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Questions and Answers about PCS
I went through a thirteen month recovery process with Post Concussion Syndrome. If you or a loved one is suffering from PCS, I'd love to help if I can. Please read my story and then post any questions you have and I will do my best to answer them. And best of luck with your recovery!
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Hi, my name is John, I am 23 years old living in southern Ontario. I have been dealing with PCS for the past 15 months and it has been an absolute nightmare. I had hit my head at work and stared noticing symptoms about 2 days after the fact. It didn't dawn on me that the hit to the head and the symptoms were related, so I went about my life for 3 months until I could barley stand on my own, unfortunately it wasn't until then that I made the connection. At this point in time some things are still a struggle; florescent lighting makes me feel foggy and different, bending down makes me dizzy, just walking around the house is not the same, I feel like I have lost the ability for my brain to know where my body is in relation to space and objects around it. Some days I get so angry because I am very limited to what I can do and I can't live my life like a normal 23 year old should. This article was a good read for me because I feel like I am not the only one out there, I just hope I am able to make a full and speedy recovery. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi. Very sorry to hear what you're going through. It sounds really familiar. It also sounds like you could really benefit from vision therapy and vestibular therapy. I hope you can find some good care!
DeleteHI, I was just curious when you started the zoloft, did you find things improved more rapidly? also how long did it take for the vestibular to help?
ReplyDeleteThanks..
Hi. It's hard to say about the Zoloft. The doctor said it would take 2 weeks to take effect, but I noticed improvement much faster. So either it worked faster then they thought it would or I responded very quickly to the vestibular with I started at the same time. My guess is it was the vestibular and the "expose and recover" philosophy that they encouraged. (Expose yourself to the things that give you symptoms, rest and recover, then expose yourself again so your brain gets used to that again.)
DeleteSo in short, for me I started both of those at the same time and saw fast progress. But keep in mind at that point for me I'd spent a year already getting my vision fixed and taking care of the headaches.
Thank you for the reply. I believe I am going through pcs(I have concussions before, but no symptoms like the ones I'm having). I work as a heavy equipment operator, and one day I hoped out of the equipment to manually move some wood, when I was struck in the jaw/neck with one of the pieces of wood. I did not pass out, but I did not feel any symptoms for over 2 weeks. I first noticed my first symptoms on the bus ride back to our camp (I work in a remote camp), I felt dizzy and could barles make it back to my room. Since then I have bad anxiety, vision troubles (seems like I'm kind of not in reality,and hard to focus on close up things). I only had a bad headache at the beginning of my symptoms. I just feel like this will be forever.
DeleteYou have all the classic symptoms but hang in there because they are treatable. Having trouble seeing things close up sounds like convergence insufficiency. You can look on youtube and do the brock string exercises and get to a vision therapist. It also sounds like you need a vestibular therapist for your balance problems. Vestibular problems can also lead to anxiety and fatigue. Regular doctors might not understand what kind of treatment you need, so if you can find a concussion clinic that would be best. Or try to find a vision therapist and a vestibular therapist and a medical doctor. Sports medicine clinics are another good place to look for medical doctors who know something about treating concussions. Hope this helps and stay strong!
DeleteThank you again! I will keep you posted on my journey!
DeleteJust a quick update. My symptoms have been improving fairly well, but still having a little problem with the disconnect feeling (I guess you could say brain fog). I have followed most of your suggestions, but one thing I have added is nuuca chiropractic.
DeleteThank you again for your posts.
Thanks for the update! I think everyone who reads this blog would like to know about as many people's experience as possible.
DeleteI've had ON and a concussion for two years, got hit by a drunk driver. I have injections every six weeks, I am interested in the cream you used. I've got the information from your picture, however, can you tell me how you got it? I'm from the Boston area, so it is different about Pharmaceutical compounding. I appreciate any details. Anne
ReplyDelete
DeleteReally sorry to hear about your accident. The cream came from a pain doctor at John Hopkins. They really did not want to prescribe addictive pain meds, but they were fine with this very strong topical medicine. So looking for a pain doctor might be the way to try it out.
