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Old 06-24-2015, 12:16 PM
Mark in Idaho Mark in Idaho is offline
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Mark in Idaho Mark in Idaho is offline
Legendary
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Somewhere near here
Posts: 11,418
15 yr Member
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thomas.....,

"Could not the same apply to my encounter with the moth, or any of the other impacts? And, research I've looked up states blackouts or death can occur at an impact of 4 to 6 g's. Could you link to the thread you mention, about the G forces?"

I was talking about real impacts. A sub-concussive impact is one of those times where you have a true immediate sensation that you have impacted your head, not a delayed response. The common sub-concussive impacts are heading a soccer ball or helmet to helmet contact in football.

The 4 to 6 g's 'research' you read is not supported by the valid research. Here is one article http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/multimed...young-athletes
Here is another: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/735057_5

Both show 60 to 90 G's as the threshold. The moth could not even be a measurable G force. Physics could provide a theoretical calculation of the impact forces. A large moth only weights about 1 gram. Your head weights about 4000 to 5000 grams. The moth will deform when it impacts so its impact force is decreased substantially. The energy of the impact would be 0.029 foot pounds or .04 Joules. A 4000 gram object (your head) would sustain a force of 0.015 G's. You subject your head to more force when you lightly rub your head during shampooing.

You can move your head up and down or side to side as in yes and no and cause 5 to 10 G's. If you sustained a 10 G movement by whipping your head back and forth for 10 or 20 minutes, it may cause true physiological symptoms, but not a one time movement for milliseconds.

Yes, your anxiety can cause all of these symptoms. Anxiety stresses your brain like you are doing a tire burnout.

As I said, the startle factor is likely a big component of the cause of your symptoms. Startle is an anxiety reaction. The 'fight or flight' of a startle reaction speeds up the brain's processing and it 'looks' for threats. When no real threats are found, it can interpret non-threats as potential threats. 'What if this ? What if that ? Did I hurt this ? " These thoughts repeat and fatigue the brain as it 'burns its tires' processing these thoughts. The brain goes nowhere but expends a lot of energy doing so. Various processing systems are disrupted resulting in the symptoms your manifest.

CBT teaches one to direct this processing in a productive way. Rather than "Did that moth cause a concussion ?" and start worrying about the 'possible' concussion, the thought may be "Did that moth cause a concussion ?"..... "No, that moth just startled me. It does not have enough mass to cause any injury. I need to take a deep breath and let the startle subside. " This ends the anxious thought process.

If you can not establish ways to end these anxious thought processes, the help of a professional is advised.
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