Head Injury-Part 1. There is a great deal you can do beyond just rest and avoiding lights and wifi.
My son was recentlyhopsitlaized with a concussion. Here is what I am advising.
Due to this being a long post, I broke it up into three posts.
I encourage you to save these posts, but should you ever get a concussion, your allopathic doctor will not share any of this information.
Still, I hope you never need to apply these posts on head injuries.
Part 1: Use these two items ASAP after a head injury
Part 2: What dietary changes AND what test you need to ask for (other than a CT scan).
Part 3: Supplements for post-concussion syndrome.
Head Injuries: You can do more for recovery than rest.
Head injuries are part of my “Home remedy” binder, but I did not expect to work on this section until much later.
However, my son’s recent head injury reminded me that most professionals do not know what to do for a brain injury beyond rest.
This, sadly, is his fourth concussion, and even mild head injuries can result in post-concussion syndrome.
Here Are Some Sobering Facts
According to the CDC, the number of children going to the ER with a brain injury went up from 153,000 in 2001 to 250,000 in 2009! A 60% increase.
In football and hockey, the number of actual concussions is six or seven times higher than the number diagnosed.
My son’s first head injury was when another player’s hockey stick got jammed under his helmet and into his jaw.
Everyone thought the slow-talking right afterward was because his jaw hurt. When he got home, he usually had an enormous appetite after games but was not hungry and could not string more than three words together to form a sentence. He also could not balance on one foot (if you know a hockey player, their balance is exceptional).
Neither my husband nor the coaches noticed the head injury. A trip to the doctor in the morning confirmed my assessment.
His most recent (and 4th concussion)
After his recent accident, his wife called us and said, “He is okay; he is just very tired.” I told her, “After an accident, there is an adrenaline rush, so he should not be tired right afterward unless he has a head injury.”
She responded, “No, he doesn't have a head injury because he was wearing a helmet.”
The helmet probably saved his life, but it did not prevent a concussion. Yet, many people think that a helmet will prevent a head injury.
Thankfully, they went to the ER, did an assessment and CT scan, and wanted to keep him overnight for observation.
Even though I wouldn't say I like CT scans as they increase your cancer risk (and this is his third), it is essential to know if there is a brain bleed.
There is another vital test (more on that test in Part 2), but my son could not ask for it due to a language barrier (Thai).
At least 70% of football and 62% of soccer players get one concussion per year.
A study from the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that children who suffer from head injuries may experience lingering problems with attention and memory even 12 months after the injury.
Long-Term Concussion Effects to Watch Out for
(Engle, 2017; Keatley & Whittemore, 2010)
These symptoms can occur immediately or may seem to come out of nowhere weeks or months after the head injury. Some may go away during the first few months of recovery, but other symptoms may last much longer.
For most people, these symptoms resolve within the first few months, but these symptoms can be persistent for others.
Factors that can influence this include how healthy you were at the time of the injury, your genes, and your age.
Many of the below symptoms you may associate with a severe head injury, but they can occur with seemingly mild head trauma.
Depression (one of the most common side effects)
Mood swings
Fearfulness
Apathy
Low motivation
Anxiety
Frustration
Feelings of helplessness
Nightmares
Anger
Sudden outbursts
Mania
Memory loss
Short attention span
Slowed thinking
Brain fatigue
Forgetful
Spelling difficulty
Difficulty following conversations
Cannot multitask
Can’t finish tasks (or can’t even start them)
Can’t focus on reading, computer work
OCD
Increased risk for developing addiction/binge drinking
What to do After a Head Injury
Sleep and rest are essential, and your doctor will tell you this. But often, for these cases of “mild” head injuries, that is all they tell you.
Often, a child or teen will sustain a head injury, rest a day or two, and then return to school with no adjustments in school work. Some schools are better than others and will test their athletes for a baseline assessment before a head injury. They will modify school assignments, have the child attend school only for an hour or two, and continue to build upon this as they heal.
It would be wonderful to see all schools treat head injuries this way, but I have seen excellent schools modifying the school work and days and other schools that ignore entirely the head trauma of their student.
And I have seen (IMO) children and teens cleared by their doctors to participate in contact sports way too soon after a concussion.
Sleep is part of the healing process, and a person with head trauma may sleep a great deal in the first few days. This is what the body and brain need.
Two Things to Have on Hand for Immediate Use After Head Trauma
Arnica montana (Homeopathic)
A homeopathic vial of arnica is simple to keep in your car, backpack, or purse. When my sons played hockey, they each had arnica in their hockey bags with instructions on how to administer it to their brother (when they played hockey together).
Homeopathic remedies are not meant to heal but work on the principle of “like cures like” and that the diluted substance can stimulate the body’s healing mechanisms.
I have not been trained in homeopathy, although I wish they had taught a module on homeopathy in school for nutrition.
Arnica montana is a flowering perennial plant with flowers similar to daisies. It is native to mountainous Europe and Siberia and was cultivated in North America. I live in Colorado and have identified Arnica montana on many of our altitude hikes. The flowering part is used for medicinal purposes.
