[WesBJJ]

Feel free to skim through and comment on any aspect. The reasoning for posting this is to conversate with people knowledgeable on this and to learn.

Intro:
Hello, I am 20 years old and I was in a car accident October 23rd 2014. The first 2 weeks after getting out of the hospital I seemed to be getting better every day and thought within a week I would be back to normal. My neurologist told me I had PCS and ordered an MRI and an EEG. The MRI revealed I had a pineal cyst and an area of Increased t2 and flair in the frontal left region. The EEG didn't reveal anything. My girlfriend had left me one day prior to getting my test and the way my neurologist told me about the results was “here's how you spell it so you can google it” From that day on everything has been going downhill with a mix of depression, stress and scare.

Symptoms/changes:

Memory loss
Unable to think of simple words sometimes
Foggy
Dreams feel as if they are real, sometimes persisting for several moments after I wake up.
The littlest things make me very angry and I lash out uncontrollably.
Every day seems like a replay of the last
Loss of enjoyment in things I use to love to do.
Unable to concentrate on more than one thing.


Random Information:

Since it is winter right now most of the days are very dark, So far any day that has been sunny out I seem to get a ton of energy and feel as close to normal as I have since the injury.
I spent most of my days trapped in my mind for hours unable to break out of it until late in the day. When I am not thinking about negative things I seem to have more motivation to get my life going on a positive track and Improving on myself and my future, The only problem is with the extreme personality changes throughout the day I can never keep that mindset or act on it with the way I am right now.
I am able to force myself out anytime there is something happening and I have fun and interact with people well, but the next day it feels as if what I did was just a movie I watched, it doesn’t feel like I did it. Most of the days by the time I’m ready to go to sleep I can get my mind into a positive place, but when I wake up the next day it’s back to basically replaying the same difficulties I had before and replaying the same day every day.
I have done Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for 2 years. It was a sunny day, I had a lot of energy and felt good and decided to give it a shot a month and a half into the injury. It was hard for me to learn new techniques and being there gave me anxiety, but when it came time to spar I had no anxiety and it seemed as if I did better than I would have prior to the injury. I have not gone back since then because I don’t feel as if I’m ready.
I’m not sure how I feel about getting on medications because I was on medication for 12 years of my life for anxiety and I did not like how it made me feel, Have anyone had success with medication?

[Mark in Idaho]

WesBJJ,

Welcome to NeuroTalk,

Everything you are experiencing is common to PCS and most on this forum.

First, Stay away from sparring. Your brain will not tolerate another impact very well. You have enough struggles without adding another impact, even if it is not a concussion.

If you want to avoid meds, read the Vitamins sticky at the top. Check out post 101 on Nov 8, 2014. It has the updated information.

I'm not having a good day today but maybe I can offer more help later.

My best to you.

[Bud]

Wes,

I understand well all of your last paragraph but the Jiu Jitsu!

I am having panic/anxiety problems currently. They started at the 6 month mark for me.
I can go shopping with my wife and manage pretty well one day but the next is like starting all over again....one day's success never seems to build on the next day.

I spent 17 years on Paxil for panic attacks and withdrew 10/12 as it was losing efficacy and tried wellbutrin combined with celexa. I hated those, they wound we way up so I quit them 1/14 also. I was doing ok without them and was happy with the progress. My Tbi took place 4/12/14. The Paxil worked good for panic but I had some problems I was glad to get rid of when I quit. I gained a lot more fiscal discipline off the pill and really love my wife deeply again.

I am trying to remain med free.

Bud

[Bud]

Mark,

I hope tomorrow is a brighter day for you!

Bud

[WesBJJ]

Bud, I understand completely with how you say one days success doesn't build into the next day. I have good days, but the next day always seems to consist of me being right back at the start and having to build myself back up again. I was on paxil for 4-5 years then zoloft for the remaining 5-6 years until I got off anxiety meds completely rougly 4 years ago and haven't had much anxiety again until now.

[WesBJJ]

Mark, I'm sorry to hear that you are having a bad day but thank you very much for responding.
I will read up on those things. I am already taking vitamin d
Now from my research I have seen heard alot of stories of hormone therapy helping if not reversing the effects within a month is this something I should look into and get my hormones checked?

[Mark in Idaho]

WesBJJ,

Hormones only help for those who have knocked their hormones out with the concussion. But, despite what you have read, they do not cure anything. They just stabilize the hormone related issues.

I encourage those of you who have been on Paxil or other SSRI's and got off but still need a little something to try L-Tryptophan. If it does not help, replace it with low dose 5-HTP, upping the dose after a week of trying the low dose (50 mgs is a low dose. I had to up it to 100 mgs)

I was on max dose Paxil (60 mgs) for 14 years. I am much better with the 5-HTP.

[WesBJJ]

Mark,

Is it common to have hormone issues following a TBI and would it be helpful to get my hormones checked?

[Mark in Idaho]

Some people have hormone issues following a TBI. Many do not. It is something to consider but, other than thyroid, it is expensive and rarely covered by insurance. Thyroid hormones are worth checking and are more affordable. I think there are 4 thyroid factors to check.

You said, "Unable to concentrate on more than one thing." This is normal and should be something for you to choose to limit. Research shows that trying to multi-task is stressful on even healthy brains. Multi-tasking is grossly over-rated.

[WesBJJ]

Examples of what I meant would by "unable to concentrate on multiple things" would be: When I'm driving if I go to put my window up or down it takes almost full concentration to do that apposed to being able to do little things and still focus on the road. That is where I notice it the most. There is other examples of this also.

I also heard that hormone testing can get pretty expensive and so can the treatment of certain hormone deficiency's.