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Juicing is what revolutionized the course of my recovery. Juicing is an easy way to get the nutrients that you need for your recovery! Here, I have compiled five of my favorite recipes that can help you in your brain injury recovery! I have included not only the recipes, but also the nutritional benefits of the ingredients used in each recipe! Even if you are not battling a brain injury, this recipe booklet is perfect if you are trying to make a healthy lifestyle change.
One thing that I thought would be really beneficial was to include a post where I detailed my entire recovery from start to finish. I hope that my experiences may be helpful and reassuring for those who may feel that they are going through their experiences alone. So, welcome to my 8-month recovery timeline!
January 12, 2018: The Injury
Friday, January 12th, is the night that I got my first concussion. I will never forget that moment, it will always be ingrained into my memory. I received the concussion after falling to the ground and hammering my head into the ground. Read my full story here
January 18th: The First Doctors Appointment
I had my very first doctor’s appointment at Emory Johns Creek Hospital with Dr. Olseun Olufade. This appointment went as any appointment would go, I took a survey that distinguished and highlighted which symptoms I was experiencing as well as the severity of those symptoms. I was advised to focus on resting that week. No school, no basketball, no thinking, just rest. I met him for a follow-up that next week, to check my progress.
January 25th: The Second Appointment
As I was told, I rested and my health improved. I felt better, but I knew that I was not 100% healed. The only thing that I wanted to do was get back on the basketball court for my Senior Night, but my doctor, rightfully so, did not give me the green light. Not only did he not give me the green light to play, but he also advised that I not attend the event at all. (For those who do not know, ‘Senior night’ is a high school event, in which teams celebrate their graduating seniors) This was an event that would be loud, obnoxious, and long, but this was the night that I had waited for my entire basketball career. I had to attend, I just had to…I thought.
January 30th: Senior Night AKA The Setback of all Setbacks
Against my doctors wishes, I attended the senior night. It was loud, it was busy, it was bright, it was everything that my brain did not need in order to heal. I experienced an immense amount of pain that night, it felt like bombs were going off in my head and like my brain was falling apart, literally. If I could go back, I would not have attended. This night, I believe is the reason as to why my concussion lasted for so long.
February: The Month of Setbacks
After the tumultuous Senior Night, I wish that I had said, “Ok, I need to cancel all of my commitments and focus on my recovery from here on out”, but I didn’t, I kept persevering; forcing myself to keep going. I persevered to participate in all of the many clubs, organizations, and events that I was involved in. My logic for keeping my many commitments was that since I was a senior, I would never get to do any of these activities ever again. I always thought my concussion would just go away one day, like it had been for many of the blog posts I had read, but mine did not. It wasn’t until my symptoms did not change that I really started to regret my decisions.
I continued with the doctor visits, every other week and started physical therapy for vestibular and ocular training. My doctor cleared me to attend school for full days and I was allowed to start math again. Though I was happy to be going to school for the whole day again, a part of me questioned if I was ready. I wore sunglasses in school to protect my eyes from the fluorescent lights and I would often take breaks in the dark rooms of the counselor’s office. Though I was at school, by the middle of the day my head would be booming and I would be forced to sit in a dark room. Every day seemed to go the same, I would go to school, participate the best I could and by 5th period I was done. I needed to rest and by the time I got home, I would just go straight to bed. I was not ready to attend school for the whole day, but I figured that over time I would adjust. I did not adjust, day after day, with the same results I became very discouraged. The world seemed to be moving on without me.
I also became very fearful during this time, of lights of sound. I remember one particular Sunday, my mother insisted that I go to church. I was anxious, so very anxious before I even entered the sanctuary doors I was in tears. Not because of the music or loud noise per say, but because I was so scared and anxious. I rushed out of the room and sat outside. I became scared to do anything that would cause a headache or another uproar of symptoms, it would immediately make me nervous and bring me to tears. This was when I realized that I wasn’t just fighting a physical injury, but also a mental one.
At the end of February, my doctor prescribed Nortriptyline to help with my constant headaches. I was excited to try something new.
