MichelleV, my fiance is 2.5+ years out from mTBI + two subsequent hits to the head shortly after. She wakes up with head pain daily similar to you. Her injuries could most definitely involve her neck, but she's never complained of any pain or stiffness in her neck (and she was a physical therapist before her injury, so you'd think she'd be able to readily vocalize anything that feels different in her neck).

Regarding her sleep, her sleep sounds extremely similar to yours. Often her brain doesn't shut off and she can't fall asleep easily. She wakes every night when I get up to go pee. She's a very light sleeper after her brain injury. She sometimes gets quite fatigued during the day. Regarding posture, she normally jacks her head up sleeping with 2 pillows. We've recently put a stop to that. I can't say it's changed anything. 25mg of Topiramate / Topamax is the only thing that's appreciably lessened her daily morning head pain. She's only been on it for a 1.5 months now. We haven't been able to up her dose because the side effects are becoming bothersome to her (paresthesia in her feet and hands, achy back and knees, dizziness and loss of balance). She has went to the ER twice and was given 10 mg of Compazine. She slept like an absolute rock for 12 hours and woke up feeling far better than normal! I've never seen her better. Unfortunately, Compazine has appreciable side effects and can't be taken regularly. We're pursuing a basic sleep study with a recording pulse ox. I'm hoping we can use it for 5+ nights to collect data rather than one.

Anyhow, I didn't want to chime in on a thread about Cognitive FX since I've nothing to say about it, but I had to step up to say my fiance has the same daily morning brain pain (every. single. morning.). If you improve yours and can share your experience, I'd greatly appreciate hearing it! I'm new to these forums and might not catch a response. ** I've subscribed to this thread, so hopefully I receive updates. However, don't hesitate to contact me via any means!

Lastly, Mark_in_Idaho, I can't express my thanks to you enough for the effort you put in on this forum! I am unemployed and spend 100% of my time researching ways to help my fiance with the typical list of PCS symptoms. Your experience and ideas are helping open avenues of hope for us. This is the first thread I've read. I'm now going to proceed to dig through more of this forum. Thanks!