Sometimes It Really Is All In Your Head

The single blow that really can change your life. "Every time I turn on the news these days, it seems like there is another athlete coming forward with major mental health issues linked to a history of concussions—so many so that as of this week there are now more than 1,000 former NFL players suing the league for inadequate post-concussion care. Many of these concussions have caused former pro athletes to suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease marked by depression, dementia, and other Alzheimer’s-like symptoms.
Interestingly, 13 former NFL players—some living and some deceased—have opted to donate their brains to science, in order to allow researchers to study CTE and the impact of repetitive head trauma. One in particular, “Iron Mike” Webster, a star in the 70s, suffered depression and dementia, before dying at the age of 50 in 2002.  A close look at his brain revealed damage the equivalent of “25,000 car crashes” after a 25-year career. Sadly, the effects of CTE have proven so grave that many of these 13 donors died by either suicide or erratic behavior-induced accidents.
While most of us aren’t subjected to repeated blows to the head, accidents do happen—something all too familiar to me. In 2007 I suffered a concussion after a visit to the emergency room for an eye abrasion which was exceedingly painful. The young intern asked if I wanted something for the pain and although I told him I didn’t take drugs, he never-the-less slipped me some samples of two pain meds—a Motrin and Percocet—that he said would help relieve my discomfort, but to make sure and take them with food.
He then sent me on my way. I was staying with my closest friends in my hometown of West Hartford, Connecticut at the time. When I returned to my friends’ home, my eye was still so excruciatingly painful—whether it was open or closed—that I begrudgingly took the meds with some crackers before bed. I was in such discomfort that I didn’t bother reading about Motrin or Percocet. Motrin would have been bad enough, it is very caustic to the lining of the stomach, but Percocet—well, that turned out to be a potent narcotic-like med.
What I remember next is that I went to bed but got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. I remember feeling dizzy, woozy, and fainted—hitting my head on the sink in the bathroom. But somehow I managed to stumble back across the hall—where sometime later my friends found me sitting in a yoga position in front of the bedroom door. They quickly sat down with me, assessed the situation and knew I had severely bumped my head because there was blood all over the place. When I got up, I looked in the mirror and sure enough, I had a major cut down my forehead and when I smiled, I actually burst out laughing (I apparently was still high on the Percocet) because several of my front teeth had broken in half.
Needless to say, at 4 am we went back to the Emergency Room and I got ten stitches on my forehead, but not before the staff questioned me intensely regarding the “real” situation behind my eye abrasion in the first place. (They suspected, I guess, that I had suffered some type of domestic abuse. By that time the Percocet was wearing off and I was beginning to get upset!)
In the months following, I started having major trouble sleeping, suffered from anxiety and even experienced some kind of post-traumatic stress. This made me wonder about the magnitude of my fall, and as I’ve always done with my health, I started looking for answers. I poured over books and studies on the subject, tried various tests and products and met with both traditional and alternative experts. In doing so, it has become my opinion that concussions are simply not taken seriously enough.
What I wish I knew then that I know now:
An MRI is not the answer. Although helpful in identifying other serious concerns (i.e. skull fracture, hematoma, and contusion), traditional structural tests such as CT, MRI, and EEG are not useful in identifying the effects of a concussion as it is a metabolic rather than structural injury. A neuro-cognitive test like the ImPACT Test can provide a thorough evaluation. But, it’s important to act quickly—the ImPACT test should be administered within the first 24-72 hours. Find a local provider at www.impacttest.com.
What I did do that helped:

1. I saw several soft tissue experts that specialized in myofascial release. I especially benefited from the hiatal hernia adjustment I received and cranial sacral work.
2. I used L-tryptophan mid-day and before bed for calming and mood stabilization. As the precursor to serotonin, it also helped to alleviate insomnia. I used 50-100 mg of 5-HTP (which is one step biochemically away from serotonin) and sometimes straight tryptophan—500-4,000 mg divided throughout the afternoon and evening. In my case, the tryptophan helped me the most.
3. For anxiety, I took GABA, an amino acid precursor for dopamine that helps to reduce anxiety and stress—600-3000 mg per day at different times than the L-tryptophan.
4. I used Ultra H-3 twice daily between meals (morning and afternoon) to maintain my emotional equilibrium throughout the day. The bilberry ingredient helps to strengthen the walls of blood vessels and act as a potent anti-inflammatory while the ginkgo biloba is well regarded to aid restricted circulation throughout the body and can penetrate the blood-brain barrier."

-Edge On Health, Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman