Hello all, I recently joined and still learning about my PCS friend that has decided to hang around for a while. A little about me.. 48-year-old male with a concussion when I was 5 and possible shearing (no symptoms) from a head on in 2010 that led to my neck issues below. My experience started in early Nov 2017 two weeks after I had spinal fusion surgery on my neck C5-C6. Everything was progressing well after the surgery but one night I got up after coughing for hours (they move your esophagus to get to the spine) and had a Syncope event fainting when I walked into the bathroom. When I came to, had a damaged front tooth, mild cut on top right side of the head and lacerations to neck area... A trip to the ER and CT scan showed neck hardware good and no issues in the head.

Took two more trips to the ER over three weeks (another CT with contrast) and a primary care visit with being dazed, out of body feeling/ vision off before they called it a concussion. Symptoms came in a week apart... Anxiety, tinnitus, no sleep for three days, vision blurry somewhat pixelated, extreme fatigue, cognitive issues, visual stimulation issues and hearing sensitivities. Neck issues causing muscle spasms and being extremely tight with cramping pains possibly from whiplash due to the fall.

The good news.. At almost 4 months, I have improvements in cognitive function, I’m able to sleep without psychotic drugs or sedatives any longer even though I do wake up 5-6 times a night, fatigue has gotten a lot better, and visual input overload from TV/passing cars has settled down. I have a lot of good folks praying for me! I am able to go back to work but recent dizziness keeps me from full duties. Not seeing much or possibly any vision improvements (may just be getting used to everything looking strange) but I am engaging back into life where I can.

Feel like I have read the entire internet about PCS. I have finally stopped obsessing and started reading things that don’t give me anxiety and are more fun! I do keep thinking the neck may be a big part of my remaining symptoms of intermittent dizziness, vision, and hearing issues as I saw something in an article I read. I get strange looks from the doc when I mention it but neck being extremely tight with pain and causing muscle burn in upper back, I still wonder if this could be a culprit.
I had a Facet injection procedure two weeks ago but I actually fainted on the table and they only got one level done with some improvement. Dr. was intense, pain was pretty bad and I had a lot of anxiety about the procedure as neck facet injections are known to be brutal. If I can get this done and the nerves settle causing muscles to chill out hoping for improvement.

I am very grateful for the progress I have had. However, it is just slow and I have accepted that throttling back on life is required which I learned can be quite nice! Just being type A personality as my wife calls it, keeps me on the path of trying to get repaired but being that type, also makes recovery harder as I was warned by the Neuropsychologist.

Wanted to ask your thoughts and see if anyone has had any experience with c3-c7 cervical issues causing concussion symptoms or in your opinion, am I reaching here and just have a good old concussion needing time to heal? I do appreciate any thoughts you have on this.


David