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The Cognitive FX Blog

Your source for everything you need to know about traumatic brain injury and concussions.

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Post Concussion Treatment (4)

post-concussion-syndrome-tests-diagnosis

Post-Concussion Syndrome Tests: Know If You Have PCS

Image of Dr. Alina Fong Ph. D.
Dr. Alina Fong Ph. D.

If you’re searching for answers and think you might have post-concussion syndrome (PCS), the path to diagnosis can be challenging. Few medical professionals are experts on the condition, and many lack the most sophisticated diagnostic tools. Many doctors will make a diagnosis based on concussion symptom history and a quick physical examination. Others will supplement their findings with imaging or computerized testing.

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soccer-concussion-symptoms

After Five Years of Failed Treatment, This Former Player Overcame Her Soccer Concussion Symptoms — Here’s How

Olivia Seitz

When Sam Pembleton arrived at Cognitive FX for post-concussion syndrome treatment, she was shaking. Her nerves were so bad that she couldn’t speak to the other people in the waiting room. When they put her in the MRI machine, she panicked. It took several tries just to get through the scan.

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bike-accident-quirien-story

A Bike Accident Took Her Voice Away — Here’s How She Got It Back

Olivia Seitz

Quirien Willemsen is a happy, busy mother to three young girls in Loenen aan de Vecht, The Netherlands. She works as a legal counsel for a bank, loves going skiing on holiday, and embraces life to the fullest. But just six months prior to this interview, it seemed like that lifestyle was lost forever.

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can-an-mri-detect-post-concussion-syndrome

Can an MRI Detect Post-Concussion Syndrome?

Image of Dr. Mark Allen Ph. D.
Dr. Mark Allen Ph. D.

A regular MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) looks at brain structure and integrity. While it is helpful for diagnosing structural brain damage, it can’t often be used to detect post-concussion syndrome (PCS). However, a specialized form of MRI called functional neurocognitive imaging (fNCI) can detect PCS. 

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Medication for Post-Concussion Syndrome: Does It Work?

Medication for Post-Concussion Syndrome: Does It Work?

Image of Dr. Jaycie Loewen Ph. D.
Dr. Jaycie Loewen Ph. D.

Many doctors aren’t aware that concussions can cause long-lasting symptoms, a condition commonly called post-concussion syndrome (PCS). As a result, they treat common symptoms rather than the underlying condition, which often involves prescription medications for each symptom. If you do manage to get a diagnosis, then the default treatment is often still medication — not because it’s the most effective option, but because many healthcare providers don’t have the connections or resources to offer other options.

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best-concussion-clinics-in-us

How to Find the Best Concussion Clinics Near You

Image of Dr. Mark Allen Ph. D.
Dr. Mark Allen Ph. D.

The medical community can be painfully slow to adopt best practices, and concussion care is no exception. Many doctors and clinics recommend “cocooning” — i.e., rest and inactivity in a dark room until symptoms disappear — even though research shows that is not the best way to treat a concussion.

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33 Years After a Traumatic Brain Injury TBI This Businessman Reclaimed His Life

33 Years After a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), This Businessman Reclaimed His Life

Olivia Seitz

Samuel Gray spent his entire life trying to push past an invisible wall. His symptoms — things like brain fog, noise sensitivity, short-term memory loss, anxiety, and depression — made every day a challenge. And for most of the thirty-three years he suffered, he had no idea that his challenges stemmed from a childhood traumatic brain injury.

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13 years after a concussion from skiing, this mother made the recovery doctors said was impossible

13 Years After a Concussion From Skiing, This Mother Made the Recovery Doctors Said Was Impossible

Olivia Seitz

In her youth, Myrthe van Boon loved playing sports and being outside. On breaks from school, she loved going sailing or teaching others how to sail. Her favorite holiday destination was going to the mountains to hit the slopes. But that life disappeared in an instant when she fell during a skiing trip at age 22.

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young man on a hocket team and ice skating

Multiple Concussions: Long-Term Effects and Treatment Options

Image of Dr. Mark Allen Ph. D.
Dr. Mark Allen Ph. D.

If you’re like the majority of people who have had a concussion, then you likely recovered a few weeks afterward and have felt fine ever since then. Concussive symptoms typically resolve in 7 to 10 days (sports-related concussions) or within 3 months (non-athletes). But not everyone is that fortunate: up to 30% of post-concussion patients have lingering symptoms that don’t go away with time and rest.

