[Hamncheese]

My headaches seem to be more lengthy and severe than most of the rest of you. After each minor concussion, which shouldn't have produced such problem headaches, I had months of constant headaches.

When I returned to my teaching job in February, I only worked for one day before I relapsed into a much worse condition than I had for any of my actual concussions. For the 4 concussions described in my signature below, I was immediately able to walk a good distance until the last one, the car accident, after which I gradually was able to increase my walking over 2-3 weeks. But now, for over 2 months, I cannot increase my tolerance for walking and I have been very sensitive to any movement, for instance when my car went over bumps in the road it took me several weeks to recover. I am still unable to walk more than 15 feet, talk for more than 10 minutes, and now (after a prednisone course) even to listen to podcasts for more than 10 minutes. Relapses in my minor progress over the last 2 months have also come from emotional triggers and slightly overdoing talking time.

My Kaiser neurologist, not knowing much about PCS, thought my headaches resembled migraines, and prescribed prednisone. This left me feeling better for the first 4 days of a 10-day course of treatment, but I feel worse than ever after stopping it. I asked for a consult with Kaiser's headache specialist, who diagnosed me with transformative migraine and prescribed a 6-day course of Naratriptan. Although this makes my headache slightly less severe, I still get headaches with any movement. I am questioning whether the migraine diagnosis is correct. The headache specialist seemed more familiar with PCS than my regular neurologist did, and said that headaches can "take on a life of their own," after a difficult PCS, and need to be treated on their own. She recommends DHE as the next step, even though as of now it is unavailable due to supply problems.

I would like to move back to Virginia to recover living with my mother, but as of now, even a short car trip is intolerable. I can't imagine a long airplane or train trip anytime soon.

Does anyone with similar experiences have some advice on how to get back some functionality? Does the migraine diagnosis sound correct?

Thanks, Joe