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


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Old 05-08-2017, 04:54 PM #131
Mark in Idaho Mark in Idaho is offline
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Jays Mom,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear about your son. I know many here in Idaho with similar situations. We meet at a Brain Injury Support Group. It has a caregivers group that helps caregivers connect with others for help and shared resources. Many had to relearn it all.

I suggest you check the Brain Injury Alliance of Washington .
http://www.biawa.org/supportgroups.php

They can help you with resources.

Feel free to start a thread in the main area if you have questions.

My best to you.
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Old 05-27-2017, 08:27 AM #132
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Default Post Concussion Syndrome

Car accident 8/17/15

Just a quick post:

It does, and it will get better. Right now you're suffering, googling every symptom, life is LITERAL hell.

It will get better, you may not get back to 100% but you'll just have to deal.

Almost 2 years later I still have persistent vertigo, especially when exercising but I just have to deal, and so will you. This will make you stronger and maybe re-evaluate certain aspects of your life. Try to find your silver lining.
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Laura G (07-19-2017)
Old 07-17-2017, 03:39 PM #133
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I recovered fully from a very serious brain injury. I am reading a lot if articles on it and putting 2 and 2 together. I have a bs in biology and chemistry so I know a lot of things. I'm thinking that my brain injury was not mild at all but very severe after I smashed my head and face and body on the tIke floor. I was all bruised up all over the place. A week later both my ears plugged in and Mt brain and nervous system shut down so badly that my 5 senses were so dimished. My brain did not process pepole places and objects. For 10.5 years I was so severely I'll no medications were worked and I was labeled because nothing showed up on the scans at all. A nurse put the cross on me in the hospital and I started to feel better within 3.5 to 5 weeks. The medications did not do anything at all. A higher power saved my life.
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Old 12-22-2017, 04:33 AM #134
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Close to 5 months and almost fully recovered. Only some mild tinnitus left which is getting better with physio. Although much discussed in this forum, realise that pcs is often a physical soft tissue injury. Neck and jaw injuries can give neurological symptoms. For ex. Nauseau can be a result of a jaw injury because the 7th cranial nerve runs through your jaw which controls digestion. A lot of symtpoms that can come from the brain can also come from these areas. So it's worth a while to get an examination by a physio, chiro or osteopath.

For the people who have tinnitus and believe this is a completly untreatable condition, think again. Tinnitus is a symptom of an underlying injury/dissease and if the injury is treatable so is the tinnitus. Yes some forms of it can't be treated but other forms can. Even in concussions it can have different etiologies. Vitamin b or zinc deficiencies can be the culprit. If the sound matches your heartbeat then its probably cardiovascular and you can go to a cardiologist. Hearing loss is much more difficult to adress but hbot and steroid injections have the potential to reverse it if done fast (but unfortunatly no guarantees). If you have pressure in your ears this stems from a eustachian tube disfunction which can be caused by either mucus or muscles spams in jaw or neck. If it's medicine related then only time can give an answer on weither it will heal or not.

In my case it was purely from muscle spams. Most typical feature with this kind of tinnitus is that the sounds vary with certain head and jaw movements or flexing certain muscles. And it went from continiously very loud to mild within a month of physio. It also takes a lot of discipline (home excersises, stretches, postural correction). This counts for other neck symptoms as well. So it's all about finding the cause and thus identifying the right treatment for your symptoms.

The healing process is mostly up to you. When my concussion was still there after 2 months i started panicking and ran from doctor to doctor. All doctors had the same conclusion. First time is the biggest healer. Second it's all up to you. If you keep panicking and wanting treatment from every doctor then you'll most likely heal worse because the stress will wear out your body. So try to relax and don't think of i have symptoms xyz all the time. Try to continue normal life within the boundaries of what you can. And be patience with treatment. I've seen a lot of fellow pcsers quit treatment after 4-5 sessions because they don't see the results they want. After a few physio sessions i was starting to think the same. But after month the tinnitus suddenly dropped and stayed thay way. So give everything time.

My best of luck to eveyone. And don't be afraid to go out and go for a walk! Find out what you can do without making symptoms worse and do it!
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Old 02-08-2018, 07:34 PM #135
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lilyNYC View Post
After 4 months off of work, (3 months after the initial accident, I didn't know what was going on until I saw the 3rd neurologist who explained PCS to me), months of vestibular rehabilitation therapy, and hours of my life wasted crying and being frustrated, I can say that I feel a lot better. I'd say at this point in time I'm about 90% better.

