But the fact that my brain was cognitive symptoms free and worked at 100% efficiency for almost 3 months should not mean that it recovered fully from the first injury (despite still being prone to relapses)?

Sorry, but due to my cognitive problems and my poor english knowledge I have not understand what do you mean, could you try to explain it please?

But I did moderate my level of intensity a lot, during this three months I have almost never left my home and I avoided watching tv and videos on the computer and any enovirment with a lot of noises out of fear of overloading my brain and having setback.

Were those 3 months of being cognitive symptom free during summer break and now you have returned to school and an intense study load?

If I remember, you said something about studying to class.

If you were doing nothing to trigger any symptoms and not taking on cognitively intense activities, it would make sense that you did not notice any cognitive struggles. That does not mean you were recovered. It sounds like you were 100% cognitively functioning doing almost nothing.

The recommended recovery protocol is to stay mentally active but in low intensity activities. Avoiding all stimulation tends to prolong recovery.

By self-medicating, I mean some people who have high stress levels and live intense lives use intense sports and activities to trigger adrenaline and other chemistries that result in a release of tension after the activity. Runners call it a runner's high.

No, I have dropped studies altogether after the initial symptoms in May.
I also have basically stopped doing anything else (including going out at night, playing sports, watching televions or computer videos etc...) after the recover in August out of fear of compromising the recovery/having a steback.
After the recover I did a lot of low-level cognitive tasks every day despite staying at home and not studiyng in order to monitor my cognitive level, I mean things such as posting on forum of various subject that I'm interested in, accurately describing in my mind simple concepts related to what I was doing,, tryng to find sinynounimos about certain words, making review and analisis about some books that I liked in my mind etc...they are all very simple and spontaneous, not stress-inducing, things that I was not able to do during the original symptomatic phase and that I'm not able to once again now.

There haven't been any difference whatsoever in my everyday level of both physical and cognitive activities and stress between the almost three months in which I have been fine and the current relapse, the only thing that I can think of is the fit of rage that I had on 1st november after which the symptoms slowly started to come back (I had a lot of similar fit of rages during the previous two months and they did not trigger any sympotms, but that was the only time in which I squeezed and lauched objects which I suppose may have strained my neck maybe?)

I have avoided any kind of adrenalinc or physical demanding activities in the last three months out of fear of having a setback.

By self-medication, I meant your previous activities of combat sports and such are often an indicator of an intense personality. I was not saying you have done them since.

The fits of rage suggests you had built up tension from not having your release activities or other accomplishments. The frustration of doing nothing when one is used to being productive is very stressful. It can cause depression that can cause cognitive struggles.

Your need to do even low level cognitive tasks to continually measure your function during your recovery supports my observation. It appears you demand and expect a lot of yourself. That personality style tends to make recovery difficult.

I've seen this many times. The more somebody demands of themselves and the more they try to define what has happened and is happening, the more and longer they struggle with PCS and the rougher the roller coaster ride.

When they finally give in to the need to let go of a need to understand everything and just go with the flow, they slowly start to see improvements.

As I said, some need medication to help them let go. The vitamin supplement regimen is a good start until you can find a doctor who understands these issues.

Yes, you are right.
My intellectual abilities are an huge part of my life and of my enjoyment for a multitude of reasons, and having them neglected is a huge toll for me that makes me very frustrated.

Actually I was not depressed, despite some acute fit of rage for some family issues I was extremely happy because I was symptoms free and I was dreaming and planning of living a normal life once again.
I was depressed both before the recover and currently, as a consequence of the cognitive symtpoms.

Do you mean that their symptoms actually improve, or that they learn to not being too bothered by their presence?

I have tried to read the vitamin thread, but it's too thick of information for my injured brain to process ad understand right now, it's pretty confusing and overwhelming.
Could you please tell me in this thread exactly what kind of doses of which vitamines and ingredients should I take?

Also, should I avoid to come back to watching tv or tv series on the computer according to you? Could it compromise my chance of recovery?

You don't need to read the whole vitamin thread. The first post has a link to post #101 with the updated information. NeuroTalk Support Groups - View Single Post - Vitamin and Supplements Regimen
Ignore the rest of the posts.

Here are the basics:

• B-12 (500 to 1000 mcgs daily or more) Methylcobalamin, taken on an empty stomach or sublingually (let it dissolve under your tongue).
• a B-50 complex, for all the other B's so you get a good balance of B's
• a high potency multi-vitamin for all of the trace amounts. If it has good B's, you can leave the B-50 Complex out.
• Niacin, 200 to 500 mgs
• Some extra anti-oxidants, Vit C (500 to 1000 mgs) and Vit E 400 IU's
• D3, plenty of this, 1000 to 5000 IU's
• Omega 3 fish oil, with a proper balance of DHA and EPA
• Calcium with magnesium, 500 mgs per day Magnesium needs to not be mag oxide. mag citrate is easy to find.
• Curcumin, concentrated curcumin with pepper extract.