Ricos, will do.. my pain doctor from Brigham and Women's who gives me injections will be checking this out the picture for cream soon. I'll let you know. Thanks very much, Anne
DeleteRicos, I don't think I'll be trying the cream at this point of my recovery. I am wondering when you made progress that you felt fragments of symptoms here and there? It's been a while for me to have a full flare up of symptoms, it's taking a long time but much better. I am a little jealous of your shorter recovery.
DeleteHi Annie. It's hard to remember but I would think after about 6 months or so it was on the way out. It could have been longer though. I am pretty sure that after 8 or 9 months it was all gone. I had to be religious about the Tylenol and Etodolac and cream for at least the first 6 months after treatment. Hope his helps. It's all about slow and steady wins the race - which is annoying. ;-)
DeleteOk Thanks Ricos, I've got neck stretches, strengthening exercises and vestibular exercises which take a lot of time, close to an hour. I have 4 sessions left. By the way, I switched therapist because current one is far more creative and I am a creative person so my response is better.
DeleteDo you do any for preventative or maintenance? :)
Where are you from?
Thanks, Annie
Hi Annie,
DeleteI really don't do anything for maintenance, except normal work outs and all that. I just came to a new normal, which is not quite the way I used to be but like 95%.
And I'm from San Antonio, Texas - very far south but the culture is more western than southern. It's a boom town at the moment, but then most of Texas is too. :-)
Thanks Ricos for the caring info. I think out of habit I'll be doing these exercises on my own for a while. Thank God. I do normal work outs too which helps with everything.
DeleteI like Waco, Texas Lol, Fixer Upper. Booming is good. We've got the Cape and I'm near Gillete Stadium. :))
Yeah, everyone knows Waco now because of that show. :-). And keeping up the rehab is a good idea I think, but once you feel like you are on solid ground, letting them go is good too, because you also might have to get over the anxiety the symptoms might have caused. I was always asking myself, is whatever I am doing now going to cause symptoms? Once you are better you still have to retrain yourself to be normal again. Anyway, take care!
DeleteMartin
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletehey there, finally happy to read a success story!
ReplyDeleteMy biggest challenge are SCREENS. How did you recover your screen time? (computer, smartphone, tv etc) I can do up to 90 minutes of tv/computer, but smartphone only 20 min or so. Once i get to symptoms at say 90 min mark of computer, I then need to rest for about 20 minutes. For awhile I did 1 minute extra everyday to sort of push myself a little bit. I've since stopped that and stuck to time limits well before symptoms occur. I wonder if perhaps I should go back to the 1 minute a day routine, as this sounds like the "expose and recover" you mention.
My problem with symptoms is that Im taking amitriptyline and it might be masking my headache which becomes a fog. The fog intensifies if I watch while my symptoms get worse.
Hi Ryan. Screens were a big deal for me right after my concussion. One thing was that it took time. My doctor explained how my optical nerves and the muscles that controlled my eyes were damaged and just need time to heal. I wear prescription lenses for distance and he lowered that, which helped. I also go "computer glasses" which are just glasses with a weaker prescription for me to see clearly an arm's length in front of me. Both of these things helped relieve the tension from my eyes. But even with those it really took time and I didn't watch TV for about a year. After about 5 months I could do one hour of screen time and then I'd need to rest for about an hour. Once they were better though, it was all back to normal. And cell phones were the worst. I agree. I wish there was an easy fix. All I can say is that in my situation they did go back almost completely to normal in the end. As for expose and recover, I don't think that worked for me for my eyes. It was more for vestibular and anyplace where my brain had to relearn something. For my eyes, there was physical damage to my nerves and muscles that had to heal.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps!
And one other thing I forgot to mention is convergence insufficiency. If I had gotten that taken care of sooner, it would have sped up my recovery. I'd definitely look into that.
DeleteCan you please explain the expose and recover better how many times a day.
ReplyDeleteI am so desperate with my daughters concussion
Hi Monica. It was good talking to you on the phone. Here is my explanation of expose and recover:
Delete"**This sounds a lot like my experience. People or music or background noise, or any number of things could just make me super tired. And being slow was the first sign that I needed to take a break. If for social of business reasons I just pushed through, by the end of it I was spent and had to rest for hours or even days at the beginning. One of the interesting things I read was the idea that concussion recovery for some people was a lot like recovering from a stroke. Your brain needs to re-wire itself. (Plus you might have multiple problems all happening at once.) So what they told me to do was find the things that cause my symptoms to get worse and expose myself to that and then rest. If it’s going to a mall (crowded, loud places) then go there and walk around and when you feel tired go back to your car and rest, then go right back out and expose yourself again. The idea is that the brain needs to be exposed to the stimulus so that it can re-acclimate itself to it – rewire itself to deal with the situation. If you avoid it all, it will never have enough time to re-wire itself and you’ll be stuck. They said as I was doing this I should expect to have a few weeks of hell and I did. But it worked. I also went back to the intersection where the accident happened. I drove through it even though I had been avoiding it. Eventually I was used to it again."
Thank you so much!! You are so kind. The problem with Melanie she has a constant everyday headache and it gets worst with stimulation. There is never a day that she is headache free. Did that happened to you as well?
ReplyDeleteI really appreciatte you sharing all these info it is so helpful. We called the clinic and they dont have anything until March 30 we are very dissapointed about that.
They're in demand for a reason at UPMC. I hope you go. As for the headache, at first yes. The sections on occipital neuralgia detail how that was diagnosed by Dr. Singman at Hopkins and treated there by a pain doctor (the injections).
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Martin
Hey, I was recently diagnosed with PCS and I live in Canada. We have a concussion clincic in the city ; something I am trying as of this Friday . but I can't go to to any of the clinics you mentioned by name I can't afford it. and I'm not sure I'll have all those specialists you had available to you for myself. I'm just a 21 year old student ... my question is how often did you do your vestibular and vision exercises a day?
ReplyDeleteIn addition I would like to ask... So DR Collins designed a workout program that you would workout and continue through your symptoms? The people I have seen have told me to stop at first sign, and scale back. But agian it sounds like you may be seeing better specialist than I have. Currently I have only a physical therapist and a concussion specialist, and I can't even see them often enough. Anyway any suggestions? I'd love to hear back right now I feel pretty damn overwhelmed honestly , thanks .
Hi Trevor. So sorry to hear about your concussion.
ReplyDeleteAs for your questions, I did vision once a day and vestibular, which was normal vestibular exercises plus physical exercises twice a day.
As for working through symptoms, yes and no. Yes, that was the idea - to get out of my comfort zone so that my brain can acclimate itself to those stimuli again (like shaking my head or increasing my heart rate). But if it was too bad, I did have to stop, especially at the beginning. So 5 months in, if I went too far on a treadmill getting my heart rate up, I could be down for a day or two so I was careful. But 12 months in when I finally saw Dr. Collins, I was past those kinds of symptoms so I could push and it would make me uncomfortable, but not lay me down for a day.
The expose and recover stuff works differently for different symptoms. I hope the doctors you see are up on that.
The only other suggestions I can make are the ones in the blog post. Beyond that I think it's about getting the right care. If you tell me more about a specific symptom, I can tell you if I had it and what I did to resolve it. (But I might be repeating myself from the blog, so please excuse that :-)
-Martin
Ricos,
ReplyDeleteWhen you developed pcs, did you experience that feeling of loosing touch with reality (foggy/dreamy feeling) ?