You just need to let it run it's course and make your health a priority. That's it.

The light sensitivity and noise sensitivity persists, however I am not ridden with fear every time that I need to leave the house. Would more time off from work and an immediate leave of absence been helpful? Absolutely, but do what you can. Rest as much as possible and you'll get better.

One of the most helpful things to do: when the dizziness was severe and I had a hard time watching Netflix - play it in the background but focus on something like knitting, it has a very therapeutic effect.

Good luck to everybody and I'm sorry that you're experiencing symptoms of PCS.
Hi I'm glad to see that your doing well now..im 5 weeks with post concussion syndrome now and I feel better than the first two weeks of symptoms all my symptoms had ease only the head ache persist when I do activities comes up..i have I will recover the same time as you did

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Old 04-01-2018, 04:27 PM #136
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Originally Posted by djoseydavis View Post
On July 11, 2011 my Husband (22 yrs old) of only 7 months suffered a Severe traumatic Brain Injury as a result of a motorcycle accident that was not his fault. Along with multiple severe fractures he was diagnosed with Severe Diffuse Axonal Injury, which is shearing, tearing, swelling, to the entire brain. The Severe label means his mid brain has been damaged. 90% of people with this injury never wake up and the 10% that do cannot communicate, understanding, or perform any independent life activities. Less than 5% of people regain any type of independence. We were told to remove him from life support after 9 days in ICU. I didn't and it took him 3 months in a coma to start emerging! Now, 11 months since his accident, and only 8 months out of a 3 month coma Matthew will be walking independently any day now! He can talk, eat, pee, laugh, joke, REMEMBER THE ACCIDENT, remember all his long term memories, and his short term memories have been coming back everyday, he tells time, watches movies, plays games, is a romantic, writes in his journal, and texts on his phone. His personality has not changed at all!!! For something that started with so much despair I cannot help but feel eternally grateful. Matthew is a true miracle, science said it is impossible, that he should not be doing any of this. THERE IS HOPE! MIRACLES DO HAPPEN! DO NOT GIVE UP! It has been and will continue to be a long road but it is worth taking. *edit*

My dad has a Diffuse Axonal Injury too. He is 6 months out from his accident and he is going though pretty intense agitation and aggression. Did your husband go through this? We are going on 2 months of waiting for him to get through this phase. It’s incredibly difficult! I am so happy that your husband has made such great progress and recovery!
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Old 04-01-2018, 10:46 PM #137
Mark in Idaho Mark in Idaho is offline
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Shea,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

Please start a thread in the main forum below where you can ask your questions. The stickies are not for discussions. djoseydavis has not posted in over 5 years.
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Old 08-31-2018, 12:25 PM #138
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Different, but still whole: A young scientist reflects on his journey back from a brain injury | Life | Dallas News

This is my story.

I haven't been on neurotalk in years, because I found it did more harm than good for me in fueling my anxiety. Even after years away I still had a pang of anxiety logging in.

Anyway, I'll be logging off forever after this, but I wanted to share my story, because I think it shows we can improve and rebuild a life.

You can get better too.
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26 year-old PhD student in evolutionary biology, slipped on ice in Feb 2014 while clipping my fingernails and walking to save time (dumbest reason for PCS ever?). Initially just had headaches and didn't feel quite right, but a minor head bump 5 days later started a downward spiral of anxiety, depression, insomnia and fatigue. Had trouble concentrating on reading/looking at screens

April 2014 - did exertion test, passed, started exercising and doing more, but didn't feel much better.

May 2014 - Went on backpacking trip OK'd by doctor, trip itself went fine, but felt worse a few days after getting back, more difficulty concentrating, worse headaches.

June 2014 - Bumped head on ceiling walking slowly down stairs, no immediate symptoms, but caused worsening headahces, more difficulty concentrating and looking at screens. Have not felt as good as I did before this since this bump.

December 2014 - after feeling relatively better I went xc skiing and fell but didn't hit my head (something my psychologist who specializes in brain injuries told me he hoped would happen so I saw it was OK), felt worse

Feb 2015 - back in grad school, light teaching load and some research, nowhere close to operating at my full capacity. Still have constant headaches, difficulty reading/looking at screens, mild anxiety and depression, and just not feeling like my normal sharp self.

