I want to share this with anyone that has doubts about what they can achieve while battling PCS. I was in the middle of pursuing my dream of a 4 year degree when I hit my head. I struggled immensely the first 6 months, but with the help of some amazing friends and my amazing husband, I kept going in school. Two weeks ago I graduated.
Although my symptoms have lessened, and I am coming to terms with living my life as things are now, headaches, tinnitus, light sensitivity (blue LEDs are the worst), and inability to handle a lot of stimuli without suffering greatly the next few days (migraine, sleepiness, slow cognitive processes). Maybe one day the symptoms will go away, but the lessons learned will remain forever.

I have read some great advice on these forums and they are true. While your life may change, it is far from over. You may have different priorities in your life post injury, but life is what you make it. To me, I have learned a lot about myself and the people around me. Things not always good, but I can see things clearer now.

Which treatment worked best for you as in suffering pcs And it's been 3 years for me

I recently read 11 Seconds by Travis Roy (first book I've read thus far!) and found it to be very helpful to me.

The book is written by Roy, a young promising D1 hockey player who flew in to the boards and became a quadriplegic for life 11 seconds in to his college career.

The book, which was well written and very interesting helped me to put my injury into perspective and realize how lucky I really am.

One of my favorite quotes is as follows:

"A victim is a person to feel sorry for. A survivor is a person who makes the best of the cards they are dealt."

Hi all. I posted here about a week ago while in the midst of my worst symptoms. I was diagnosed with PCS a week after my original concussion, which I realize now is very early and may have been premature on the part of my doctor (though some of the research I read indicates that it can be diagnosed within the first week).

I just wanted to let you all know that I woke up this morning feeling like myself for the first time in three weeks since the incident occurred. My symptoms did not grow severe until 7-10 post injury, but immediately became devastating. After another week, I am finally sleeping again and my anxiety is under control without medication. I performed the imPACT test for the second time today and showed huge improvements across all domains.

I don't think I'm 100% yet but I feel really optimistic — it feels fantastic to have my personality back. Thanks for your advice.

PCS Mom, thank you. I can almost not breathe since getting on this site, but so glad to hear your daughter is recovering. I am confused at how she can be a 17 year old Junior if she was out for 2.5 years? Can you share more? I have a 16 year old who is hoping to go back as a Sophomore next year after missing a whole year, but we don't even know that that can happen. Can you please share more about what happened with school? Thanks so much for giving me hope - I am exhausted and feel I could lose my own health and then who would be here for her? It's incredibly scary. I am so happy for you that you are feeling you are on the other side. Can't wait to join you!

LisaLucille,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. The stickies are not followed nor intended for discussions. If you have questions, you will get better responses by starting a new thread in the main forum.

It sounds like you need help with understanding your daughter's injury, treatment and condition. Please post some details of her injury and such in the main forum so we can offer you support. Use the New Thread button at the top left to start a thread about your daughter.

My best to you and your daughter.

I sent the following email to my friends; I thought I'd share it with the board:

"I resumed reading Shakespeare (Henry IV, Part 1), after being unable to do so because of reading comprehension difficulties (especially fiction and other metaphor-laden material) for the past 16 months.

Reading Shakespeare again had been one of recovery goals.

And here it is.

So very very happy!!!"

I still have a long way to go in my recovery, but things are getting better. I want to share something that happened today that made me really happy, plus a little background info:

Before the concussion, I was a full-time writer with a heavy workload. Writing was very easy for me, and I made decent money doing it.

After the concussion, my client list got smaller and smaller. I went from making $350+ a day to struggling to finish $20 of work. I would cry because my head would throb as I attempted to read the detailed project instructions from my clients. I could no longer comprehend most of the project descriptions, and I'd spend hours doing tasks that used to take me 15 minutes.

I'm working on a big project now for a well-known retailer. This retailer is known for being extremely picky, and I was terrified to begin the project. I know a few other writers who had work rejected by this client.

I finished up most of the project yesterday, and I found it easy. And fun! That's a big deal for me these days.

I woke up this morning to a message stating that I did a good job. Wow! I couldn't believe it.

I will say that my neck is now killing me and I am typing with one eye closed lol, but knowing that I am able to do my job well again makes me incredibly happy. I feel like I will be able to have a full-time writing career again in the future.

I lurk on Neuro Talk and finally decided to share a light moment. (Been two and a half years since my accident. I have made much progress and now feel about 90% compared to my life before the car I was in slid into a tree.)

Anyway, on July 4th, I was talking with my friend who got hit in the head with a soccer ball two months ago and has PCS. Also at the table was my sister-in-law who was in a car accident four years ago and has PCS too. We were talking/joking about our memory losses (which made me feel wonderful to be able to so with people in the same boat).

The big laugh came when my friend told me she was going to see a neurologist and asked me the name of my neurologist to see if it was the same person. I told her I didn't remember! We all laughed for about two minutes straight. I take it a good sign that we all could look on the lighter side of our injuries.

Hope this post finds you on a "good day" I still have bad days, memory loss, and a constant minor headache, but I am better than I was!

There IS hope and healing for us!!

I am back to work full time now for seven months after I was injured Valentine's day 2012. I am able to do my psychologist job OK, although I am still on medications and have regular check ups with my workers' comp doctor.

I still have residual memory deficits, but they seem to be fading. I find that I struggle with encoding long-term information, and really have to work hard to recall stuff that would have been easy to remember pre-PCS and TBI.

All the treatments worked - these were chiropractic, medication, neurologist, psychologist, psychiatrist, meditation, vitamins, prayer, rest, rest and more rest.

Some of it is just time to keep on resolving. You will make it!!!