My young adult old son has been unable to return to his previous vigorous training for several years due to continued post concussion syndrome. He had concussions in 2016 and 2017, and since then if he accidentally takes a minor bump to his head, he returns to weeks of a debilitating cycle of bad headaches, dizziness, and a cloudy feeling of fatigue. He is able to do some things between these recurring episodes, but he often finds it difficult to fully exert himself the way he would like without some minor symptoms. That said, the focus is on what happens after one of these small bumps to the head, when any exertion thereafter “drains the life” out of him.
His neurologist basically doesn’t have a solution except to recommend rest and recovery each time he endures one of these episodes along with 10 mg of Nortriptyline nightly.
We would welcome input from anyone who knows of anything to try that has been helpful to you or someone you know in a similar situation. Thank you for reading.
Has he had therapy on his shoulders and neck? The neck is obviously a gateway into and out of the brain, in terms of blood flow. If there is un-rehabbed trauma to the shoulders and neck, the brain will not receive proper blood flow and then it’s like trying to run a CPU on 1/2 power.
Another concussion issue, just to note, is swelling or inflammation anywhere above the neck line. This causes the (head area) temperature receptors to read high, again shutting down blood flow into the head.
A good test for this is to ice down the head and that will open up supply as the body wants to maintain temperature of that critical space.
As a stop gap, ice your head. I got concussed during hockey season, I was able to do mild workouts by dunking my head and going outside in cold temps (eg 20-30DegF).
Fwiw, LDN (low does naltrexone) helps with my brain inflammation (not caused by concussion). I worked up slowly to 4.5ml nightly, so very low dose. Calms the glial cells apparently.
A quick search found this research of LDN for TBI:
The other thing I find helpful is CBD - it is an anti-inflammatory and promotes neurogenesis.
I concur with checking out neck stuff (not concussion per se, but as an example of undiagnosed neck dysfunction: this guy was bed bound for years until he had surgery)
Well I would take Forum information with a grain of salt, but some of these issues might be addressed with physical therapy. A friend’s teen-age daughter took a wicked fall off the top of the velodrome. She had a history of multiple concussions. The usual rest and recovery didn’t help. What did work was balance exercises from a therapist that worked with brain injury clients.
PM me and I will see if he is willing to help you with your issues.
Along those lines, recently when I’d have issues with dizziness, stress, etc. massage/physio of these neck muscles has helped. This not a diagnosis, just examples.
Most of us have had concussions. Besides what happens to our brain, another component is the whiplash and stress following it. If the neck muscles defensively tighten, we can continue to have dizziness, headaches etc. Hopefully your son will delve into what’s still not working right and get it sorted out.
My son recently hit his head skateboarding, age 25. I’ve had concussions. So when we do something to ourselves it’s best to solve it rather than live with it. Good luck.
Thank you to everyone who replied. We have learned some things; e.g., physical therapy seems even more important than we realized, with emphasis on the neck. You have given us new information to work with.
Maybe, avoiding things that cause them might be a goal?
I think the clinical evidence indicates that having suffered one, you are more likely to suffer successive ones due to impaired judgement. The long term prognosis is not known. I would be attempting to avoid them, not finding a way of minimising the likely hood.