Concussion Supplements for your Child or Teen

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When your child or teen has a concussion, is there anything you can do to help the healing process along? It turns out there is.

We have had quite a few concussions in our family and, despite ER trips and doctors’ visits, we usually got no help besides the simple suggestion to rest and be careful. However, one child’s multiple concussions never really resolved until we saw an MD who specialized in them.  After suffering through five major concussions and dealing with after effects for almost five years, she healed by doing what he suggested!  Recently she experienced another concussion and with these methods the headaches, dizziness, and fogginess are abating within just weeks as opposed to months or years.

Because many kids have concussions and very few people have access to such a pediatric concussion specialist, I am sharing some of the general information our doctor gave us. (Of course, if at all possible, find an MD who specializes in concussions or a children’s hospital with a concussion unit. Also please note that the supplement quantities given were for a small teen, about 110 pounds; a young child would need less, a larger one perhaps more.)

Concussion Supplements Recommended by our Doctor

(In brackets and italics you can read and what we’ve been doing this time around, since the specialist has a long waiting list and we need to do something while we wait.)

• Omega 3: I did not note the exact schedule and exact amounts the doctor recommended with the previous concussion, but as I recall it was similar to what follows. (With this current concussion we are using 9g/day for the first 10 days (3g in morning, 3g at lunch, 3 g in evening), then 6g for the next 10 days (skip the lunch dose), and then continuing with 3g in the morning as we have been doing since the previous concussion.) If healing seems complete and there is no history of post-concussion syndrome, one could probably stop these supplements after taking 3 grams a day for a month or two. Our daughter, who had experienced concussion symptoms for almost 5 years has been taking 2-3 grams daily since being treated by this specialist.  This is the most important supplement of all; even if you use no others, please give your kid this one.
• Magnesium: Magnesium glycinate, dosage ramped up slowly up to the onset of diarrhea and then reduced slightly. (Instead we currently we use 500 mg 2x/day of regular magnesium supplements as well as Epsom salts baths.)
• Vitamin C: 500 mg 2x/day. Reduce this amount gradually after healing has taken place.
• Vitamin D: 1000-2000IU/day. (We use 2000 IU.)
• CoQ-10: 150mg, 2x/day. (We have been using 200 mg 2x/day because that’s what we can easily get.)

With advice from other professionals and after further reading, this time we have also added:

• N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC): 500 mg 2x/day for two weeks, then reducing to once a day for another two weeks.
• Turmeric: 500 mg 2x/day for two weeks, then reducing to once a day for another two weeks (you could just eat lots of the spice, but it colors braces’ elastics yellow and that is not cool….)
• Arnica, a homeopathic medicine, as directed on the label. (We know nothing about homeopathy and are just following advice here, not from the concussion specialist but from another professional. Apparently this should ideally be started immediately after a concussion.)

Dietary Considerations from Our Doctor

• Eat a high protein, low sugar diet.
• Drink 2 litres of water a day (vital both for healing and to minimize chances of another concussion).

Other Healing Practices Recommended by Our Doctor

• Mental and physical rest.
• Massage.
• Relaxation (yoga, mindfulness, deep breathing; also, once he discovered we were Christian, ‘giving problems to God’).
• No-impact exercise, once there has been some healing (yoga, swimming), and walking.

May God bless you and give your child healing after a concussion!

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Note: If at all possible see a medical professional who specializes in concussions and if the concussion seems severe go to ER. I am not a medical doctor and this is not professional advice. I’m sharing what our doctor told us, as one mom to another, because pediatric concussion doctors are rare, because such information is difficult to find, and because it’s best to start the supplements right after the concussion rather than waiting for a medical appointment.

Note: Remember that the amounts given above were for a 110 pound teen; dosages might have to be adjusted for smaller and larger children.

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Interesting radio interview on concussions and their treatment.

Some of my related articles:

When Your Teen Can No Longer Focus

Review: Smart but Scattered Teens

When Your Child Cannot Learn Well: Psychoeducational Testing at Home

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I tried to express the disorienting feeling of a concussion in the wordcloud image; many thanks to the WordClouds site.

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