March: The Illusion of Progress
In the last week of February, I have prescribed Nortriptyline, which is a medication that helps relieve headaches as well as treat them. During this particular doctor’s visit, I told my doctor how I was unable to make it through a complete school day and in addition to that, math began to give me trouble again. I was sent back to attending school for half days and was barred from math once again for two weeks. I was relieved because now, I would for sure begin to heal. And hopefully would be in a better condition for me to compete in the FBLA competition at the end of the month. I was determined to do everything that I could to be in the best of health.
March 10, 2018:
Leading up to the night of March 10th, I had been doing really well. I was getting less and fewer headaches and for the most part, if I did they were bearable, but on this night is when that quickly changed. It was the night before my Poetry Out Loud competition, I had gone to Ross and Walmart with my mother to get some new clothes and groceries. It was normal everything was normal, until I didn’t. After we had left Ross, I started to feel a bit off, but I brushed it off. We entered Walmart and it all came crashing over me. My head began to pound, I became nauseous, and my vision became blurred. My mother rushed me home and I surrendered to my bed. The headache became so bad that I quickly came to tears. It seemed that the the harder I cried, the worse the head pain became. I remember cursing God for allowing this to happen to me, especially on the eve of such an important day. It was by far one of the worst setbacks that I had ever had.
The next day, I surprisingly felt somewhat better. I took some Advil and competed in the Poetry Out Loud competition, when it was over I rushed to my bed once again. I had overexerted myself. The anxiety and stress had caused yet another setback for me. At this point, all I wanted was for all my commitments to be over so the pain would go away and I could actually heal. This was also when I really began to develop anxiety over loud and brightly lit places. It occurred to me that after that setback, anything could
March 20, 2018: The First Test
Following the setback, my health began to improve again. I continued taking my medication and saw some improvements. March 20th was the day that truly led me to believe that I was healed. I went to my nephew’s track meet, it was my first real outing since my last setback and I wanted to go, in order to test whether my symptoms would resurface. The track meet was moderately loud and had super bright overhead lights. To my surprise, I had no complications at all, but I was still on the medication…
March 24, 2018: The Second Test
Not only was the track meet success, but the FBLA competition that I had been anticipating was also a successor so it seemed. I even went to the loudest events held at the competition: the closing ceremony. Not only did I attend, but I was also laughing with my friends. I remember going back to my hotel room calling mother and telling her how I was able to sit through the whole ceremony without any problems. I thought I had reached the light at the end of the tunnel, I thought I was done the fighting, but the fight was only beginning.
March 28, 2018: “And It All Came Tumbling Down”
Dr. Olufade had instructed that I take the Nortriptyline for three weeks straight, then stop taking the medication for one week to see if my headaches had gone away. I took my medication for the last time on Sunday, March 25th. That week I could literally feel the medicine wearing off. By that Wednesday, which happened to be my basketball banquet, my headaches were back and in full swing. I remember sitting at the banquet, flinching at the soft candle-like lighting. And when my teammates asked if I was better, all I could say was “I’m getting there”, because after that night I knew that I was not better, not even close.
April: Fight Time
At this point, I began to see the trends in my recovery. My recovery was like a rollercoaster. For two weeks, I would get better than ‘BAM’, I would have another setback. It never failed, every time that I would start to feel better, I would overexert myself and push my recovery back. It became increasingly difficult and discouraging, especially as the months continued to roll on.
By the time April rolled around, I became desperate for solutions and did extensive research on the post-concussion syndrome. One site that sparked my attention, was by a man who had suffered from a concussion for over a year. What saved him was exercise. He implemented a regular workout routine, which significantly reduced his symptoms. It occurred to me that if he was able to be healed after a year with a concussion than surely I could recover and be healed as well. And I decided to give it a try. I created a daily routine for me to complete each day, which included my exercise plan and some vestibular and ocular exercises I had learned at physical therapy. I knew that by now, my concussion would not go away if I just sat and waited, I had to put the work in, in order to get my life back.
Surprisingly enough, my routine worked. My headaches began to decrease in intensity and duration. I had finally found the key! Even with the setbacks that I experienced during this month, they were not nearly as bad as the ones that I had endured before. So, I continued, determined to eliminate my concussion symptoms once and for all.
