[ElaineNZ]

Hi. Can anyone please give me some advice? I fell and whiplashed my neck at the beginning of March. Most of the symptoms have disppeared, except for a tight sore abdomen at times and low energy. I was feeling very good until yesterday when I did some vege gardening, and then ran out of energy and had to go to bed because my heart was pounding. It pounded all night, and this afternoon hasn't stopped. Is this normal after four months?

[Jomar]

Have you had any sort of physical therapy?
Possibly chiropractic or upper cervical adjusting?
If you fell a certain way your c1 & c2 might have gotten misaligned.
Do you feel tilted at all, or are your hips or shoulders not level across?

If you hit your thoracic spine maybe a T spine vertebra is out of alignment.

[Lara]

Hi Elaine,
Welcome to the NeuroTalk Support Groups!

I'm sorry to read about your injury and how you're feeling. I have not ever had a whiplash injury but have had a couple of head injuries. If you've been resting a lot since the injury, maybe you just overdid it yesterday. I would talk to the doctor if you're not feeling well with a pounding heart.

I also just wanted to post the link to the
Spinal Disorders & Back Pain Forum

[Darlene]

Hello and welcome, happy to see you have come to be with us, it a great place to be. As you can see we have a great number and caring fellow members here, where you have find a supportive and relaxing place. Have fun looking into the different forums. Our shoulders are here for support in many ways.

Please keep us up to date on your condition. Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Darlene

[ElaineNZ]

Hi Darlene

Thanks for your helpful ideas. I had the accident on 1 March, and I actually fell forward after spraining my ankle, into a big concrete garden urn full of slimy water. The urn sits on a base. My right hand hit the bottom of this urn, and so my arm took the full impact of my body. I felt a pain in the top of my arm, and whiplashed my neck at the same. A few days later started having hot flushes in bed, and wondered if this was to do with menopause, which I finished going through three years ago. A week later I had to stop while driving, because I wasn't coping. The second week after falling, I couldn't drive because I couldn't handle the movement. I went to the doctor on the 16th, forgetting about the fall. I had a full blood test and an ECG. My cholesterol was high (but gone down quite a lot since then), but my blood pressure was normal. My heart would started pounding whenever anyone talked to me on the phone. I had no energy. My heart would go into palpitations at night time. I would go into shock. I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't use the computer. When I sat down, my left leg would go numb. My fingers on my left hand would tingle. When I did the dishes, I felt like the blood was being drained from my head. When I washed my hair, I felt like all the blood was being drained from my body. What a mess! At the end of that week (Friday) someone reminded me about the fall. I rubbed my neck and nearly fainted. It was sore. In the hollow of the back of my head was sore too. I immediately put a hottie under my head, and felt great relief. But I had to go to bed - again.

The following Monday I went back to the doctor and mentioned the fall. I was sent off for an xray. The xray revealed that my neck was not out of place, but I was sent off to physio anyway. This was an osteopath physio, and he told me it is all metabolic. "You need to learn to breathe properly. You are hyperventilating." I reminded him I had fallen, and he just kept saying that my problem is all metabolic. He gave me traction, which made me fizz all over. By the way, after I started having the symptoms, two weeks after the fall, I started going for walks, trying to get my heart going fast. I thought I had heart trouble. I should probably have been staying in bed!

On 2 April, I went back to the doctor again because I was still having problems. I was so tight and nauseous in my upper torso that I hadn't been eating. The doctor asked me what the osteopath said, and I told her. She said she tends to agree with him. She suggested I go on Lorazepam to block some parts of my brain to help it heal, and to take away the tightness. At the chemist, the lady serving me was quite concerned that I was going on those pills. She said they are dangerous. I told her it was for brain trauma. My husband asked if there was something natural I could take, and she said Rescue Remedy. So I bought those, and they worked wonders.

By the way, all this time, I couldn't take noise. My left ear was ringing, and any little noise was just too much. Anyway, the Rescue Remedy got rid of the palpitations, the shock, the tight tummy, the nausea. I was eating again. Three weeks later, the tight tummy came back, and my heart was doing jumps and pounding. Back to the doctor, who said I really should go on the Lorazepam to help heal. So I did! It helped quite a lot, but I found myself wanting more. After 23 days, I was taken off them because the doctor said there won't be any withdrawal symptoms if taken for less than 6 weeks. Well, I believe I had withdrawal symptoms, because a funny feeling came over me while driving, and I started to shake. I had just bought some herbal tea with Valerian Root in because I found out that Valerian Root is a good natural blocker. So I had some of that, and the shakes went away. I stopped having the tea after two nights because it made my mouth very dry and I found myself drinking water all night!

So now I am four months down the track, and I have some good days when my heart is quiet and normal and I don't have a tight tummy. But yesterday I was out in the vege garden, and I became quite weak. I came inside and lay down. My heart was pounding. And all night in bed it continued. This afternoon I went back to the doctor, and told her I want a heart monitor and a thyroid test, which I am having next week. So now you know most of my story, I was wondering if I should still be having problems from the whiplash. I have read that going on blockers slows down the healing process, so that has probably put me back three weeks.

Take care and God bless

Elaine

[kiwi33]

Hi Elaine

Welcome to NeuroTalk from another Kiwi .

I don't know anything about whiplash injuries but (as always) it seems to me that other members of the community have offered you wise thoughts.

All the best.

[Lara]

Elaine,
After reading more that you've written tonight, I'd also be checking over on the

Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Concussion Syndrome Forum

Search "whiplash" in that forum and you'll find a lot of the older posts/threads.

[Kitt]

Welcome ElaineNZ.

[Hockey]

Originally Posted by Lara

Elaine,
After reading more that you've written tonight, I'd also be checking over on the

Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Concussion Syndrome Forum

Search "whiplash" in that forum and you'll find a lot of the older posts/threads.

Yes, you should look at TBI. I suffered severe whiplash in a high speed MVA. It is pretty much impossible to sustain whiplash, without suffering concussion. TBI could be a factor in your feelings of fatigue.

[horton23]

I had a whiplash injury one year back when I met with an accident. It was fortunate that I didn't have many injuries. But I had severe pain and aching in my neck and shoulders. So I went to a hospital nearby and the Ortho told me that it’s sort of a whiplash injury due to the impulsive stretching of the spine. He told that it will take a quite time to get healed and suggested to get physiotherapy if possible. So I did physiotherapy for 2 months at a sports injury clinic i**. It really worked for me and I’m perfectly okay with my neck and shoulder.