panic attack out of the blue, possible setback
 

I am almost at 8 months since my concussion and I haven't had a major problem with anxiety/panic attacks since about the 5 month mark. I still get a bit of anxiety going into grocery stores but I'm able to take deep breaths and talk myself down from them.

Today I had my husband take me to the dollar store to pick up one item. (I can't drive yet and this was my only time out of the house all week) I went in and started looking for what I wanted and all of a sudden the music playing seemed really loud and full blown panic attack set in. I told my husband we had to leave NOW and I couldn't remember how to get out.

We got out right away but the rest of the day was shot with buzzy, confused brain, fatigue, shaking, and a stabbing pain where I hit my head that also has been gone for a few months. I'm so worried I've gone backwards a couple months with these old symptoms.

Ok I take that back, I'm not going to worry because that won't change it now but it will be a shame. I didn't even have a chance to try to stop the panic attack this time it was so quick. Its a reminder of why I rarely leave the house unless I have to.

Do you think its possible that always being in quiet can make you MORE sensitive to noises when they occur? Perhaps I'm being too cautious!? Also, I hate to say this but I think the vestibular therapy might be increasing some of the anxiety symptoms and chest pains.

I do think its been helping my dizziness though. 9 more days till I see the neurologist at the sports concussion rehab centre. Hopefully she will have some insight.

Wishing everyone a good day tomorrow.

CC

I have been through the same situation. Next time, wear some ear plugs. The sound appeared to get loud because your brain decided it could not filter it out anymore. It got overwhelmed and focused on the sound which is what made it sound louder.

I have learned that as soon as I notice that 'focus in' hearing effect, I know I need to find the exit.

Dollar stores can be very tough because they are extremely visually over-whelming. Add some sound and it is a perfect storm.

Rather than going backwards, I think you just had one of those perfect storms. As time goes on, hopefully, you will learn how to recognize these triggers. Use your observations to build your tool chest of getting out skills. Some days, you will be more tolerant of stimuli, other days, you will have no tolerance.

I can tell by how easy it is for me to 'stop to think' If I can get focused easily, I will usually do better out in stores and such. If I need to work harder to focus, I know to be careful going into stores. We call these good days, driving days and the bad days, no driving days. In time, you will be able to recognize these signs.

Brain overload
 

Thanks. I was wondering what happened to me yesterday. I went into Wendy's with my mom and dad and sat down to eat and the background music all of a sudden got so loud. Also, some teenagers came in and were laughing real loud. One girl had a laugh that I just could not take. I just crumpled on the bench and held my head in my hands and tried to wait until my parents were done eating. It was hell. My family does not understand at all. I am just barely understanding. It took me down for the rest of the day. It upset me a lot.

Thanks Mark,
I already knew that I wasn't having the best day for the same reason you mentioned. When I got up I had to constantly say to myself, ok what are you doing, as I was making coffee, getting breakfast, etc. When I need to extremely focus to do simple tasks I know it's not a good day.

I wear earplugs when I know I'm going somewhere really loud but I don't think of it when just running into a store. Even my husband said the music in this dollar store was loud. Wasn't expecting that. I'm going to permanently wear noise cancelling headphones around my neck, that's cool right?, and then I can just put them on when needed ;)

So any opinions on my question about whether always being in quiet situations can make you worse when you do hear noises? Should I be starting to add back in sounds in the home? Right now, during the day I do not have any noise, no radio or tv on. The only time I turn on the tv is when I'm actually watching it. Maybe I should start getting used to background noises?

Hope you are all having a good day. Mine is so far no worse than yesterday so that is hopefully a good sign. It's going to be an easy recovery day.

CC

Opinion on quiet making noise toleration worse
 

I have thought the same thing as you. I have tried to keep t.v on for background noise and listen to loud music etc. instead of always keeping myself in quiet solitude. What happens is my brain starts racing, I am thinking a million thoughts at once that don't make sense. I get a migraine headache, throw up or pass out. I start acting extremely weird if I am forced into like a wedding or Christmas shopping situation. I have panicked and bolted. It causes me to not be able to sleep because of the racing thoughts and sleep is the only thing keeping me out of a straight jacket. Let me know how it goes for the rest of you. Maybe some of you are healed enough that this could help. I would be cautious. Hope everyone is good today. Love to you all.

That's a really good point Brain Patch! It depends what stage of healing you're at and I guess how good of a day your having. I think it would almost be like exercising, you have to start out slowly, see if symptoms increase and then add in more as tolerated. I don't think I'm ready for that yet.....

