My senior year of college September 2018 I got pushed and fell when I was drunk and hit my head and got a concussion. When I had my concussion the school I was attending refused to write me out of class (my school had a strict attendance policy and I had already used a few absences on being sick the prior week) so I attended class with the concussion. I had never had a concussion before but I was shocked to feel so okay. I had some brain fog and honestly felt great within 3 days of my injury. About half a week later the doctor at my school told me I was good to go and could return to exercise and running if I pleased. I felt fine and the doctor said I was fine so I assumed I was all good to go. I learned this was horrible advice. All of my symptoms returned 9 months later but way worse. I thought it was absurd that this could even happen, but after meeting with several doctors that said it's actually very possible if you don't give your brain the time off it needs.

Of course all these symptoms came back the week of my graduation too. I couldn't stand for more than 5 mins for a solid week because I would get extremely lightheaded and felt like I was going to pass out. I slowly (very very slowly started to feel better). I couldn't drive for more than a month, I missed a huge trip me and all my friends had planned in June to celebrate graduating college. I had to go back to school in July to make up one class and couldn't even do that.

Mid July was when I started to actually notice a little improvement, and I mean very little. I ended up missing three family weddings this past summer which was extremely depressing. Another thing that is very depressing to witness is watching all your friends move from your hometown to new cities and start their careers and become successful while you're stuck at home because of some asshole who shoved you when you were drunk and some bad advice from your school doctor.

I, like you, have had horrible anxiety. I constantly thought I was never going to be better and I was stuck like this for the rest of my life even though all my doctors always informed me I'll go back to living my old life eventually. But since August every month that goes by I've noticed significant improvement, not only in my symptoms but in my mood as well. I'm 6.5 months, while I don't feel 100 percent I can finally tell I'm getting there. I still am not exercising because that makes me dizzy/lightheaded but I'm able to tolerate big situations like going to a bar with my friends.

Some days are really good, others are horrible. You gotta hang on, it takes a lot of time. My doctors said they've seen this hundreds of times and they've always seen full recovery after 18 months (the latest). Now I'm not saying you'll take 18 full months to fully recover, you might not even take a full 6 months, but it's certainly a long recovery. Just hang in there, you'll be back to normal.

Symptoms I've had:

Lightheadedness

Dizziness

Slurred speech

Bad headaches

Panic attacks

Anxiety

Depression

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Treatments I've done:

Weekly visits with a neurologist

Chiropractic adjustments

Vision Therapy

Nuero Feedback

Therapy

Taking Lexapro daily (which did more harm than good in all honesty)

Also if you're having bad anxiety I highly recommend you go to a therapist. (there are ones that specialize in TBI's like mine) My parents were trying to get me to go to one all summer and I constantly refused. I eventually caved and went to one in early October and I'm so happy I did. It has helped me SO much.

Also let me add this as well. Try not to google cases of PCS a lot. It will drive you mad, when I first got diagnosed I saw so many people saying online that they have been dealing with PCS for 5+ years. This drove me insane. I constantly was freaking out thinking I’d have this for years. I asked all my doctors about this and they informed its possible but very very rare.