The first 24 hours no. After that my mind was toast and with great effort I could think, but incredible slowly. It took a while for me to recall the day or year. This lasted several days but I am not sure how many. By 2 weeks in, I was still in a terrible state but I could tell you the date right away. And after that mental fogginess was not really a major symptom. It was more like fatigue, eye strain, headaches, light and noise sensitivity, etc.
DeleteHey, I believe I have PCS and I have a really hard time with worrying about little bumps to the head and what kinds of things can cause a relapse. I was in a bumpy car ride today and now my head is starting to feel worse again. Is it possible that the potholes in the road gave me another concussion?
ReplyDeleteHi Noah, I'm afraid I can't answer that question. I'm not a doctor, just some who recovered from PCS. That being said, I can't imagine how a bumpy car ride could give you a concussion.
ReplyDeleteYour worries could be a sign of anxiety and PCS can definitely cause that.
I was in involved in Tbone car collision. The other driver was likely going 60mph+ and my SUV went airborne and landed on its side.
ReplyDeleteI have similar symptoms as you; brain fog, headaches, convergence, sensitivity to light and and sound. I get trigger point massages and similar to you, when you pinch my neck muscle, it reproduces my headache. I'm very interested in that cream and pain injections as potentially helping me.
It's been 6 years since my accident. The last year I've gave in to painkillers as I couldn't take pain anymore.
I tried brain carrick center but felt they were quacks.
Did relieving the headache pain also help with the head pressure and or brain fog? Those are my worse symptoms. Thank you
Hi Rob. So sorry to hear about your situation.
DeleteI'd definitely see a pain doctor if you haven't already. I saw someone at Johns Hopkins. They know what they're doing and they had several options if the injections did not work. I'm sure there is a local specialist in your area as well.
For me, it was hard to concentrate on the other issues until I got the pain under control. It did help relieve the brain fog / slowness, but it wasn't a cure all because I had 4-5 different problems at once (which is why it is hard for doctors to figure out what is going on).
Since you also have light sensitivity and convergence issues, a vision therapist could help too. They charge an arm and a leg, but really all you need to do is get the exercises, do them at home, then see them once a month.
Also note that a big trigger for me was a high heart rate - that would trigger really bad symptoms / brain fog and slowness. It was the buffalo protocol that fixed that, but even after fixing the pain and the vision problems and the heart rate trigger problem, I still had to tackle the anxiety issues and vestibular issues.
Hope this helps,
Martin
Your story and tips have been super helpful. Thank you so much!!!
ReplyDeleteQuestion about your excercise routine from UPMC- it shows 5 days. Did you do 5 days and have a day or two off? Or continually do it over and over? Same for the vestibular excerices...were you recommended to take days off in between?
I am using your workout model and tips in the last couple weeks. It's been helping immensely in my recovery. I am 3 months PCS and just started working 3 half days a week.
Thanks, John K
Hi John. I think they wanted me to take at least one day off, but it is hard to remember. I believe I did all of them (physical and vestibular) twice a day, at least 5 days a week and probably 6.
DeleteThank you so much for your blog! I have just discovered this tonight. I am 8 months down the track since hitting my head, and really beginning to despair. I am lucky enough to have been referred to a concussion clinic and have had excellent help. But reading this has made me think differently about a number of things. Most of my trouble is vestibular and noise tolerance (I'm a teacher, so not ideal). Thank you again.