Arnica is commonly used topically in creams, oils, and salves for muscle aches, sprains, and bruising. However, it should not be consumed orally, as it can cause serious side effects such as heart irregularities and vomiting.
Homeopathic arnica is safe to consume orally because the arnica is so diluted as not to pose a danger. It can aid in reducing pain, swelling, and the shock and trauma that follows the injury.
Use the link above to view the list of other beneficial homeopathic remedies for a head injury. We saw the most significant improvements in our son after post-concussion syndrome using a 1M dose of Natrum sulphuricam.
After a car accident, my family was in years ago, as soon as I got on the scene, I had everyone in my family take a dose of arnica. Other people at the scene just stared at me like I was crazy.
If you are new to homeopathic remedies, potencies are designated by numbers and letters. The number refers to the number of dilutions the remedy has undergone for preparation. For instance, a 6X, 12X, or 30X are low potencies, whereas a 30C or 200C are considered higher potencies. The letter x indicates the Roman numeral for 10, C is for 100, and M is for 1000. The larger the number (X versus C versus M), the more times the remedy has been diluted, which also means fewer doses/higher potency. A 6X remedy has been diluted 60 times, 30X, 300 times, 30C, 3,000 times.
If you need to brush up on your Roman Numerals to understand homeopathic dilutions, go here.
I was instructed years ago not to touch a remedy. Give the vial or bag a good bang on your hand, open it up, put the dose (usually around 5 pellets) into the mouth, and let it dissolve. Use lower dilutions with greater frequency and take it 15 minutes away from food, water, lozenges, mouthwash, and toothpaste. For instance, right after a person sustained a head injury, you can give a lower dilution of Arnica montana every 15 minutes.
DMSO (Dimethyl sulfoxide)
DMSO is a byproduct of the paper production industry. It is a transdermal liquid that can carry other substances into the skin. Even without using it as a carrier, DMSO can decrease ongoing damage from inflammation and speed healing.
DMSO can improve blood supply to the brain and oxygenation to brain tissue. Injured brain cells are often not dead. When these cells get increased blood supply and more oxygen, and when the free radicals are scavenged, dying cells can recover and brain swelling is reduced very rapidly (Vollmer, 2020).
For an acute head injury, you can use DMSO orally and topically. But remember to check with your health practitioner as I do not know you or your medical or medication history.
Oral DMSO: Take 1 teaspoon of DMSO diluted in 5 ounces of juice or water twice daily for 3 to 4 days after the injury. Then, reduce the dose to once a day for 3 months. You can continue this protocol longer depending on your post-concussion syndrome symptoms (Vollmer, 2020).
Topical DMSO: Do this as soon as you can after the injury. Rub 1 to 2 teaspoons of 70 to 80% DMSO (dilute the DMSO in filtered water, distilled water, or pure aloe vera gel juice that is preservative-free) 2 to 3 times daily on the temples for the first several days after the injury, the back and front of the neck, and the tops and bottoms of the feet. Make sure the skin is clean before applying the DMSO. Please do not put it on areas that have tattoos.
An 80% solution would be to mix 8 parts of DMSO with 2 parts of water or aloe. For instance, this could look like 8 tablespoons of DMSO mixed with 2 tablespoons of aloe gel juice.
Warnings For Topical DMSO Use
DO NOT use metal to measure, mix, or store the DMSO. I measure it directly into a glass measuring cup and stir it with a bamboo skewer. I then pour it into dark-colored glass jars and store them in a cool place away from direct sunlight.
The DMSO can be measured using hard plastic or stainless steel. It will react with softer plastics. Measuring DMSO with the following plastic is safe: HDPE, LDPE, PETE, PP, and PTFE (Vollmer, 2020).
I have not seen it mentioned anywhere, but since DMSO is transdermal, I wonder if mixing it with Arnica Oil (check the bottle to see what oil the arnica is in) and then placing it on the head and neck area will have a more significant impact on brain inflammation, recovery, and healing.
Stay tuned for part 2, discussing dietary changes to use for a head injury and the test to request to determine the concussion impact for you.
Additional Sources
Engle, D. (2017) The concussion repair manual. A practical guide to recovering from traumatic brain injuries. Full Spectrum Medicine.
Keatley, MA & Whittemore, L. (2010) Understanding mild traumatic brain injury. Brain Injury Hope Foundation.
Vollmer, A. (2020). Healing with DMSO. Ulysses Press.
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This is NOT information allopathic practitioners will share with you.
excellent, hopeopathy is key in such instances. Aconitum 200 (shock) and Arnica 200 (pain swelling etc) are a must in your bag.
After finding your substack, as time permits I've been going back through your older posts and reading them. I often post links to your articles, and judging by the comments there is some interest in your binders. Is it more than one binder (one for emergencies, one for home remedies, etc.)? I/we hope you are planning to write more about what is included in them. Thanks for every word that you write.