Missed a step
 

This morning I was walking down slippery steps and my foot slipped making me land hard on my feet (about a 5" drop, or however tall a step is). This didn't really cause immediate symptoms other than some pain in the back of my head but I now seem to have bad pcs symptoms (light sensitivity, nausea).

Is there any conceivable way this was concussive? I think I've read about someone on here getting a bad concussion in a similar fashion so I'm pretty freaked out at the moment.

No, it was not concussive. There is a lot of energy that can be absorbed by the knees and back before any is transmitted to the head.

What are you doing to help reduce your anxiety levels?

I'm doing cognitive behaviour therapy and may start a trial of medication. I don't mean to question your judgement but didn't you experience a similar situation where you injured yourself? Like you I was not expecting the fall since I slipped accidentally and therefore my legs and back where fairly straight when I landed.

Also the step was substantially higher than a regular step since it was on an escalator and like I said my legs and back remained pretty straight

Have you explored more into of the anxiety side of things?
Anxiety Disorders - Types & Symptoms - Psych Central

A recent member mentions getting hormones /testosterone checked, you might look into the symptoms of that.

Thanks, I definitely acknowledge anxiety as a big factor although I'd never considered hormones since I'm pretty young. Ill look into though thanks, how do you get your hormones checked?

Ben,

I'd suggest some relaxation breathing techniques. They certainly help me when I'm hypersensitive to potential symptoms.

Stress Management: Breathing Exercises for Relaxation

Ben

My son developed the same type of sensitivity you are mentioning now. Any slight movement triggered nausea etc as you describe. We had his neck worked on by a NUCCA Chiro who said he had a misalignment but months later he still had these issues. moving his head when startled etc etc. all things that are not concussions even sub-concussions per the neurologist we had talked with way back when he started reporting them to us. It could very well have a large psychological component.

At the same time his anxiety was getting worse and he started eventually having debilitating panic attacks. When we finally got in to see the hrt doctor the doctor assessed him and said he would immediately check for hormone imbalances and that he was treating many others for it including some hockey players. . He also said he could help my son get better. and he DID!

After starting the Hormone therapy my started feeling better and I have now (a year later) not heard him mention the quick head movements resulting in nausea etc. About 3 months or so into the treatment his depression was gone, his panic attacks were gone and at the 1 year mark now he is happy and cheery like he was before his concussion. I have done a lot of research on the hormone subject over the past year and there is an enormous amount of evidence that hormone imbalances can create the same symptoms as PCS including fatigue, sleep disturbance, depression etc. Exactly what the Dr told us.

The hormones that he focused on were testosterone, estradiol, thyroid. Imbalances (too high or low) can give you some serious psychological symptoms that can be resolved by getting the levels back in range - this is in the medical literature. In any case, as a first step, I would ask my doctor to check my testosterone and thyroid levels because you feel very tired and you want to rule those out. Hopefully with this approach the most basic of the initial tests will be covered by insurance. For Thyroid you need to ask for TSH, and be sure to get T3 & T4. When you get your results back know that your doctor still may not want to treat any low testosterone he may find. I will bet you a coffee you are at the low end of teh range or below rage. I personally know 2 other PCS sufferers who had the test and the results were either below or at the low end of the range. The range I mention is a the medically agreed "normal" range based on a sampling of adults which includes 18 year olds to 80 year olds. So at the low end of the range you're "normal" but producing the testosterone of an old man. you need to be in the upper range as a young man. If you are to low the netx step would be to research HRT specialist doctor (better would be one who also mentions concussions ). Ask your doctor for a referral. He will likely not be comfortable treating the imbalance and really you dont want him to try . If he determines you need testosterone, he will need enough knowledge to know you need to manage the potential increase in estradiol (estrogen) also - seems standard doctors have no clue of this .

We've been fighting this PCS battle for years and looking back after hyperbariic treatments, chiro treatments, psychologists, psychiatrists, sleep specialist Drs, I can say it was a hormone imbalance. It took us 9 months to get in to see the specialist after we decided we wanted checked! Some misery my son could do without.

Benefit from what we went through, get checked. I assume it would be covered if you position it right with your doctor and stick to your guns that you want to be checked, he may drop the estradiol but at least you'll get numbers for testosterone and thyroid which are likely the issues.

As another route for testing I should also mention you can get your hormones checked in the US using some online websites I found at the testosterone forum sites. I have done that on one occasion. I drove to teh US where we had we had a blood test at a well known standard medical lab and results were emailed. FYI Its is not possible in every state - I recall its not possible in New York . I think I paid around a hundred bucks.

I would however first get your doctor to do the basic test I describe in my earlier post. If it turns out you are low then you dont need to get any more tests since you can request to see a specialist for the low levels. The HRT doc will do what other tests are needed for you when you get in to see him.

Thanks so much for the valuable information, it is definitely something I will bring up with my gp at our next visit. If I understand correctly, your son was dealing with an anxiety disorder which you originally thought to be pcs related but was actually due to abnormal hormone levels?