And even if you do recover and walk away with no long-term symptoms, it isn’t without consequence: You will always be more susceptible to another concussion than someone who hasn’t had one, particularly during the first year after your concussion. It takes less force to sustain a repeat concussion within a year of the previous concussion and it’s likely to take more time to resolve. Repeated subconcussive jarring or shaking to the head can contribute to this situation as well.

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How to Treat a Concussion: Active Rest, Therapy, Diet & More

How to Treat a Concussion: Active Rest, Therapy, Diet & More

Image of Dr. Mark Allen Ph. D.
Dr. Mark Allen Ph. D.

If you visit a doctor for a concussion, you might be told to lie down in a dark room until all your symptoms go away. Many doctors learned that rest was the best way for patients to heal safely from a concussion, but that is no longer best practice. In fact, research shows that active management of concussion has better outcomes. And in our experience treating thousands of patients, many of whom had symptoms that lasted for months or years, we know that “rest until you feel better” can be frustratingly ineffective.

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What Do Post-Concussion Symptoms Mean

What Does Post-Concussion Symptoms Mean?

Image of Ashley van Biljon
Ashley van Biljon

Concussions occur as the result of a rapid movement of the head and neck which causes the brain to shift and impact the skull. This sudden movement causes injury to the delicate structures, cells, neurons and blood vessels inside your brain. The impact of the injury can cause both physical and chemical changes in your brain and affect how it functions because it alters the systems in your brain.

Medical professionals usually describe concussions as a mild form of TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury or mTBI) but, even the “mildest” concussions can cause serious effects and impact a person’s quality of life.

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What to do when concussion symptoms last a long time

What to do When Concussion Symptoms Last a Long Time?

Image of Cognitive FX Team
Cognitive FX Team

Currently, many doctors and other medical professionals tell their patients that the majority of people who have a concussion will recover in a short amount of time (under a month). However, new studies are showing that the risk for long-term symptoms is much higher than doctors and concussion specialists previously thought.

Before seeking treatment at Cognitive FX, the majority of our almost 1,000 patients struggled with their symptoms for years. We have treated patients who suffered needlessly from post-concussion symptoms for many decades. Among the oldest concussions we’ve treated was a concussion from 60 years ago.

Many of these patients had given up hope that recovery was possible. They saw their symptoms as a permanent part of their lives and futures. However, our research and patient improvement reports continue to prove that patients can drastically improve from their post-concussion symptoms.

So what should you do if you fall into this growing percentage of the population with long-term PCS? Below are the first steps you can take toward your recovery.

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Connection Between Concussion Symptoms and Brain Function

Connection Between Concussion Symptoms and Brain Function

Image of Cognitive FX Team
Cognitive FX Team

The brain loves taking the path of least resistance. This is true for blood flow and also for sending the communication signals in the brain when neurons are firing. Even a simple task requires different brain regions to work, or function, together at whatever you are trying to accomplish, be it reading this post, driving, writing, singing a song, or doing something as simple as opening your eyes, yawning, or breathing. Overall, when we are talking about brain function, we are talking about the ability for the neurons, the blood flow, and other systems in your brain to work and communicate with one another to do their job.

After mTBI, injured regions of the brain can swell. Because the brain wants to take the path of least resistance, it will use different neuronal pathways to avoid the areas where there is inflammation. This change restricts blood flow in one or more regions of your brain, causing other regions to compensate for the regions that are injured. This means that different regions are over-exerting themselves to complete the work of the injured brain regions. Think of it as a receptionist who, on top of completing her own responsibilities, now has to do the job and work of the accounting department and the CEO. This imbalanced blood flow is what we call dysregulation, or dysfunction.

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Shifting from Post-Concussion Syndrome to Post-Concussion Symptoms

Shifting from Post-Concussion Syndrome to Post-Concussion Symptoms

Image of Dr. Christiane Paney PhD
Dr. Christiane Paney PhD

What comes to mind when you think of the word “syndrome?” Many commonly known syndromes are often associated with genetic factors or medical diseases that are often lifelong or have lasting effects. Because we know that many post-concussion symptoms are treatable, Cognitive FX agrees with the recent change in terminology and diagnosis that replaced post-concussion syndrome with the more accurate title of post-concussion symptoms.

What was post-concussion syndrome?

According to the latest International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), post-concussion syndrome included “subjective physical complaints (i.e. Headache, dizziness), cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes. These disturbances can be chronic, permanent, or late emerging” (King,  Crawford,  Wenden, Moss, & Wade, 1995). More specifically, post-concussion syndrome referred to a cluster of problems that emerge or worsen after receiving a concussion, with symptoms lasting longer than three months.

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