New Member
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Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 5
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New Member
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 5
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New poster: PCS headaches/medications/misery
Hi all,
New poster here, though I've been following threads for about 6 weeks looking for help and mostly reassurance I wasn't dying!
I'm 3 1/2 months post concussion after having 2 minor head bumps in 7 days
( they weren't my first). The first 3-4 weeks were awful and I've never had so many anxiety inducing symptoms in my life!
My current and pretty much only lingering issue is a 24/7 headache/pain/pressure that came back and got much worse about 6-7 weeks after my first bump( tetherball to back of head, though not very hard) It was so bad for a few days I went back to ER.
It took 4 more agonizing weeks to get in with a Neurologist. Tylenol/ibuprofen did very little.
She spent about 20 min going over MRI(normal) and reassuring me it was PCS and not something else(I wasn't quite convinced!) i couldn't believe all this was from 2 minor head bumps, but she explained the reason my head hurt so bad and was not getting better like this:
1) I never took time off work to sufficiently rest- mental and physical
2) I was not taking adequate Tylenol/ibuprofen in the beginning to abort headaches.
3) I returned to work ( at 5 weeks after) without being symptom free( dizziness leading to mild headaches with activity)
4) history of prior head injuries-hit in face with soccer ball '07, a few minor bumps since then.
She suggested Amitriptyline( not surprised) and that it would help to 'calm my brain down'. I was started at 10mg to increase by 10 each week as needed, but was expected to need around 40mg to get relief. I slowly upped to 20 mg over 3 weeks and after 3 days at 20, I got tachycardia and was switched to Nortriptyline with same result at 20 mg. I was told to quit and come back in, but Dr out for 2 weeks!
So my primary Dr prescribed SERTRALINE( Zoloft)25mg a day since I can't tolerate anything in the tricyclics or anything that would most likely give me tachycardia.
Has anyone tried Zoloft for their headaches?
I'm skeptical, but at this point I'll try anything at least until I see Neuro again. I can only do things in small amounts and then I have to lay down. Also, I've been off Ami/Nort for 3 days and I've just realized my head felt different when I was on them. Hard to describe but kind of like my head/ scalp were numb but if lightly pressed with , fingers I could still feel pain. I was getting some relief at 20mg, so I'm frustrated I couldn't stay on them.
Thanks for letting me vent! This forum has gotten me through the past 6 weeks
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