May: A Slow Down
By the time that May rolled around I was about 70% better. It was the end of the school year and I would hope by the grace of God be able to attend prom and graduation without any issues. About a week before my prom night, my doctor prescribed to me Gabapentin. I had taken the medication one night before school. When I woke up that next morning, the side effects were almost immediate. I remember the day distinctly because I had a math test that day in my first-period class. Upon receiving the test, I felt the same headaches that I once received when I first received my concussion, I felt everything, the bombs, the piercing knives, everything. I quickly came to tears. Not only did I have a headache, but I was unable to concentrate for more than a few seconds. It took me a significant amount of time to complete the test. Upon leaving class, I remember barely being able to walk, I was so weak that I felt I might fall over.
I went home shortly after and called my doctor. He told me to immediately stop taking the medication and continue my regular routine of resting, but the damage was already done. The medicine caused a major setback, I would not be concussion-free at prom or graduation.
I attended prom with earbuds to help block the sound. For the most part, I was okay and took many breaks in the quiet bathrooms. I was just glad that I wasn’t in torturous pain. Graduation was the same and I wore my sunglasses throughout the entire ceremony. In either of the events, I didn’t experience excruciating headaches, but they did linger. Though I was feeling better, this became discouraging because all I wanted was to be completely done.
June-July: Back to Work
June and July went by so fast that I hardly remember them in full detail. I went back to work during these months, at the YMCA. This was the first time that I actually stayed under fluorescent lights without sunglasses for long periods of time. It was truly a struggle for me at first. Some days I would leave my shift early and go home when my headaches became too severe. I still had a few setbacks, some very very painful, but they wouldn’t last more than a day or two. By the time July rolled around, I really started to adjust. I had fewer headaches and if I did, they would rank low to moderate on the pain scale. I was finally starting to get my life back.
August: Time to Let Go
By the time August rolled around, I would say that I would have around 2-3 headaches a week, and they’d be relatively mild. One thing that I had to let go of during this time was a ‘victims’ mentality. I had grown so accustomed to being in pain and expecting to be in pain, that I would still decline going out with my friends or do anything that was outside of my daily routine: work and home. I had to let this go, in order for me to truly be free from the concussion.
September 8, 2018: The Test: Am I Really Healed?
The final test to test whether I was truly free from the concussion was the One Musicfest concert. It would be loud, hot, and packed with people. My body would be attacked by various stimuli, it was the perfect test to see if I was truly done with the concussion. And well, you guessed it! I was healed, done, finite with the concussion–DONE! I had a blast and getting to see my favorite artists without any complications was the icing on the cake(:
The concussion that I had was a monster and it challenged me mentally, physically, and spiritually, but I am proud to say that it did not win. Out of all of the low moments that I had that I did not mention in this post, I easily could have been gone. You have to decide to fight, in order to overcome your concussion. . It was not the slightest bit easy but because of it, I am a better and stronger person.
I’ve trained in martial arts almost my whole life. I also compete in Olympic style Taekwondo. Unfortunately, in the spring of 2018 after an intense training schedule for national level competitions, I started having horrible headaches, severe fatigue, speech/memory problems, sound/light sensitivity, irritability, anxiety, vision disturbances, difficulties making decisions, tinnitus, and vertigo symptoms. After being misdiagnosed with Vertigo twice at the ER, I was finally diagnosed with PCS and admitted in the hospital for 3 days for monitoring. I was then released to struggle with a new reality. I had never heard of post concussion syndrome before, but it’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever experienced. The sudden shift from being a national level athlete to needing to be walked to the bathroom so I didn’t fall was a huge and scary transition. It caused me to have depression and constant anxiety because it was extremely difficult for me to be at such a low activity level after being such an outgoing person.
For the first 3 months I slept in a dark room 16 hours a day because of my migraines, brain fog, and fatigue. Day by day I would set a huge goal for myself like sitting outside for 10 minutes or walking to the end of my street and back. I slowly worked my way from no walking or physical activity whatsoever to being able to go on longer walks each day. Eventually I could do light resistance exercises and an hour long walk. It has been a crazy roller coaster of progress. One day I’d be the best I’d been since the concussion, then the next couple days would be intensely painful and I had to rest. It’s been a long process of exposing myself to a difficult activity then completely resting when I had symptoms.