Also I fear it may take a while for me to be able to see a specialist since referrals take a long time to come to fruition where I live so I guess I have to learn to manage symptoms in the meantime. Is there anything your son found that was helpful? My current symptoms are anxiety, head sensitivity (sensitivity to hard steps, bumpy cars, things like the heel drop this morning, etc), brain fog and some physical symptoms like headaches and nausea. I'm also a student who goes to college every day. Was your son also a student or did he take a lot of time off for his recovery?

I think this is definitely very promising as something that may finally give me answers as many doctors are questioning the diagnosis of pcs and seem more keen to point to anxiety as being the primary cause of everything but not one has mentioned hormone levels.

Yes we were on the waiting list months before we were able to see the specialist. We're in Canada also.

Yes they will say its all anxiety and all in your head. thats the struggle the majority of PCS people have with the medical community. if you go to a PCS illiterate psychiatrist,psychologist or even sometimes a Family Doctor, you will very likely be told its due to you anxiety and you will likely be pushed to take anti-anxiety and anti depressants. I totally disagree with the anxiety causing the PCS symptoms. What I see clearly as fact now from my sons experience is that the PCS disrupts the hormones and the hormone disruption cause the anxiety and a host of other "mental" disorders illnesses. This site even has stickies pointing to the research studies identifying neuro-endocrine disfunction , hypo-pituitarism etc after concussion!! And as an example of how hormones can cause apparent mental illness/disorder symptoms research low testosterone in medical literature you will see depression, anxiety etc as symptoms! see an example below. Dr AWAD Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Director, Psychobiological Medicine Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Toronto Western Hospital states in this article:

"The psychiatric disturbances which accompany hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, the two commonest thyroid disorders, mimic mental illness. "
Thyroid Foundation of Canada

My point is that therefore you must treat the hormone imbalance to resolve the anxiety - not just treat the symptom of anxiety. I hate to say this but I would steer clear of any pshycs at all costs.

He also found cbd oil to be helpful. it helped to some degree with his anxiety and sleep. i am a strong believer in going the legal prescription route for this as he did as you know exactly what you are getting. its not difficult in Canada to get approved as you have anxiety which is on the list of ailments approved. This may just help you alleviate some of your symptoms It will not fix the problem. My son stopped using the CBD in his hrt treatment as he didnt need it. The good thing is that CBD is not addictive! like some of the psychiatric drugs can be. They can be extremely difficult to stop. there;s evidence of that all over the web.

While you are waiting you can also start by taking what the dr prescribed my son and what I also see mentioned in this forum. The dr has him on 4,000 gm fish oil/day, 5,000 gm vit D3 per day and b complex. I would start that right away. From my own research I think the fish oil should have a ratio of 2 epa to 1 dha for inflammation control. buy quality brand vitamins and fish oil. Note as told to me by the specialist "vitamin D is a mislabeled hormone" and is an important.

I would also go to someone to check your neck as mentioned in this forum . We ended up using a NUCCA Chiropractor (National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association). My sons neck was out of alignment and the NUCCA Chiro resolved it. I could see the misalignment in the xray so I know it was there.

As I mentioned in my posts the sensitivity went away when he was taking his hrt pills. also thank god his anxiety and panic attacks did also.

The fog has partially lifted so he functions much better and is in school again. I think that will be one of the last things to fully resolve.

Also be sure to read the link of the hockey player and his recovery that I posted in the other thread you created. He has a similar story to my sons.

Thanks again. Like I said it's definitely something very promising that I will bring up with a doctor. I'm not gonna go ahead an immediately assume all my issues are hormone related but it's definitely something to look into.

I agree with most doctors having poor understanding of concussions but I have consulted and am being followed by one of the top concussion clinics in the country(they treat pro hockey and football players) and even they said my symptoms are being continued by anxiety more than actual pcs so I feel inclined to trust them given there reputability in the field but like I said I'll bring it up with them.

I don't necessarily agree with your reservations regarding psychiatrist. Sure some will be bad and be quick to chalk everything up to anxiety, give you a quick prescription and send you on your way but the good ones actually do listen and care and will help you figure out the underlying causes as well as recommended alternative options and therapies other than just medication(even medication can be very helpful and necessary for some people).

Thank you for linking thsy article, I am a former high level hockey player myself so it's definitely relatable and gives me some hope.

Also I think I should definitely get an xray done of my neck and back, I've been having persistent issues with it for some time now and I really believe it contributes heavily to my symptoms. Osteopathy adjustments help but the problems are still persistent.

In the meantime do you think it's fine for me to stay in school and keep doing my regular activities while still investigating and waiting on treatments? I don't do anything too crazy but I take the subway or drive to school every day, do quite a lot of walking, twice a week do mild exercise and occasionally go out with friends/gf.

Also how did your sons concussion(s) happen and how bad was it?

I think you should definitely keep doing your activities and school. You're not causing any harm if thats what you're thinking.

About the hormones, I'm just saying get them tested and see where you land. If there's an issue get it treated.

here's an excellent talk about concussions and neuro-endocrine disruption by a Dr who i think is the top of the field!

Dr. Komer Brain Health Seminar - YouTube

By the way he's the one who treated my son and the other guy in the writeup earlier.

if you have longstanding pcs listen to what he has to say.

Thanks a lot! I'm seeing my doctor this week so I'll bring this up and let you know what they say.