Concussion natural healing ideas

In 2006, I had a pretty bad accident and experienced a concussion: Bright lights were painful and caused me to shut my eyes tight, wear sunglasses [I've always hated wearing sunglasses but during that first week, I wore them or closed my eyes shut]
My doctor recommended both physical and mental rest. Because of my injury to my leg, I had the bed rest, so that was great, like 5 weeks of that!
He recommended I stay away from anything that stimulates the brain and makes it work harder. Radio, TV, reading, even puzzles. computer, cell phone ... definite nonos.
He also said that no 2 concussions are alike, so what worked great for me may not help you.
Intuitively, though, I feel that anything that helps the body function better, hit on all cylinders, so to speak, should help. try to hydrate a bit more. I suspect more oxygen would do you a lot of good as well, but I'm not a doctor and I don't even play one on TV, so...

Hello. What an interesting topic! I had a traumatic brain injury TBI from a car accident and was told I wouldn't improve. Spent several years primarily in bed. It was really rough. As a firm believer that the body regenerates, I've spent 20 years improving and learned a lot. I became a massage/manual therapist specializing in light touch therapies including craniosacral, myofascial release using body rhythms and Lowen Systems which incorporates circulatory and neuro work .

I've tried just about every thing, really, and improved bit by bit but still was very sensitive and couldn't do things that I had previously enjoyed like sailing... due to the overstimulating effect of the undulating boat. Due to glial cell damage, the potential for overstimulation is one of the difficulties with healing TBI. Herbs such as ginko, co q 10  etc caused too much stimulation. I ordered some electric regenerating machines from Australia but still found that I couldn't use them for my brain because they provided too much stimulation so I just had to be very careful and definitely avoid foods with neurostimulants such as MSG.

A few years ago a friend told me about a new technology that she thought might help me. They are little patches with microcrystals that create a feedback loop  as body heat activates the crystals at a certain frequency this activates stem cell regeneration in the body. They are amazing. I could only use half a patch for a few hours a day initially, and it felt like a sublt micromassage to my bbrain and hypotonic ligaments.  They become a tool for the body to self regulate so they aren't dangerous or invasive. It's an amazing and ethical and affordable way to utilize stem cell healing technology. Most of the brain injury symptoms are now gone and my neck doesn't snap crackle and pop like it used to.


Lifewave info X39 stem cell patches:

A link to general information:
https://lifewave.com/regenx

YouTube about the stem cell patches info:
https://youtu.be/5dlb2Qz_Sqo

My friend Vernie from Idaho who introduced me to the patches.
https://youtu.be/-MiXE4UTcw0

Cheers!

We often use arnica montana to help with injuries that cause swelling and bruising.  This homeopathic seems to help very quickly to reduce swelling and bruising.  Years ago our young son pulled on a hose and toppled a heavy vacuum cleaner attachment onto his head from a shelf about 3' above him.  We were very concerned when we saw the lump on his head.  We gave him arnica montana.  The swelling went down and he recovered quickly without any issues.  We usually use arnica montana soon after the injury occurs so I don't know whether it would help with an issue later on.

During the concussion, especially during a coma and as quickly as possible, progesterone cream is supposed to put the brain into a rebuilding mode, like that of a child in the womb. We have always dosed with salmon oil for head injuries, if we feared brain damage. Maybe there are some herbs that stimulate progesterone production?

If these are recent concussions, then rest is the #1 most important thing. Brain healing can't be rushed!
There are loads of other wonderful suggestions here which are helpful adjuncts to rest - diet, attention to gut flora, and lion's mane are things I find useful now. But there's no fast track to regaining brain health. Patience from the person with the TBI and patience from those around them is essential. Trying to rush recovery may seem to work at the time, but will increase the risk of long term consequences.
At 60, I have neurological issues that are direct consequences of forcing myself to soldier on after serious concussions in my 20s. I seemed to recover okay after each at the time, but the neurologists I've seen since the issues I'm dealing with now started tell me it's the result of those earlier brain injuries.
Praying for your friends to make a complete and lasting recovery.

