of B12 every day, but no one in my house can administer them to me.

I take Barlean's Organic Flax Oil for my Omegas. I would prefer to take Udo's Oil, because it tastes better, but I'm allergic to sesame seeds so I can't.

Which reminds me, that if you are allergic to something, you should avoid it as much as possible. Systemic allergic responses create inflammation and toxins in the brain which are counter-productive to its healing.

On that note, anti-oxidants are supposed to be the holy grail of food for the brain. And there's research being conducted that BCAA's are helpful for brain injury recovery. I take a lot of additional supplements... if I were you I would try seeing where you get with the basics before starting to spend a lot of extra money on more supplements... they can be pricey! There are a lot of threads on this board about this or that...

I recommend going through the stickies at the top of this forum to find some interesting links and info.

And just by the by... there is a blog written by someone who said it took her 4-5 years before she felt pretty "normal" after one concussion. My own PCP could only recently tell me that based on the recovery I've made so far since the injury I sustained, she believes that I will return to my "normal" someday - but that it will take more time. I suffered a complex concussion and before recently, the prognosis was always, "we'll just have to see...". And it's been about 22 months for me since the accident I was in that gave me the concussion. Experts and researchers all tend to agree that the people who make the best recoveries are the ones who are very motivated to get better, the stubborn ones who refuse to resign themselves the level of decreased functioning that the concussions caused them to have. So, try to hang onto as much hope as you have. Not only will it make you feel better most of the time, but it will also motivate you to keep getting better.

Glad to hear this information! Hopefully I too will be able to exercise here soon and more than the relaxed walks that are "exercise" lol...