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Concussion and Post-Concussion Syndrome
Lingering concussion symptoms are a brain whose networks have not fully recovered. We map eye movement, vestibular, autonomic, and metabolic function to guide rehabilitation.
What you may be noticing
Months after the hit, you still have headaches, light sensitivity, dizziness, trouble reading, and a short fuse. Screens drain you. Busy stores overwhelm you. Your scan was normal, and yet you know something is different.
This is personal for me. At sixteen, a car accident gave me a severe concussion, with migraines, blurred vision, light sensitivity, and vertigo. Functional Neurology changed my life.
Why it is rarely one thing
A normal CT or standard MRI rules out bleeding and fractures. It does not measure function. A concussion is primarily a metabolic and network injury: an energy crisis in neurons followed by inflammation and disrupted communication between brain regions. When symptoms persist, specific systems have not recalibrated.
The brain heals in a specific order. The first days call for quiet. After that, a brain that is not challenged in the right dose does not rebuild its pathways, yet the wrong dose can provoke a setback. Recovery depends on finding the precise level of challenge your brain can meet today, then raising it in measured steps. Effects can also unfold in waves: metabolic and inflammatory changes in the first weeks, autonomic and cognitive recalibration after, and occasionally hormonal changes months later.
Patterns we look for
- Eye movement control: saccades, smooth pursuit, convergence, and vergence.
- Vestibular function and visual-vestibular integration.
- Brainstem and autonomic balance, including exercise and postural intolerance.
- Cervical spine injury, from the same force that struck the head.
- Neuroinflammation and microglial priming.
- Brain energy metabolism, hydration, minerals, and blood sugar stability.
- Cerebellar and frontal lobe function.
- Sleep disruption and glymphatic clearance.
- Pituitary function, which can change after injury, sometimes months later.
- Gut permeability, which can increase after brain injury.
How I evaluate it
A comprehensive functional neurological exam is the heart of this work: detailed eye movement testing, vestibular assessment, balance, coordination, cervical evaluation, and autonomic responses.
NeuroQuant volumetric MRI can show which brain regions differ in volume from age-matched norms. Functional labs may include inflammatory markers, nutrient status, blood sugar regulation, and pituitary-related hormones, rechecked later in recovery when symptoms suggest it.
Seek emergency care for worsening headache, repeated vomiting, seizure, increasing confusion, weakness, slurred speech, or unequal pupils after a head injury.
How we address it
- Protect the first days: dim light, low sound, less screen time, deep sleep, generous mineralized water, and clean nutrition built on protein and vegetables, without sugar, alcohol, or processed food.
- Stabilize the brain metabolically with minerals, electrolytes, and categories of support for brain energy and neural membranes matched to your stage of recovery.
- Begin brain-based rehabilitation after the first week, starting with brainstem and autonomic safety, then visual stability, then vestibular reflexes and balance, growing in complexity month by month.
- Restore cervical spine function and reduce neuroinflammation.
- Rebuild autonomic tolerance with sub-symptom exercise progressions.
- Return to reading, screens, work, and sport in measured steps.
Your brain can receive new information. It can build new patterns. It can return you to your life.
Book your Comprehensive Functional Medicine Eval/Neurological Exam today to discover what the contributing root causes are that are underlying your health concerns.