Norway Girl,

I had a significant head injury back in November and had all the classic PCS symptoms and needed 4 months off work and a phased return to work.

I am now back working 33.5 hours a week, but need an SNRI medication called Cymbalta to prevent headaches which I am plagued with, and it also acts as an antidepresant.

It doesn't work for everyone, but having recently gone off Cymbalta, I know I need it to function and to do my job properly. There are other SNRI's or SSRI's which can help some people, but you would need to discuss the advantages and disadvantages (and there are a few) with a doctor first.

Depression and pain are common symptoms of PCS and there are some medications out there which can cure both in one pill.

Before your Dr visits try to objectively list your symptoms. Categorize them as follows physical: I.E. headaches, vertigo, ... Cognitive: language issues, slow thinking, confusion... Psychiatric; any issues like anger, anxiety, fear of re-injury. Frequently whiplash accompanies concussion injuries and can be overlooked. Be sure to ask your Drs about this. Unresolved C-spine issues can cause ongoing symptoms.

Hi,

I can relate to the worry about having further injury. I have found since my accident I am paranoid about myself and my family having accidents. It is almost like PTSD. This can be addressed by a therapist. It is really important to take the time it takes to get better. If you do not recover properly you will keep getting bouts of psc. I just recently discovered that my concussion caused a condition call post traumatic vision syndrome (I can not read, watch t.v. or be on the computer long without getting really sick). I have now got prism glasses to correct my vision and am undergoing vision therapy. It is really important to get as much information about your condition as possible because there is help out there, but you have to find the right individual. I went to an eye doctor twice to be told there is nothing wrong with my eyes, but needed to go to a neuro opthamologist to find out what was going on.

You are your best advocate, you need to go out and seek help.

Good luck.

GirlFromNorway,

You have been very fortunate with your recovery from your previous concussions. Keep in mind that you never recovered completely. Each time, you brain was left with hidden damage that makes a subsequent concussion more damaging. You likely have hit a point where the cumulative damage has left your brain struggling to recover. This is known as Multiple Impact Syndrome.

In order to recover and move on with your life, you most likely need to make changes to how you live each day. The biggest issue is learning how to lower your stress load. You mentioned that you can not talk fast. This suggests that you live a high energy lifestyle in the past. You may never return to this high energy life style. Nobody can say. If you try to live a high energy lifestyle, you will likely ride a roller coaster of Post Concussion Syndrome symptoms.

This does not mean you can not life a full and active life. You will need to plan your activity levels and stress loads. There are many life skills you can learn to help you manage your symptoms. There are many of us here on NT who have lived with Post Concussion Syndrome for years or even decades. We have learned many work-arounds and accommodations that allow us to go forward with our lives.

Please tell us about your current life style/living situation and the symptoms you are struggling with. Most likely, there are trigger that cause your symptoms to increase. Recognizing these triggers is the first step to learning how to move forward.

My best to you.

Thank you all for a lot of good advises. I felt extremely frustrated and started crying for a short while on Monday - this has caused my symptoms to increase a lot. Is this normal for pcs? I will contact my doctor and post more when I'm a bit better. Right now I'm not able to watch the computer because of my headache. Thanks again. I really appreciate your support and kind advises.

I'm having a bad day too Take Care.

GirlfromNorway,

Yes, it is a very exasperating experience. We all have our moments. The inner turmoils pile on sometimes.

Come and vent. Let go. We are here. At the least for each other.

Best Wishes................

Earlier in my recovery, if I started crying, I learned to immediately take an Imigran to ward off a migraine. The stress of crying and the anxiety or sadness that caused the crying were just too much for my brain at the time. I had to avoid certain people who upset me because they did not understand my injury. I feel that it damaged some of my relationships to not directly confront the problems, but I was just not capable of handling it.

It will get better with time. I cried last night--my husband and I got into an argument, which we resolved--and I was tired this morning because we stayed up late talking, but otherwise, I was fine!

