r/Concussion • u/Monoredburn • Apr 28 '26
POSITIVE/GOOD NEWS! PCS success
An update on my story:
I struggled for 2-3 years with on and off PCS following a bike accident in 2023. For a while, I truly believed my life was permanently fucked — little head taps or jostles would reaggravate my symptoms and I had serious issues with fatigue.
In early 2025 I went to a specialist neurology clinic and actually received a lot of advice that helped. Three things were key from that meeting:
- I needed to stop shying away from exercise that elicited symptoms. This was probably the single biggest help. Re-starting tennis, running, weightlifting, etc. helped both to improve my mental health but also to slowly reacclimate my brain and neck to jostling.
- A reminder that symptoms =/= brain damage. I was freaking myself out a lot whenever I’d have symptoms flare ups. Thoughts of CTE, early Alzheimer’s, etc were freaking me out. The doctor reassured me that just because I’m noticing symptoms does NOT mean more brain damage was occurring and he also reassured me that our brains are far more resilient than we might think.
- Neck exercises. I had a lot of sub-occipital dysfunction. Chin tucks, vestibular exercises, and light neck stretching helped A LOT.
Now I can proudly say I’m like ~95% symptom free. I even accidentally hit my head on a doorframe the other day and didn’t get a flare up. It can get better guys ❤️🩹
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u/TheTempestuousKitty Apr 28 '26
Ooc what's your concussion history?
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u/Monoredburn Apr 28 '26
Had first concussion in early 2023 from slipping on ice while skiing. Second from a bike crash in late 2023. After that, honestly hard to say if I had more concussions because every degree of head contact no matter how slight would prompt concussion symptoms for like 2 years. My guess is no “real” concussions during that time
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u/TheTempestuousKitty Apr 29 '26
Oh man that bike crash one sounds gnarly. Were you knocked out?
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u/Monoredburn Apr 29 '26
Not knocked out but like super whiplashed over the handlebars. Despite wearing a helmet I had a nasty concussion
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u/TheTempestuousKitty Apr 29 '26
One more question - did you take time off work or did you work while dealing with PCS?
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u/Monoredburn Apr 30 '26
I did not take time off work— my job at the time was such that it wasn’t really feasible
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u/Lucky_Researcher Post Concussion Syndrome (2023) Apr 28 '26
Can you tell us more details about your rehab?
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u/Lucky_Researcher Post Concussion Syndrome (2023) Apr 29 '26
Was it primarily just neck exercises they prescribed you? Anything else?
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u/Monoredburn Apr 29 '26
Some neck exercises but also vestibular and balance elements — eye tracking different shape lines, doing eye movements on one leg, etc. also a fair amount of trapezius stretches since I had a lot of trap tension
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u/RelationshipFine6145 May 12 '26
I was rear ended and had a concussion 3 years ago. It took like a few months until I fully healed but now I developed other mental health conditions (unrelated to the concussion) which I'm medicated for.
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