There is depression that does not manifest as sadness. It just impacts cognitive function. It may manifest as frustration or apathy. It may also manifest as anxiety where one gets caught thinking about the same issues over and over. Think of it as like a car that is spinning its wheels. It is not going anywhere but it is putting wear and tear on the tires and drive train without the forward movement that normally helps air move into the fan to cool the engine.

You are used to achievement and productivity but are currently stuck in slow motion. It is frustrating and that frustration can build so a simple external stimuli (family issue or such) can cause an outburst.

[The studies show that those who learn to accept their brain as injured and work within its limits will do much better. Those who constantly fight every little setback will live a life of misery.]
[Do you mean that their symptoms actually improve, or that they learn to not being too bothered by their presence?]

They learn to or choose to not be bothered by their symptoms. They usually reinvent themselves, at least for the present time, so they can move ahead with their life. They let go of struggling parts of their lives and replace them with activities that are not a struggle.

Sometimes, one can just change how they perform a specific activity/task. Using pencil and paper to process ideas that previously were done in thought only.

The NO SCREENS is not as big of an issue for most people except for video games. If you can tolerate watching a TV show without becoming agitated or fatigued, it is OK. For me, I needed head phones to listen to the voices so they were not lost in the ambient sounds of the room.

I had to limit the types of reading I did. Fiction was too much struggle to keep track of the abstract details. Some writing styles were just too much work.

Are there any manual activities that you can spend time doing? Drawing, sketching, model building, playing a musical instrument, etc. can be activities that keep the mind and hands engaged without too much cognitive load.

First of all, I want to thank you a lot for your help and patience, it means truly a lot for me.

Thanks a lot, I will try to follow it as soon as possible.
Only thing, it's possible to have side effect from these supplements that will actually worsen my condition or compromise my chance of recovering?
Also, the fact that I'm pretty small (around 5'6 and 120 lbs) is going to affect the amount of dosage that is raccomended for me?

In the first phase of my recover (around mid August), when I was symptoms free, I played videogames for a week and it did not have any negative effect on my condition.
What do you think about that?

Also, now that I'm thinking about it, during the fit of rage after which I had the relapse, I also rubbed a small cutlery knife against the edge of a wooden chair cutting it slightly, and the sound of that made me quite unconfortable on the moment.
It's possible that this noise is the reason of my relapse? Event tough during this three months I have endured a lot of types of high-pitched sounds without problems?

Unfortunately there are no manual activities in which I'm halfway decent at, nor that I like/in which I am interested.
I have alredy tried to do them to spend time but it was nothing but frustrating.

Your light weight should not make a difference. They are not like drugs. They are all things you body already knows how to use.

Other than the fish oil and curcumin, the rest were all prescribed by a doctor many years ago. Fish oil and curcumin have been extensively studied.

I don't think the knife noise had anything negative. It was your outburst that demonstrated that your stress levels were high. That rage did not resolve your stress load. In fact, they usually add to the stress load.

It does not sound like the video games were an issue but you should limit them, especially when you are on edge.

You would be wise to find some manual activities that can take your mind of stressful thoughts. This is a lifelong need you will benefit from.

I do jig saw puzzles, both on my laptop and on a table with cardboard puzzles. There are thousands available online. I also so solitaire games on the computer. Mindsweeper, Freecell, Spider Solitaire, and others were I am just competing with the clock or other simple scoring systems. AOL Just Words is a Scrabble game. I don;t do any that have moving graphics. MSN Games. They can be taxing.

When you realize that having activities to past the time without your mind going wild, these 'boring' activities have a new value.

It's possible for those supplements to have side effects that will end up worsening my condition? Do you know any case of that happening by chance?

The return of sympomts caused by this stress load are likely to be permanent?
According to you, how likely I'm to come back to an asymptomatic phase, even if temporary?

The jigsaw puzzle sounds like a good idea by the way, I am.going to surely give it a try

No, the supplements will not risk making your condition worse. You are already consuming all of them except maybe the curcumin, just in less than optimum amounts.

As I said before, Symptoms caused by stress will go way once the stress is reduced. It may take a day or two. For some, it may take a week or two if the stress was intense.

You have more than simple stress to resolve. Your obsessive thinking needs to be managed.