http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/business/effective-concussion-treatment-remains-frustratingly-elusive-despite-a-booming-industry.html?_r=0[/URL]

"Not long ago, the field of brain injury research was small. Numerous attempts to develop drugs to treat patients with significant head injuries failed as researchers struggled to understand the brain’s complexity. Little attention was paid to concussion, which is also called mild traumatic brain injury.

“The number of neurologists interested in traumatic brain injury could have held a convention in a phone booth,” said Dr. Ramon Diaz-Arrastia, an expert at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. That changed a decade ago after reports showed that hundreds of thousands of service members were returning from Iraq and Afghanistan impaired by concussions caused by battlefield blasts and accidents. In 2007, Congress, facing criticism that the military had ignored the psychological and physical toll of the conflicts, allocated $600 million for research and treatment, splitting the funds between traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD."

It makes me very sad that it took hundreds of thousands of our soldiers to get badly injured for anybody in the medical community to start studying concussions. Meanwhile there are hundreds of thousands of us out here that have been suffering for years (many long before me).

At least some new research is coming out.

Does anybody know anything about the N-acetylcysteine supplement mentioned at the end?

N-AcetylL-Cysteine is the precursor to the all-important antioxidant glutathione. It is used in hospitals to detox people from overdoses of acetaminophen (Tylenol)

I have been taking 1,800 mg/day spread out over 2-3 doses for the past month after researching it. According to all resources I've read, it is apparently very safe at that dose of below. except for lowering the amount of available mucus. Read up on it first, but I would highly recommend adding it to your daily supplements. I believe it has the potential to be a powerful ally in our journey back to recovery.

By the way, I think the figures in the U.S. are something like 5 million people living with a concussion related disability and millions more injuries occuring each year.

It's clearly too complex of an issue for the medical world to want to involve themselves in. They are pretty much being forced to deal with it as it is a national epidemic that no one wants to talk about. Maybe in my lifetime they will have some real treatment and medication options and no more of this self treatment and wait and see approach.

This is a clear example of how the medical industry, including the pharmaceutical companies, does not have the public's health and well-being in mind. It's all about that cheddar.

Active Link:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/07/05...-industry.html

Last thing, our own member dudewhohithishead has visited Dr. Harch in Louisiana and has received the HBOT treatment. He reported it being extremely helpful.

Hopefully he will see this and comment. If not and you are interested you could always send him a message.

I'm currently contemplating this treatment but it is far too expensive at this moment.

The pharmaceutical companies would love to sell meds to the concussion community. The market is huge. The profits would be huge. The problem is there is a wide range of ways a concussion effects the brain.

N-acetylcysteine , progesterone, HBOT, and many other protocols have been studied. The epidemic within the veteran community means finding an effective treatment will save the VA from the need to provide lifetime care for mTBI patients.

Unfortunately, brain cells do not always heal. Neuro-regeneration is a slow and minimal process. Plus, there are other systems in the brain that get damaged that take a long time to heal when they are damaged. Younger people and those with less over-all damage have reserve in the brain that can overcome some of the dysfunctions.

Trying to blame the medical community is not helpful. Doctors will be defensive. Insurance companies want to only pay for medically necessary treatments.

So, it is important for us as individuals and as a community to seek understanding so we can advocate for our care. It is a tough and frustrating situation but we can go on to lead full lives.

I don't blame the physicians themselves and would never speak like this during an appointment. I just felt that this was a good place to share my current opinion on the matter.

You're right; blaming the medical community directly would not produce any positive results. I tend to try and go with whatever they suggest as much as possible and give them credit when it is due. I've just noticed a theme of undereducation and lack of understanding on the parts of the doctors I have seen during this difficult time.

It's tough to get a prognosis of one week for recovery, then 2-3 weeks, then 3-6 months and now unknown. It certainly doesn't help with the psychiatric conditions that have developed/worsened as a result of PCS and its complete changing of my life.

Hi Mark
My point on posting that was not to "blame" the medical community. I just think it surprising that no one was interested in studying PCS until recently. It seems like as scientists, doctors would be more interested in researching the more complex situations.

I also just wish that the doctors could be better at giving suggestions for therapies and advice on how to deal with PCS. I told my doctor every time I saw her how debilitating my dizziness was, and it took her 7 months to even mention vestibular therapy. This being my first health problem, I did not know that I had to search myself for the answers, I thought I was just supposed to rely on my doctor to make recommendations.

I agree that we can all eventually lead a full life. But I think that our struggle along the way to getting there could be greatly reduced with more support from the medical community.

"btw, At 49, you have very little neurogenesis going on. Most of that ended at sexual maturity. The rest by mid 40's. Your synapses are in a pruning state now."

Just tonight, I found several exciting articles about neurogenesis that is actually triggered by TBI, and drugs such as Aricept, and even stem cells from belly fat (!) have been shown to help in formation of new neurons in adult tissue, post-TBI. This is very exciting news, even though it's obviously a long, long way from a "cure." If nothing else, it's continuing to stand what we used to believe about the brain on its head. (Sorry, I love puns)
I think those of us with TBIs are equally as individual as our injuries. We handle hearing odds and statistics in ways we can each deal with them best. I've been trying to find a balance between my old normal and my new normal, with the knowledge that "new normal" is not static. Maybe I'm just placebo- effecting myself, but it seems to be manageable so far.

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