Ive been suffering from PCS/TBI for 2 years, 2 months and 22 days.
Its an easy day for me to remember for 2 reasons, one it was new years eve and 2 it was the day my life changed forever.

To give you a brief summary I have probably had a dozen concussions from hockey, and other such activities. The most recent I received dec 28th, 2006. I was unaware of my concussion however even if I had been it probably wouldnt have changed my actions over the next couple of days. Dec 30th I took off for Mexico to celebrate new years. Upon arrival in mex I felt fine, went to bed and Dec 31st I woke up feeling as what I can describe as awaking in a dream.

Nevertheless my condition worsened in Mexico. The flight clearly took its toll on me. Once I arrived back home in Vancouver, BC I went to see my GP doctor, a clinic doctor blah blah blah all useless. I paid for a private MRI, had an EEG done, all the tests you can imagine with no luck.

Nov 17th 2007 I went to my chiropractor who had treated me for my groin injury and essentially broke down in his office. After about 5 questions he immediately said yes you have PCS and we started treatment instantly. Ironically enough im now good friends with him and we play hockey together, lol go figure. HE has helped me immensly with just his treatment as well as the laser therapy.

Later I went to a PROLOTHERAPIST who did also some minor adjustments, as well as some prolo injections in my neck. Now this is where it gets good

IF YOU'RE LAZY READ FROM HERE ON
Judging by my symptoms the Prolotherapist said to me he felt that my chiropractor had "fixed" my concussion issues, but my body had become chemically unbalanced as a result of trying to deal with a brain injury with no help for 11 months and asked me to take as NEUROSCIENCE TEST. https://www.neurorelief.com/ I did so and the results came back just as he had thought. I was suffering from Adrenal Fatigue and borderline adrenal burnout. He issued me 2 natural supplements which I have been taking for about 10 days and I can say that I am almost 100% symptom free. I cannot tell you how good it feels. Once I stop thinking about what ive gone through for the past 2 years im certain I will return to my old - self, although im having a hard time remembering what thats like.

I guess what you want to try to keep in mind is that even though you have suffered a concussion or TBI there is a possibility that once the brain is lets say "Fixed" the rest of your body has also taken a beating and needs to be "repaired" as well...

I definately suggest for everyone to take this test, its very inexpensive, and even if this isnt your only problem its a good way to see how your body levels are. - My results are at the bottom.

If you are in the vancouver area, or visiting for the olympics or just tired of lousy doctors in your area im going to recommend 2 doctors.

Dr Stefan Sigalet - 604-524-4959 "chiropractor" however to me hes capable of much more, he works on several of the Vancouver Canucks, several NHL players have flown in to see him, Todd Bertuzzi was supposed to be out for the season and visited Dr Stefan and was back on the ice 2 weeks later.

Dr Albert Kim - 604-433-0100 "Prolotherapist" his knowledge and explanations of everything put me at ease everytime I go visit him. since his help with my TBI ive had him help me with my knees, hip, neck and next visit my back... all relatively minor injuries but by dealing with them now im sure I will be in better shape as I age.

Here are my neurotest results so you can see how they look.
**I hope that this might help some of you, of course everyones case differs a lot this just worked out best for me. Good luck to all if you have any questions about how this was for me feel free to ask**

One other point I wanted to make was I asked the doctor why it was when I drank it caused me to feel more normal, im not a drinker at all, ill drink 2 times a month if that, but when I did and I was at my worst it made me feel more normal. He informed me this is due to the fact that alcohol contains dopamine and thats part of phase II of the neuroscience recovery

Good luck

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I did the neuroscience thing as well back in late 2005 or so - I was on Adrecor, Travacor, and some other supplement of theirs for a couple of months, though they didn't do me a whole lot of good at the time beyond giving me a small (though appreciated) boost in energy.

Despite the fact that it didn't do much for me, I really like their philosophy. I think if I did their test now I'd get an awful lot more out of it than I did then... though I've got a few other tests I want to do beforehand. Still, I might try it again some time.

hi mikeyy you may wish to move this post to the sicky posts on hope and healing

thanx bud

Mikeyy,

I would be very careful with the Travacor. It contains 5-HTP. Too much 5-HTP can cause serotonin syndrome which can be deadly.

