Why do small bumps cause symptoms for so long?
 

After my PCS started, I noticed that small bumps are enough to cause symptoms of a concussion for a long time (a few hours or even a day).

For example, I was at a party yesterday, and a friend of mine has thrown a rice-filled ball (or a small stress-ball) and it hit me in the back of the head above the neck. It probably weighs a few hundreds of grams (it's one of these small balls that can be covered inside the head and pressed).

I immediately got startled because of this and got anxious that some damage might have occurred, but I quickly calmed myself down.

Even though it was almost a day ago, I feel some neck pain and dizziness which I didn't feel in the last few days. I don't think it's from anxiety - I calmed myself down quickly after.

Why so such small bumps cause me symptoms that you get after a concussion? That ball was maybe 300-400 grams - it was thrown in a high speed, but is it really enough to cause me a sub-concussive impact that leads to such symptoms?

If it's not an impact, so where all these symptoms come from? As I said, I get anxious because it hit me in the head pretty quick, but I quickly calmed myself so I don't think my symptoms now are related to anxiety. Could such a ball thrown to the head cause a small impact that leads to concussion-like symptoms?

Thanks,
-ProAgonist

Upper neck
 

I have the exact same problem - but I can have symptoms for days!

I dont have an answer, but I think the symptoms is upper-neck or brainstem related.

I have had some big and a lot om small impacs, and it takes less and less to get symptoms (and obviously hitting a foam pillow lightly can not give a concussion), so my best guess is, that my nervous system reacts when something happens, which reminds it of the original injury, perhaps because my deep-upper
-neck muscles is not working properly, so my nervous system is in a constant fight or flight mode.

But just a guess....

There have been a hundred posts like this recently. Read them...

The only thing I've found to help is curcumin and PEMF therapy.

I think there can be a variety of causes for symptoms.
The startle can cause a muscle reaction that can effect a subtle neck injury.
The chemical flow from the anxiety of the startle response can take a while to correct. One may calm the physical part and thought part of the startle but the chemical (adrenaline) part can take much longer.

I know how long it can take to get the chemical response to settle down. I experience it myself. I do not get anxious about the impact. I only react to the startle. The PCS brain can easily over-react chemically. I've experienced times when I am 'on edge' for a day or longer even though I can not thinking about the bump.

It can be annoying to have to put up with these longer responses but I don't think there is anything that can be done to settle the body without a medication. I have used propranolol to help with the settling if it lasts to long or is too intense.

TheNorwegian,

Thank you for the reply. Your explanation makes a lot of sense! I hope this gets better as I recover.

Mark,

Thank you for the reply. Is it possible for the brain to become desensitized to this type of impact during the healing process? Have you experienced times when you recovered faster and times you recovered slower from small impacts?

The more I ignore these small impacts, the faster I recover. If I focus on them, my recovery can be longer. That usually means an anxiety component is part of the delayed recovery.

I agree with you. I was on my way back from a party a fortnight ago and was drunk. I encountered many road bumps on my way back but felt totally normal.

BINGO!

i experience this all the time. and i blame my anxiety.

However if you got hit with one of those little bean bags at a high speed in the back of the head, its hard to say if it is indeed an anxiety issue so i understand the poster 100 percent.

Anybody who believes a rice filled ball, even at a fast speed can cause a concussion, is beyond reasonable. The physics of such a light weight that is also grossly deformable means the impact force is very low.

Cops fire 'non-lethal' bean bag rounds out of shotguns at 800 feet per second (250 meters per second or 880 k/h). They leave a minor welt on the skin but do no damage to internal organs. Yes, they sting. But, the light weight means no energy is transferred to the target.

I'm to the point that I do not even want to address such ridiculous ideas. They are just anxiety. The startle of such hits can last if the person lets the anxiety take over.

