Three-Week Concussion Treatment Update

The horror fest of concussion recovery, a job nobody wants, contains dramatic improvements.

As I continue the treatment protocol I outlined in my last post, my reading is almost back to normal. I doubled my reading time on Sunday to 16 minutes without experiencing dizziness or nausea. Unfortunately, a concentration headache comes on with reading an ebook. Pretty bad on Monday (true, I was already tired), mild Tuesday after I read aka visualized for 20 minutes. Verbalized for another 4 minutes, no problem. In fact, I’m connecting to the text and extrapolating and, dare I say, predicting again. So for the first time in less than three weeks since the blast injury (new concussion), I’m back to reading Star Trek Destiny 2, Mere Mortals, e-book as I had been before the concussion (and the dramatic uptick in stamina a couple of days before it…guess I’ll have to build back stamina all over again).

But this new concussion having forced me to try audiobooks, has given me a new reading format that I’m enjoying. I borrowed my second audiobook from the library, Conscious by Annaka Harris. It’s more difficult to visualize because of the abstract nature of the subject, but I’m getting into higher-order thinking questions. And it’s sparking new thoughts.

On the other hand, writing — emails, this post — continues to induce dizziness and nausea. Blergh. The screen size doesn’t seem to matter because I can do stuff on the phone, like reading emails, without much problem, yet writing is.

I am still pretty much off social media. I’m not sure if it’s the format or the context, but it does still strain my brain. On the other hand, I think I need the stress relieving effect of tweeting. Maybe I’ll try to tweet on brain injury month, a two-fer of sharing info and letting off steam.

I haven’t been a good girl in phasing in computer work. The agony of trying to adjust my eyes and brain back to being comfortable with larger screens, a repeat of 2016, reminds me that no matter how much you recover, if you have another injury, even a mild one, you’re right back to where you started — you have to go through it all over again.

Recovery is a job no one wants.

https://twitter.com/shireenj/status/1401214106632286209?s=21

I tried on Saturday working on a photograph, something fun and easy to practice using a 21-inch high resolution display. My computer decided to be a son of a bitch. I was frustrated and tired by the time I was done working on it in stints of 1 to 5 minutes each, not doing anything in between but nap or gaze out a window or close eyes while waiting for my computer to process — not even watching a show — because I needed to use all my eye-brain power on this one job. I tried using the computer again Tuesday in stints of 2.5 minutes and 5.5 minutes. I was dizzy and nauseated before 5 minutes was up. But at least I completed the upload of the photograph I’d worked on to my Art Fit To Wear page. Winter Shorts now available as an art print or poster!

I have problems with sleep and a new issue as of Sunday with my left leg being a mass of twitchy muscle groups that signal their desire to make my leg jumpy without actually moving it. Throw in aching and a feeling of whole-leg neural activity like occasional waves or continual buzzing. It. Is. Awful. I find using SMR for Sleep audiovisual entrainment after its onset will calm it enough for me to sleep. (SMR helps Restless Leg Syndrome apparently — this doesn’t feel like restless leg but it helps anyway.) But I have no idea why one leg and why so bad. I have an appointment with Meditech, but my neurodoc wanted me to speak to them immediately.

They suggested two changes to my low-intensity laser therapy treatment protocols. With the neck protocol, move the first vertical placement up to cover the cerebellum. Do the neck two days in a row and see how it is. And second, change the left gluteal diagonal placement to two horizontal to fully cover the gluteal. God help me if something doesn’t stop this leg insanity.

My eyes continue to move too much. Eye tracking still not back to where it was. This is why I have issues with larger size screens, walking, writing (I think — don’t actually know why writing on any screen isn’t improving like reading is), etc. However, I have noticeable improvements regularly. Just shows how bad it was right after injury.

I remain unsteady in walking, so I have a date with my CNIB orientation and mobility trainer in a couple of weeks. I would’ve put it off, but he’s persuasive.

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