The acupuncture practitioners at the Acupuncture Clinic of Boulder, Inc. treated me throughout my entire recovery period from Traumatic Brain Injury/concussion. In August, I tripped in the garden and fell forward into a rock formation in our yard. I blacked out during the fall and have no recollection of the event, complete amnesia. I started experiencing head and neck aches, vision distortions and extreme sensitivity to sound. I am a long term believer in acupuncture and have used it for over twenty-five years for minor health issues and for overall wellness therapy. As an existing patient of Erin and Cassandra, I quickly got in for treatment, twice a week, to help facilitate healing for the physical bruises and pain, to help speed the recovery time. I was highly motivated to get better as I was preparing for a big trip.
I had received prompt traditional allopathic medical attention, with testing and and was told to simply rest quietly for a while, reduce most activity and exercise, refrain from driving, and “all should be fine” as this was a relatively “minor concussion”. Initially I thought I would just quickly bounce-back from the fall, especially since I only had a couple of superficial bruises. However, I was quickly humbled and surprised by my declining cognitive skills (confusion, forgetfulness and it felt really hard to mentally process much). I found myself needing to sleep for most of the day. The greater challenge was sleeping at night, needing to stay in a quiet and in a dark room for about ten days. I also experienced mild depression. My energy was so low, everything felt difficult. The most surprising symptom I experienced was overwhelming fatigue and it became clear that even though I thought I could, and wanted to, read, watch TV, and use the computer (I thought that would still qualify as rest since I was doing it from bed), it was exhausting, even after a few minutes. It was apparent that the amount of energy required even to simply take in any visual stimulus was too much for my my brain to process, and initially, any sounds, were way too much for my nervous system and brain to handle.
Having much professional and personal experience with brain trauma, Erin and her staff helped coach and encouraged me through the initial recovery, and even six months later, have helped me understand the symptoms of concussion. They have also pointed me to other resources and referrals and prescribed Chinese herbs. The first six weeks of treatment helped get me past most of the fatigue and pain. The next few months of once and sometimes twice a week visits helped get me manage the fatigue, cognitive issues and the lingering eye-brain processing symptoms.
I am very grateful to have listened to the wisdom and experience of the acupuncturists at the clinic who constantly encouraged me to have patience with my body and understand the symptoms of TBI so I could manage the symptoms and improve. I am sure the acupuncture was pivotal to get me through this quickly.
-BR
