I am currently dealing with a major concussion, and the only thing that has really made a difference in getting me back on my feet has been physical therapy. The best thing about physical therapy is that it's tailored exactly to your brain, and is a completely natural way to heal! There are no "magic drugs" that can heal a concussion. This includes pharmaceutical drugs as well as naturopathy drugs. Basically, you have to keep gently pushing your brain so it can target repairs more effectively, but don't overdo it because you can cause a relapse and those suck (Ask me how I know!).
First, a bit about the brain and concussions. The brain is not very well organized, so damage in one area is likely to cause multiple, seemingly unconnected symptoms. But there are areas that, broadly speaking, do take on certain physiological or behavioral tasks. When a traumatic injury occurs to the brain, such as a concussion, there is often a main area that has been bruised or damaged, and a secondary area. These damaged locations are usually opposite from each other, as a result from the brain hitting the skull during the first phase of injury and then rebounding to the opposite end of the skull during the second phase (Kind of like if you've ever been in a car that stops suddenly while you were wearing your seatbelt. The sudden stop from the car pushes your body forward, but the seatbelt catches your chest and then throws you backwards.). Brains are also slow to finish healing, because they don't have direct access to blood (there's a blood-brain barrier). If the concussion is moderate, it could still take you six months to heal. There's no safe way to fast-track your brain into quick healing, and be very suspicious of anyone trying to tell you otherwise.
For my own concussion, I fell backwards onto the corner of a TV stand. I hit the base of my skull just to the right of my spinal column. This area of the brain deals with vision, particularly vision coming from my left eye and the left field of vision. My brain rebounded and hit the upper left front of my brain (just above my eye) against my skull. My symptoms were most strongly concentrated on visual issues as well as emotional control and decision making. The concussion was bad enough that my partner took me to the hospital to make sure that my skull wasn't fractured (It helps that we're going to grad school in Canada, so we don't need to worry too much about medical bills).
While at the hospital, I was told by the doctor that there's really nothing that can be done to directly help the brain, only indirect things. I was told to avoid looking at screens and reading from books until my symptoms had subsided for over 24 hours, and to get lots of sleep. They could prescribe drugs to help me with sleeping, and Tylenol to help with the headache, but that was basically it. Three months later, I still couldn't use screens and I was just barely able to read a book with only a slight increase from the constant headache and eyeache that started with my concussion. Since I'm trying to finish up grad school and write my thesis, I need to be able to use my laptop. I talked to my family doctor, and she recommended physical and occupational therapy.
Basically, while your brain is able to make repairs after injury, it's pretty conservative and doesn't want to have to use more energy than necessary to repair parts that you're not using. In order to promote effective healing, you must spend a small portion of every day working on activities that bring on your symptoms. However, you must not push it too far, as that can slow down your healing. There's a sweet spot, and I've found that physical therapy helps me identify that sweet spot.
If going to physical therapy once a week is too costly, I still highly recommend setting up two or three appointments. An accredited physical therapist will be able to help you pinpoint exactly what areas need the most help, as well as show you how to exercise those parts of your brain without overdoing it. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! You should be able to do your brain exercises every day without feeling worse and worse each day. If you're feeling worse, you are overdoing it and it will take even longer to heal. If you keep pushing yourself too far, you'll have a relapse and basically need to start all over. PLEASE PLEASE see a physical therapist at least once for intake! From experience, you will feel awful afterwards, because that first appointment is meant to find out all your symptoms and get a good baseline. It shows you how far you can push yourself to promote healing, and how far is too far. I highly recommend having someone else drive you to and from the physical therapist's office, as you may find driving back home extremely difficult (and if your injury is vision related, it could be dangerous).
To accompany your brain's hard work, you need to get plenty of good sleep and eat high fat and protein foods to give your brain energy. I ended up eating too many carbs at first and got fat, lol. Supporting good sleep is crucial to healing, as your brain gets a break from outside stimuli and can focus internally on fixing itself. Eating lots of protein and fat gives your body the tools and energy it needs to repair the damage. You don't need as much carbohydrates as you think, but complex carbohydrates also provide necessary molecules for healing. Avoid overeating simple carbs like processed sugar.
The last thing is to be patient with yourself. It took me 8 months before I was able to produce work I was proud of. Part of the reason it took me so long was because I spent the first four months pushing myself too hard. It took four months of physical and occupational therapy to get me back on my feet. I'm still healing, but my therapists have both told me that I now have all the skills I need to complete my recovery on my own.
I really hope this helps!
