jennifer,

When you say M.A. program, are you meaning Masters grad work ? or is there another meaning to M.A. ?

Even though you are opposed to meds, I suggest you consider meds as a safer alternative to 35 pounds of weight gain. I am opposed to anxiolitics (benzos, Xanax, Valium, etc) but there are meds that can help you get past you current struggles with limited risks.

What doses of B vitamins and anti-oxidants are you taking daily ?

I bet you are a Type A personality. They usually struggle the most as their life gets shut down by PCS. The struggle to redirect that Type A energy can be difficult. Note that my signature verse is about transitioning from a Type A to a less stressed life. Achievement is great but at what cost ?

Hang in there, bluehiroko. Healing is SO slow for some people. But it happens....slowly.

Well Yes I do have a bit of Type A in me. Sorry I meant M.A as in Masters Grad Program. I admit I'm having problems coming to terms with what has happened to me especially since it was a non accidental situation. But I'll get there.

Yes I do think my depression and diet has helped the situation as well. I've honestly been eating a lot of sugar high fat and high white carb diet thus the 35 pound weight gain and have been pondering a cleanse or going on a gluten free diet. Ive read a lot about concussion diets and foods good for the brain. What do you think about them? Will it really make a difference in the healing process? Thanks Mark ! Thanks everyone for the support.

BTW Mark. I like your signature and believe in it! Thanks

A brain friendly diet has some does and some don'ts. Read the Vitamins thread. It was prescribed to me by an ortho-molecular psychiatrist 30 years ago to help me with a drug free recovery from severe depression. In 8 weeks, I was a new man.

If you have a sweet tooth, limit it to sugar sweetened dark chocolate if possible. Dark chocolate has some brain friendly components.

The fats in pork are the best for the brain. It has the best BCAA's Broken Chain Amino Acids.
The unprocessed fat from coconut is also good. It has MCTs, Medium Chain Triglycerides.

Stay away from processed fats and processed or modified sugars.

I went to a vision therapy optometrist 6 weeks ago and had a serious setback from the testing alone (45 minutes of testing). I still haven't recovered to the point where I was before the testing. When I met with the functional neurology chiropractor for the first time last week, he did one test (for gaze stabilization) and gave me one exercise to do at home. He said they take a very careful approach and only do what ther person's brain can handle, which I appreciated.

Did you feel that the chiropractor was helping you get better using functional neurology? I don't want to waste 6 months just to find out it didn't help. My PCS problems are more than just visual, although that's a huge part of it (can't be in crowds, brain fog, etc.), so I wanted to see someone who could address more than just vision issues. I'm disappointed to hear that you went to a functional neurologist, but then stopped, as it seems like maybe it didn't help you.

Did did the chiro do any tests on you? How long did you see him? Did the exercises he gave you seem to help you?

Thanks

cbs,

There is a saying in brain injuries, "If you have seen ONE brain injury, you have seen One brain injury."

They are all different. Everyone has a different mix of injuries. Each person responds to treatment differently. One person may have fabulous results with chiro neurology and the next person may have no benefit at all.

The term functional neurology chiropractic is new here. I guess it is just another term for Carrick's protocol.

Go to acnb.org and the find a doctor tab will show you the functional neurologists - also called chiropractic neurologists near where you live. I did this after hearing wonderful things about the functional neurologist in Portland OR and how much he helped a TBI friend of my niece. Functional neurologists go through a 3-year education program in neurology which makes them specialists. I would not go to any chiropractor, but only one of these Neurology Board Certified ones.

I have an appointment with the closest one to me in Alexandria Virginia - that would be in Woodbridge VA. I am going on Tuesday. We will see if he can do more for me than the MD neurologists, who have only made my condition worse. This one was trained at Carrick but he didn't mention any protocol on the phone. Just said come in and we will work up a treatment plan then - partly done in the office but mostly things you will do at home.

i'm seeing one...see my thread from yesterday neuro chiro /dr carrick. and my thread from today "setbacks..."

i'm not giving up on him b/c i did more reading and more exercise than usual yesterday, but am taking the day off from wearing the funny glasses or doing the prescribed eye exercises

Joe in LA,

I am within driving distance of Woodbridge, VA and am very much interested in seeing what the functional neurologist there has to offer. Please let me know what your experience is working with him, what he has to offer, and if he is able to help you.

Thank much!