Our son came home yesterday from the hospital. Interestingly, the first two days there he was all about beating this conconssion while yesterday he was more resolved and placed the severe depression well before the concussion. He was somewhat deflated as beforehand he indicated that once he learned about the PCS it made the confusing summer somewhat clearer (as to why he felt and did the things he did).

We are now scared.

Our son has been on Lexapro (10mg) and Seroquel (50mg) since Friday. On our discharge visit, the doctor increased it to 100mg given his statement that he's not sleeping. The more we read about Seroquel, the more we want to get hom off quickly. We'll be taking it down to 50mg tonight.

With his deflated outlook, our biggest worry is that we have an appointment with a doctor specializing in concussions with athletes tomorrow morning. They typically take on cases immediately following the concussion. They were somewhat taken back when we mentioned that he was three months post concussion and unsure whether they can help. We need to continue to push our son to fight this.

Today, we're going to keep him home close to us but not overbearing. We thought about going Kayaking and two long walks. We'll talk confidence into him to continue to fight.

Thanks for the prayers.

Outside of family is there one type of doctor who can truly coordinate the psychiatric, psychological and the doctor focused in on the cause (doc who's treating the brain).

Unfortunately today, the psychologist who visited with our son was an extern and indicated his psychiatric issues of self harm was too much. They did not want to treat until he got better. He went in feeling like a 5 (on 10 point scale), he walked out s 3 and we are on pins and needles. This is 3 days post discharge from the hospital and he's been safe and feeling well.

What's interesting after spending three hours with the concussion doctor yesterday giving him hope of recovery has been put to naught given our meeting today. Extremely disappointed that a therapy center would have given a self harm patient who is diagnosed with Post Concussion Syndrome to a student (extern) who did not bring any levity to his meeting with our son.

Family is key but is there a doctor who can balance all three diagnoses?? Right now our psychiatrist is insisting on a partial extensive therapy from 9:00am to 3:00pm five days a week. Our worry is that to be in therapy six hours a day will tax our sons brain.

Feeling very, very lost within the Psyhicatric and Physcological communities when it comes to Post Concussion Syndrome.

Best of luck to you and your son. As a former high school athlete, I experienced a number of concussions, none of which were diagnosed, but in retrospect, they were definite mild traumatic brain injuries. My senior year in high school, after sustaining several concussions over the past years, I was unable to compete as part of the team I had been captain of, for two years running. I just couldn't do it. Thinking back, it's clear to me that my PCS had gotten the better of me -- I was un-coordinated, I had trouble concentrating, I was emotionally volatile and explosive, and I was getting into trouble at work and at school. So, I took myself out of my favorite and best sport, that fall, and I really suffered as a result.

In retrospect, it was good that I "sat it out", but it was really painful and depressing, and I spent a lot of time drinking and taking drugs to cover up the pain.

One of the things that makes concussion recovery so hard for high school athletes is that so much of their/our identity comes from being part of a team and playing with the team. The isolation of losing that and needing to recover (as well as the judgment from other kids that you're "faking it" or making more of it than need be), can be extremely difficult and depressing in itself. Add to that the loss of identity that comes when you are no longer a team member, and that's a double-whammy. With all the talk about recovery from concussion, it surprises me there is not more talk about the loss that comes from being cut out of sports just like that.

It really can be a crippling loss. It's not just the PCS, it's like losing a limb. You lose one of the biggest and most important parts of your identity.

Is there any way you can involve your son in activities that make him a valuable part of something bigger than himself? Unless you can replace that sense of belonging to a team with something that's safer and has actual meaning, that will continue to be a dark void in his life. For players of team sports, especially, being able to transcend your individuality for the sake of the greater good, is critical, so focusing all your attention on your own recovery goes directly against that deeply felt value system -- and that's a problem.

It might help to just address this with him and let him talk about it. I don't hear many people at all talking about this critical piece of things.

Another thing you can do is check out www.theconcussionblog.com, which is by a high school athletic trainer in the Chicago area. You might want to read some of the posts there aloud to your son. Many of the things at The Concussion Blog speak directly to his type of situation.

Good luck and stay strong.