ReplyDeleteVery glad to hear that it's been helpful. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
DeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that I found your page; I am in month 6 of my post-concussion recovery and have been recovering, but still suffering the effects. I am a 29 year old male and I was on my honeymoon this past July and I whacked my head on a low stone doorway in Greece (I know, what a place for it to happen!). Symptoms didn't start until returning to the US and after going to the doctor found I had a sever concussion (first head injury of my life). I was told, like you, to rest, and I did and after a month I felt almost normal. My problem was my ignorance to what I really needed to do, and after going back to work it all came rushing back worse than before. I now know it was post concussion. I was off work for over 2 months and could barely walk up the steps in our house, let along even look at a TV, computer, phone, or to drive (I couldn't even stand to be in a car). I've been to so many doctors and they just kept telling me "to rest". Well, I was resting and nothing was happening. I finally found a concussion specialist and they told me to get back to work and slowly start doing things that made the symptoms happen. Basically what your's said - to try to get the brain back in shape and used to these activities, and to rest when they came on, then go again. I was lucky to be in a neurofeedback study (was free to me) and have been getting it for months now. The therapist was the best help during this whole experience. I also found that fish oils and vitamin B helped with the fogginess (which I found to be worse than the pain, to be honest).
My question for you is to ask if you found cardio activity helpful in recovery? I used to walk every day but have not been able to now since I am wiped out at the end of the day trying to get through work. Also, I still have some fogginess, especially in the morning. What was something else that helped you get over that? The continued exposure to what makes the symptoms worse and to rest when you need to? I feel like I am just nearing the end but can't seem to get over that last hump.
Hi Andrew. Sorry for the late reply. Yes, I found cardio helped a lot. When I started the Buffalo protocol is when I first started to feel better. But I also think it depends on the individual because every concussion is different. I had PCS symptoms when my heart rate went up, so raising my heart rate systematically helped my brain get used to it again. That was part of what helped me get over the fogginess. The other thing was the very slight dizziness I talked about in the article (vestibular issues). That was the last hump for me. I didn’t realize I had any dizziness, but it was there and once that was fixed I bounced back to my new normal within 6 weeks or so.
DeleteI think you are in the right track with expose and recover. Except for the 6 months of pain medication and the 6 months of Zoloft, everything I did to get better was some kind of expose and recover tequnique.
Best wishes on your recovery!
Martin
Martin, thanks so much for getting back to me, I appreciate it. I actually went to a physical therapist for vestibular consult but she said I didn't need the therapy. That was back in October but I'm wondering if I do. At this point my head still doesn't seem right, but I still need to start cardio. I still have a slight dizziness (if it can be called that) which I can't seem to shake, although I am still tired with headaches and "pressure" in my temples at the end of the day, more so than when I wake up. I guess I should give it a bit more. Any other thoughts are welcome! Thanks!!
DeleteAndrew,
DeleteMy dizziness was so minor someone else might not have treated it, like 1 or 2 on a scale of 10. They told me to report any imbalance at all when they were testing me. Perhaps If you report even the slightest imbalance and then be sure they give you the home exercises that will replicate the feeling. The you can use the expose and recover technique. As for the headaches, a pain doctor might be able to help.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Martin
What would you recommend as a gift for someone recovering from a concussion?
ReplyDeleteHi. That's an interesting question. I'd say just time and understanding. A concussion can cause major fatigue, which can make it seem like someone has turned into a "different person." Other than that, I'm not sure...
DeleteThank you so much for sharing your story. My 13 year old daughter hit her head 10 months ago and has been diagnosed with post-concussive syndrome. She has recently started rehabiliation with a neuro-optomitrist and does vision training much like the videos you refer to. She can't take much school work and we have finally decided to keep her home from school for a few months. The explaination of re-training the brain to cope with situations that otherwise cause headache is a big help. It matches the reading training she is beginning (five minutes and retreat to rest). We are going to try to use this to try and get her back to school over time. How long after you started serious rehab were you able to go back to work and live a bit closer to normally?
ReplyDeleteHi DM. My entire process took about 14-15 months. The real leaps forward always came after the cause of a symptom was identified and treated. There were long stretches where I had little improvement. The eyes took about 12 months and didn't fully resolve until my balance was right. I think PCS is hard because it is 4-8 injuries all at once affecting different systems. Each injury has to be isolated and treated. That's why you need a team of specialists at a concussion center. I think there are pros and cons of keeping her from school (I'm sure you do too!). It's easy to get isolated with PCS and that can lead to depression, because you feel like you will never get better. That's something to keep an eye on. I'd say the best thing is to be sure she is evaluated by a team of experts. For me, the guys at Hopkins took very good care of some things, but missed others. Then the guys at UPMC found everything that was missing.