Sorry you had a bad brain day CC.

I can relate. I too keep my house quiet but it's over at 3:45 every day when my son gets home from school and on weekends it's chaos. I don't think the noise helps me at all. I still get way overloaded in the noisy world out there. So personally I don't think by having a quiet house that you're doing yourself any harm, but that's only my opinion.

I had the loud noise incident yesterday while out... I was in earplugs but have to remove them to eat. (Celery with earplugs equals soooo loud in head) so when I removed them the restaurant noise hit me and my brain did the buzzed overload fried thing. I never got it back yesterday.

I'm still suffering today. Pain is bad. I think I'm still maxed from neuropsych day. (3 days later) just so fried. :(

Hope your today is better...

The brain needs to process the sound if it hears it. The problem we have is our brains need rest to recover. They will not heal during stimulation. If you feel like some audio stimulation, find something that has a soothing beat. There are tempos what work with the brain, not against it.

Music in a store often has a lot of echoes. They are extremely difficult for the brain to process. The same goes for too many voices.

Today is not a good day either :( Very irritable, to the point of being downright mean, and my eyes and brain just are not working well. I'm on the verge of tears and feeling very anxious. Just finished my meditating but it didn't "reset" me at all.

Gonna get off the computer for today and hope tomorrow is a better day. I normally see the worst side effects two days after something so if yesterday caused any problems tomorrow could be worse. How's that for negative thinking....

I agree Mark that echos are terrible. My son's room only has a little area rug and it echos in there terribly. I cannot have a conversation with him in there.

MsRrio, I can only imagine how fried you must be after your testing! I hope you are being kind to yourself and giving your brain a chance to recover. I understand about the earplugs being painful! I wore mine to a robotic event of my sons and seating was on bleachers. A kid was tapping his foot on the bleacher I was sitting on and it went straight into my brain like a hammer! I had to move very quickly! Good to know about celery ;)

Wishing everyone a better day tomorrow....

CC

As Mark mentioned, our brain needs quite time with less amount of stimulation to get rested.
This is just a suggestion; when you need to somewhere like you have been that day, if you can prepare yourself it could be a little easy on yourself. Like reminding yourself that is maybe a loud and a crowded environment present at that place, plus earplugs as mentioned above.

I guess the biggest thing is getting your attention and focus on something makes you more relaxed.
In my situation, the more rested I am the more i can handle stress. Also the expectation of what can happen where i am located or going to be.
Like if you are walking by a road expect to hear small cars as well as large truck with horns blowing.
Good luck!

That's a very good point Savas! Anticipating the sound makes it much easier to take. My husband can't understand why when I tap the spoon on the side of the bowl its ok but when he does it, and I don't know he's about to do it, it's very painful and shocking.

It's not necessarily the noise itself but the ears and brain not anticipating the noise or having the chance to be prepared/brace for it. It like a heightened startle reflex too.

Thanks for reminding me of that!

CC

The two situations are not the same as noise at the store. A problem with PCS is a messed up and super sensitive startle response. When hubby makes the noise, it causes a startle. When she does it herself, she is expecting the sound and is not startled. It does not depend on the volume of the sound as much as the startle of the sound.

It is an anxiety issue. In my case, it can be called "adrenal cortical hyperfunction." Google it. It can cause a confusion of motor control. Startles while driving can be dangerous as they can cause a mixing of motor control, i.e. brake pedal vs gas pedal.

There are also non-startle sounds that are easier tolerated when the source is understood versus not understood. That odd noise from outside during a windstorm can be anxiety inducing. Going outside to discover what it is can end the anxiety because the brain can now reference the sound . The healthy brain wants to understand the various stimuli around us. Ours are even more sensitive to this need.

I have been in that same situation! I never thought of it as a panic attack but more of a 'my brain can't take this and I gotta get out NOW!'

i am happy to say that this gets better for me with time. I can endure much more noise now, and even some multiple types of noise. I have to be rested though.

I have talke to a lot of audiologists about the hyperacusis (damaged noise filter) and they say that gentle and very gradual exposure to noise (sound :) ) is the only way to address this. I have made an effort to put some happy sounds into my world, and have tried to change my emotional reaction to them. We need to live in a noisy world eventually, so doing it in a controlled manner is a good strategy. It seems to be working for me!

Hang in there. It does get better. Slowly. I need to hear from the longer term people the same thing, as I still get discouraged. But it does! VERY slowly. Baby steps. Steps backwards. But eventually forwards!