barnburner,

You asked about prolotherapy. I'll explain it here. An injection of a adjutant ( think of irritant) is injected into the area surrounding the injury. This causes the body to respond with its healing mechanism. This is a more intense healing effort than the injury was previously receiving. The goal is that this intense healing effort will increase the healing rate of the injury.

Prolotherapy can be an amazingly effective treatment. But, it does not work for everybody. It is a 'try this and see if it helps' treatment. It should be done by an experienced specialist, not someone who just attended a weekend seminar.

And, insurance companies do not always cover it so the financial risk can be personal.

Thanks for the response.

At the moment I am trying to decide on my next course of action. I hit the back of my head a year and 7 months ago in a snowboarding fall and I have had a constant headache/brain fog ever since. This is really my only symptom. I have tried physical therapy, change of diet, and i have visited a chiropractor, and nothing has even shown a slight sign of improvement.

A couple months ago a neurologist who specializes in concussions gave me a prescription for Cymbalta (30mg) but I am very hesitant to start taking them because I have heard bad things about antidepressants. I also just recently heard about Dr Greenberg in NJ who specializes in prolotherapy for PCS treatment.

You seem to know alot about PCS and the various treatments. Which of these two options would you say I should try first. I am really not thrilled with either option but I don't know what else to try. I have been looking for some success stories involving either prolotherapy or cymbalta but I haven't found much. In most cases it seems like these treatments provide a little bit of relief but they do not completely eliminate symptoms.

Any advice or stories would be greatly appreciated!

You have not told us much about your other possible issues. If the chiro did the 'twist the head and pop the neck' adjustment, I would discount it almost completely. It is too aggressive for the subtle upper neck injuries common to a concussion.

Gentle treatments by either an upper cervical chiro or a PT who knows how to mobilize the cervical vertebra without pushing for range of motion (this can undo any benefit) may be still worth trying.

If you neck is an issue, treatment must be followed with posture discipline. Any time resting or sleeping needs to be done with good straight head and neck posture. The ligaments need to tighten to hold the vertebra in proper position so the muscle spasms are relieved. Icing, especially after treatments is helpful. Check the Vitamins sticky at the top for info about upper cervical chiro and crushable ice packs.

Do you have any tenderness at the bony part behind your ears ? This often signifies muscle spasms from the neck.

I would not go near the Cymbalta for head aches. That is a months long experiment and off label. Head aches are a know side effect of Cymbalta.

What do you mean by other possible issues?

It seems like you have been around these forums for a while and have a good amount of knowledge about PCS. Have you ever heard of people having success with prolotherapy?

As I said about prolotherapy "Prolotherapy can be an amazingly effective treatment. But, it does not work for everybody. It is a 'try this and see if it helps' treatment. It should be done by an experienced specialist, not someone who just attended a weekend seminar. "

I have known about Prolotherapy for probably 8-9 yrs, I TRIED it in the dextrose from to try to save me from hip replacement....this was dextrose, the mildest form solution. It did not work for groin mess, which was a mess of bone spurs when I saw the xray.

But dextrose did work on my shoulder for about 3 yrs.... I could use it again but dragging my feet to come up with the money.

Now there are forms PRP and Stem Cells which these Prolo providers are using, much more money but more effective and less injections needed...they CAN work and do for enough people ... there is a lot of info out there about this work.

An MD here in Los Angeles has been doing Prolo work for 18 yrs and is on our weekend radio talking about it and gets calls from people who are in distress from surgery messes and those not doing surgery but in NEED of joint help.

Prolo has been around a long time and I believe originally from Germany....but like so much in our medical world, it was pushed aside for many years for drugs and surgery world....that's how I see it and understand as I've done a lot of research and thinking on this issue.

I live with a mess from hip replacement complications and believe I'm not alone, there are millions of us with issues from these surgeries.....

getprolo.com

Is a link to learn more and providers in the U.S.