Everybody has written great stuff here, especially Carla and Pearl’s recommendations for vitamins and supplements (I am taking most of these.) Also want to shout out to Rachel Weber for sharing your journey. It sounds similar to mine and I hope you’re continuing to celebrate healing victories.

As a permie with a brain injury I acquired three years ago in a car accident, I hope I can add these insights.

I was grateful for help from an occupational therapist and speech/cognitive therapist who gave me some great tools for coping with some of the difficulties I was having when I met them at 1.5 years out (word finding, attentional switching, visual distortions, headaches, dizziness, fogginess and brain fatigue, emotional lability, physical fatigue, inability to maintain attention for long periods, reading problems, etc.) They especially helped me with energy management problems, understanding body/mind grounding, and the holistic relationships I needed to prioritize between stress, sleep, and meeting basic needs like food and nutrition.

In order to see these therapists, though, I had to sit in a neurologist’s office and refuse his offer of pain meds, sleep meds, and migraine medication (none of which were going to fix the problem, just band-aid over.) For reference, I am 31 years old and feel motivated to heal my otherwise healthy body, not inundate it with new pharmaceuticals and start to play whack-a-mole with side effects. Just my two cents. Only after I turned down the drugs did the neurologist then go, “Well, there’s also a brain injury rehab clinic across the street I can refer you to.”

The OT also recommended I see a neuro-optometrist as I had noticed some visual symptoms that came with my daily migraines and post-concussion difficulties. I looked at a website called NORA for practitioners who specialize in neuro optometric rehab for patients of TBI. This was one of the most impactful therapies I’ve done to date. This specialist eye doctor diagnosed the core of my visual problems, sent me home with eye exercises I did daily for two months, and had me do colored light therapy to deal with limbic/hormonal problems I was having. Before the neuro optometry I would say I was at 55% recovered, and after I was closer to 70%.

I am not a doctor or medical professional, but I have family in the medical professions. Many medical practitioners have important knowledge they can offer to help a TBI patient rehabilitate and improve their healing process. I am also grateful I’ve had the opportunity to learn how to advocate for myself, and to search and push for alternative therapies. The drugs are always there if I want them, but three years out from my injury I am the best I’ve been so far, and I truly am feeling hopeful that, as one OT told me, neuro plasticity exists into old age!

Finally, some recommendations on diet and supplements can be found in the book Concussion Rescue by Kabran Chapek. He is a naturopathic doctor who works for the Amen Clinics. There is a chapter in the book on concussion first aid that I saved to my camera roll on my phone and I have shared with multiple people when they got a new head injury or knew someone who did. Neuroscience is still a new field and the mainstream of medical professionals aren’t always well-versed in how to help people with neurological problems.

Your friends are lucky that you care for them and want to provide them with resources, OP. I hope this aids you and them both.

I would really like to thank everyone for their input, support, and willingness to share their personal stories of injuries and recoveries. I didn't want to interject earlier, as I wanted people to share ideas without unconsciously influencing what I expected to hear.

This thread encapsulates why I so love and appreciate permies.com  and Permies Members. All this info's been shared supportively and respectfully and I feel totally comfortable having my friends read this thread for ideas that they feel they're ready to try. One's problem is fairly recent, the other is much, much older and both friends have other health issues which could complicate the matter. However, I still appreciate the treatments suggested for early intervention, as who knows who might read this and then need it. I truly hope that person won't be me, but since so many of the experiences have involved cars, that's certainly a risk factor for most of us.

Thanks again, and keep the ideas and experiences coming...

Would also recommend iRest yoga Nidra. You can do the free guided meditations at iRest.org. Very good for trauma and PTSD.

Hello ❤️
I had a concussion and resulting TBI from a car accident back in 2013.
The result was a feeling I can only describe as “thinking through molasses.”

Two things that helped me tremendously are cranial sacral therapy and supplementing with Lion’s Mane mycelium.