DeleteIn terms of living more closely to normal, once I got rid of the pain and the vision started getting better, I could work half time. That took approximately 3 months after visiting Hopkins.
Hope this helps!
Martin
Hey Martin, I went to UPMC two weeks ago because of your blog so thank you! I was elbowed on purpose in the head playing ice hockey about six months ago and Dr. Collins said my specific symptoms (low pressure headache about a 1 on the scale, constant dizziness, foggy and anxiety) are from my vestibular and anxiety trajectories. They go hand in hand as I have learned. I was 100% healthy before this happened, so it hasn't been fun to deal with in the least. I exercised daily and ate really healthy for years prior, but did have anxiety history that I managed excellent with that, so I think the concussion is exacerbating that part. I have my own vestibular and exertion exercises. I was wondering what vestibular ones you had? I have one that I have to turn side to side and toss a ball to a partner and then one where I read a letter chart doing YES YES and NO NO movements. The latter does not really do much I don't think.
ReplyDeleteI am also intrigued that they used Zoloft to shut down your anxiety. They aren't concerned with medication masking symptoms? I have never used medication before but for this I am willing to to recover ASAP. What I find weird is that SSRI's like Zoloft have been shown to reduce dizziness as well, which by itself would defeat the purpose of vestibular therapy, no? I go back in two weeks. Collins said my case is pretty straightforward and that he felt confident I could do it without them, but I still feel a lot of anxiety despite the exertion and daily 30/min jogs. I don't want to be on medication for a long time. I also have my own CrossFit program like yours, with some exercises making me dizzier than others. Then again, my baseline is constant dizziness and unsteadiness, whereas you said you didn't think you even had dizziness at all.
I will keep posting updates as I progress for others as well. Thanks Martin.
Glad you got to see D. Collins. He's awesome.
DeleteI actually can't recall the specific exercises. I lost the sheets by the time I wrote the blog. I remember doing step exercises on a stair and touching my toes at the bottom. That was the one that I felt. The great thing was that that kind of brain training worked pretty quickly for me. As for Zoloft, I never got to the dose they prescribed and I was feeling a lot better within 2 weeks and they said zoloft takes 2 weeks to kick in. It's hard to say how much that helped me. I think they saw how I was keeping super detailed records of my sleep, symptoms, etc and thought I needed it. I was treating myself like a lab rat trying out different things. In the end it was just 6 months on it at a very low dose.
It'll be good for others who find this blog to hear how it's going for you so please keep us posted.
Martin
Hi Martin, just found your page and timing couldn't be better. I am 14 months out from a car accident causing a mild TBI.
ReplyDeleteI am dealing with PCS and just exsisting, not living life. I have been back to work part time for 8 months now. I'm finding that all I can do is work and recover, there is no life outside work. I am too fatigued to do anything else. I am isolated from friends, noise sensitive and recently had a setback due to overworking. I own my own retail store and can't manage work and recovery all at once. I have decided to give up my store and focus on recovery but am second quessing myself. The business and all that comes with it is stressful, but it is my joy and passion. The business cannot afford paying for all the coverage I would need. But, after reading about your recovery, I question if work is a better option?
I am in vission therapy, speech therapy and a concussion clinic. I've made progress but not where I should be this far out. I would so appreciate your thoughts.
Ann
I’m 6 years out, my has been ruined, I’m going to UPMC Friday although I’ve already tried their protocol out of Barrie Ontario . My vision bounces at all times, light sound sensitivity , tremors , constant pressure and vertigo can’t go any where
ReplyDeleteHello. Thank you for your blog. Can I ask by how much your eye prescription was reduced?