Your serotonin should be monitored if you continue to take the Travacor 5-HTP.

What kind of treatment did the chiropractor do for your PCS?


Have you been informed about Second Impact Syndrome or Multiple Impact Syndrome?

I would suggest caution on the ice. Your next concussion will likely be much worse in symptoms

the chiro performed osteopathic cranial work on my head with lower level laser therapy.. I think I went to see him for about 9 months for it to a point where he felt all my strength was back...

as for Second Impact Syndrome he did tell me he felt my concussion problems were definately gone and I shouldnt have to worry about Second Impact... I was going to quit hockey indefinately but there was something about it that kept me relatively sane I guess as hard to believe as that is....

Its been over 2 years since that last one really screwed me up... Ive been hit a cpl times (im the goalie) and just gone to see him the next day and nothing has really come back....

Mark I wanted to tell you I was in Sun Valley Idaho about 4 weeks ago playing hockey up there, we landed in Boise and took the 2 hr trip, not sure if thats close to where you are but the people were just amazingly friendly to us Canucks! it was great to play in Idaho!

Excellent post Mike! Man, so many different ways to alleviate PCS and the doctors I have spoken to say they have nothing for me except physical therapy and various scans for diagnosis?! I'll do the various treatments that have been proven effective and let them know how I did it after the fact

I wouldn't be terribly concerned about that - the NeuroScience test measures the levels of serotonin (among many other nuerotransmitters) in the brain, then prescribes dosages of 5-htp, 7-Keto DHEA, and etc... that are appropriate for the situation. They don't just say "you're low on serotonin, take as much 5-htp as you can get your hands on."

I'm wondering about this serotonin syndrome, particularly as it relates to 5-htp. I've always understood 5-htp as being nothing more that a precursor to serotonin, and have been told (though this was some time ago) that any 5-htp ingested above and beyond what the body needs (within reason, anyway) will just not be converted into serotonin and get flushed out of the system. This part of the 5-htp wikipedia page says that it requires other drugs to be taken at the same time in order for the serotonin syndrome to arise... what've you heard on it?

Mikeyy,

I hate to rain on your parade but you chiropractor may be great at chiropractic but he does not understand the physiology of concussion.

There is no way of avoiding second impact syndrome. You are not fully healed. There have been many studies since the 1970's to show this fact. One was reported on in the British literature, I think it was vini's post.

He may help you through the minor issues of getting hit while playing hockey but you still have a history of concussion.

The most important concern you should have is a game where you have multiple light hits. They can be more damaging than one bad hit. The soccer studies have shown that to be true. A soccer heading drill with many light headers is often more damaging that the occasional hard header.

Interesting that your chiro called it Low level laser therapy. My wife has been treated with light therapy. It sounds exactly the same, a light in a spectrum that penetrates the skin without heating the skin but provides an ultra-sonic like stimulation to the tissues except using light waves rather than sound waves.

One of the big benefits I believe can come out of chiropractic therapy for a head injury is indirect. By improving the alignment of the spine, especially the cervical spine, blood flow to the brain in improved. The vertebral arteries can be partially obstructed by cervical inflammation. When the chiropractor reduces this inflammation, the brain gets better profusion and gets a better chance to heal.

BTW, I am in the Boise area. I have a house about ten miles west of Boise airport right under the flight path. I prefer to be at my mountain cabin that is 100 miles due north of my city home on the 45 parallel.

The people are real nice here. Regarding my earlier comment about raining on your parade, I guess you are used to rain living in Vancouver. Pretty area if you can survive the Canadian health system.

tis a good point about the soccer player, I can recall heading the ball a few times and feeling a little off.. I played soccer for over 20 years but couldnt handle the cold games anymore...

as for the comments about the history of concussion, it does make sense, but unfortunately as I mentioned before playing the game keeps me sane, partially in shape, and really gives me something to look forward to

Is it worth going through pcs again? not at all... I really dont know why I even play anything anymore....

hi mikeyy for the love of the game ????

for the love of your brain ??? on reading the headway research and knowing all that you do from the last 2 + years its hard to give up something you love, but nice to still have the choice, there's always coaching bud