[ergh1990]

Hey Everyone,

My husband has been recovering from a concussion for the last five years. The first two years were miserable for him due to not being able to drive, leave the house much, or go a day without having symptoms.His symptoms were lightheadedness, noise and light sensitivity, headaches. Anxiety and depression came to his life and I think holds him back at times.
The last three years have been overall better with him improving and being able to go longer periods without getting into ruts. He was taking 40 mg of citalopram and seemed to be getting over his depression. This past week he had to stop working because of lightheadedness. This was the first time he has had to stop working in the three years he has had this job so it was very discouraging for him. The depression and anxiety has been in full force since monday night and he is still having issues. We went to the doctor and they performed a lot of tests with all coming back clean. He did not injure himself but his mind keeps thinking that he is getting worse and going to end up where he was two years ago. This is why I feel like depression and anxiety is trying to take him over. He is nervous driving, going to eat, and is nervous about going into work to do the same thing he has done hundreds of times because of what happened Monday-Wednesday. In July he went to the doctor to try slowly lowering his doses of celexa. The past few months have been a little bit more of a struggle than usual but nothing like this week has been. The doctor gave him the higher dose again this week. I just wanted to see what some of your thoughts were with this. I just want to give him some positive news that this is just a tiny setback that he will get through when he gets his mind better. Have any of you had ruts during your recovery after you have been having success in your recovery? Have these ruts made you feel like you were heading right back to where your first started? Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

[Mark in Idaho]

ergh1990,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear your husband has had this recent struggle. You are to be commended for being there to support him through these years of misery. Many struggle to understand and support people, especially family with PCS and the depression and moodiness than can come with it.

First, You both need to understand that he may have setbacks from time to time from PCS. Getting off Celexa can be a struggle for some. There are a myriad of variables that can impact his symptoms.

The 'clean bill of health' is not as important as the doctors try to make it. They just say that during the tests he was good. He could have done something in the days before his episodes. He could have moved his head and/or neck in a different way.

I went off Paxil after years and had a miserable time. Six months later, I had a traumatic event and needed to start Celexa. I was able to get off the Celexa slowly and replaced it with L-Tryptophan and 5-HTP to maintain serotonin levels. I also need a brain health vitamin and supplement regimen to help maintain better function. The Vitamins sticky at the top has good information. There is a link down the page to an updated version. It is not a cure but can help with anxiety and depression

Many of us know we need to manage our PCS rather than expect to be completely over it. Stress can cause symptoms to come roaring back. There are many activities and environments that can cause a relapse. You can continue to be a big help to him.

It would be helpful to know more about his injury and treatment and daily life activities so we can put his struggles in context. His age also has relevance.

Feel free to tell us anything you feel comfortable with. We have heard it all.

My best to you both.

[brownehn]

This forum is filled with relapses. So one thing to reassure him is that he is far from alone. The way you describe it, he may himself be coming part of the problem. It is a natural thing for us to zero in on symptoms, get locked into thinking patterns, and become anxious. Anxiety is possibly enemy number one for PCS sufferers. This is my whole situation, suffering from an anxiety disorder which I trap myself in with increasingly obsessive bad thoughts which fulfill themselves ever easier.

[SuperElectric]

I think you're always going to get the occasional setback, even when healthy we go through bad patches, I think realising it's temporary and will pass is the key to overcoming it.

The mind can be trained and rewired to not react to stimuli that can trigger anxiety this can actually physically alter the brain. CBT is an example of reconditioning. When Bud continued using the anchor that injured him he was reconditioning his brain to accept the anchor as just an object like any other. For many of us the psychological symptoms of PCS can linger after the physical ones have passed or subsided, in western society we don't give them as much time as we should.

[Bud]

ERGH,

Part of my struggle to return to health has been learning to ignore certain symptoms that signal to me I am headed back down the dark path of my lowest PCS moments.

Certain physical sensations set of great amounts of anxiety. It has been hard work to replace the old fact with the new facts of better health and not going as low before in relapses.

As Mark stated, withdrawing from ssri's can be a hand full. I have been there myself and I described to someone just yesterday that withdrawing from Paxil didn't bring me to my knees....it brought me flat on my face.

My best to you all and my utmost respect for you for being with your husband through the last 5 years, says a lot about your character and worthy of admiration. My wife has made recovery possible for me too.

Bud