While the letters aren't the same, do the terms refer to the same condition of the brain?

Shez

hi its confusing but I think PCS is a diffused brain injury that dosan,t show up on imaging and gets better within a year or so but in most cases within 6 weeks TBI is damage that shows up on imaging or a defused brain injury, that has not healed after 2 years

I understand the quote there Vini but actually most cases from what I hear are longer than 6 months hell mine has been over a year and i showed no signs of brain damage,i guess it's a very complex thing.

I believe TBI refers to the actual injury, while PCS refers to the after effects of the injury (dizziness, memory loss, irritability, etc).

You can have TBI without getting longstanding PCS symptoms, and (depending on your doctor's opinion of "mild" concussions) you can have PCS without ever having TBI. Most common combination is TBI with at least a few days of PCS symptoms, though.

So to make me understand this if my brain showed ''No signs'' of damage at all blood work and all was done,why would i still be having these symptoms almost 15 months later???there are cases of ''No TBI'' still yet having PCS right????

hi tommy its confusing pcs tbi abi dbi Post Concussion Syndrome is the group of symptoms . sorry but the time it takes to recover its as long as a piece of string, and it can be associated with all head injury,s abi aqiured brain injury eg not born with it, repeated concussion can cause abi like a punch drunk boxer , dbi defused or discreet brain injury caused buy the shock wave from an impact ,breaking connections in the brain, that don,t show up on ct/mri and are not limited to the impact site . tbi Traumatic Brain Injury normally associated with loss of brain matter but by trauma

I am the docs can,t say how long but the 2 years is a kinda bench mark but thats not to say we cant get more function back ,but its more likely to be permanent for assessment purposes

it must be hard for pcs sufferers without fractures, because there,s no fractures and people expect you to recover, its like that for me and i have 3 titanium plates in my head but the surgeons did a good job on me, that scaring is not to bad I have heard, that brain injury is a hidden injury , if you lost your leg's folks wouldn't expect you to get up and run

yea my stepmom had PCS for right at 2 years and may have kept having it if the meds hadn't worked guess she was one of the lucky ones,i cant see having permanent damage with no signs of head trauma,that just baffles me.

Yeah, I've been in the same boat. I had all sorts of diagnostic work done for the first few years after my injury, none of which showed any signs of damage. That's why I said it depends on how your doctor chooses to interpret the phrase "Traumatic Brain Injury".

There are some doctors out there who would say, "he didn't have a TBI, he just had a concussion", while there's others that would say "he definitely had a TBI, he had a concussion." It all depends on each individual MD's view of brain injuries.

Don't worry, you're not the only person that's been through this. It's not common, but it happens. It's not just you.

I have learned one thing from reading on it i read something saying that sometimes your actually healed the brain is anyhow still yet your symptoms come from ''not letting it go'' or ''post traumatic stress disorder'' which follows PCS,i know i will pull out of this b/c my damage wasn't even visible,i have always been a nervous wreck kind of person so this injury made it worse and me worrying is haulting the healing process i think,b/c sometimes my symptoms will be going strong but if someone comes over and my mind goes away from it i don't feel them has ANYONE else had this happen to them before???and quick note Xananx has helped my symptoms tremendously when i take them that is they almost go away have you ever experiemced that PCS Mcgee???and why would that be happening??

Yes, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was definitely a key contributing factor to my brain not healing properly when I originally had my injury. A lot of people seem to think that only combat veterans and rape victims get PTSD, but people get it every day from car accidents, falls, and all sorts of other stuff.

I used Xanax for a while as a sleep aid. It was very helpful to that end, but you have to be VERY careful when using Xanax as it's an extremely powerful drug and one of the most addictive prescription drugs on the market. You can very quickly go from "using xanax when I can't sleep" to "not being able to sleep without xanax" if you're not careful. It's no surprise that it lowers your symptoms though, that stuff taps into a part of your brain that tends to make people feel like they're getting a backrub from Jesus, at least for a little while. The only real problem I had with the stuff is that once the drug would wear off I'd become extremely irritable, sort of like someone coming down from heroin or crack or something.

Anyway, if you don't mind my asking where are you located? There is a man in Denver who has light therapy that is just PROFOUNDLY effective for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. If you have any ability to see him I would recommend his services above all else.