Trying, but struggling, to believe that I'll get back to my old self, or at least get close.
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Old 06-06-2020, 01:08 AM #139
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Default Full recovery After Three Years

I was a long time lurker when my injury happened in 2014. It took me two years to get some sense of normalcy and three years to say that I was fully recovered.

The last remaining symptom that didn't go aways was the ringing in my ears, the tinnitus however went down a lot. I had a friend ask me for help recently cause she was going through her own concussion recovery and I finally had the ability to compile a list to help her, I hope this can help people on here.

Concussion Journey


My concussion happened in 2014, I tripped and fell off some stairs and hit my head. I did many things to recover, I was completely disabled by my concussion and it felt like my life was over after it had happened. I will go through and give you details on how to recover and what I personally think is happening in the brain.

My symptoms

Extreme Brain Fog
Headache like a hammer every day
Complete loss of Sound sensitivity, couldn’t handle any noises.
Extreme Screen Sensitivity ( couldn’t watch screens, my eyes got messed up)
Double Vision ( couldn’t read)
Complete loss of Balance: (If I closed my eyes I would fall down)
Extreme Anxiety
Extreme Fatigue (had to sleep for hours on end)
Extreme Fear
Uncontrollable Crying
Extra Loud Ringing in the Ears

Some professional things I tried.

At first I went to all the doctors, Neurologist, Neuropsychologist. They did MRI scans and CT scans and told me, that nothing was wrong. If I haven’t gotten better in 6 months, I will not get better. After a year of being impaired I started looking for my own options.


Some out of the box therapies I tried.


Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT): I did 60 sessions of HBOT, I moved to an Airbnb in Boulder, Colorado for three months and did two months of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, which essentially a therapy in which they put you in a pressurized chamber and then flood your body full of oxygen. This I thought would heal me but honestly I couldn’t tell specific results. IT was expensive about $6000 and I had to pay rent and food at the airbnb.


Cognitive FX
A brain clinic in Utah, they did a two week intensive with my brain. They started with an FMRI scan, where they scanned my brain and told me exactly how bad my concussion was. This was the first time, I had a clinician tell me that something was actually wrong. FMRI is the only type of scan that can actually measure the injury. They told me on a Scale of 1-500, my concussion was a 470, base on blood levels in the brain according to the FMRI.

Then they did a 10 day intensive with therapies, eye exercises, and brain puzzles. It was super intense and after wards I felt a small change. A lot of my symptoms were still present, but it showed me that I could push myself.

It was expensive though, they charged me $10,000








Holistic Approaches that definitely work: They are being used by the Army to fix their combat veterans. Youtube became my savior.

Yoga Nidra

Amrit Yoga Institute

I have done this meditation over a 1000 times. It really helped me calm the brain. This is the best institute on Youtube for this practice. There are shorter Nidras, but Nidra is your friend, it really heals the brain.

I AM Yoga Nidra: A Guided Meditation Experience Led by Liam Gillen - YouTube


Five Parks Yoga

I started with 10 minutes yoga every day from this channel, its the best in my opinion, and then moved it up slowly to full classes. I think a 20 minute yoga session followed by a yoga Nidra, really helped my brain. I did yoga sessions every day followed by a yoga nidra.
Five Parks Yoga w/ Erin Sampson
- YouTube


Feldenkrais

Feldenkrais is a body awareness therapy like Yoga Nida, if you can find a Feldenkrais class locally, it really is an amazing therapy to work on body awareness and rewiring the brain. If you can find classes in the future, I highly recommend trying it and making it a daily practice.

Feldenkrais for the neck: YouTube
Feldenkrais for eyes: Seeing Clearly: A Feldenkrais Exploration of Vision by David Webber on Spotify
If you are having eye problems, this will do wonders.

Wim Hoff Method

Breathing technique to boost brain and immune systems. There is a free app you can download. Or you could use this. This is a powerful method, I recommend researching it but it ups the oxygen in your body and really fights the inflammations .

Guided Wim Hof Method Breathing - YouTube

Walking

I walked a lot, I started walking on the beach. When I would get tired, I would do Yoga Nidra and then continue walking. Walking and meditation had a huge impact. I eventually started walking five miles everyday, I would listen to an audiobook and walk.



Audiobooks and Multitasking

After I starting getting better, I started pushing my brain. I would listen to audiobook and then paint. Or go on a walk and listen to the Audiobook. I also played lots of Chess.


