Hello all,
I just wanted to get started by posting my story and then asking advice/opinions for what to do next.
As I mention in the title I have post-concussion syndrome which has resulted in nearly every symptom listed:
Persistent post-concussive symptoms (Post-concussion syndrome) - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic.
I got this from a concussion that I suffered in 2006 when my head hit dead smack on carpet covered cement. I was knocked out and I was out for about a week or two with severe memory problems. Afterward, I had a few problems a long the way but I assumed that it was all just a part of my brain working on recovering. After about two years I started to get worried that some of this stuff wasn’t going away. Then, to make matters worse, I got in a car accident and had another concussion and I was out for about a month. Since this one, the PCS got much worse and the symptoms increased a lot worse then before, not surprisingly.
So then I started to realize that what I was feeling wasn’t just going to go away with time and I started seeking help for the individual problems. Insomnia= sleep specialist, headache=neurologist, neck stuff=physical therapy. Sadly, I didn’t jump right into the “natural” methods of dealing with the problems and went with the medications. I’ve tried: Topamax, Fiorinal, Amitriptyline, Propranolol (10mg), Lunesta, Ambien, Lorazepam, Xanax, and I’m sure there are more but those are the ones I can remember. Needless to say none of them really worked. Then I moved onto physical therapy which helped some, but it was/isnt really enough to take away the symptoms. Same with the sleep specialist. I was able to get off of Xanax (painfully, and the w/d symptoms are still brutal) thanks to her but I still have trouble sleeping.
I am now back to seeing my neurologist and trying some more/stronger medications. I am taking 20mg of Propranolol and I’ll be working on increasing it until I get up to a higher dose. At 20mg I’m not having any side effects so hopefully we can reach a point where it will actually start to eliminate some of these issues.
My question is about the vertigo stuff. If anybody has PCS like i do, have you found anything helpful for dealing with the vertigo? My doctor and neurologist both think it’s a bad idea for me to take valium, but I need to take something for it. I was going to try taking some meclizine to see if it will at least help lessen it some. Even if you don’t have PCS, feel free to comment on this with things that have worked for you.
Also, if anybody has taken propranolol and had success, what dosage did it take before you started feeling better? I realize I’m at a low dosage, but so far it’s not done anything to help.
Thanks,
Jingles