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI am battling through PCS now, im 25 years old and it feels like im in hell everyday. Your symptoms are identical to mine, mainly my vision, feels as if my consiousis is leaving me. Get kinda dizzy feeling in grocery stores and other environments where allot is going on.
Your post really motivates me to keep on going. I am doing vestibular therapy now and going to try neuropathway brain spotting and low light therapy. Hopefully it can help. I live in Michigan and hopefully I can get out of what feels like a dream every day. If you could call me I would really like to talk to you about this, its been very hard
my email is Antonio.ndoja93@gmail.com
Hi Antonio,
DeleteI'm 28 now, was turning 27 when I hit my head and I'm still in recovery (finally lucid enough to put together a decent thought and get through a work-less day). I've had a ridiculous amount of dizziness on and off through the last 1.5 years and they've been from a few different sources: anxiety (sometimes leading to continuous full-on panic attacks), high heart rate (resting at 160-180 for months on end before anxiety meds), and suddenly becoming anemic, sending my blood pressure below 90 and feeling like I was going to pass out/lose consciousness every time I moved. Anxiety/panic attacks are still something I'm learning to curb as it's all still "new" to me, but getting blood work done to make sure your vitamin and blood levels are normal is a paramount little thing.
I don't know if that's helpful at all, but the hell will hopefully end with time and patience, and treatment (which I didn't have the first year of PCS, and am battling through now).
Here's to finding our footing again,
M
I just want to say a HUGE THANK YOU for putting up your story, for taking the time to write it up and for offering your feedback and support via this forum. It's so generous of you to do so. I am from Europe, 1.5 yrs post injury, still grappling with daily headaches and tiredness, and unable to get the help you got. There are no specialised concussion clinics where I am. I may just try the exercises you did and see how that goes. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reaching out to those who are struggling and scouring the internet for a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.
ReplyDeleteHello, I am glad I discovered this blog on PCS. I dove off of a platform over rotated and looked up to find the water at the wrong moment. My hands did not break the water for my head. As a result the water hit my forehead and forced my head back. This resulted in a concussion and a mild spinal shock. I was curious if you had issues with tachycardia while standing after your injury. I have been checked out for POTS and told I don't have it. However, it seems like my heart rate is always high when walking around and climbs easily to 130-140 with minimal exertion. After I exercise it seems like my heart rate is elevated for an hour or so. Also did you have issues staying asleep?
ReplyDeleteHi there. Yes I had high bp and very high heart rate as well as trouble sleeping and crazy vivid dreams each night when I was asleep. I was put on Propranolol as it helps lower heart rate and has a side effect of helping headache.
ReplyDeleteDid the high heart rate/BP resolve or do you have to keep taking the medicine?
DeleteI had my accident in July 2017. I went through ups and downs as is common and by last summer I was doing great but I was still on the imipramine (medication they gave me for the pain) and the BP/tachycardia meds. I was dropped down to half dosage of the BP med last October, and just the other day I'll be weaning off them completely, even though I'm still on the imipramine as I can't function without it, despite trying to wean off it 2 times. What my issue was that the combination of internalized stress from the whole experience, plus me not able to exercise daily like I used to for nearly 5 months, it all went awry. I've been back to exercise for a year now and along with the meds and feeling better (not 100% but better) it's gotten better. So, to answer your question in a round-about way, yes, the heart rate/BP issue is/has been (hopefully) resolved, thankfully.
DeleteHi, Do you know any places/people in London or Europe that can deal with PCS? Thanks
ReplyDeleteDo you have recommendations for recovering from video sensitivity?
ReplyDeleteHi! I just read your story and it has given me hope! I am from Danmark, 23 years Old and have senere vision problems and headache from a concussion 5 months ago.
ReplyDeleteI am curious about your “Brain fire” episodes that came from getting your puls up. Did that just resolve and then you began The treadmill program? I have The same issue and I even feel it in social situations as well where laughing and talking makes The puls rise.