Lions mane has a special affinity for brains, but damaged/injured ones in particular. The results I had in two weeks were noticible.

I worked in wholistic health care in one capacity or another for almost a decade, and am currently enrolled in a great 2 year program for herbalism.

The other pieces are DHA (a GOOD fish oil has a blend of DHA and EPA ratio- typically for brain growth/regeneration you’re looking for a higher DHA level than EPA.)

The other BIG helper to healing is to do everything you can to reduce bodily inflammation.
That often means cutting sugar, nightshades and red meats and other inflammatory foods out. Doing so clears out the detox pathways necessary for the body to clean up the injured areas and get things healing again.

And another big ticket? Exercise. Oxygenating those tissues, getting the lymph moving and circulation pumping (gently is fine) is beyond wonderful.
It may tire you out randomly and kick your butt unexpectedly, but for reals, it’s one of the best things you can do for yourself.

And, lastly? Sleep.
A lot. As much as you need to. There is a tremendous amount of healing and requiring that takes place when you sleep. Your brain consumes massive amounts of energy as it’s learning. Rest is vital to heal. ❤️

Good luck!!!

One thing I did not see covered  is injury to the joints of the skull called sutures because the plates of the skull look like they are stitched together.  If the zigzag joint is traumatized so that a portion fuses together it interferes with the movement that allows the head to adjust to the movement of the body an also pump the cerebral spinal fluid. Cranial sacral therapy can help restore these functions.  I can guide people in interactive movements that stimulate the cranial movements. Link in the signature line.

Using a blue light dimmer on the computer/tv/phone or wearing blue light blocking glasses could help rest the brain. The blue light disrupts the pineal gland which is in charge of sleep and probably has a great effect on physical-mental health.

Jane Mulberry wrote:If these are recent concussions, then rest is the #1 most important thing. Brain healing can't be rushed!
There are loads of other wonderful suggestions here which are helpful adjuncts to rest - diet, attention to gut flora, and lion's mane are things I find useful now. But there's no fast track to regaining brain health. Patience from the person with the TBI and patience from those around them is essential. Trying to rush recovery may seem to work at the time, but will increase the risk of long term consequences.

YES!! Go sloooowly. It feels like forever. But yes, be patient. Slow and steady.
Neuron take a long time to heal and restructure. They are soooo complex in their interactions. Go slowly. Be patient.
My biggest injury is almost 10 years out, and I’m *still* noticing improvements.  

Jay Angler wrote:I have a couple of friends struggling to heal from concussions who are looking for ways to support, speed up, or work around the results of concussions.

I know that brains can heal, and that they heal in several different ways, so I'll start with that. Maybe if people know more ways they can suggest them.

1. Brain cells that are injured repair themselves and start working again - this is the first process that happens over the first few weeks as swelling subsides.
2. Brain cells form new connections to work around damage in the immediate area. Heavily simplified, if you have 20 neurons that do X and 10 are killed, the dendrites from undamaged neurons may grow out to connect in new ways to other neurons to bypass the damaged ones. This takes longer than #1 - I was told months but are there things that can support that happening and help it continue for a longer period?
3. Brains can learn new pathways to bypass damaged areas. I used to work with stroke patients, so I saw this in action. Training, exercise, and a lot of willpower, but I saw patients regain skills long after any improvement from #1 was possible. I believe the old adage that brains require "work" just like muscles do to be strong, flexible and fit.

Also from my family history, I know a bit about how activities can heal brains. I have a son who had trouble crossing midline which affected his vision and his coordination and either caused or was concurrent with dyslexia. We did several "gymnastics for brains" programs including one called, Interactive Metronome, and they all helped in their own way.

What I don't know anything about are dietary, sleep, herbs, lighting etc that I know many permies know a lot about.

This thread is not about a single problem - it's about all the things that might help anyone who's suffered a head injury and is committed to getting better.

