Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Concussion Syndrome For traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post concussion syndrome (PCS).


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Old 02-04-2017, 12:57 PM #1
nickd nickd is offline
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Default 3 months into my 4th concussion... really scared

Hello all,

I am 19 years old. So, long story short, like the above says I am 3 months into my 4th concussion. I have made zero progress in these last 3 months, and I'm getting really anxious and depressed about my situation and am afraid that this one won't improve.

I wrestled in high school, and the first concussion I got my sophomore year, received when I slammed my head on the mat after being caught in a takedown, only lasted for a week or two before I recovered. My second concussion (junior year) was incurred the same way. However, this one lasted 6 months, and it was hell.

Thankfully, I made a complete recovery from that one. Flash forward to last summer, before college, and I hit my head at work and received another concussion. I was devastated, but thankfully it wasn't as bad as the previous one synptomatically. Mostly vestibular stuff.

I made the decision to delay my college start until it was gone. Frustrating, but I felt it was necessary. And by the end of October, I was feelig recovered.

Until on November 13th, I fainted in my bathroom after work. I awoke with two bruises on my head, one on the side and one on the back. I was absolutely devastated. Still have no idea why I fainted. That has never happened to me before or since. Within days, I began to feel horrendous. Headaches, mental fog, nausea, sensitivity to noise and light, the works. And these symptoms have not let up at all.

So I'm still not in school, and I'm horribly depressed. I'm so tired of doing this concussion recovery stuff. I don't want to do it anymore. I want to go to college. I miss my friends. I recently went through a bad break up. I see a therapist weekly and it isn't really helping. I have made zero progress at all. If anything, I feel worse. My headaches have increased in the last few weeks.

I've tried chiropractkr, and am beginning physical therapy. But I could barely
Make it through my consultation for the PT. I felt like I was going to pass out just from speaking to the doctor, and I have felt horrible since that appointment with bad headaches.

Have I hit my head too much? Does the fact I recovered completely from
My other concussions mean anything? do I still have a chance to get my life back? I'm really scared and frustrated. It just feels so unfair.
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Old 02-04-2017, 04:40 PM #2
Mark in Idaho Mark in Idaho is offline
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nickd,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear you are struggling so.

You say you have headaches, mental fog, nausea, sensitivity to noise and light, the works. What other symptoms are you experiencing ? Did you have these same symptoms with your previous concussions ?

What have you done besides chiro and starting PT ?

What did the chiro do ? Did he do the 'twist the head and pop the neck' adjustment ? Anything else ?

What has the PT done ?

How is your sleep ? Are you getting good deep sleep or restless sleep ?

What kind of work do you do ? Are you living on your own or at home ? Is it a quiet, low stress environment ?

Do you remember what you were doing before you passed out ?

Are you doing anything to provide good brain nutrition? Check out the vitamins sticky ?

Are you taking any medications ?
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Old 02-04-2017, 08:08 PM #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho View Post
nickd,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear you are struggling so.

You say you have headaches, mental fog, nausea, sensitivity to noise and light, the works. What other symptoms are you experiencing ? Did you have these same symptoms with your previous concussions ?

What have you done besides chiro and starting PT ?

What did the chiro do ? Did he do the 'twist the head and pop the neck' adjustment ? Anything else ?

What has the PT done ?

How is your sleep ? Are you getting good deep sleep or restless sleep ?

What kind of work do you do ? Are you living on your own or at home ? Is it a quiet, low stress environment ?

Do you remember what you were doing before you passed out ?

Are you doing anything to provide good brain nutrition? Check out the vitamins sticky ?

Are you taking any medications ?

Hello mark, thank you for your reply.

My symptoms are mainly centered around cognitive difficulty. I get bad headaches whenever I use my brain too much (such as on screens, or in long conversations.) They are the same symptoms I had with my second, 6 month PCS rodeo. I also have had neck stiffness, and a strange strobe effect in my peripheral vision in dim light settings.


Regarding treatment, the chiropractor did the neck snap thing on a few visits. He also adjusted my jaw for good measure. Tomorrow I begin cognitive speech therapy at the Cantu clinic.

My sleep isn't great. I go to sleep aroind the same time every night, but wake up without fail at 3-4 am and then doze off in and out until about 9.

I was working retail, but have taken the last few months off to rest. I live with my mother

I take magnesium, vitamin d, omega 3's (high DHA), and juice plus nutritional supplements. I also began taking amitriptyline.
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Old 02-04-2017, 11:10 PM #4
Mark in Idaho Mark in Idaho is offline
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The waking up could be a blood sugar issue. If you eat last before 9 PM, you could be experiencing an episode of fasting hypoglycemia. You might try a complex carb snack before bed. I have cheese and crackers or a banana with peanut butter on it.

I had to sleep in a recliner until my neck settled down and stabilized. A chiro did massage and gentle adjustments. My PT did traction and gentle mobilization. She also did TMJ work. Neck inflammation from less than ideal sleep posture can change vertebral blood flow and change your sleep. For me, it caused Central Sleep Apnea and fitful sleep and stressful dreams.

Do you have stressful dreams?

Conversations can be a struggle for a couple of reasons. Group conversations mean you have to track the many voices and often people speaking over each other. This is taxing. Long casual conversations where you think you need to keep the conversation going can also be stressful.

Another conversation stressor is cell phones. The poor transmission of cell phone to cell phone puts a lot of strain on auditory processing. As I tell people, I can either decipher the poorly heard words or understand the sentences. I can rarely do both for very long. I have some hardwired landline phones I use for extended calls. It makes a big difference.

Are you taking a magnesium that is not mag oxide ? Mag oxide is not much help. Mag citrate or the other mags are better. You should add B-12 (1000 mcgs or more) and some folic acid/folate as a minimum.

Why are you taking amitriptyline ? How much ? Does it appear to help ?
btw, Does amitriptyline get a red squiggly for spelling ? My spell checker suggests a very comical correction.

I was taking an anti-anxiety antidepressant (ssri) that I replaced with 5-HTP and L-Theanine and do much better with it.

Glad to hear you are getting treated at Dr Cantu's clinic. So, you must be in Mass. I lived in Nashua when I suffered my life changing concussion in 1965 and Connecticut when I had a bad reaction to a concussion playing soccer in 1970. Our snowy and icy Idaho roads make New England winter roads look great.

My best to you.
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Old 02-05-2017, 09:23 AM #5
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Thank you for this info, I will change my magnesium.

I don't always have stressful dreams, but I do sometimes. I dream about hitting my head again a lot hahaha. Always scary.

I really hope the fact that this is my 4th one doesn't mean I won't recover. It sucks cause I really thought I was done with concussions. I have a friend who's had bad PCS for 2 years, and believes he will never recover. That's really scary. Although I suspect the fact that he didn't stop consuming alcohol and lifting during the early stages of his concussion may be part of that. Which, to be fair to him, no doctor ever really told him about, surprisingly.
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