To answer your questions, following my concussion, I had a really bad period of lack of sleep because of a breakup. Perhaps I slept only 4-5 hours a day for a month or so. terrible.

Ever since, my sleep is like it used to be, it is just that now for some reason I am not able to fall asleep well without medication. I would go sleepy but then just don't fall asleep. Klonopin has been a god sent in my case. My shrink thinks that it is too early to mess with medications, so I should use it as long as it is helping. I am not finding that Klonopin is makinging me dizzy the next day. I went for a full month with 0.5/day and that was one of the best months I have had recently.

I am going for a sleep study soon.

what I am most confused about these days is whether I have PCS or vestibular migraine. It seems it matters a lot in terms of treatment.

On the one hand, I find that my post-flight nightmares are closer to what is seen in the VM community. On the other, PCS gets better with time but not VM. And I did get better with time last year (until I made a mistake and took a flight).

I am going to see my Dr on Friday and we are going to discuss medications regarding VM.

I have been on this forum for 1.5 years now and don't remember people mentioning drugs for dizziness. On the VM community they find drugs very helpful for that. So.. I am guessing, there is a distinction?

and sorry for bombarding you all (particularly Mark) with questions but just wanted to mention that last year when I felt better I hit the Gym (lifting) and don't remember getting any worse. Since cardio might make me worse (because of movement involved, vene stationary bike), resistance training did not cause any problem, as far as I know.

I started hitting the gym again a month or so ago. I actually feel better after a session. Feel less dizzy. But this improvement is short lived.

I just wanted to mention it in case you guys think it is a bad idea to do lifting. This has been about the only thing that I enjoy doing that I can still do.

I found the exercise has little effect on my recovery. I found that I could only focus on so much in a single day. If I ran that day then I found mental tasks harder and would tire out more quickly.

The hardest thing for me to accept is that I had to limit my day. I found that I only had so much I could do each day. It was hard to allocate much time/energy to working out.

I have started back on my workout schedule after a few years of recovery. It had been on life support.

are naps a bad idea for those with PCS? Several times I wake up feeling worse. Perhaps it is its impact on sleep schedule, but then again, the effect, if any, is quite instantaneous. About one third of the time I wake up feeling more dizzy, migraine, ...

I started my first vision therapy session. Dr finally prescriped me prism glasses, I told him why you didn't do that before!! he said he was hoping therapy alone would work... Anyway that's my usual question and update.

Thanks to all

I had a bad flu for a week. The weird thing is that my concussion symptoms completely disappeared. One might say they were hidden, less noticeable, by the flu symptoms, but I don't think so. The flu was so bad, and had headaches, but different ones. I just felt I could run, turn, I played the piano!!, walk,... without any sense of dizziness or confusion.

ON another note: My new neuro prescribed me Depakote, suspecting I have vestibular migraine. I searched this forum for Depakote and Topomax, they are only discussed in the context of headaches, migraines, but not dizziness. While my Neuro says that vestibular migraine main symptoms include dizziness, of course.

There are three types of what we call "dizziness":

- objects moving around (vertigo)
- feeling unstable, rocking (what I have)
- Lightheaded, as if you were about to faint.

Suggestion: find a good ENT (Ear Nose Throat) with experience in brain injury.

There are vestibular issues triggered by pressure on the ears and by sound (Trullio's phenomenon). The change in cabin pressure of the flight could have changed something physically in the otic chamber. A fistula or a dishescence could be involved. They can have some strange symptoms like hearing your own voice coming from inside your head or hearing your eyeballs move because of an opening in a system that should be closed (a third window where there should only be two). The good news is that these kinds of issues can be fixed.

Don't worry too much about it in the abstract. Find a good doctor with experience in these kinds of things and go from there.

I went through almost a remission period of 2 months during which my symptoms were minimal.

Guess what brought back my symptoms? as embarrassing as it may sound, intercourse. I have had many many since my concussion, however, somehow for some unknow reason with this new lovely girl I met, with whom I really got along very well and we hit it off pretty great, I started getting symptoms the next day after I saw her...

I did not suspect sex, until I ruled out everything else. I did not drink alcohol. Anyway, I really ruled out everything else, and at some point it was obvious that during the act itself I would get dizzy. I had to stop that relation. She was understanding in the beginning, but clearly this couldn't go one.

I wonder if anyone dealt with this. I did not deal with this before. She is tiny so it is not like her movement is overwhelming. And again I had several GFs before.

Since then I have been feeling terrible. I finally decided to follow a new therapy which is to tackle the possibility that I might have Vestibular Migraine. So I started on Topomax. Third week. Feeling terrible, dizzy and depressed as ever.
They told me you won't see results until at least 5-6 weeks, I am not sure I can make it, I am starting to miss work days.

I am also thinking of going to Mount Sinai and pursuing the MdDs treatment since my symptoms were, as I explained earlier, my initial concussion symptoms healed within 2 weeks until I took a flight a 1.5 month later. Then I got better. Then a year later I took a flight, then I got worse then ever. So flying has been more than just a trigger for me.

Just an update, but thoughts are always always welcome.