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.

I can personally attest to this issue. When I first started having symptoms I was worrying like CRAZY about my symptoms. I was stuck in this mindset that I would never get better and I permanently damaged my brain. It was causing me severe anxiety to the point I was having panic attacks.

As time went on I learned to accept the fact that what I was feeling is NORMAL for a concussed individual. And I had faith that with time, I will get better. When I simply changed my mindset I reduced a lot of my anxiety. I still get anxiety from time to time but it is much more under control. I know in my experience with PCS, I had much more control over my anxiety than I realized.

The trick is to stay positive! Know that you WILL get better with time and you need to be patient. Switching your mindset to this will relieve a great amount of anxiety.

I would consider myself to be a PCS success story now, but only just this week. Hopefully I am out of the woods.

I initially had dizzyness after my mTBI in early November 2012 and took two weeks off. However after nine days in work I had to go off again because of dizzyness and headache. As time passed the headaches came when I woke up and I started to get fuzzyness around the same time as the kids came home at 3.

The fuzzyness went and was transformed into light and noise sensitivity, with this came chronic fatigue and insomnia. The headaches and facial pain got so bad I was awake for virtually 3 days and had a collapse in January. After examination by my GP I was sent to hospital for a scan as he felt there was a bleed on the brain. Thankfully not, but at this point the children went to a childminder, rather than me look after them. Looking after three noisy children under 10 was a big mistake! Whilst trying to build stamina by swimming or walking was futile, as it did nothing but caused head pressure and subsequent migraines with dreadful noise/light sensivity, insomnia and fatigue.

I researched post concussion headaches and discovered they should be treated as migraines. I was then prescribed Imigran which I took at night and this helped greatly. I then had neurosychological input and from this realised that a lot of the physiological symptoms are heightened by anxiety and worry about symptoms.

To help me I was prescribed Cymbalta which immediately lifted mood, helped headaches, fatigue and within days my sleep was back to normal. I then agreed a plan with my boss to go back to work part time. I have built myself upto three 8-5 days and am about to go to four. My only symptoms now are mild headaches and fatigue if I do too much work or exercise.

Also, alternative therapy is very helpful. Going for a massage is relaxing and helps tension and headaches. I genuinely believe that reflexology does aid healing. A hot bubble bath can go a long way in helping fatigued legs, and adding epson salts is a good way of helping as well, it is full of magnesium.

After reading what you said I am going to really try to be more positive because I too worried about permanent brain damage and the anxiety of wondering if and when I would get better only makes things much worse. Tonight is the night I will stop the worrying and be thankful for everything that I do have. Thank you for your insight it is going to help me!