Post- traumatic stress disorder is the term applied to a number of physical and mental reactions by the body after an outrage to the systems. These can entail physical and/or emotional stresses either in single incident or by accumulative effect. These can include but are not limited to: distractibility, racing thoughts, labile emotions, stimulus sensitivity, irritability, moderate depression, feeling numb, exaggerated startle, sleep difficulties, or problems with multi-task thinking and short-term memory. These are serious symptoms that will threaten any recovery, whatever the trauma. Through Compendium, I hope to offer a variety of options of treatment to let you, the patient, decide what might best expedite your healing. My own episodes during the rehab from my Labor Day accident of 1998 have given me an added perspective via the pharmacopoeia of mania stabilizers and anti-depressants that are on the market. But in addition, I want to offer strategies and alternatives other than the prescription drug. Medication may be a necessary adjunct to healing, but I think that being appraised of a variety of options will allow you to make the most informed decisions about your health care.

What is pre-injury? This is almost a misnomer, as no person can predict the incidence of injury. But it makes sense to have a contingency plan in place on the sad, but statistically significant chance that there may be a physical, emotional, or financial injury lurking in most futures. There is more than just ducks-in-a-row insurance planning for a physical injury. What orthopedist is on your insurance plan? It's not the kind of question you want to face in a hurried or emergency situation. So it is with the other facets of the recovery process. Through the process of ad-nauseum trail and error, I've acquired a number of insights about the rehab process that I think could be of benefit now and in the future to anyone who wants to consider more peace of mind in the face of a dangerous world, or who might want to speed the healing process if they're in the midst of a recovery from a previous injury.