Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

hermanator90,

It is problematic to try to compare recovery processes and outcomes. There is a saying. If you have seen one brain injury, you have seen ONE brain injury.

It helps to try what others have tried but try without expecting the same result. It is more important to figure out how your brain is responding to various activities. If face to face talk is a struggle, email can be helpful at maintaining those connections.

It will help to find an activity you brain will tolerate. You need to stimulate good brain blood flow with causing brain chaos. Manual activities are often good. The struggling brain can usually handle manual activities because the hands can not work faster than the struggling brain can process. Craft projects, learning to do card tricks, playing solitaire with a real deck of cards, working in the yard/garden, etc. can give you a sense of moving forward and keep you from going boredom crazy.

Recovery is almost always a roller coaster ride. Some times, one can identify the triggers of the down cycles. Sometimes, they just happen. Sleep can make a big difference. Keeping good sleep hygiene with no excessive napping during the day that interrupts proper long sleep at night is good.

But, if an activity causes you to feel sleepy, a short nap can be helpful. I spent a lot of time in a recliner where I could nod off if I felt sleepy. I use a laptop and do online jigsaw puzzles and things like that. If my eyes feel tired, I just put my head back and doze off. My wife says she can tell when i am getting a good nap. After 20 minutes, I spontaneously wake and am back at it. I get some of my best sleep in my recliner because the sleep is demand oriented. By that I mean, I sleep when my brain says to sleep.

Early in my recovery, I would be able to do 10 to 20 minute activities. I had a rotation of things to do. If I was at my desk and started to struggle to read a line of text on the computer screen, I would stop and go downstairs to my recliner and watch some Discovery Channel. I'd might take the dogs for a walk and start the rotation over again.

So, try to find small tasks and activities to occupy your time with. The mild stimulation is good.

Originally Posted by hermanator90

Nick,

Thanks for the note! Hope you are doing better now. I have a couple questions for you -

1. Did you experience day to day recovery after your symptoms returned? Because I used to experience day to day improvement before that last drink in July. Now things just seem stagnant, and that is what is really scary. They've been stagnant for the last two weeks.

2. When you were recovering from symptoms did you have a lot of setbacks? When I was initially getting better I would slowly get better but not slip back from a recovery standpoint barring additional stimulus (usually a long day of work or alcohol). About two weeks ago I felt clearer than I had felt in a long time but the moment I had a conversation with someone I felt myself slip out and exhaust into chaos again.

Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

It is a losing game to try to point to a reason for prolonged concussion symptoms. Every concussion is different. Every response to alcohol is different. Prior alcohol binges can create a brain that is very sensitive to alcohol.

It might help to engage in some low stress activities that encourage good brain blood flow. Light exercise that does not cause symptoms may help.

Originally Posted by hermanator90

Thanks Mark. I guess I am most worried about the permanence of this. You said you haven't come across anything where alcohol use caused permanent damage after a concussion, correct?

I apologize for kinda having a panic attack all over this thread. It just gets overwhelming to be like this.