I agree with you Mark. Since my concussion i been lightly headbutted a few times, hit my head on walls, hit concrete doing a pushup, and hit my head getting inside a car ... and these thing never caused PCS symptoms but my anxiety / depression made me think so initially.

Depression / Anxiety and PCS is not a good mix.

Mark, I've sensed some of your frustration at these "bump" issues posted by numerous community members in recent times. I understand that you've lived and endured a long battle against what appears a very complex and difficult battle with PCS. In doing so, you've developed good approaches for dealing with a lot of things and have a substantial and impressive knowledge about things that we all seem to face at one time or another.

However, expressing your frustration at what you deem ridiculous may not be the best way of helping community members. While you've come to terms with these issues over your 30+ years (more?), individuals who are in the 1st year of recovery, or perhaps even the 2nd, may not be similarly skilled to do so. I think a bit more compassion could and should be afforded. After all, the anxiousness, the unknowns about how long it'll take to recover, all the questions about whether the individual will ever be the same, all the issues about returning to work and paying the bills, about depression, relationship problems, etc, etc, are completely and totally overwhelming during the first 12 months... having questions about bumps to the head seem highly relevant and asking on this forum can be extremely useful in quickly finding out information, which, in turn, helps alleviate stress and anxiety.

After all, who hasn't had a concussion and subsequently hit their head only to have that "Oh ****" moment...

These same questions have been asked by the same individuals and answered many times.

I spent endless hours showing the physics behind impact forces. The force or impact formulas are not questionable. The forces required to cause injury to the brain are known.

If we want to move forward, we need to build our faith in the facts so we can eliminate those issues and focus on the core issues.

A. Fact, a rice filled bag, furniture pillow, foam filled ball, etc. will not cause a concussion, even when thrown at a high speed.

B. Fact, our heightened startle response can cause symptoms that can last for hours or even days.

C. Fact, anxiety can cause existing concussion symptoms to magnify.

D. Fact, A startle response, if allowed to resolve itself, will resolve in a few hours. If it takes longer, having a way to assist such recovery will be helpful.

E. Fact, Taking on a belief that A is not true can cause anxiety to outlast the resolution of the startle response.

That said, we have choices to make as we consider the facts. If we cannot accept A as a fact, we need to find help to accept A as a fact. Otherwise, we will get stuck in a never ending and self-perpetuating roller coaster of symptoms.

The "yes, but" argument will be counter to our recovery. (Yes, but, the rice bag was thrown at a high speed and I felt symptoms after getting hit.)

There is a saying in medicine, "When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras." This means, when there is a symptom, consider the most logical explanation rather than the most far fetched. A concussion from a fast thrown rice bag is far fetched. A startle response from getting hit with a rice bag is logical.

Believe me, I know how anxiety can cause a situation to be perceived as much more than any reality or logic can support.

If we keep feeding the small impacts/bumps monster, it will only get bigger until it starts to consume us.

A fool does not learn from their own experiences.
A smart man learns from their own experiences.
A wise man learns from OTHERS experiences.

Hopefully, people will strive to be wise and settle for being smart if they struggle to learn from others.

I feel your frustration. The same thing happens to me. I was in a car recently that hit a curb going 20mph and it intensified my symptoms for weeks. My doctors do not believe it was anxiety, either. They said they do in fact see things like this happening on a regular basis -- someone gets jolted and their symptoms return.

I have this problem, It has to be a little harder than that for me to cause symptoms, but the symptoms linger for weeks. I think the problem is is that the brain defense mechanism is hyperactivatrd (and there may still be some lingering minor damage left) and the brain's inflammation processes are triggered. I am experimenting with exogenous ketones which have decreased inflammation somewhat and dhea (jury is still out) ,and fish oil which has also decreased inflammation.

I can tell you mine is not anxiety also bc when it happens to me I think not much of it and typically takes a couple of days for the symptoms to show face. I think it's having a hyper reactive/ hyper excitable brain. My best guess is to take supplements to decrease inflammation.