GFN,

You doctor appears to not understand the impact of sub-concussive impacts. He is correct when he comments about neck issues. They can cause an interrupt in blood flow or muscle spams.

Sub-concussive impacts are those impacts that do not cause immediate concussive symptoms. They often accumulate to cause problems. In some of us, they will cause a relapse of concussion symptoms. For me, I have learned how to notice subtle symptoms such as a metallic taste or slight sense of vertigo (dizziness) or visual struggles. They may only last a few seconds. Different challenges to the brain can cause processing speed to change. This can cause the speaking speed problem.

The struggles you have when you are in pain could be a result of the pain stimuli overwhelming your brain's ability to process information. Or, the cause of the pain may also be the cause of the processing struggles such as, a spike in blood pressure can cause head aches. It can also cause changes to capillary blood flow resulting in functional difficulties.

I hope this makes sense to you. Learning to moderate your activity level can smooth out this roller coaster of symptoms.

My best to you.