In this video, concussion survivor and clinician David Brimacombe explains why common post‑concussion syndrome (PCS) supplements often fail: the body must first be prepared to absorb and use them. He outlines a step‑by‑step recovery sequence that begins with autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulation, proceeds to gut healing, and then establishes consistent sleep, light exposure, meal timing, and daily routines to create a low‑stress, high‑absorption environment. Once this physiological foundation is in place, Brimacombe recommends five core supplements—creatine (10 g+ for cognitive clarity), magnesium (to correct common deficiency), omega‑3 fatty acids (pure source, taken with fats to reduce inflammation), choline (for brain health, especially if dietary egg intake is low), and vitamin D (sunshine vitamin for those indoors). He ties the protocol to his PCS Resilience Collective program, inviting viewers to join a waitlist for an upcoming webinar and structured recovery plan. The overall message is that systematic, ordered healing is essential; random supplement stacking can worsen dysregulation and impede recovery.
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Here's a take you might not have heard before. Supplements will not work if your system isn't ready to use them. Hi and welcome to the PCS Resilience Collective. My name is David Brimacombe, and after 7 concussions over 20 years, I learned that there's an order to recovery, and if you skip that order, things like supplements don't work the way they should. Now, I'm sure many of you have heard of or tried all these magic cure-all concussion supplements. So things like creatine, choline, magnesium, omega-3s, the list goes on and on. Now, I'm not here to say these don't work because they were all and still are part of my supplement stack, but they only work on one condition, and I'm going to explain that condition today. So I don't know about you, but you get that, that miracle supplement, that one that you're like, this is it, This is going to change everything. You open the bag, you start the supplement. You wait a few weeks hoping it's going to kick in at some point, but you're still tired. You're still foggy. You still don't have that zip to your energy that you thought you would. How come? Why is this not working? Everyone online raves about magnesium, about creatine, about choline, about lion's mane. It's not working for me. I'm different. I'm never going to recover. And guess what? This actually puts you into a deeper rut because now this thing that everyone touts as the magic pill isn't even working for you. You are the anomaly. Your body can't even heal even with this magic supplement. It isn't you. You aren't the reason for your problems. Now, understand that the body requires a certain order of recovery. It just— You just can't start feeding it more things and expect to get better results. In this video, we're going to go through what is the order that you need to take in order for your recovery to occur. So, here are some of the hallmarks of PCS. Now, not to say that everyone has these issues, but these are some of the more common things that people have when they're struggling with post-concussion syndrome. Now, the first one is autonomic nervous system dysregulation. Now, you might have heard of this before, the concept that you are stuck in a stress state. The gas pedal is pressed and you cannot press the brake. You feel like everything is causing anxiety, is causing apprehension. That is common for many people in PCS. So, if you do not regulate your system before you start putting in more supplements, you might actually be doing more harm. The second thing you need to focus on is your gut. Now, here's something that happens post-concussion. Your gut actually goes into distress. Meaning it actually absorbs less nutrients. Now, there are ways to solve this, but one of the best ways is to actually fix your autonomic nervous system to improve your blood circulation, and therefore over time your gut will heal. But if your gut has not been healed, hey, guess what? All those nutrients come in, they don't get absorbed, they get flushed out. They call that expensive urine, and it is expensive urine if you're doing so without the ability to actually absorb and assimilate these nutrients. So your autonomic nervous system is going to allow your body to regulate, your gut to heal, and therefore those supplements to actually be absorbed and to be used the way they're intended. Now, I got caught up in this loop before I knew this information. I would get caught up in this loop and I'd say, you know what? Maybe I need to take more. Maybe I need to take different supplements. Maybe I need to stack more on top of them. And then you get caught in this cycle of buying more, of using more, of getting more stress, which actually dysregulates your autonomic nervous system even more. And you see how this could cause great strain and stress on the system and actually start to make you think, can I heal? Is this for me? Now, I went through this sick loop many, many, many, many times, okay? And it played on my psyche, it played on my ability to actually Heal. Until I understood the sequence required for me to be the better version of myself. Now, I created the program, the PCS Resilience Collective, for this exact reason. There is an order to your healing. It is not a matter of throwing any and everything at your body and expecting it to heal. And in many cases, that's actually going to make it worse. You have to do so systematically. You have to do so in a very very orderly fashion. So if you're interested, down below a link to the waitlist. Now the program isn't open as of right now, but it will be opening up fairly soon. I want to make sure that you are on the waitlist so when I do have my first webinar that you will make sure to be contacted, because this is a potentially life-changing program for you so that you can get back to the person that you were, or even better, the person that you want to be. What can we do now so that we can improve our body, improve our systems, so that we can actually be ready to take those supplements? Because supplements should be part of your recovery if done properly. Okay, first thing you're going to do, improve our sleep. Now you might be the type to say, I just can't get to sleep, I can't stay asleep. Okay, 2 things you need to do. The first thing, have a consistent sleep-wake cycle. When do you go to bed? When do you wake up? That should be fairly consistent within a 30-minute window. If you struggle for that, the best thing to do is as soon as you get up in the morning is you're going to go ahead and you're going to look at a bright light. Look at the sun. That resets your circadian rhythm so that you're ready to go to bed in about 16 hours. The second thing you're going to do is you're going to have a preset nighttime routine. 2 or 3 things you're going to always do before bed. Whether that's you're always going to read a book, you're going to always do some breathwork, you're going to do some gratitude, you're going to brain dump all that information in your mind. Okay, but be consistent. Consistency is what your body craves when you're struggling with PCS. Okay, the other thing you need to focus on is consistency. When do you eat? Keep it consistent. Okay, when do you do your work? You're not working sometimes in the morning, sometimes late at night. Find consistency in the system. That'll create safety in the system, which will lower your stress, improve your autonomic nervous system regulation, and therefore create less inflammation, less stress, and more absorption of these supplements. Now, when you do get to using supplements, okay, these are the 5 that I would always recommend. Okay? And again, these are the 5 that were the core pillars of my recovery. Okay? The first thing is creatine. I've talked a lot. I have a video about creatine. Basically understand that it is no longer just the gym bro supplement. It does wonders to reduce that brain fog, that cognitive delay. Okay, high doses are typically better, 10 grams plus, but keep that in mind. Okay, the second one you're going to do is magnesium. Now, most people are deficient in magnesium. Now, almost everyone who suffers with PCS is deficient as well. And the next one is omega-3. Reduces inflammation. Okay, make sure you get it from a pure source. Make sure you take it with fatty foods. Okay, the 4th thing we're going to talk about is choline. Choline is great for the brain. If you eat lots of eggs, don't worry about it. If not, choline supplement. And the last one I'm going to talk about is just vitamin D. Again, most people are deficient in this to begin with. If you're not going outside because you're stuck inside because of your recovery, this is something that you need. Okay, you need the sunshine vitamin. Okay, thank you very much for listening. I appreciate your support. And again, if you're interested, the waitlist is below. It is waiting for you so that you can start your recovery. Have yourself a great day.
