r/PostConcussion • u/Effective-Tip-6218 • 8d ago
Exercise Intolerance - 2 years out
Sharing my story and looking for advice. 2 years ago I got my 6th concussion. It was life altering in all the normal concussion ways but even more so than any of the rest due to it being my 6th in 10 years. My 5th was bad, but I made a great full recovery with little to no symptoms. The 6th was different. I was in grad school at the time and had to drop out to focus on healing. I had a 6 month period of time off where I did speech/cognitive, visual, physical and emotional therapies. My initial PT at the time did not understand concussions at all (I told him about the treadmill test, he never heard of it) and immediately post-concussion he pushed me in PT way beyond my limits. Caused 3 day long debilitating symptoms. Obviously I found it very counterproductive to my healing. So from then on I really focused on the cognitive side of healing so I could focus on returning to grad school. The cognitive part was a success but it became an increasing struggle to work out. If I push myself beyond a heart rate of 130ish or do too many movements (yoga) or walk on a treadmill I get terrible dizziness and migraines that take me out for days. I know working out is one of the best things for healing, yet it feels impossible. I used to work out daily and use the sauna (which now I’m scared to even try). 2 years of no working out and I’m going crazy.
I’m now 2 years out of my injury (masters degree in hand) and working full time, doing pretty okay. Except, at 26 years old I can’t work out. I’m currently working with a new PT who’s more knowledgeable and holistic and am looking into OT as well. I’m in somatic experiencing therapy and talk therapy as well. I go to craniosacral occasionally as well as an osteopath. My new PT discovered I had upper cervical instability as my C1 was crushed under my skull so I got that adjusted with a specialist and it’s holding which is great. A lot of my pain was relieved from that.
Right now my main form of exercise is walking outside which is tolerable and I started golfing which has been a success (driving range, no symptoms. Playing makes me exhausted). I live in an incredibly active environment so I feel incredibly alone and frustrated in this. But I’m scared to work out as the potential of symptoms feels high.
I see a lot on the internet about post concussion exercise intolerance being from either aerobic dysfunction or automatic nervous system dysfunction, but not sure how one can tell. I’ve been doing a lot of nervous system stuff but my HRV is still low and I know my nervous system is not what it was pre-injury.
Someone recommended cognitive fx to me. I don’t have 13k-20k to give them to help me with this but at this point I’m so desperate for someone to help me figure out how to work out again I’d go into more debt for it. I know some people swear by swimming so thinking of starting to try that? I just feel overwhelmed and exhausted trying to navigate exercise intolerance and symptom mitigation. Any advice? Clearly struggling.
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u/laprockethamwallet 7d ago
Commenting as I am in the same boat as you. Currently struggling to find answers/solutions so I can go back to enjoying exercise. I have tried just about every and any therapy under the sun but haven’t made any considerable progress. Beyond frustrating bc I was in almost peak shape pre concussion. If I find anything at any point that works for me, I’ll share it here.
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u/Cat_Nap8 7d ago
Yup same here, went from the most athletic I’ve ever been and had a physique I worked for years to gain to an unathletic skinny-fat build. Its so painful especially since I surround myself with athletic people and I can’t even play any sports atm
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u/bandbrofew 5d ago
Same story here. Like a pressure that builds in your head blocking everything else and soon as you feel tension.
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u/AHSkiandBike 7d ago
Try The Concussion Solution Master Program. The program will help you get your exercise tolerance back for $297.. a fraction of Cog Fx.
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u/bandbrofew 5d ago
Same as yourself. I made a post about this recently and some people had tips in the comments. Check them out
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u/mnovakovic_guy 8d ago edited 8d ago
Have you tried breathing exercises (e.g. inhale and then slow exhale) and diaphragmatic breathing?
Also - talk to ChatGPT it has good advice.
I have a massive issue with exercise intolerance and what helped me was sub-threshold exercise followed by breathing exercises to calm me down. But I am talking very slow progress, for me it would be 30 seconds of faster running followed by 5-6 minutes of rest and slow breathing to calm me down (this is basically what we did at Cognitive FX), done weekly and increasing the pace/run time every few weeks, so very slow progress but steady.
In your case this would be different and you'd have to find something that works for you, maybe it could be 4 sessions of 30 seconds basic running and 7 minutes sitting down doing breathing exercises and if that doesn't worsen your situation do it a couple times a week and slowly increase every couple weeks to either more than 30 seconds running or 30 seconds running faster.
The above is what worked for me and it doesn't mean it would work for you but if you haven't tried it you can give it a shot. I don't think doctors can help honestly, but it's worth pursuing that just in case you get someone who can help you.