FYI lily - The post that I think GraceF means is at the end of the

Things you wish you'd known when you first got post-concussion syndrome Thread


http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post1179397-125.html

Thanks for the well wishes, lily! :) My accident was in June of 2014. My whiplash injuries are a distant memory, thankfully. My physical therapists were very good and really drilled into my head new ways of holding myself, positioning my head and neck (esp since I work at a computer all day), and I've done my best to stick with them. I only have pain coming back when I get lazy. ;)

The thing with they thyroid is that it's part of a 'chain' of other endocrine glands, and even if the 'usual' thyroid tests come out normal (which is a huge range, btw), it doesn't necessarily mean that everything is actually functioning the way it's supposed to. There are many other places in the process where things can go haywire. My naturopath (I mistakenly referred to her as an osteopath before) had me do a complete hormone workup for just this reason. Just tonight, I started looking at some of the links that were posted here about neuroendocrine problems after concussion, and I am very surprised to see that some of them don't show up until 3 years post-TBI!!

After getting back into activity over the winter and spring and doing better for a few months, I suddenly started to experience a huge increase in fatigue and other symptoms - even though my schedule was much less busy at the time. I noticed that my appetite disappeared, but I wasn't losing weight -- but my middle is getting bigger. My sleep is a mess, and in a way, it's worse now that the seasons are changing: I'm back to not being able to tolerate cold, so I put blankets on at bedtime because my teeth are chattering, then I wake up at 2 or 3 a.m., drenched in sweat. Every night. And I'm someone who has ALWAYS slept with my window cracked open all year long, even living in the upper Midwest. :rolleyes:
Unfortunately, when I mentioned my change in body shape and not losing weight, it was automatically chalked up to my age and menopause. Well, I don't think that's it, as my hormone levels came back BELOW menopausal levels -- some too low to register on the tests.
But I started pregnenalone about a month ago, and I think it might be the reason that, for the first time since the accident, I have been able to get into a craft/hobby project after work and enjoy it. I sewed Halloween costumes for my son and myself, and I made my son's up off the top of my head. That's much more like the "old" me, and it made me so happy that I could do it, even with my atrocious sleep. However, the morning after Halloween, I woke up with a sore throat and cough, and I've been sick since. :p Still, I would have been crushed if I'd gotten sick even a day earlier. I've been taking other supplements, such as B12, citicholine, B6, C, A, Zinc, Omega 3s...and all they seem to do is make me sick to my stomach, lol. I'm hoping that just maybe the pregnenalone is converting to progesterone. I have permission to go up to 2 pills a day, and I think I'm going to try it.

I don't know what kind of job you have, but if your injuries would not endanger someone else's life, I would think that you have a right to ask for accommodations under the ADA. Some of these could include temporarily lightening your workload, giving you the ability to take additional breaks of even a few minutes at a time to walk around and clear your head (my speech-language pathologist had to tell me over and over how important it is to my brain to have a break in concentration every so often -- you'll actually be MORE efficient), etc. I was able to ask for a better office chair, as mine was almost 20 years old, and even with pillows and cushions I brought from home, it was causing me pain. If you have retained an attorney for the accident, see if you can get any info from him or her about protecting your job. It would help to lessen your stress if you didn't have worries about losing your job hanging over your head. As Mark said about your chance of a lifetime...that might have to be adjusted, maybe just for the time being.

I held off on getting a 'smart phone' as long as possible, but after late charges on bills, missed appointments, etc., I invested $30 for a cheap LG Straight Talk phone from Walmart. Saves my bacon over and over. Even doing things like taking a picture of something I want to remember and look up later can be really helpful. Another hint -- use the timer on your stove and microwave oven at home to help you out, even if you're putting on a pot of water for pasta. I've boiled a few pots dry when I've put things on to cook and forgotten about them. :p I also use them when I'm putting my sprinklers on in my yard. And if you work with a computer, Windows has a thing where you can set yourself a task reminder to pop up, whenever you schedule it to, and you can type a message in the little box, too. My boss told me about this, because when I do focus, I won't move for so long that I end up stiff. So i set it to pop up on my screen at the top of every hour, with the message "Get up and walk around!" Sounds dumb to anyone else, I suppose, but it's helped me a lot. :)

Good luck to you! I hope you find out good news about getting some help at your job. :)

AlmaVera,

Why are you using OTC hormones rather than targeted and prescribed bio-identical hormones ? Is you ND testing you to see how you respond to the pregnenolone ? Are you taking any DHEA ?

Here is the place where my wife gets her bio-identical hormones. They are by far the most affordable. https://www.womensinternational.com/..._referral.html They also have a referral database if you need someone who works with bio-identicals.

At peri-enopause and post menopause, it can take a few try and test cycles to get proper balance.

I'm using oral pregnenalone, and a bio-identical estrogen cream, both prescribed. My ND is a big believer in bio-identicals. She started with the pregnenalone first, since it's a precursor hormone, then started the estrogen. I tried DHEA, but had virilization side effects. As it happened, I was lucky to have my employer's semi-annual wellness blood draw a few weeks ago, and I paid for some extra tests. Unfortunately, there was some snafu and they couldn't run the female hormone test. :( I will need my ND to test it, though that will cost more.

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