[injuredbutrecoverin]

Hi everyone, any advice you could provide from your own experience would be highly appreciated.

I have read the vitamin posts and I have a question regarding the B-12: why is it important to get the methyl kind vs. the cyanocobalamin kind? I'm currently taking fish oil (about 1200 mg omega 3, 250 mg omega 6, and 250 mg omega 9), super B energy complex (Vitamin A: 750 IU, thiamin 1.5mg, riboflavin: 1.7mg, niacin: 20mg, B6: 2mg, folic acid: 400 mcg, B12: 6mcg, biotin: 300mcg, pantothenic acid: 10mg), and 500 mcg of B-12 (the cyano kind), 500 IU D3. Is there anything else that is essential that I take?

For those who have researched treatments: how effective are things like vestibular therapy, vision therapy, craniosacral therapy, etc. for mtbi? are there any specific ones that people recommend? my current symptoms are some convergence insufficiency, exercise intolerance, imbalance, sleep problems, and a feeling of occasional numbness in the back of my head that comes in with activity.

[Mark in Idaho]

injured but recoverin,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

Regarding B-12, many people do not absorb cyanocobalamin B-12. The methyl form is very absorbable.

If you notice, your Super B Complex is very weak in B's. I specify B-50 Complex or B-100 Complex because they have almost standardized amounts between brands and much larger amounts that a B Complex. In my opinion, a B Complex like the one you are taking is just better than worthless. Do not take multiples of your Super B Complex. The Vitamin A could be too much yet the B's will still be minimal.

Regarding the therapies you mention. Every concussion is different. Symptoms are treated individually. If you have vestibular problems, vestibular therapy may help. Vision therapy may help if there is a vision problem and the brain has healed enough. Sometimes, it causes brain stress if done too soon.

Cranial-Sacral Therapy is a mixed bag with not much positive record. Much of CST is not medically supported. Some of the spinal manipulations can be helpful but the attempts to move the skull plates are without any basis. Osteopathic manipulative treatment, or OMT, a newer version of CST without the skull plate work is more reasonable.

Your D3 is minimal. You do not list any anti-oxidants like C or E. You should add some magnesium and calcium. I also take 250 to 500 mgs of niacin.

mrsD is the expert here. She may post a comment.

You don't say when and how you suffered your concussion. That information would be helpful.

Did you start your vitamin regimen on your own or did you read the sticky first ?

[Bud]

Injured but recovering,

I get that numbness on the back of my head from to much activity as well...I can tell it will be coming shortly when the volume of my tinnitus increases, for me other things start to follow it.

Bud

[injuredbutrecoverin]

hey Bud,

have you figured out how to combat this? neck stretches seemed to help me some time ago but i was re-injured recently. heat? ice? ibuprofen? topical ibuprofen? this must be somehow cerebral blood flow related

in my next post i'll describe my particular set of circumstances.

thanks

[injuredbutrecoverin]

Mark In Idaho,

Thank you for responding. I read the sticky first but I am hesitant to take high dosage of any particular vitamin so thought I'd lower them a bit. Maybe I lowered too much.

My story (this is not a joke in any way):

Early Jan a friend hit me with her shoulder in the side of the head, no LOC, fully recovered by mid feb, back to work, gym, etc.

Early April: Struck in the back of the head by accident with cane, knocked out (I think, though I can't be sure), felt dizziness which mostly resolved, convergence insufficiency. Slight tension headaches. Symptoms that remained after the first week were slight tension headaches, convergence insufficiency, poor balance, sleep problems, fatigue.

Mid June: While recovering, run into by a bicyclist while I was walking, smacked in the face with his backpack. Symptoms got worse, felt tingling in my fingers due to my head being spun from left to right (he was traveling perpendicularly to me).

End of Nov: Mostly recovered, was starting to go to the gym again for 30 mins bike ride or elliptical, vision was back to normal, headaches gone, still was having some sleep issues. Was working again pretty regular hours. Was a passenger in a car, the driver backed up and hit another car. The jolt brought everything back.

Here I am today. Current symptoms: poor sleep, fatigue, convergence insufficiency, unable to tolerate much physical activity.

Which specific B-50 do you take? I find so many of them but because they aren't regulated in any way I want to know that I'm taking a trusted brand.

The mag/calcium, what is this for?

For C/E/D3, should I just take some multivitamin? You listed GNC in your sticky. What dosages do you believe are adequate?