I would dig into stuff on increasing neuroplasticity.  That will be stuff like fasting etcetera.   I personally had some brain damage several years ago (running over a telephone pole with a Honda doesn't go well for you).  As dementia is sometimes considered type III diabetes I would consider doing a keto diet with intermittent fasting.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgA67qWQiI0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCvUf9WU4qI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xULX7a6usQ

I second Ty Glander suggestion about Keto and Intermittent fasting. But make sure you are doing it right, eat whole, nutrient dense foods, (liver, etc.) Don't be afraid to eat animal fats. Your brain is made of fat(cholesterol), and you are what you eat. Also, a lot of people are not getting enough fat soluble vitamins, A,D,K,E, and supplements are not usually effective at supplying them. Also, look into mineral supplementation, modern agriculture is really good at depleting the soil and producing sub par food. Honestly, its not gonna work overnight and it is hard work figuring out how to implement it and fit it in with your life. I spent years trying this or that, spending who knows how much money on supplements and fancy products and they at best helped a little, but mostly there was no noticeable difference, or they had side effects. It wasn't until I started doing keto/carnivore/ intermittent fasting, that my health started to make improvements. So, check it out for yourself, everyone is different and changing your life style is hard.

I would also watch this video just released: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgX31OdPaUo&t=1448s

Also, watch some videos on insulin resistance

I would also check out Dr. Ken Berry: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIma2WOQs1Mz2AuOt6wRSUw

And Thomas Delauer, and Ben Azadi puts out some good information, though it is a bit heavy on the marketing: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThomasDeLauerOfficial https://www.youtube.com/c/KetoKamp

Analee Gomez wrote:I second Ty Glander suggestion about Keto and Intermittent fasting. But make sure you are doing it right, eat whole, nutrient dense foods, (liver, etc.) Don't be afraid to eat animal fats. Your brain is made of fat

Perhaps doing a blood test to check vitamin and mineral levels to be able to target what you need may help narrow the potential overwhelm at deciding what to supplement.

Also, a note about keto: some bodies register fasting as stress- and can horde calories and inflammation as a result.
For some all out fasting is a bit extreme, but going through a cycle of eating detoxing/clearing foods can be very helpful.
Totally agree with the above note of listening to your body.
When dealing with TBI/concussion, be gentle. Keep your diet simple and as clean as possible.
TBI can severely affect digestion and elimination processes- so adding good, nutritional dietary fiber (like acacia, etc (not so much psyllium)) and upping your water intake to accommodate it is really benificial for so many processes- including regulating blood sugar and escorting toxins out of the body.

I think I got this from HEALTHY HEALING by Dr. Linda Page. Try making a paste of fresh Rosemary and taping it to your temples. Also the brain does a lot of repair work during mid-afternoon naps.

Regarding supplements. Try to stay with the WHOLE HERBS. The man-made vitamin and mineral chemical isolates of herbs are not as recognizable by the body and are hardly "natural" as they are separated from their other constituents and buffers in a laboratory. All they do is stimulate but later enervate (as with every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) as I found out after 15 years of taking the vitamins and minerals and now have switched to herbs exclusively.

After a bad injury, and being mal-treated by the Brain and spine specialist at the local hospital, (16 days) I was in a steady cognitive decline for nearly 4 years. I was fortunate to receive treatment with Dr John Hughes in Basalt CO. I had done a spect scan showed the problem areas before seeing him. He got me into a 40 dive protocol at a nearby hyperbaric chamber, ketogenic diet, and an intranasal treatment. The healing and return to full cognition was incredible! I suggest a search on Joe Namath and hyperbaric, His healing, years after multiple lights out concussions was documented with scans. I really found the cost (although cheap) was well worth every penny I spent!
I hope you find yourself on the path to healing soon!

I dont get on alot so it's a later response, but I had a thing to share...

