Mark, thank you so much for your thoughts about what happened to me!

Unfortunately I did not experience headaches that I would consider "average" in any way shape or form when I had the iicp; they were debilitating to the point that even dilaudid administered through an IV in the ER could not take away my pain - it was truly awful. We assume that the level of pressure inside my skull rose in the cycle associated with it. (I'm sure you know people can live with that cycle for years depending on what level it starts at and how fast it increases until it becomes fatal.) I degraded so much that after six months I could hardly speak and I wasn't even able to maintain a minimal level of personal hygiene. It was a living nightmare. Which is another reason why I'm really trying to figure out more about what happened to me and why. You've really helped me to understand that it could have to do with the injured parts of my brain which I hadn't even considered before and may not have actually been from a bleed or swelling.

Luckily, I did not have a high enough level of CSF or IICP to herniate my brain to travel into the brain stem canal, but the Dr.'s wonder if it did cause further damage than the initial injury - however there is no way to tell and I'm still getting better.

Interestingly enough, when I was in the ER the first time, they told me that they allow people to sleep after head trauma - my boyfriend had tried to keep me awake during the whole ride there. And they recommended that I sleep when I felt like it and not to worry about it. They said that keeping people from sleeping is old school thinking and not recommended as much anymore.