Upper Cervical Adjustments (c1, c2- atlas/axis etc)

http://www.upcspine.com/self.htm

http://www.nucca.org/patients.php

http://www.upper-cervical.com/


a variety of videos showing upper c adjustments -
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&q=upper...586614e6107c47

Helpful Books about MTBI aka "concussion"
 

I've seen quite a few recommendations for Brainlash by Gail Denton, I did find it helpful.

I found two other books that I even thought were equally helpful information-wise:

Understanding Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) Edited by Mary Ann Keatley PhD, CCC and Laura L. Whittemore (A Brain Injury Hope Foundation Publication)

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: The Guidebook by Mary Lou Acimovic, M.A, CCC-Sp

They are well organized and formatted for people with issues like us. :winky:

Interesting PDF!
 

I enjoyed reading this and learned some new things from it:

http://www.healthpsych.com/tools/tbi.pdf
:)

The Colorado Department of Labor document on TBI should be considered carefully. Much of it is extremely out of date. It has some very serious errors. And, it has some biases that favor the Workers Comp insurance company against the injured worker.

I was appalled as I read it. For example, It says that mTBI injuries recover within 12 months with very little room left for consideration of longer or incomplete recoveries. This is a common bias held by the Workers Comp insurance industry.

It's strength is for the severe TBI injured worker who is left comatose from their brain injury. The mTBI issues are very poorly understood. This is quite common for a government bureaucracy.

I consider the document to be of little value to the injured person or their family. Even professionals should read it with skepticism .

Q&A with Canadian concussion specialist
 

A recent CBC interview with a highly-regarded neurosurgeon and concussion specialist in Toronto, Canada:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/...-tator-qa.html

I found this link useful with current updates all around the world (many from U.S). The information is concise and current and they frequently update. You can read through it quickly.


http://www.seriousinjurylaw.co.uk/ne...njury-News.php

VERY interesting article on the impact of concussion on the thalamus. Also offers some suggestions to facilitate healing!

This makes a lot of our anecdotal experience and things like the graduated return to activity program make neurological sense.

http://www.wellnessresources.com/hea...tes_take_note/

pituitary damage after brain injury
 

[QUOTE=PCSLearner;679472]I caught bits and pieces of a show on TLC called "Mystery Diagnosis". The episode was about a girl who had a mild head injury. Some time later she had major symptoms of fatigue, etc. After something like 4 years her docs finally figured out her pituitary gland was damaged in the car accident.

I will post a link to the site here, although I don't think this episode is available for viewing yet. Keep checking back if interested...something to look out for for sure!


Yes, I read a case of a mild head injury ('Evolving Hypopituitarism as a consequence of traumatic brain injury in childhood - a call for attention' by Medic-Stojanoska) where a girl fell off a bed aged 7 without even losing consciousness, and as she grew up, one by one her pituitary hormones failed, causing her to fail to grow, to become fat, and cognitively impaired. I think it took till she was about 20 before she was diagnosed. Pituitary damage after head injury is very common and terribly under-diagnosed. There's a systematic review by Schneider (2007 JAMA) which finds that 27.5% of head injury survivors have this complication. It can cause loss of libido, infertility, weight gain (like the girl above), fatigue, depression - we think undiagnosed post-traumatic hypopituitarism lay behind our 31-year-old son's suicide three years ago. The good news is that pituitary damage can be treated with replacement hormones.

Repost of basics of recovery
 

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry for your reason for being here but you have found a good place.

The simplest way to describe rest as needed for a concussion is to do nothing that has an agenda, whether it is a time limit, productivity goal, trying to meet others expectations, etc. In the early stages, it literally means resting or napping.

A good schedule would be something like this.

Get up in the morning.

Take a shower or do whatever you do first thing after getting up. Do it without any time constraints.

Have a good breakfast. This should include good nutrition and supplements such as B vitamins, Omega 3's and all of the anti-oxidants.

Avoid caffeine. You do not need to have a chemical wake you up. Let your brain decide to wake up. Also avoid MSG and anything with processed soy. The glutamate is counter to brain healing.

Some very light reading or TV viewing like watching the weather report can be OK. Do not push this routine to 'feel normal.'

Maybe do some household chores. Nothing strenuous. Clean up the kitchen, etc. Get the hubby off to work and kids off to school with as little stress as possible.

Sit down and relax. Maybe play a few hands of Solitaire with a deck of playing cards. This should not be strenuous. Just some manual stimulation with some gentle visual stimulation. Again, no pressure. Just relax and go through the motions.

If at any point, you feel spacey or have trouble focusing with your eyes, stop and relax with your eyes closed. Maybe listen to some quiet music, with head phones or ear buds if possible. Keep the volume low.

If you feel like you are going to doze off, do it in a comfortable spot with good back and neck posture. Neck injuries are common with concussions.

When you feel up to it, get up and do some more simple tasks or activities. It is better to keep you hands busy that your brain. Simple manual activities are great therapy. Sewing, knitting, playing cards, polishing silver (no harsh smelling chemicals) anything with more manual involvement that mental. Your hands can not go fast enough to over-stimulate your brain, except if you try to play video games. Playing a musical instrument may be a good activity.

A low key walk can be OK but be sure to take short laps so you do not find yourself too far from home and needing to rest. Good resilient shoes are best to limit the jarring from planting your foot with each step.

Follow a similar routine with lunch and dinner/supper. Moderation in any and all activities. Family needs to be fully involved in keeping the chaos to a bare minimum. No loud music or TV's or video games blaring.

Healing is a marathon, not a sprint. The cognitive issues may take quite some time to get better. The head aches, too, but keeping stress low can help with the head aches for some PCS sufferers.

If you have a good day, be thankful and plan to lay low in hopes of having another good day. One good day does not mean a recovery. Sixty good days in a row may be a good sign of recovery but not an excuse to go overboard with activities.

Listen to you brain and body, if you don't feel up to an activity, don't do it. If you get any feeling of being spaced out, stop and rest for the rest of the day. Note what you were doing before the spacey feeling came on. It is likely one of many triggers of your PCS symptoms.

When you feel up to it, Download and print the TBI Survival Guide at www.tbiguide.com. When you have time, watch the "You Look Great" YouTube video series (six chapters). It will help if your family watches this series too. Show them the TBI Survival Guide with your symptoms highlighted.

The more people you get in your corner to help you and watch out for you, the better.

And, don't try to compare your PCS with others. There is no way to compare symptoms. Every person is different. Comparing just creates an opportunity for anxiety. Anxiety is your enemy. Rest and patience is your friend.

My best to you.
__________________
Mark in Idaho

I just came across this article about BCAA's, which are amino acids, and how researchers think when taken as a supplement that they could help people recovering from mTBI and MTBI.

http://www.naturalnews.com/027849_am...in_damage.html

Researchers are going to give people with mTBI and MTBI BCAA's in new studies.


Here's an older study where researchers discovered that BCAA's helped people recovering from Severe TBI.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16181934


I read that it's best to take supplements that are 50 percent leucine, 25 percent isoleucine, and 25 percent valine and B6 is needed to synthesize the amino acids.

If you're healing from a brain injury, your doctor has probably already told you to take a B Complex regularly and B12 daily. (My neurologist told me to!) So that's where you'll get some B6 for the amino acids. But you might also want to get a BCAA supplement with a little B6 in it for good measure.

**Don't forget to write this stuff down so you can ask your Dr. about whether you should try it. You want to make sure you talk about it with them first so they don't interfere with any drugs you might be taking, etc...