[thorx89]

Hi,

I had a piece of scaffolding collapse on me 5 weeks ago, sending a heavy metal plank straight in between my eyes. I didn't suffer any memory loss, didn't even pass out, and my CT was negative. Still, it caused me a concussion that has dragged on since then (first 2 weeks were the worst). The symptomps are all kinds of headaches (presssure, throbbing, cutting/buzzing feeling) and they get much worse after intense physical or mental activity. I tried to do as much as I could to get better ASAP (good diet, fish oil, vitamins/minerals + gingko and lecithine since week 4), but I still feel far from normal. The headaches never stopped and only fluctuate between lighter and worse (I didn't have headaches or any health complaints before the accident).

I'm quite a nerdy guy. Brain work has sort of always been my forte, and I've sacrificed so much for learning computer science during the last couple of years and for being self-reliant. Now, pretty much any more intense work gives me headaches. Even dealing with multiple people at once. I used to be a full time professional freelance translator for English and Czech with lots of clients--a job I was unhappy in because I found it unchallenging. Yesterday, I had a couple of friends visit here (CR) from Australia. They do every year. I always interpret for them so they can have a conversation with their Czech family. Yesterday, it was too much for me. My brain was killing me for trying to decipher the thick accent one of them had (never had problems with it before) and for trying to hold the sentences in my head before I could translate them.

I felt totally ruined afterwards. Spent the whole night thinking about suicide.

I just want to be happy and active like I was 1.5 months ago--ride my bicycle 15km to the gym, spend 3 hours busting my *** in there and go back and spend 2 days nonstop working on tough coding challenges, but I can't. Even a bit of either makes my headache much worse. I've spent most of the last month in bed, doing nothing and having a headache. I've tried and tried again. It feels like it's never ending

What's worse, I've spent the last couple of years living with my parents so I could save some money (my parent's rent is better than that of a landlord in a big city). I hate it here and my dad hates me (he usually stays away now that I'm grown up, but a couple of days after the accident (which was pretty much his fault BTW), he couldn't help but come shouting at me about how incapable I am for lying in bed and not doing his work for him and how i should get the **** outta the house). Being in this middle of nowhere where I'm at made me lose or at least distance myself from most of my friends. Two people who mattered a great deal died in July. I feel very alone in this. I could stand being alone while I was working hard on my skills, knowing that August was the month I was gonna go for a programming job offer I'd got and leave. Now I feel week, unproductive, useless and very much afraid if I'll ever be myself again, and I don't think I'll be able to live like this for much longer.

Does this ever get better? Does it really go away within a couple of months like the neurologist whom my doctor friend got me says, or do people just get used to living with it? Do people ever come back to normal (i.e., do they get healed) or is it just that the rest of the brain learns to compensate for damage that's irreversible?

Is there anything more I can do to help this get better? I resent this "rest and wait approach". I think I'll try and order these meds *edited*get back to eating more them highly brain healthy foods (slipped in that area in the last couple of days) and try and get back to exercising (some web articles suggest that it promotes neurogenesis),and I think I've already had enough of rest).

What do you think? Especially if you have a story with a positive outcome, please do share.
You're awesome if you've made it this far in this brain dump of mine.

Have a nice day,
Petr (25 years old)

[anon1028]

you are WAY early in your recovery time and can make tremendous improvements still and most likely will. Five weeks is very early. I have lost count of the number of people who, legitimately, felt like you do now. They are all gone, lol. Got better and flew the coop.

be careful before you start spending money on advertised supplements. The brain is pretty complex and there is a sticky at the top of TBI page to guide you on what supplements you should be taking.

Drinking alcohol and anything but light physical activity are out until you get stronger. Its the only brain you have and it will get much better if you do the right things and just try to be patient. I know its hard.

It may take longer than 2 moths or you may see improvement sooner. I know you are sick of being patient and you are young, However, There is a great chance that you will be able to code and ride your bike and translate and do all those great things again when you heal enough.

Try not to stress over your family relationships, especially with Dad. You need your energy to heal right now.

And if you get feeling suicidal too often, get help.

Welcome to the board for as long as you need it. Others who are very knowledgeable will be along during the course of the day.

[Mark in Idaho]

thorx89,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. You are still very early in your recovery. You need to get quiet rest and be patient. It sounds like your father is not helping your recovery. You impatience to get back to your life is also counter to recovery.

What kind of meds are you considering ordering? Brand names or such will be able to be posted. There are no magic pills to recover.

Nutrition is also not a quick fix. It takes weeks to months of good brain nutrition to see long term improvements. You need to be consistent with nutrition. One bad day of polluting your system can undo days of good nutrition.

So, find a way to get away from stress.

[SarahSmile0205]

I know you will hate to hear this but 5 weeks in is very early... I am 7 months in and still have daily headaches.. HOWEVER, I also have some neck issues...

I think that the rest is the best medicine for you right now, other than what you are doing with your vitamin regimen...

I am sure that there are some others that have some perfect insight for you... however.. you can always come here and vent... we have all been through it...

[thorx89]

Originally Posted by markneil1212

you are WAY early in your recovery time and can make tremendous improvements still and most likely will. Five weeks is very early. I have lost count of the number of people who, legitimately, felt like you do now. They are all gone, lol. Got better and flew the coop.

be careful before you start spending money on advertised supplements. The brain is pretty complex and there is a sticky at the top of TBI page to guide you on what supplements you should be taking.