When I read your post I thought that I was reading one of my own posts. I am two years younger than you and my first concussion was also from falling off of a horse. I lost consciousness for a few seconds. I was 19 and in my second semester of my freshman year in college. The difference is that I never healed. Two weeks after my first concussion I hit my head again. Since that time I have hit my head about 12 significant times and 4 of those were certainly concussions and I have bumped my head so many other times that I can't even count and this is all in the past 4 years.

The first couple concussions, I could hardly read or concentrate. But as time went on and I made the decision to return to school I began to find ways to cope.

I have now been a year and three months since my last concussion. I have had a headache every day for 4 years and three months. I have a intense 3 or 4 day migraine every couple weeks which is much better than 3 or 4 days out of every week. My concentration is still weak, but that directly relates to how much sleep I have had, too much sleep or too little. Light hurts my eyes like daggers, and certain sounds are like daggers to my brain. My neck muscles are always tight.

Nausea hasn't bothered me since February. Dizziness is only a problem now and then, another thing that has begun to get better. I still can't do any sort of activity beyond walking from one end of the house to the other without paying for it for hours, but at least it is hours instead of days now.

I can't deal with people very well. I get very irritable and grouchy.

But, 4 years in and 1 year since my last concussion, I can see a little improvement and it gives me hope that over time I might be able to go to a concert or go sunbathe without pain. Even to go a couple days without pain would just be an unimaginable joy.

Anyways, I wish you the best! I hope that you can learn to cope and then to be surprised by your healing as I have been and I hope that unlike me it happens very quickly. Don't ride any more horses and beware the bumps! (I refuse to ride in cars with bad shocks).
Live Long and Prosper!
In Christ,
Margarite

Hello GirlFromNorway, and everyone else too.

I am new to this forum but have blogged about PCS and brain injury in general for a few years *admin edit*

GirlFromNorway, I wanted to make sure that you understood the doctors that someone else recommended. The most important doctor to find is a Physiatrist. Using Babylon to translate that into Norwegian I get "s. fysioterapaut". A Physiatrist is a person who specializes in Rehabilitation Medicine. You want to find a s. fysioterapaut who further specializes in Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation. Finding that specific specialist is your first big step to actually getting help. Neurologists and other doctors mean well but they usually are not terribly knowledgable about how to really recover from even one brain injury; never mind multiple ones.

The other specialist that was recommended is a Neuropsychologist (s. nevropsykolog, psykolog som spesialiserer seg på forholdet mellom nervesystemet og psykisk oppførsel) I hope Babylon is translating that right but it looks right from what I can recognize. A Neuropsychologist will most likely give you a Neuropsych Evaluation. The Physiatrist may be the doctor that orders the test. The Neuropsych evaluation is a day long series of games, puzzels, and tests that are able to quantify and qualify your brain function. The results are very useful. They will help the Physiatrist to design a rehab program that will address your symptoms and your brain deficits.

To give you an idea of why it is so important to find doctors who specialize in traumatic brain injury (TBI), I will tell you a little of what happened to me. My car was T-boned when a woman red light in 1987 (T-boned in English means the hitting car hits the other one on the side.) Then I had additional concussions starting in 2002. I had all the PCS symptoms you described for years and years. Especially constant nausea, head aches, and balance problems. When I finally got to a TBI Physiatrist, he sent me to a physical therapist who specializes on the brain. She tested me and found that my left eye tracks slower than my right eye. So she had me do a series of exercises - some in the clinic at appointments with her and some that I had to do a few times a day at home. The exercises were not fun! But they worked. Poof! No more headaches and nausea! And my balance has greatly improved too.

The other doctor that greatly helped me was an Osteopathic Doctor who specializes in Osteopathic Manual Medicine. I would assume that you have Osteopathic doctors in Norway. In the US they have a D.O. after their name instead of a M.D.

Hope this all helps. If you want to read about my head injury here is the link:*edit* There is a translate widget in the sidebar on that page.

I am sorry that I cannot post the hyperlinks for you because I know that would make it much easier. But I am a new member so therefore not trusted.