courtney w, first off I'd like to say thanks for your concern. The courses I take count as college credits. We apply by computer to the college we take them through and our high school teachers teach them. I don't know if you consider that joint enrollment?

I take a College Chemistry Class, College Spanish Class, and an intro to stats class this quarter. I recently dropped band and choir this quarter and may potentially for the year depending on my symptoms as I have not been able to go to those and they're not necessary for my graduation. I have one lab to make up in chem that I'll do after the Christmas break, and one quiz left in spanish to do. The stats course, I'm a little bit further behind, but the break will help.

That said, I have pushed myself very hard to get caught up by this break, but I haven't stressed about school much at all maybe because I've had to get caught up before but I've been more worried about my health and college more, as I just got accepted to a very difficult private school and am concerned that it may be too much to handle. until Dan gave me some more hope.

My brain functions about as well as it used to except when symptoms build up too much.

For anxiety and relaxation, I do some deep breathing exercises I talked about in a different post maybe on a different topic/thread and I plan to exercise over the break and into school more now that I'm more caught up.

Also Dan, if you could give me some advice on the anxiety and preventing stuff and how you progressed that'd be appreciated.

Specifically, how did you realize when you could start walking faster, running, hugging people? stuff like that.

And what were specific situations that you avoided and how you dealt with anxiety, stress, and maybe other stuff.

I know caution and anxiety are necessary, but my anxiety is excessive.

Yep... joint enrollment means you are enrolled in two schools at once; a high school and a college. AP and IB are different, in that those programs are offered through the high school and count for high school credit, with the opportunity to take exams at the end of the term that can make a student eligible to receive college credits.

The good news is, at least I'm guessing, the Spanish class is probably not much more difficult than the Spanish you would have taken at the high school level; in fact, it's probably mostly review of what you've already had. It's probably tedious, but not overly difficult as far as the material is concerned. The chemistry and stats might be a different story. (I know that you know all of this already LOL... I'm saying all of this more for the benefit of others in this thread who aren't as familiar with the program you are in).

Are you supposed to start college in the fall? The good news is that, as a freshman, most of your classes probably will be review of material from high school and it won't be quite as stressful as it is right now because you won't be taking the high school classes with them. You'll probably have more time between classes that you can devote to studying, resting, or relaxing... so as long as you are managing your time wisely, you stand a very good chance at still being able to be very successful in college, particularly given how much you say you have recovered already.

Be careful with the exercise... I have found that heavy exercise makes my symptoms worse. Exercise is awesome if it's not hurting you, but please listen to your body... if you start to get a headache or other symptoms that resemble those from your concussions, stop whatever you're doing and limit yourself to walking for a while afterwards. I know that's no fun, but neither is prolonging the life of any lingering symptoms. I learned that the hard way when a simple light jog sent me into a migraine so bad that I could barely even communicate with my husband beyond whispering. It was awful.

Best of luck, and keep us posted! I'd love to get updates on how you're doing

I'm really glad your going to give the diet a try. The diet is called the Leaky Gut Diet, which is designed to fix "leaky gut syndrome" but it also reduces inflammation, heals the blood-brain barrier, and does a number of other things..this is all what my chiropractor told me. Here is a link with the diet's restrictions:

http://askdrakiba.com/food-sensitivi...pair-vite-diet

It is basically the Paleo Diet but a little more extreme. The diet basically consists only of lean meats, fruits, and vegetables. There are even some high-glycemic fruits you can not eat like banana or pineapple. You can eat as much as you want, and I recommend eating a lot because it is easy to start losing weight when you are eating so healthy. Try to eat anti-inflammatory foods like ginger, berries, and fish. My mom buys a lot of meat at the beginning of the week and I grill it up and feast on it throughout the week. It may seem boring at first but after a while you really start to enjoy the food.

To adapt to the diet I drink coconut milk, which is really the only kind of milk you are supposed to drink on it. I also have an avocado everyday, cook with coconut oil, and try to eat ginger with all of my meat. It is funny you have an older brother who is obsessed with his diet because I do to, and he's helped me out along the way too.

As far as supplements go, I would ask your chiropractor who is big on nutrition what he/she recommends. My chiropractor did a pretty thorough blood test for me and recommended supplements based off of that. Some supplements that you should definitely take are fish oil, magnesium, B2, and reservatrol. Two others that she put me on are NeuroFlam and NeurO2, which both help with inflammation and can both be found on ebay or other places online. I would ask your chiropractor though because I'm sure he/she is going to recommend the same things.

Over the summer when I was in my worst condition I would desperately search the internet for hours looking for answers and solutions to my problem. I actually went to see my chiropractor out of Dallas because she did cranial adjustments and I had read all about them. She did do them, and I think they did help a little bit but its hard to say how much. I still think the primary thing that healed me was the diet. So I would say to go ahead and try the adjustments, just be careful your chiropractor understands your situation and does it in a gentle way, mine did in a massage-like way that was not jarring at all.

Another thing I did and still do everyday is put a lot of time in strengthening my neck. A strong neck helps to prevent form further injury and has definitely helped me out. Im sure you are familiar with neck drills from football, just be careful how you do it so you don't hurt your neck at all.

Also, I don't know if you are into partying, I was for a while but completely gave up alcohol/drugs in order to let my brain fully heal, and I think that was very important.

