Mark, can you show me the links to the relevant literature? I have journal access so I can read the full text and look at the methodology and results.

A very recent study actually supports your hypothesis at the 60 day mark!

doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000000462

I am still going through that study (a lot of words to read), but I would appreciate any other studies that I can look at.

Journal research is the kind of information I prioritize.

Will there ever be a point (e.g. 1 year's time) where all nuerocognitive testing does not show any anomalies? Has this ever been documented?

Thank you for your help!

functional brain damage
 

I think once you get to the level of PCS-- no matter how long or short you have it, you just do have some brain damage. That said, I feel I have a high level of functional brain damage and it renders me able to work, think, and do much of what I used to do. What's differnt is the tinnitis in one ear, my dislike / mild intolerance of bright screens, and when I am tired, I am very tired. I can assure you this is not who I was.

100 percent should not be your goal. Get back to the highest level you can and learn to live with what comes.

I think that is learning to live with brain damage. I think that is realistic.

Love to you all


poetrymom

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-dav..._b_777163.html

good article about bdnf...never heard about it before this.

that said, it will take leaps in science to fix my broken thalamus, which unfortunately regulates a billion things in the body, but you guys are in early stages of injury and can heal quite a bunch more and move on.

i take the supplements because like mark in Idaho told me...we have to take care of what we can to be around for the new treatments later on.

Welcome to NT. Regarding your question on the measurement, attached are the verbatim comments from the neuropsychologist that conducted my NPA (this following a TBI categorized as severe):

“On examination, the patient demonstrated intact cognition in all domains assessed including learning and memory, attention, processing speed, language skills and executive functions. He has shown an excellent recovery from his severe injury only five months age. From a cognitive standpoint there are no concerns with respect to the patient returning to work full time or returning to driving.”

I personally have spoken to several people who have had concussions and are symptom free. That said most studies suggest that once a person sustains a concussion or other type of TBI, they are more susceptible to long term problems if they suffer additional head injury.

I hope this helps assuage some of your fears.

Some links that may be useful:

http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/feel_better.html

http://www.webmd.com/brain/post-concussion-syndrome

Best to you in your recovery.

good for you!!! even if you're 98 percent instead of 100 who's gonna notice. not even you :) this will be like it was a bad dream that passed for you. that's great

markneil,

I'm confused. What did I post that sounds like a hypothesis ?

Correction, chgs made the comment about the hypothesis. "A very recent study actually supports your hypothesis at the 60 day mark!"

The study about damage showing up after return to baseline did qEEG analysis of the frontal lobe. There are companies working on active monitoring of frontal lobe waveforms to track injuries on the playing field. This same technology is being used to look at recovery and such.

regarding Lightrail's post, I never said that people can not return to a symptom free condition. What I said is that that symptom free person can experience a return of symptoms from stressors.

So, Yes, many will return to a symptom free condition. But, they should not be surprised if stressful living causes a return of symptoms. Getting drunk will often have more effects after a concussion than before.

Mark,

I meant that hypothesis that there is long term physical damage after a concussion.

Right now, the diagnostic tools are not very effective. But in the future, better imaging and techniques will allow the specific identification of the actual physical root causes. This would hopefully pave the way to treatments that actually fix the cause rather than covering the symptoms by evaluating how the treatment actually affects structural brain features, allowing for better evaluation of controlled trials.

As I stated, A research study in the 70's shows that there is residual damage after the concussion appears to have resolved. This is not a hypothesis.

Unless there is some miraculous discovery with stem cells or other ways to spur neurogenesis beyond what happens naturally, I doubt there will be any clinical trails of treatment protocols. There are too many variables to organize a cohort of subjects with similar injuries.

Either way, the costs for such treatments will be a major cause for denial by insurance companies.

There are current diagnostic tools that are accurate. They are just not accepted by the medical establishment in many cases. They do not change the treatment options in most cases.

They already can test different protocols with live in vitro brain tissues. I've seen these tests. They are very interesting but I have not seen anything promising. They can watch the axons and dendrites make connections under different conditions. It did not appear they could influence these processes.

Since research is funded by either a drug company or the government, there must be a large population to serve to justify the costs.

I'd say that that 70s study supports the hypothesis that there is residual damage after the symptoms appear to have resolved, but I think it's a stretch to say that a single study done in the 70s moves the notion from hypothesis to fact. Do you happen to have the title or reference for this study? I'd be interested in reading it.

The lead in the study was Dr Dorothy Gronwall in New Zealand. She repeated some of the study in the 90's. A past NT member was one of her patients shortly before Dr Gronwall's passing in 2001.

Go ahead and doubt her research. If the power of positive thinking about a 100% recovery helps you do better, then go for it.

I have had many 100% recoveries from concussion symptoms. But, I still had to deal with relapses due to stress and an increased sensitivity to head movements.

It was a very minor head jerk on January 16, 2001 that put me over the edge.