Understanding Post Concussion Syndrome

I am NOT a doctor, or any form of a registered medical person, this is just my own experience from healing from a brain injury and trying almost everything I could for more than 2 years.

The BIG, and I do mean BIG Kahuna with PCS is energy management. Keep your expenditure of energy within your ability, don't stretch beyond that in a given day, spending tomorrow's energy today is the most expensive thing you can spend. Setbacks are most likely to happen when you deplete your energy reserves and keep going. We all do it, but with PCS it can result in weeks or MONTHS in setback.

Connected to that is sleep hygiene, it's massive. No food 2 hours before bed, no screens 1 hour, no alcohol even remotely close to bed. Get to bed at the same time every day get up at the same time, do not sleep over 8 hrs.

Sometimes it's not about energy expenditure it's about too much input, that's called flooding and it can lead to serious anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. Here's a good video on the topic: https://youtu.be/M7VEuMNgQSU

Medical Cannabis has saved my life, literally. It's not uncommon to get depression, anxiety, and have strong suicidal ideations with PCS (see my video: https://youtu.be/ZpMMmuEIgEw and https://youtu.be/2mA6htRfyXM). Cannabis has been a vital part of managing my symptoms, getting sleep, and dealing with depression.

There is some compelling research about Cannabis and brain injury: Concussion and Cannabis https://hms.harvard.edu/news/harvard-professor-nfl-treat-concussions-pot-3-1-14 and https://herb.co/marijuana/news/cannabis-heal-concussion. Here's my video on using Cannabis with PCS: https://youtu.be/d_BZuKA0r6E

There's a lot of talk about CBD and such, but its popularity is due to its legality and the fact it's billed as "not weed", from my experience it's far less effective than CBD + THC. in a 1:1 or 6:1 ratio. I also consume sativas / hybrids / and indicas to deal with various symptoms. Here's a good piece on the other active compounds in Cannabis beyond THC and CBD and how they work together: https://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/11/health/gupta-marijuana-entourage/

Next meditation, daily practice, every day no fail. I started with seated meditation, did some guided meditation, but found that moving meditation like Qi Gong is MUCH more powerful and effective. It's hard to sit and try not to think when your mind is focused on moving and noticing, it's something amazing.

I recommend you start with: https://vimeo.com/60772947
and https://vimeo.com/135779056

Sound Healing (which is connected) has a pretty massive impact on my healing, you may feel self-conscious about doing it, but just do it. It helps, the brain speaks in light and sound:
https://youtu.be/VKZOlBwK8YI and https://vimeo.com/165820273

Diet is a major tool to help support your healing, dramatically cutting down foods that cause inflammation including some grains, refined sugars, alcohol, and artificial sweeteners is very important. I recommend going on The Whole 30: http://www.whole30.com as a place to start. It's an exceptional tool to show the impact of food on your brain. From there investigate the Keto diet, it is super trendy right now, but it was originally developed as a tool to battle epilepsy and it has some compelling benefits for healing from a brain injury:

Keto for Brain Health:
https://drjockers.com/6-ways-ketogenic-diet-improves-brain-function/
Keto Guide:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto
Keto and TBI Study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878875018320837
A long podcast with way too much detail on keto: https://peterattiamd.com/domdagostino/

I can't emphasize how important hydration is. Being dehydrated with PCS is the surest way to get into problems: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/30/632480321/off-your-mental-game-you-could-be-mildly-dehydrated

It's really important to have some sort of non-medical project. A lot of folks with PCS tend to turn towards something artistic, painting, drawing, knitting, something that isn't going to a doctor, physical therapist, etc. You need something you can do that doesn't give you symptoms, but makes you feel good. Grow a plant or plants, it's healing to do and it's something you can do, even with PCS.

Other tools in the toolkit:
Floatation Therapy: https://youtu.be/AGXqnMExbG0 I recommend you do at least 3 times to see how it works for you and look at it as "liquid meditation and rest"

PCS Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PCSSupportGroupForAll/ It helps to connect with others who are going through this, it has been really positive in my healing.

Acupuncture and Acupressure: I got an acupressure mat and it's really helpful, I've also done acupuncture which has also been helpful: https://youtu.be/g0vv4geyHWw

I've also found cranial-sacral to be helpful:
http://www.integrativehealthcare.org/mt/archives/2016/10/what-exactly-is-cranial-sacral-therapy.html

#postconcussionsyndrome #tbi #pcs #braininjury

Видео Understanding Post Concussion Syndrome канала Geoff Kleinman