- Hi,

My name is Peter. I have self-diagnosed Post Concussion Syndrome, going on 4 months. I am noticing an improvement in my symptoms but it is a very slow process. I am on here for support and to blog about my struggle with PCS. I believe it will also help with my recovery.
I was knocked unconscious 5 months ago. I did not have any concussion symptoms for a month following the injury so I went back to living a normal life almost straight away. A month after I developed a daily headache and then the other symptoms from there. The symptoms were the worst 3 months into PCS, but they have been subsiding very slowly, with relapses (days where they will be really bad, i.e. throbbing headache).
I have been to the doctor 6 or 7 times. Had a CT and blood work done (nothing abnormal showing). I am now seeing a chiropractor 3 times a week as my c1 and c2 are misaligned which may be contributing to my symptoms.

I am on here looking for advice and I want to know HOW LONG WILL THIS LAST, and what are some signs of improvement?

My symptoms are
-daily headache back of head all day
-anxiety
-headache from exertion
-high blood pressure
-neck pain
-Visual disturbances
- Sometimes tingling in extremities
-inability to concentrate

Peter,

Welcome to Neurotalk. You have found a good place and are among friends, even if we don't know you.

First, there is now way anybody, even the finest expert on concussions in the world who can tell you how long this will last. The saying goes, "If you have seen one brain injury, you have seen ONE brain injury." No two are the same.

Although I am a long time believer in chiropractic, often, the 'twist the head and pop the neck' adjustment procedure is too aggressive for a concussion injury. There are less aggressive modalities.

I bet the blood work did not include Thyroid, B-12, folate, magnesium, and D3. These are all important for concussion recovery. You want to be at the top of the normal range. Most doctors use a normal range of B-12 that starts at 200 pcgms/mL to 970 pcgms/mL as normal. You want to be at 1000. D3 needs to be above the top end of the normal range. Folate needs to be above 20. Mag should be at the high end. Thyroid needs to have proper balance.

There are a few things that only you can do. Quiet rest is the most important. It means minimal cognitive and physical exertion. Walks and light reading an minimal screen time. Visual and auditory stimuli needs to be moderated to a simple level.

No alcohol, caffeine, MSG, artificial sweeteners, energy drinks, etc. Minimal high fructose corn sweetener and moderate natural sugar. Stevia and monk fruit sweetener is OK.

Find the thread title Vitamin supplements. It lists my tried and true regimen prescribed to me by my doctor 30+ years go. The brain needs to flush out the toxins from the injury before it can start to heal. it takes a month or two for this to start to show improvements.

Your delayed symptoms means your brain struggles to continue on with the injured cells. You may have engaged in a stressful activity prior to the symptoms starting. Getting drunk can be a common trigger. So can cramming for finals. It finally gave up and let those injured cells die. Now, it needs to repair damaged myelin and glymph tissue before it can start healing properly.

If you chiro has not prescribed icing the back of your head and top of your neck, he is remiss. You should be icing after very treatment and when ever you have a chance. 15 on, 30 minutes off. A zip lock bag with 1 part rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol and 3 parts water freezes into a moldable ice pack. Ice your neck anytime you have a head ache plus any time you get a chance to sit still.

Keep us posted. There are lots of good people here.

My best to you.

Hi Mark,
Thank you for such a thorough and in depth reply.
The blood tests I got done were a FBC, protein and thyroid.
The Vitamins I am currently taking are
- Fish oil 4 tablets per day.
- ginkgo biloba (1 tablet per day to help with fog)
- 1 multi vitamin highly concentrated in b12
- My doctor has prescribed me 1 NSAID per day
- Magnesium (powder form) 1 table spoon per day

You are right in saying stressful events may have contributed. I did take it easy on the alcohol, but I still continued to have a few drinks each week until about a month ago. And what may have been a real contributor was a 12km run I did 4 weeks after my concussion.

Of course at the time I had no idea I could develop post concussion syndrome, even after being to two different doctors which said that my headaches could not be related to my concussion!!
Another relapse came at about 3 months into PCS in which I broke up with a long term girlfriend, causing me huge stress!

But this last month I have concentrated ion taking my vitamins, reduced my alcohol and caffeine intake and have been trying to relax, so I have noticed a slight improvement. I am still at work in front of a computer for 8 hours a day which I’m sure is hindering my recover, but I am looking forward to the Christmas break to get some real rest.

I also think the chiro is helping, I had neck x rays and discovered by c1 and c2 were misaligned, and are now in a 6 week course to try and straighten me up!
Should I be doing any exercise, I am currently swimming laps (very lightly 2 or 3 times a week)???
Any other thoughts tips to help me get over this hurdle would be greatly appreciated.
I’m of to the chiro now and will be sure to ice afterwards!
This forum is proving to be a great help!

Your multi is most likely extremely lacking. There are very few that have decent amounts because they use the feds RDA standards. The B's, folic acid, D3, need to be 5 to 10 times the RDA.

Post the name of your multi and I will look up the ingredients.

GNC makes a MegaMen Multi that is a very good start.

A 12 k can be a problem 2 ways. It is long enough to start some muscle breakdown. It also can cause an enormous amount of vertical skeletal impacts on your brain as you plant your foot each stride. If your C-1 and C-2 are out of place, this is all the more a risk of injury and inflammation.

You did not say if you are icing your neck, especially after your chiro visits.

The ginko is much more hype that real value. They claim it increases cerebral blood flow but studies can not confirm this. A good supplement is curcumin (Tumeric). I have been taking it for a few months. It has helped with my leg twitching. It has been scientifically studied and validated.

The magnesium is good but alone it is not much help. You need D3 and calcium and some phosphorus too. The trace elements/minerals/metals are very important. That is why a high potency multi is important.

All of the anti-oxidants are also important. I take E, C, niacin, a B-50
complex, extra B-12 and B-6,

The swimming is good. A good low impact exercise that should support good brain blood flow. When I had access to a lap pool, I walked 3 miles in the water with a lunging action. It took me about 45 to 50 minutes. It is easy on the knees and works the shoulder and arms as you stroke to help move through the water.

I tried swimming laps but my shoulders will not longer allow me to swim freestyle stroke. Too much rotator cuff injury. Walking while doing a breast stroke ending with a shoulder shrug and effort to pin the shoulder blades together is very good for the upper thoracic vertebra and lower cervical vertebra.

Those two doctors are ignorant about concussion. Any head impact followed by head aches should be suspected as a concussion. The IDC 9 code would be 850.9, concussion, unspecified and should be included in your medical record for reference if additional symptoms manifest at a later time, like happened with you. If they consider that you lost consciousness, it should be IDC (International Diagnostic Code) 9, 850.5, with loss of consciousness of unspecified duration.

You need to make sure that your medical record lists the truth of your concussion. Any loss of consciousness associated to a head impact is definitely a concussion and head aches and other symptoms are to be expected. Head aches can take a year to resolve, depending on how your brain handles the injury.

A low key Christmas break will be very good for you. You also need to find ways to take breaks from the computer, maybe 5 minutes of quiet with eyes closed and maybe an iPod with simple music for those 5 minutes. Your brain needs the break from visual and auditory stimuli to heal.

Hope you can get some breaks.

My best to you.



Sounds like you had old school doctors.