All over this website is stories and advice on how to deal with our PCS and such. But what I would like to know is, is there anybody out there who has gotten over and is fully recovered from PCS? A little bit of hope is helpful for everybody dealing with this. Any success story helps at least one person get through this condition that most of us have come to know as our new lives.

85% of people who get a concussion will spontaneously recover to a condition where they are symptoms free and can return to their prior activities. This does not mean they have achieved a full recovery. They will be subject to relapses when they stress their brain either physically (trauma), emotionally, with illness/fever, or with poor nutrition or ingestion of detrimental substances (drugs, alcohol, caffeine, MSG, etc.).

The 15% who suffer Post Concussion Syndrome have a wide range of recovery experiences.

Everybody will improve if they take proper steps to help their brains heal. The most important step is to get quiet rest and avoid anxiety, especially anxiety about when they will get better.

An important consideration is past concussion and sub-concussive impact history. Those who suffer concussion playing sports often have a prior history of concussions that went undiagnosed and sub-concussive impacts that were entirely ignored. The cumulative effect of prior concussions and sub-concussive impacts can make a big difference in recovery speed and level.

Yes, hope is important but it is meaningless if the concussed person does not take steps to aid their own recovery. Waiting for that expected recovery without considering changes to life habits and activities will end in frustration.

Once concussed, always concussed. Learn to minimize symptoms when you can. Learn to accept and work around those symptoms that seem to be persisting. And, make changes to avoid that inevitable next head impact. We all will suffer another head impact even when we try to reduce the risk. Taking part in activities that are known risks such as collision sports is sure to chip away at our ability to live a full life.

There are a few of us here who personally understand the cumulative nature of head impacts. Most of us stopped the risky activities long ago but still suffered accidental head impacts during no-risk activities.

As the axiom goes:

A fool does not learn from their own mistakes.
A smart person learns from their own mistakes.
A wise person learns from others mistakes.

Thank you! this helped alot

Good post by Mark.

But I'm not sure "We all will suffer another head impact even when we try to reduce the risk."

Only God can know the future. It has been a long time since by last bump to the head, though they were more common closer to the TBI about 2 years ago. But from here on, nothing gets near my head if I can help it, and as he mentioned, no high-risk activities for life.

Alicia,

I have met some people locally in search for the same answer who had recovered to a normal life or what they felt was returned to normal.

One person in particular was quite severe and took 4 years to recover, got married, kids, job, etc....if there was symptoms as resulting side effects he did not notice them in application in life. However, he did not return to dangerous sports and was more cautious of a second injury.

So everyone is different, be positive and keep faith. It's been approx 10 months for me and I hope to be returning to work soon, feeling much better again and a bit wiser perhaps to know my limits a bit more this time :

aliciaj : I personally know many success stories and sit and talked with them. Including some seniors - especially one gentleman who had a tbi at age 70s, brain surgery and had symptoms for 3 months and now he is about 90+, drinks few glasses of wine everyday, do yoga etc., He has age related issues but nothing like we all going thru. Relatives also had concussion to moderate to severe tbi. Except severe tbi all recovered completely. One cousin even is an alcoholic had moderate tbi and recently had another concussion and again recovered and went back to his nasty habits.

Only severe tbi person(brain stem damage) has some serious issues like short term memory loss (like in the movies where she forgets everything in 30 mins or so), cannot use one side of body efficiently. She is about in late 60s. But no headaches, dizziness, stimulation issues, pain, no depression etc., She travels, goes to social functions and lives a pretty decent life. I can go on since I know quite a few. Even they all confused about my symptoms prolonging for this many years (3+)

Only in the forums and cyberworld I meet PCS folks. The reason I suffer is because of bad Karma I think.

Cheers!

Jeffrey and others,

I was not trying to predict the future. I was just commenting about the odds of another head impact. I stopped all activities that could put me at risk of a head impact after impact number 4. In the 30 years since then, I have suffered 10 more head impacts. I have not been in any auto accidents nor suffered any sports related impacts.

Normal life provides plenty of opportunities for incidental head impacts. Doors and door frames, trips and falls, crowds with heads moving around, and dozens of other daily tasks put our sensitive heads at risk. We'd even be at risk living in a cave. LOL

We need to expect to suffer another head impact or more to give us a reference for how to move forward.

pcslife,

When I say nobody ever recovers fully, I am not saying they have PCS symptoms. I am saying their brain is left in a weakened state that is sensitive to further impacts, every kind of stressor, and most specifically, will benefit from moderating stress and other negative factors. Scientific research shows the concussed brain is different than the non-concussed brain. Going on taking risks and continuing to live a stress filled life will be detrimental.

Yes, I know of successes. I was a success after concussions many times in my life. I did not live in a PCS state. Nobody knew I had any limits from my concussion history. In hindsight, I can chart the differences in my functions, personality, and other characteristics that were different than prior to the impacts. Those differences are rarely attributed to the 'recovered' concussion.

I am trying to impress on Aliciaj that recovery is a relevant term.

Thanks for your information Mark! I do believe that one day they will find a 'cure' to PCS or at least an easier way to deal with this new life.

The problem with PCS and hoping for a cure is the complexity of the brain. There are more than 4000 different classes of neurons, each with a specific function. Each neuron can have up to 10,000 axons connected to it. Each axon is covered with myelin. The damaged myelin is the hardest part to heal. It needs proper nutrition to repair itself. Each axon connects to a dendrite that connects to other parts of the neural network.

When the brain is young, these axons are growing like crazy and connecting to the neural network. Unfortunately, there is not a road map for these connections. They are a hit and miss connection. This is the learning process that infants undergo as they respond to their environment. It takes 20 years for these networks to mature. The myelin sheath is not fully mature for 14 years.

They are still discovering structures within the brain. They only recently discovered how the brain drains toxins. They call it the glymph system. It was unknown until they had a way to image live tissue at a cellular level. The stem cell work being done only works with nerve fibers like those found in the spinal cord. Even that narrow focus on a single nerve class is taking decades to advance small amounts.

It is only recently that any consensus has been reached about concussion. The Veterans Administration and NIH has only recently awarded a contract to the Brain Trauma Foundation to develop a diagnostic definition of concussion. Otherwise, concussion is a subjective diagnosis based on a loose cluster of symptoms.

The Sports Legacy Institute has finally started the ball rolling toward taking concussion seriously. If it was not for law suits filled by NFL players, concussion would still be stuck in the dark ages.

Hopefully, improvements in diagnostics can cause legitimate research toward treatment of the various symptoms.

Well there's some hope!

Thanks guys!