I read before on here that you should exercise until you have symptoms.

What if you always have symptoms?

I've always been afraid to exercise because when I do, it increases my brain fog and makes it harder to express myself. I'm trying to find ways to decrease the fog and improve the quality of my life. I would like to exercise but don't want to cause any further problems.

Anyone who deals with severe brain fog find that exercising helps clear it up? What type of exercises do you do? For how long and how often?

Can I walk, do crunches, push-ups and jog in place?

K thx.

What I would do is walk until you feel a symptom, just a light walk. Stop immediately if you feel anything weird. I have been able to walk a bit, but not much. I recently pushed myself too hard at the mall, I did too much, and got my nausea back. Recovery is horrible, but baby steps are the way to go. I feel your pain though, I desperately want to get back to being the person I was, and sometimes I feel like some days I can do that, but then I go right back to being the sick, hurting me.

Thanks!

Unfortunately, I'm never symptom free and haven't been for awhile. I always have this horrible dark cloud floating in my head that blocks me from accessing my memory, ability to articulate myself quickly and properly and other stuff. I'm lookin for a way to decrease the fog, that's always there, so im not always depressed about not being able to think.

Hopefully we both find a formula for success so we could kick some grass on League of Legends. Bwahhahha.

Notorious Nick

I am just getting into a vitamin regimen, so hopefully that helps. Brain fog, I remember having during the first weeks of my injury. It was horrible, plus the extreme nausea and headaches. Over time, it got better. I still have nausea from time to time, and eating is somewhat hard. Do you ever feel your symptoms are worse in the morning?

My doctor, who is very good, and who is constantly scrutinizing the evidence re concussion treatment, advised the following:

1. Stay sub-threshold of symptoms as much as possible

2. Exertion (physical or mental) is an index of recovery -- there is insufficient evidence to show that it promotes recovery

3. That said, some light exercise like walking is good if you can tolerate it and it doesn't exacerbate symptoms. When I asked to what extent I can safely push through symptoms, he said "a little" (emphasis on "little")

4. Once you can tolerate walking, you can try gradually moving up the ladder (for example, by trying light stationary cycling for brief periods)

5. Add running and/or swimming later in your recovery, as both involve more exertion and/or head movement / jarring

The process of adding physical activity can be awfully slow, but in my view there is no magic bullet -- you can't force it.

My symptoms are much worse in the morning. I wake up feeling like I've been hit by a wrecking ball. It usually takes me an hour or so to gain my bearings. So, you're not alone on that.

My recovery has been rather....weird. Instead of getting better, I have gotten worse and worse over time. My PCP is helping me find an underlying cause for the decline.

Have you tried Zofran for nausea?

I haven't tried that yet. I am going to a neuro in a few days, so I am going to see what she says. Hopefully with this, I am not batting zero.

Walking is one of the aerobic exercises that is shown to reduce the harmful neurotransmitter in the brain. I think it is called Factor P?

So light walking (go as slowly as you need to) can actually be healing for the brain.

Again, don't push it. When I first started, I was going slower than the slowest old guy at the community center who had to hold onto the railing to walk. I still did it. I only could do 15 minutes at a time before I'd start to feel really wonky. I still did it.

Over time, my speed increased and so did the amount of time I could tolerate. And walking became one of the major things I did to pass time, to keep myself sane, and to help with recovery. It's really a win-win-win in that way!

Here is the article I read that talked about substance P. http://www.wellnessresources.com/hea...tes_take_note/

Walking actually increases BDNF in the brain, which helps fight substance P.

Substance P is BAD, BDNF is GOOD!!

Thanks everyone.

One of my original questions was "What if I always have symptoms?".

Even with lots and lots of rest, I'm stuck in a nasty fog that is impossible to think through. I'm lookin for a way to break through the fog cuz rest, no TV and vitamins aren't workin for me.