Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

Busy living,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

First, slow down with your online research. Charles Bonnet affects the blind or near blind. Too much looking for symptoms will increase your anxiety. Plus, you are tilting at windmills with some information like anxiety and Bs. Don't get paralyzed by outlier and anecdotal notes. You will always find an exception to normal responses.

Second, B vitamins are one of the best ways to help with anxiety, especially B-12. My doctor gave me B-12 shots to make sure I was getting good B-12. Some do not absorb B-12 through the gut very efficiently. Folic acid is needed for nerve fiber repair and blood brain barrier function.

You also need good amounts of anti-oxidants, C, E, to reduce oxidative stress in nerve cells.

You need magnesium (citrate or theonate) to sleep.

Have you had an extended blood panel done? B-12, folate, Magnesium, D-3, full hormone panel including thyroid, blood sugar, etc. can all be helpful. There is an excellent neuro-endocrinologist at USC Medical Center who has helped concussion patients with hormone needs.

Have you been offered a qEEG? They can be very helpful in the right hands. Neuros are not usually the best with qEEG analysis.

You can list you symptoms in your post without needing to post a signature. If you keep your follow up posts in the same thread, we can scroll through older posts to see your symptoms list.

Early in my recovery (15 years ago), I could not sleep well in bed. I did much better in a recliner with something mundane on the TV distracting me both visually and auditorily. My go to was a music video DVD of Celtic Woman. Using the same video over and over becomes boringly repetitive but that is good. The mind is occupied by the stimulus but drifts off due to the boredom aspect. Find something entertaining but not attention grabbing.

I use a comfy pillow and get cozy with a blanket. I learned to use this to be the best sleep. My wife would compare my sleep. In bed, I was restless. I tensed my muscles almost into spasms.

btw, During some stages of sleep, your muscles should be paralyzed.

I use headphones. It masks any ambient sounds. You likely are not able to ignore ambient sounds very well. I have a friend who still needs to use this technique and his injury was in 1997. He has his DVD player and TV in the bedroom. His wonderful wife has just learned to go to sleep with it.

My doc prescribed klonopin to help with jerks and spasms and such but it messed me up badly and left me sleepy all day. When I started taking caffeine to wake up, he switched me to 1200 mgs of gabapentin (I still take 300 mgs). It helped my body and mind let go. Everybody has a different response to gabapentin.

How could a sleep study be negative if you do not sleep for more than short bits?

You should not need to initiate sleep. Staying mildly active during the day and letting your sleep clock signal sleep with a feeling of sleepiness is best. There is a difference between feeling tired and feeling sleepy. Tired is a body feeling. Sleepy is a mind feeling where your eyes feel heavy and your mind wants to slow down. You need proper light cycles to help the sleep cycle work. You should not be getting in bed until you are ready to fall asleep. If you get in bed and do not fall asleep withing 15 minutes, get up and do something.

If bright sunlight bothers you, get sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat. Get outside and walk. Reflected sunlight is very good.

What happens when you ride in a car?

How did you suffer your concussion?

Has anybody mentioned your neck? Subtle neck injuries can cause a lot of problems. They do not cause pain but do cause other symptoms that do not appear related to the neck.

What have you had done regarding your eyes? A behavioral optometrist assessment would be worthwhile.

If we knew more about your symptoms other than sleep and snow, we could try to help more.

My best to you.