Hey there guys, been a while. Hope you're all doing okay.

I've passed the one year mark by a couple of weeks and I'm glad to say that a lot of things are starting to feel like they did before I hit my head. I haven't experienced a clearly defineable physical symptom for at least a month (though some mild and vague anxiety-induced symptoms) and I can work out at 70% of max heart rate for 35+ minutes without any symptoms returning. I'm still somewhat challenged by loud and intense environments (keeping up with a conversation while loud music is playing and others are talking everywhere around me still makes me tired and I have a hard time focusing on what people are saying in those environments) but I'm returning to doing some of the things I've been avoiding for a long time. I can talk with friends at bars with music, I'm almost entirely comfortable with DJ:ing again and my girlfriend surprised me with a surprise party at my birthday (which went by great). There I had a beer for the first time in a year, which didn't seem to mess me up.

Since then I've had one or two weak beers (3,5% alcohol) at 3 occasions and it seems to have gone okay. After a couple of hours I've always felt a bit tired (as one does when one drinks alcohol) but it has never been an issue.

I've returned to playing computer games again, which is a huge joy to me since this was such an indicator of that I was still very much affected by my PCS before. With this, I've been sitting in a way that strains my neck, which has started giving me headaches. I'm ordering an external keyboard this weekend to be able to place my laptop on top of some books, elevating the screen to a more comfortable position.

Now for my problem:
Yesterday I had one of those weak beers before dinner with some friends, and as they went home I sat down for some unwinding with a computer game. After an hour I noticed that I got a headache and concluded that I needed to fix my ergonomic position at my desk, but I kept on sitting (shifting positions to not give myself a headache) at the computer. When I got up in order to go to bed I felt a distinct dizzyness which could not have been due to the fact that I didn't sleep well that night.

Now for my question:
Do you think the dizzyness was caused by the beer, my poor neck posture or a combination of both + poor sleep? As mentioned, I haven't noticed any real ill effects of having a beer since I took my first a couple of weeks ago. However, the only thing that is new is the alcohol and my poor posture. As I said earlier, I have been getting headaches from this.

It would make me feel much better if the dizzyness might be caused by my neck posture, as this would indicate that I didn't overreach by starting to reintroduce a beer here and there in my life.

I try to drink 1/2 cup of beer or wine every now and then. Some days it makes me really dizzy and I can't handle it at all, other days it makes me feel instantly hungover, and still other days it will just make me sleepy and not give me ill effects.

Same thing goes for holding my neck in a certain way.

I guess my point is, you may not be able to figure it out....

Allright. If you were in my position, would you abstain from alcohol for a while longer in order to reduce alcohol's negative impact on recovery? I tend to almost forget that I'm still affected by my PCS on a everyday basis since I experience so few symptoms.

If you can DJ and be in such noisy and chaotic places, you are doing great. You may be overdoing it with some of those environments.

You should try not to pay attention to occasional symptoms like the sense of dizziness. If that symptom persists for days, it is something to consider. But, do not use a short term to consider symptoms. You say you cannot always tolerate noise and speech but you do not appear to let that stop you. Accepting that some symptoms will come and go, likely for the rest of your life, will reduce your anxiety and other distractions.

That's really good advice. I'll do my best to remember the last line.

And yes, it has been a good couple of months. I hit a major milestone, both physically and when it comes to my motivation, when I realized that DJ:ing just for fun at the dorm party on new years eve didn't give me any (major) symptoms. I played between 3 and 6 AM without any real problems. Since then I've been testing my limits and I have a gig coming up in a month, which feels great.

If you don’t fall, stumble or run into things I wouldn’t worry about something so occasional and transient.

I would dare say a number of us here experience such brief ang fleeting things that lead to no ill
effects, I try to focus on results, no bad results, no worries.

Bud