Balance Work

A lot of brain injuries create balance problems, so I would randomly stand on one leg 🦵 and close my eyes. I also learned how to juggle, I got into slack-lining, which I know is an extreme but I would walk a slackfline with help. Now I can juggle and walk a slackfline. crazy, when the injury started I would fall down, if I closed my eyes.


Diet

I started with all the vitamins and such but none of that helped. In the end I stopped taking vitamins and shifted to smoothies and started following a diet called

The Wahls Protocol:
https://terrywahls.com/about-the-wahls-protocol/


Organic Smoothies, I had two to three smoothies everyday.
My smoothie recipe is simple

Lots of Kale and Spinach
Banana
Lots of Berries: Usually I would just by an Organic Frozen Berry Medley
Chia Seeds
Water or Coconut Water

Salmon and Fish: I would eat lots of Fish, Rice, Sweet Potatoes and Smoothies

Nuts: I ate lots of walnuts, cashes, pistachios. I always snacked on nuts.


Closing Thoughts

My experience was extremely intense, I moved to California in San Diego for the reason that it has the lowest Barometric pressure change, my main goal to move to San Diego was to heal. I had been hurt for a year and a half and nothing was helping. Doctors had given up hope and I had blown all my savings on trying every single crack pot therapy, I only named two but I tried so much stuff….to get better! I think if you have the funds the Cognitive FX therapy has some value, I still had so many symptoms after that therapy but it really showed me that I could push my limits and they were the first people who kind of had an idea of how to help.

But it was my moving to San Diego, doing Yoga Nidra four to five times a day, with yoga, feldenkrais, wim hoff and walking, and a diet and all the other stuff that got rid of all my symptoms.

I became extremely consistent, I would pretend that I was living the same day over and over again. Drink a smoothie, do yoga Nidra, do yoga session, do wim hoff breathing, do yoga Nidra… go drink another smoothie, go for a walk, do yoga nidra, do yoga, look at the sunset…and so on and so forth. I knew that if I wasn’t gonna get better, I would end up not making it, it do or die for me. So extreme consistency is extremely important to build new brain paths.


I realized later that its possibly extreme inflammation in the brain, all the breathing and relaxing and yoga and walking ended up getting rid of the inflammation, but It needed extreme work on my end. I would say if you are gonna take my advice, do everything super seriously for 6 months everyday and see if you have a change.

It was an insane journey, I am happy to be away from the injury. I have never put any of this in writing as my injury became a huge source of anxiety for me, but if this can help you in some way, then all of it was for not nothing.

My remaining symptoms is the ringing in the ear (tinnitus) that never completely went away. I also get bouts of extreme anxiety from time to time, something I never had before the injury. But other than that, all my symptoms are gone. I run up mountains now and do rock climbing and the injury is mostly in my past.

Sorry for the long read, I hope it helps. Please ask any questions that you have.
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Old 06-15-2020, 08:03 PM #140
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Default Brain injury recovery

I am actually on this forum for a different reason, but this caught my eye, I thought I would relay the experience of someone I know who had a 'mild' traumatic brain injury.

I was a brain injury support worker in UK and the role primarily involved being a support worker for people who have suffered from brain injuries. Helping them with things like shopping and organisation.

I had a client who fell and hit her head and suffered a mild TBI, she had many cognitive issues like fatigue, inability to multitask, feeling overwhelmed and what she described as a 'certain number of tokens a day that would run out' and leave her with no energy. Some days she would find it difficult to hold a conversation.

She was desperate and we looked into options, one of which was HBOT. We found a paper from Dr Efrati in Israel and we actually contacted him. She decided to do HBOT in the UK at an MS charity and had 60 sessions (4 times a week). It was at session 40 that she started to feel better. She was actually going to drop out at about session 24 but I encouraged her to continue since she had started it.

This was nearly a year ago. She has made an almost full recovery and described her self as 97% better compared to pre-hbot. I must admit although I was hopeful for the treatment for her I was also trying to limit expectations in case it didn't work. It shocked me that it worked so well, at the time she started she was 18 months post her TBI so its unlikely it was the natural recovery that happens in the first 6/12 months.

This by no means means that it will work for everyone, but this is something I have seen with my own eyes. We are still friends to this day and I speak to her periodically. She has returned to work and has pretty much put the brain injury behind her.

I have no interest in promoting HBOT, I am just relaying a story that has been my experience, If that could help just one person then I hope it does.
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