Do other people have symptoms that are always present ? Even while resting ?

I have this foggy/dreamy/ feels like my head is in a cloud feeling 24/7, even while I lay in bed and rest.

I'm curious because much of the literature implies exerting yourself to your symptom threshold, which is problematic in my situation.

Oh well

Thanks !

You are barely 2 months post injury. Based on your previous comments, it also sound like you are struggling with anxiety. Both could be reasons for this feeling.

"I'm curious because much of the literature implies exerting yourself to your symptom threshold, which is problematic in my situation."

If you are exerting yourself to a point of causing symptoms, that could also be the cause. It can take a few days to even a week or longer of no over-stimulation or over-effort to see a reduction in symptoms. Resting is not an instant cure.

Recovery is not about averaging your activity level. You can't just 'rest' your way out of an over-activity and expect to see improvement. You need to stay below your threshold consistently. If your recovery is going to take 100 steps forward, you will not make it very far if you over-do it resulting in a step backward. Two steps forward then one step backward means it will take a long time to complete 100 steps forward.

If you have responsibilities that prevent you from lowering your activity level, then you likely need to accept that you will likely be feeling this lousy feeling for a long time to come.

We have had many on NT who fought against their PCS for a year or more before making the changes to lower their peak activities so they could recover. Once they finally did, their recovery progressed along.

One activity you should stop is researching every symptoms you have. They all mean the same thing. Too much activity.

How is your diet and nutrition doing ?

Mark
Diet and nutrition are great. I'm staying away from alcohol completely , following the sticky on vitamins to a tee, and eating a great deal of fruits and veggies.

Anxiety is definitely present, but I'm really not sure how to make that stop. You say just two months but as many know it feels like a lifetime. I've recently started lexapro, maybe that will help.

I understand the concept of complete rest but Im not sure it's realistic. I can't lay still and not do anything for an hour, much less a week or however long it may take.

I suppose I was just curious about if other people experience continual symptoms even with rest ( I.e. Present when they wake up in the morning)

Thanks

Nobody is saying complete rest, let alone bed rest. You need to find low stress activities to stay busy with.

You said "I'm curious because much of the literature implies exerting yourself to your symptom threshold, which is problematic in my situation. "
To me, that implies you are exerting yourself and that you are not able to reduce that exertion. Is that the case?

Or, are you meaning the University of Buffalo protocol of exercise to just below threshold ?

The Buffalo protocol is to be started after balance and foggy feelings are resolved. The Buffalo protocol is for athletes needing to return to full exertion capabilities so they can return to their sport.

If you are going to mention a concept you have found online, it will help us to know the complete concept being promoted.

What is your normal day's activities lately ?

Thank you for posting this question, as I was actually thinking about posting a similar topic. There have been a lot of posts on here recently about setbacks - symptoms going away and then coming back if one pushes too hard. This has not been my experience at all.

My symptoms have always been present - and they have all very, very, very slowly decreased. Some have decreased to the point where they have gone away and not come back. Some are still present and continue to decrease, but they do not go away and then come back if I push too hard. They may increase in intensity if I push too hard. For instance, I always have some level of dizziness present, but if I do too much physical activity, the dizziness will get worse and I will have to stop.

So am I doing something wrong if some of my symptoms are always there? And please don't say this is anxiety because I have done a lot of work to control my anxiety.

Mark,

Nearly every online resource implies that increasing symptoms are a sign of "pushing your brain too hard" I'm not stating any specific resource, just my overall understanding.

This does not seem relevant to my case. Exertion does not make my symptoms better nor worse and thus leaves me uncertain about what I am supposed to do as I have no way of measuring what level of exertion is too much.

As of now my typical day is 4-6 hours of work and 2 hours of class on 3 days a week. Before this, I spent almost 10 days doing nothing right after my concussion after 2 days of trying to push through the pain.
I've been getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night , and doing nothing but eating or laying in bed when not at work/class.

At the end of the ten days , I was not any better, and life had to go on.

I guess I did not properly define exertion. It can be physical or mental/cognitive or both. Plus, the environment you are in, especially during mental/cognitive exertion magnifies the impact of that exertion.

Your peaks of cognitive effort are most likely your cause.

What kind of work and class work are you involved in ?

My work is simple data entry. Sitting at s computer and typing all day. As for my class, it's a gen Ed philosophy class. It's a long ways from rocket science.

Do you ever struggle to transcribe the data ? Do you have to stop to focus on what you are reading to take the data and input it on the computer ? Do you have to look, memorize, then turn to the computer to input the data ?

Is the class structure such that there are voices from all around the room ?

If it helps I also had symptoms, Always, visually, headaches, confusion, but to be sure anxiety is the thing that compounds all of that, one thing I was taught is not to worry about worry, that is if you do get anxious or feel agitated or worried about your situation, let it happen and let it pass. Easier said then done and took me to this point to get a handle on it.

I had such a problem with people telling me pacing, I didnt understand I wasnt doing anything, eventually you will start to get "breaks" where you almost feel normal, I think the key is as advised by everyone here is when you are almost or close to symptom free, do whatever you can to maintain that, dont rush to get things done. The longer these breaks get the better you will feel and then it will start to make more sense as to why pacing is important.

You may always have something lingering, visual, headaches, hearing whatever it is if thats the one thing, let it go and control your enviroment to keep the rest away.

Anxiety will prolong your recovery, do whatever you can to relax and enjoy something. Don't be to hard on yourself and don't put timelines on your recovery-- the worst thing I did was , oh if I can just get a little bit better by this day then I can return to this, which is depressing when it doesnt happen.

Be Calm and make the best of it. I hope t helps and also know that your battle while similar to all of us is different, and my advise may not work for you but this was my experience, I still have symptoms every day, but now its almost 50/50 if I play my cards right, I am trending in the right direction and you will too. In time.