What we are going through is definitely not fair, but its nice to have someone to go through it with. It was definitely scary for me over the summer because I could not find anyone who shared my situation and there was no advice on how to heal from it. So I am very happy that I get to be that person for you and help you get through this. Please ask me any questions or advice, I really enjoy helping you out. Also, I'm from Austin and my real name is Garret Hemphill, my screen name is Dan because I wanted to stay anonymous when I made this account a year or so ago. Try and find me on Facebook and we can communicate that way too.

Best of luck

JBuckl,

I just saw your post about anxiety and preventing further injury. As far as anxiety goes, I never found a great way to avoid it, I just removed myself from situations where I could potentially hit my head. I had to be constantly aware of my surroundings which just adds more stress, but I'm afraid its necessary to let yourself heal. The worst anxiety I experienced was when something did hit my head or I experienced some type of jarring motion that I thought set me back. Knowing that I got set back and would have to feel bad for the next few days was incredibly stressful, so the best way to avoid anxiety is to protect your head.

For progressing into walking faster, running, jumping and all that, you need to take it one step at a time. At one point I could not walk heel-to-toe barefoot because I could feel my brain shake when my heal would hit the ground. So, after a few weeks of being on the diet and feeling much better, I started walking barefoot on carpet. I would do this everyday until I got comfortable, then I moved to tile floor.

Once I could finally walk normally again, my big goal was to start running, which I'm sure it is for you. I honestly was very scared to start, but I stated in a batting cage that had turf floor so it was a little cushioned. I started jogging pretty goofy at first, making sure each impact wouldn't shake my head, but as days and weeks went by I slowly pushed my limits until I was running without a problem.

I encourage you to do the same thing I did: just chip away at it day by day and before you know it you'l be running and jumping again. Push your limits but be smart about it, it is much better to play it safe and not further-injure yourself than to push it too much and set yourself back. It is going to take some time so be patient and stay focused on your goal.

Thanks a lot Dan/Garret! I'm excited to get fully onto this diet and heal up!

This may seem strange, but what's a typical breakfast for you? I didn't quite see the most breakfast type foods on the list besides fruit.

Sorry if you've said this already, but what were your PCS like? Mainly pressure buildup/headaches in the front of the head, light sensitivity? And were you able to shower right away?

What about with Christmas celebrations coming up? How did you avoid getting bumped by relatives and little cousins if you have any? This past thanksgiving I chose to stay home because I thought the risk was not worth the reward and that may still be the case.


My questions will die out I promise. Ha I know it's never good to compare when dealing with brains, but when information is available, sometimes I just have to know it. I suppose I can't think of any other questions at the time, but I'm sure I will. I added you on facebook, and I'll keep those messages personal, but I think posts would be good on here for other people to see as well because I don't think the diet has been brought up a whole lot.

Thanks for the advice.

Yeah, I start in the fall, and I'll be sure to contact admissions counselors if possible. I also have contact with some track and football coaches as well, whom I may get a hold of. I'm not quite as worried as I was, but as sensitive as my is, a small accident could really take me out of school for some time, and I have to make sure that the school knows that and that there's a plan of some sort if that does happen. I can't be spending thousands of dollars to fail school, and I know there's some insurance policies, but I know people at the school would know more about that.

Track will probably not be an issue by the time that season rolls around... football, however, might. At least you'll have a helmet on. I'm not sure about the effectiveness of a typical football helmet... is that the kind of thing where you can maybe get the helmet a little bigger to allow room for extra padding, just in case? Ultimately, you'll just need to have some kind of plan in place to protect your head as much as possible, if not playing isn't an option.

I'm definitely not going to be playing football anymore, so there will be no worries with that.

JBuckl,

I definitely struggled putting a breakfast together when I first started the diet too. Your breakfast will most likely end up looking more like lunch for a little while. I always have an apple and some other fruit, some kind of meat like a chicken breast or pork chop or something, and my mom gets this gluten free AppleGate sausage at the grocery story that is really good. Its just part of doing the diet, you'll get used to it and can probably start adding eggs after a month or so. Eggs is one of the more lenient things on the diet, I eat them every morning now and have no problem-but I would start off completely following the diet plan just to be safe.

My PCS began in April of 2012 after I got my 4th concussion. I had constant head fog, head pressure, and a headache for 14 months. Literally every second of every day I had a headache, it was awful. The diet took care of the pressure and headaches though. My head sensitivity, which turned out to be much worse of a symptom than the headaches, started when I was about 8 months into PCS. I was playing baseball and someone underhanded a toss to me and it hit me right in the forehead. It was not a hard toss at all, but that sent me on a downward spiral to where I could hardly walk or ride in cars. The diet also gradually helped to resolve that. I also had light sensitivity which has slowly gotten better, and I had a few weird vision things like a little double vision and halos around street lights at night. I never had a problem with showering, I kind of avoiding the water coming directly down on my head just because I was so cautious but I doubt it would have done anything, if it bothers you though just work your way around it- there was one time I showered at my aunts house and the water pressure was really high so I just took a bath.

As far as your Christmas goes, I would hate for you to not see your relatives and all. I do know that it is tough to control what other people do when they hug you and all that. If you have to travel far and just don't feel comfortable with everything than maybe you should stay home, and just know that next Christmas will be much better. Just be safe and smart about what you do. Keep the question coming, I'm happy to help and I'm sure I have a lot more advice to give you. Remember to try and eat a lot, especially meat if you can get your hands on it. Keep in touch