What is the niacin for?

I was concerned about Osteopathic manipulation due to increased stroke risk associated with chiropractic manipulation and I thought the two approaches were similar. Am I wrong? Please elaborate if possible.

Thank you.

[Mark in Idaho]

B-50 Complex is a common formula. Any major brand is OK with me. Nothing on the vitamins regimen is a high dose. They may be compared to the useless RDA/DA numbers on the labels. The RDA/DA amounts are the minimums to maintain health, not a therapeutic level to help with stresses to body systems.

Niacin is a B vitamin. It helps capillary blood flow and is good for nerve tissue inflammation.

The brain needs adequate magnesium with calcium so it can be properly used. Magnesium helps with sleep cycles among other things.

C and E should be added as individual doses. Not many multi's have enough of either. D3 is rarely in the amounts needed, especially during the winter months or for those living in the higher latitudes. It is not uncommon for a D3 dose to be 2500 or even 5000 IU's. Your 500 is a bare minimum.

Very few vitamins and supplements can be overdosed unless you are taking extra Vitamin A. Vitamin C will cause loose bowels before it will cause any other problems. This is called bowel tolerance. It takes most people a minimum of 3 grams a day (1 gram 3 times a day) to start to see this effect. The 400 IU's of E is a common dose.

There is no measurable increased stroke risk from chiro manipulations nor from Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy. The classic 'turn the head and pop the neck' adjustment is often too aggressive for the subtle neck injuries common to concussions. The stroke issues is based on old lies spread by the medical establishment decades ago. The courts actually ruled that those claims were unsubstantiated and enjoined the AMA, etc. from continuing to spread those lies. The proof is the malpractice premiums paid by chiropractors. They are substantially less than those paid by most MD's.

There has been research into the CST skull plate 'readings' and manipulations that found them to be without any scientific/medical basis.

[injuredbutrecoverin]

I see. Is there any therapy that has proven benefit other than simply rest and time? I understand that vision therapy and vestibular therapy may help for vision and balance issues. That is: if you could completely plan out my life, what would you do to maximize my chances of recovering? Diet, sleep schedule, exercise or lack thereof, etc.

In the past I have found that recovery occurs spontaneously: one day you are not feeling well, wake up the next and you are back to normal. Nobody has been able to explain to me why or how that can be. For example, if you hurt your ankle you see recovery progress that is pretty smooth. Not so with concussions. Any thoughts on this?

[Mark in Idaho]

Therapies are only for individual symptoms. There is no single solution to PCS. 85% recover spontaneously. The rest of us run the gamut of time and recovery levels.

Quiet rest, just enough exercise to get good blood flow through the brain, avoiding the toxic foods and chemicals (alcohol, caffeine, etc) are the tried and true ways to recover. It is important to not cause relapses due to over-load by work, sensory stimulation, etc. It is not enough to just get good rest. You need to avoid the highs of stress overload. It is the peaks you need to avoid.

[mrsD]

Methylcobalamin is the active form biologically. Cyano is synthetic and has to go thru 4 chemical steps to become methyl in the body.

If you are part of the 10-30% of people who lack the gene to methylate you will be low biologically inspite of taking the cyano.

Since methyl is so inexpensive, and most people do not get DNA testing, it is best to today just skip cyano.

The way B12 is moved into the CSF (spinal fluid) is basically an osmotic gradient. To get it into the brain therefore the higher the serum level, the better the passage.

1000mcg (1mg) of B12 yields only 13 mcg absorbed into the body thru the small intestine. The rest leaves in the stool. So the dose looks high but it is only in reality 3-4 x the RDA for B12 because of this dynamic.

[injuredbutrecoverin]

Thank you both for your thorough and insightful answers.

Mark In Idaho: is there any logical reasoning why the recovery is spontaneous as opposed to gradual? Logically it would seem that if there is any sort of tissue damage in the body, then tissue regenerates gradually. Even if there is no regeneration in the brain but rather new neural connections are formed, I cannot imagine why the process is so binary. Any thoughts on this?

Also: should I be doing work and exercise until my symptom levels and then stopping as soon there is onset? What about sleep schedule, should I have a regular schedule or does this not matter?

Do you have any suggestions based on your experience of situations to avoid to prevent further injury? For example, clearly getting in a car is a bad idea for me right now based on this last incident. I know the probabilities of things like this is low but I would like to set risk as close as possible to zero until I am better.