Acupuncture was mentioned once.  If you can get it regularily it can make a HUGE difference over the long run, especially if combined with TCM chinese herbal therapy.  (this doesn't mean taking some pills from a store, it means boiling teas of specific herbs which change as your condition changes)

I've seen people go from cognitive decline to improving more than once including myself following a brain tumor and others with alzheimers.  The problem is it can mean 1-2x a week for however long a person can do it which can get obviously expensive.  Finding a student clinic where there is a TCM school can make a huge difference depending what they charge.

There is a link between kidney health and brain health in TCM, I don't know if it exactly links up with what western medicine believes, by which I mean i'm not saying that general kidney stimulants or western therapies for the kidney would give nay help, but as a random comment if a person has a concussion they will often give you kidney supporting herbs and it can help make you better.  Likewise there is often a 'drop in kidney chi' following a concussion, this wont necessarily show up in western tests, but a higher skilled practitioner would pick it up it most instances.  This seems to link to one's mental clarity.  

It's possible that anything worsening/harming the kidneys even from a western perspective would worsen their TCM-diagnosed condition for the kidney, and thus indirectly their brain function - I have at least one direct observation of this.  Someone who was on prescription western drugs, specifically spirolactone was having their "TCM diagnosed kidney chi" dropping by the week - they had to lower their dose and it would improve, then eventually the slide would catch up and have to lower the dose more to stop the decline - yet despite dropping dose to 1/8th eventually it still had the same western theraputic needs required of it.  Only when they quit that medicine did their kidney stop getting worse and their brain clarity improving at the same time seemingly.  None of this would be caught by a western doctor because the changes are subtle, but i've seen cases like this watching peoples ups and downs with my own eyes using TCM herbs and acupuncture.

Hope this helps someone.

Amanda Hara wrote:
The result was a feeling I can only describe as “thinking through molasses.”

That’s a great description Amanda.

I’ve come back to this thread after a couple of years, and would like to drop encouragement to any readers that, it’s really true, the healing will continue! Brains heal slowly, no, really. Really. Slowly. And five and a half years from my accident, I’m excited to share that it has gotten so much better.

One way I found it helpful to measure my healing process was with a self-assessment number. I would estimate the “percentage” of my capacity - daily energy, mental clarity, and ability to complete tasks and meet my needs. 100% would be pre-injury stamina (28 years old, high-achieving person with high grades throughout school and in my third year of graduate school.) So, if before my injury I could go 10 hours a day of mental, attentional, and physical tasks with a few breaks, meals, and a full night’s rest, then after my injury, a 20% day would be two hours of mental, attentional and/or physical tasks before experiencing increased migraine symptoms. Often, extending oneself beyond the capacity score (going 30% when you’ve only got 20%) would result in a bad migraine the following day(s). It was a learning process just to balance my energy levels and sense my daily capacity.

At year one, I went from about 30-40% average capacity immediately post-accident, to an average of 50-60% daily capacity.

During my third year, I saw the neuro-optometrist, Dr. Lisa Harvey in Fort Bragg, CA. And rocketed from 50% to a 70-80% daily average.

This improvement (along with the ending of the pandemic) helped move me back into the workforce at a satisfactory level of employment for my standards. This looked like 15-20 hours/week “worky” jobs with an average of 10-15 hours/week of vocational and gig work related to being an entertainer/ professional theatre artist.

The past two years have brought me a steady upward improvement of “percentage points.”

Some of the things which helped through these two years: continued rest, continued management of stress, continued careful monitoring of my daily capacity for work or tasks, meditation, yoga, walking, exercise, leaning on supportive people who care about me, creative projects that make my heart sing, psychotherapy (CBT and EMDR,) and acupuncture (especially five elements acupuncture from a certified practitioner.)

This summer (2023) I did end up getting a prescription for rizatriptan for acute migraine symptoms. However, I stopped needing it. Four months of five elements acupuncture and I can’t remember when I last took the rizatriptan.

These days, I am happy to share that I’m hovering pretty darn near 100%. I’m working as the executive director at a small nonprofit theatre company, and I celebrate how far I’ve come.

