Concussion Part 3:

I cannot say that these approaches to self treatment are accurate or possibly right to do. All I know is they provided me some kind of physical pain relief or emotional relief. These types of treatments took place with in the first two weeks of the recovery process until I could get in with my primary care doctor.

Hopefully, I can get some more information from the doctor's perspective on what to do and I will adjust from there.

- I have ibuprofen in 600mg per tablet that was prescribed to me for a different issue back in December. I will take 2 tablets max (1200mg total) per day, but ONLY when I feel like nothiong else I am doing is working. I usually needed ibuprofen once a day for the initial 2-3 days for the head and neck pain. Then every 3-4 days following (mostly only for headaches).

- I was told by the ER doctor that ibuprofen was okay to take. Then I saw an urgent care doctor for the sudden blurry vision 4 days later and I was told that ibuprofen was not good to take for the first 48 hours. I did not hear nor fully understand why since my brain was still pretty fuzzy then and I was pretty tired.

- I do not like taking medications because it causes other side effects and other issues (at least for me). So, I only take ibuprofen (because it was the only medication that was able to provide some pain relief) if I cannot sleep due to a bad headache or the headache is intolerable even after sleeping. Again I only took one 1200mg dose and I was able to tolerate it a bit better.

- I am not sure if this is healthy or not or even helpful with the more consistent worry I have in the evening, but I have 2 cups of coffee per day. 0-1 cup if I slept most of the day (which happened quite a bit for the first week). This is more of a soul soothing and possibly a caffiene addiction problem, but my headaches are worse if I do not have a cup of coffee. It has also curbed some of the increased hunger I have been having and curbing a bit of my sweet tooth.

- Remembering to drink water was a pain in the ass. Drinking water throughout the day definitely did help relieve some headaches. I usually try to drink 24 oz (definitely not enough especially for out in Colorado). I have no excuse for this. I should probably drink more water period.

- I started taking Omega 3, 6, 9 and Krill Oil supplements. I was recommended this by a friend who has been through many concussions himself and did years of study and therapy because of the concussions. He recommended at least 10,000mg of the omegas and krill oil together. Because I am female and smaller in size and have a different body than a male I have only been taking about 3500mg max per day. That does include both together. This study has not been approved by medical professionals, but has been tested. I am only testing it out for the hell of it.

- I was told that this can increase recovery in a POSSIBLE short amount of time. This is because our brain is one of the main organs that relies on fatty matter (it is made of mostly fatty matter- fucking mind blowing right?). I was told that it is POSSIBLE that it may or may not recover all of my symtoms.

- I shower in hot hot water 1-2 times a day. I realize my neck (due to whiplash), shoulders and upper back tense up pretty bad when it is cold and then causes the headache to get worse. This helps loosen some things up.

- I will massage my face starting at the connection between my mandible (lower jaw) and maxilla (upper jaw) then gently work my way under my mandible where the muscles in my neck starts. I will then massage under and right above my cheek bones moving to my temples. Then fluidly work my way behind my ears to the back of my neck until I hit my spinal cord. The key to this is staying as close to the cranium (your skull) as possible to help loosen the neck and face muscles. You then can gently massage your head avoiding the actual headache areas. Massaging these little ligaments and muscles is not only a stress reliever, but a way to relieve some headache tension. When your neck and face muscles are tight, it pulls on your head which does not help with head pain.

- BioFreeze can help a little. I do it sometimes before I go to work. Just be sure to massage it on to help relieve some tension in your neck and shoulders. Otherwise I find it does not help much.

- If I am not exhausted or tired, I will learn something or try to retain information. I am currently learning about SEO and German. I do little by little when I am up for it and usually I realizing I learn those things best at night since that is when my brain likes to be most active.

I hope this provides some insight and helps someone. I know all of these may or may not be accurate. It has definitley been trial and error. Let me know anything that has helped you or someone else who has been through a brain injury!