I wish there was more awareness about concussions and brain injuries in the sports and medical communities. I felt so alone as an athlete in the beginning until I found a PCS support group on Facebook. It’s scary to go through the pain of PCS and not have very many clear answers about treatments or recovery. Through my neurologist I was finally referred to try something besides strict rest. I was referred to start physical, vestibular, and cognitive therapy. I started physical therapy to try dry needling for my shoulders and neck. It helped reduce the frequency of my migraines, but I still had many symptoms. Vestibular therapy has been very helpful. Even though it was extremely difficult at first, vestibular therapy has helped me improve my balance, vision disturbances, and even helped my fatigue since I’m re-training my nervous system. Cognitive therapy is helping me with my memory, problem solving, and attention deficits due to the concussion. To be able to work with people who not only acknowledges your symptoms, but understands how to treat them has been such a blessing. Find someone who understands this condition. Each injury is different and the therapies and time needed to heal are different for everyone. There are people out there who can help you get your life back, you just have to be strong and advocate for yourself and keep pushing until you find the right team to treat you. I am currently 10 months into PCS, but after a long journey with lots of patience, determination, and therapies, I’m starting to see the light at the end of the dark tunnel that is PCS.
Tune in and listen to a new podcast with Mac Lawson! She is a traumatic brain injury survivor who sustained a severe traumatic brain injury after surviving an assault. Tune in and listen to how she fought and is overcoming the physical and emotional trauma that she experienced.
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I don’t know about you, but food is the love of my life. It is one thing that has supported me through it all. Those moments when I’m sad, stressed, tired, happy, angry, frustrated, and every other emotion under the sun, food has been there for me. I had never really cared or taken notice of my health because I was young, “fit” and still a well-rounded athlete. I knew that my eating habits were bad, but didn’t make the final decision to change them until I was overtaken with poor health caused by my brain injury.
My journey in my brain injury recovery taught me the true meaning of self-love. Self-love is taking take of your body and giving it the nutrients and foods that it craves and deserves. Changing my perspective this way, made it a lot easier for me to make the decision to change my diet. But, anyway, that’s another discussion for another blog post! Let’s get back to the story(:
After about four months of battling and riding the highs and lows of a brain injury, I finally threw in the towel and came to the conclusion that my strategy for fighting my concussion was not right. Though I was taking the fish oil pills my doctor had prescribed and resting whenever I felt like it, my brain was not in the right environment to recover. Still, I was eating junk food every now and then, and remaining dormant for the majority of my days. Truth is, I wasn’t eating the right foods to promote healing! I was malnourished and depriving my cells of the nutrients needed to function most effectively and efficiently.
Thus, the hunt began to find foods that would promote my healing. My father had been an advocate for plant and fruit-based diets within my family and educated us on a regular basis on the powerful benefits of eating the right foods and how it can reverse even the worst of illnesses. I figured it wouldn’t at all hurt to try. Truth is, I didn’t have anything to lose. I started by deciding what foods I would cut out completely and ones that I would eat in moderation. I decided to completely cut out all processed sugars & foods, fried foods, sweets, as well as red meat. This may not be a lot for you, but for ME, this was huge! I didn’t realize how heavily I ate all of these things until I cut it all out!
The next task was to figure out what I WOULD eat. This was pretty self-explanatory as well, I decided to increase my fruit and vegetable intake, by increasing more leafy greens like kale and spinach in my diet. As well as blueberries, apples, and bananas. All of which are good for the brain and maintaining energy levels. I also ate seafood at least twice a week, which included salmon and tilapia and moderately ate chicken and bread. Doing this significantly increased my energy levels and overall cognitive performance. I experienced fewer brain crashes and fatigue after my meals.
I was not unbelievably strict on my diet, I found that by being very cautious about everything that I ate made me paranoid in the event that messed up. So, in the event that I messed up one day I didn’t beat myself up but instead made it up with nutrient-rich food in my following meal. My focus was to make sure that I was putting the right foods into my body. Instead of focusing on what I could not eat, I focused on the many foods that I could! This motivated me to eat better and to maintain my new diet for an extended period of time.
So, in conclusion, healthy eating is a crucial part of brain injury recovery and is one of the many steps and parts that lead to recovering. I hope this blog post is helpful to you all! I will see ya in the next blog post
Happy healing,
Nicole