I also wish to share that I did have a couple of stubborn people in my life who insisted I follow through with my case with a personal injury attorney. It took four years, and really sucked. I had what they call a “open and shut case”, but brain injury is still hard to prove. The insurance company “expert witness” doctors are people that would give you the willies - immoral, deceptive people. But it did settle, finally. This hugely impacted my life (impact. no pun intended, hehe, concussion jokes.) It is what allowed me to pay for many of the alternative treatments I described in my posts. I know not everyone is so lucky, and I am very grateful.

I’ve always been grateful for the “wake up” that the car accident provided. It’s so amazing to know that I have extra bonus time, when if something went differently I might not have walked away from the wreck that day. Even still, the head injury was a HUGE difficulty to overcome. I imagine I may still suffer from occasional migraines for the rest of my life. All the more reason to keep exploring this beautiful world for what brings joy and excitement for myself and others. Permies know all about that. Thanks for providing a community where we can encourage each other to make that happen!

I just wanted to comment that not all physiotherapists have the same training. There are lots of medical professional who have been trained in concussion protocol but not necessarily long-term rehabilitation.

I have a friend who is a physiotherapist who specializes in neurological injuries and diseases. I have another mutual friend who has been seeing her in order to improve her concussion symptoms and she has been seeing great results thus far.

Just a tib-bit of info!

One of the things I love about Permies is how there's already a thread for that.

I was descending a shallow boulder and my feet slipped out from under me on 19 June, whacking the back of my head pretty hard. No loss of consciousness and no vomiting -- those seem to be the primary indicators of a severe concussion, so we thought I was going to be fine. But two weeks later, I got a headache. I sometimes get headaches, sometimes migraines, I have several things to try. But two weeks later, I still had a headache. I didn't come looking for this thread then, unfortunately, but I went to the doc and got a prescription for propranolol which reduces the pain of the headache dramatically by lowering blood pressure. It's been almost five months since I hit my head. My headache is no longer constant, but it feels like I have exaggerated issues with attention and emotionality (though it's hard to tell because I have those issues anyway due to my unique cocktail of neuro-oddities -- ADHD, anxiety, etc.) and some cognitive fogging, which is by-far the scariest feature.

I was told to rest my brain but I write software for a living and had to keep living, so I more or less ignored that advice. The more I read and talk to people, the more I think I should have found a way to do more of that. Future readers, take note and learn from my mistake!

Anyway, thanks everyone for posting up-thread, I have some ideas for things to tweak about my diet.

As I posted a few years ago beside the injury to the brain there is injuries to the joints of the skull and protective reflexes of the nervous system.  Consider were other areas of your body that hit hard so as to cause you to walk protectively.  The bones of the skull align with the bones of the pelvis and the alignment of the cervical spine affects the blood flow to the brain. These are sources of headaches that pharmaceutical trained medicine often overlooks.  I am still available for video conference for simple checks you can do to discover these and help your body correct them.  Use the link to Hans Massage.

I had multiple head injuries during childhood and a recent very minor bump to the head about 7 years ago caused serious temporary memory loss -- enough I was alarmed, but I got it all back and then some.

My actions were:

Lead (continue to lead) a healthy lifestyle
No drugs, not even aspirin (or alcohol)
Lots of aerobic exercise (digging)
Learn a new language (take full time classes in French since I was living in Quebec)
Be more active in musical pursuits

Do not underestimate the power of learning a language

Ashley Cottonwood wrote:I just wanted to comment that not all physiotherapists have the same training. There are lots of medical professional who have been trained in concussion protocol but not necessarily long-term rehabilitation.

I have a friend who is a physiotherapist who specializes in neurological injuries and diseases. I have another mutual friend who has been seeing her in order to improve her concussion symptoms and she has been seeing great results thus far.

Just a tib-bit of info!

Good point.

I could say the same about doctors: perhaps do nothing doesn't equate to do no harm... but there are fabulous dedicated doctors with a wealth of knowledge, all the way to those who are simply amused and do nothing

Main thing is not to give up on yourself