Drinking alcohol and anything but light physical activity are out until you get stronger. Its the only brain you have and it will get much better if you do the right things and just try to be patient. I know its hard.

It may take longer than 2 moths or you may see improvement sooner. I know you are sick of being patient and you are young, However, There is a great chance that you will be able to code and ride your bike and translate and do all those great things again when you heal enough.

Try not to stress over your family relationships, especially with Dad. You need your energy to heal right now.

And if you get feeling suicidal too often, get help.

Welcome to the board for as long as you need it. Others who are very knowledgeable will be along during the course of the day.

Thank you so so much!! You've totally brightened up my day!

[Sitke]

Ditto on all the above, I know how much you want to just be back to 100% but it takes time.

I could not stand the brain problems in the beginning, was always active, think mountain climbing and hiking so being told to calm down and rest was pure torture, I learned the very hard way to get a lot of rest.

Your brain needs time to heal, others who have never experienced this just don't get it, they can think we are lazy, it's not the truth at all.

5 weeks is SO new, I was suffering so much last year I thought of ways to do myself in, rest, rest, rest...you have to do it for yourself so you can begin the road to recovery.

Also, for a long time I questioned everything, when will this be better, what if it never does, what if's all over the place and made myself worse. I had the most severe headaches that just would not budge.

I know you feel so alone, I do too, a lot of us here do but you have us, we all understand so you are not alone, this forum has been a life saver for me and others.

Keep posting, keep reading the other posts, and most of all don't be hard on yourself at all, I know it's hard.

Don't over do things, if you can go for a nice walk don't over do that either, you can tell if you are.

Hang in there,

[thorx89]

Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

thorx89,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. You are still very early in your recovery. You need to get quiet rest and be patient. It sounds like your father is not helping your recovery. You impatience to get back to your life is also counter to recovery.

What kind of meds are you considering ordering? Brand names or such will be able to be posted. There are no magic pills to recover.

Nutrition is also not a quick fix. It takes weeks to months of good brain nutrition to see long term improvements. You need to be consistent with nutrition. One bad day of polluting your system can undo days of good nutrition.

So, find a way to get away from stress.

Thanks for the reply, Mark.
The link that got edited out was to this one article where this one doctor recommends

• 1200 milligrams of GPC daily (glycerophosphcholine)
• 200 milligrams of PS daily (phosphatidylcholine serine)
• 500 milligrams of ALCAR daily (acetyl-L-carnitine)
• 500 milligrams of Longvida© (curcumin in an extra digestible form)

as food supplements for aiding in concussion recovery. (And I have found some independent clinical studies that support that.) This stuff is impossible to get over here in the Czech Republic, barring ALCAR, which is available as a fitness supplement. I considered ordering the rest from abroad around 2 weeks ago, but didn't because I thought I would be OK by now (by now is when the supplements would arrive if I had placed the order 2 weeks ago).

Two weeks ago, after having spent a week on trying to get back up (before then I spent most of my first 2 weeks sleeping most of the time), I was sick of being sick and I tried to force myself back right into the middle of some hardcore coding. That made my headache much worse for the next two days, which I spent mostly in bed again. Then I decided to try and do some more for my recovery and substitute for some of the items on the above list. I came across lecithin, which as a choline precursor should also have some brain-helping properties and I added that, along with gingko, to my shelf of supplements, which had had fish oil and multivitamins+Mg,Ca, Zn, Fe from week 1. I'd also been trying to eat a high-protein diet and pour ground tumeric on my meals ever since week 1.

I've tried to do some research on this thing, and I've come to terms with the fact that there ain't no concussion pill (as I said--I wasn't very happy with the rest-and-wait approach pushed to me by doctors). I just want to be doing to the best to aid my recovery.

Do you have any experience with the above food supplements? Are they worth buying?

[Mark in Idaho]

Here is the article, http://www.letstalkrealhealth.com/co...there-is-hope/

It sounds worthwhile. Keep in mind that the recovery process is slow. Recovery is counted in weeks if not months.

I'll have to look into adding them to my regimen. The first two sound good.

I notice that you are not taking any B-12 or B-50 complex. You should.

[Shazza]

Hi,

You have every right to feel frustrated, your life has just been turned upside down (without your consent). It sounds as though you have been very active and have a fabulous work ethic. This makes it harder to come to terms with what you need to do to manage your injury. I know you don't want to be told to take it easy and rest, I didn't. So I didn't rest and all it did for me was to make me worse and suffer more, and ultimately make my recovery longer. I still fight against my symptoms but this is becoming less. I am 11 months post concussion.

This is my 6th concussion, I fully recovered within 3 months for all of my previous concussions.

I have been told that research shows that those people with physical injuries and a concussion often recover quicker than those who just had a concussion - reason being those with the physical injuries slowed down (and were probably shown more compassion by others). Just listen to your body, if you feel tired then rest, rest will help you. I hope you don't learn this the hard way.

As others have said you are young, and that bodes well in your favour of having a full recovery. Most people with a concussion recover in the first few months.

It would be great if you could print out some information on concussion to give to your parents, it might help your father be a little more understanding or if not try to involve someone in your life who is understanding and supportive.

Take care and be kind to yourself you are not alone.

Shazza

[poetrymom]

I know it's dull, but important. Realy try to limit all screens, and just try to stop thinking and obsessing.

Play cards, shuffle the deck
Listen to audio books or gentle music
Plant some seeds
Fold clothes

Here are some ideas.

You are early in recovery and just hang in there. On this board I learned that recovery is a marathon and not a sprint

Take care

poetrymom