whats wrong with me?
 

hi folks. Ive just joined this forum because i could do with some advice. About 2 weeks ago i fell off my bmx onto the back of my head down 10 stairs, i wasnt unconcious but pretty disorientated and shaky. I went to the hospital at the time and they did the usual kneejerk tests etc and seemed to think i was ok. The next day i woke up with the following symptoms which have remained ever since: extreme tiredness, low-pitched rushing in ears, feeling like pressure in my head/popping ears, feeling very disconnected and spaced out and inability to concentrate or process information. Also when i first got up after the fall, i felt a loud crack in the back of my neck. I developed a very sore neck later, which has since gone away, although now i frequently feel clicking/cracking in the vertebrae at the back of my neck. i know i havent had these problems very long compared to some of you on here, but i thought it would be good to ask sooner rather than later. Anyway any thoughts/ advice would be much appreciated.
cheers, Duncan

hello duncan
 

hello Duncan

sorry to hear you are going through this, did they do xrays at the hospital or a ct scan, if not get your doctor to have them done or you can or go to A and E 2 weeks is not long post a bad bang to the head, but if its worrying you, you best get your self checked out, have you told any one, that you feel this way , it is common in all concussions, to have after effects but 2 weeks is long enough for you to be concerned. welcome to n.t we will help you all we can

thanks vini,
no they didnt do any xrays or scans at all, just took my blood pressure(which was normal) and checked my reactions. The nurse said i was concussed but could probably ride my bike again the next day, which in retrospect seems pretty irresponsible. I called the doctor after having to go home from work last week and she said my symptoms were probably nothing to do with falling on my head!!! i was starting to feel that no-one is taking me seriously about this so its good to talk to people that understand. I think im gonna go and demand a scan tomorrow...

you need to get your self looked at
 

duncan you need to get your self looked at I know its hard with some docs, at least an xray will show up any fractures I think thats the least they can do, keep your self hydrated

good luck with the docs take some one with you, that have noticed the changes, thats worked for me

yeah, i will do. ill let you know how i get on. cheers:icon_biggrin:

You had a concussion. And then later a post concussion.

So that is what you are probably still suffering from, so the doctor
needs to work with that information too.

Donna

well i went to the doctor. she also mentioned post concussion. She spoke to the hospital and they basically said theres no need for scans or x-rays based on my symptoms. on the plus side i did have slightly more energy today for a bit.
The thing im a bit concerned about is the cracking in the back of my neck, has anyone else experienced this? the doc seemed fairly certain that i didnt have any fractured vertebrae but there must be some reason for it.. anyway thanks for the advice.

whip lash
 

hi duncan
glad you are feeling a little better and you have seen your doc, I remember when I was young, I had one of those 1970s chopper bikes with the small wheel on the front I went down a pot hole , and over the handle bar and hit my head on the pavement I think it was a month or so before I felt back to normal, you probably have whip lash coz your head bounced down the stairs ( I know they an,t cool but cycle helmets are worth waring if you are jumping down stairs ) I have a bad head injury, so dont worry you will most likely keep improving with time please keep us posted on your progress

kind regards Vini :cool:

hi,
yeah youre probably right, i always felt indestructible but it appears not to be the case! Feeling a bit slow today but it comes and goes so i must be on the mend.. if it took you a month to feel normal then i have hope! Sorry to hear about your injury, ive only had a concussion and it scared the crap out of me so i can only imagine how hard a serious head injury must be. I really wish you all the best.

Try checking out www.sportsconcussion.net
Good place to start...get plenty of rest and give yourself time to heal. Contrary to what we found most doctors advised, pushing to get back to the normal routine only proved to worsen and prolong symptoms. The treatment course you take now can have long-term effects, so try and research as much as you can and be your own advocate.

Good luck!

good advice
 

hi duncan the link to the site posted by sc has some good advice, I tryed to go back to work 6 week post damage and it was a disaster, rest seems to be the order of the day ,and NO MORE BANGS ON THE HEAD I have talked to people who are epileptic and often hit there heads and it really can be cumulative, so take care , and go back to the docs, mistakes can and do get made at A& E I was sent home at 4am past out in bed had to get to another hospital 30 miles away then sent home again with multiple skull fracture for six days on day two, I got a CSF blood, leak coming out my nose I went to have the plates fitted and they freaked and sent me for an MIR finally got the bones fixed 13 days after I was injured I new nothing about head injury and couldn't help myself to get something done so like sc says make sure you get what you need keep us posted

kind regards Vini ;)

rest does seem to be the key for sure- the other day when i was feeling a bit better i thought 'great- i can do everything now i feel better' and the next day i felt wrecked again, still do. just started a new job today as well, arrgh!
clinical amounts of coffee seems to help though..

good sign
 

hi duncan its a good sign that you are having better days

take it easy and good luck with the new job

vini

thanks man. ill try and take it easy.

Hi Duncan,

Welcome, I'm new here also. I am not sure what all of your symptoms mean, but I know I have had very similar symptoms after my car accident. I was diagnosed in the ER with concussion, Post-Concussive Syndrome, two broken ribs, etc. But as in your case, not much was done. The ambulatory team simply sent me home after determining my blood pressure and that I had a pulse, so they were even worse.

What did help was getting an MRI, so that there was "concrete" evidence that I DID (and still do) have brain damage resulting from this particular accident. At least I didn't think I was crazy anymore - the Doctors in the ER were saying if they thought I needed an MRI at 4 a.m. they would order one; but the thing was, no one was there to run the thing so it was out of the question. I had to get a referral and then they finally (two weeks later) located the origin of my problems. I don't want to sound discouraging, but perhaps you should look into getting an MRI done, just to be on the safe side of things and, even tho' sometimes it's not what you want to see or hear (as in my case), it is a relief, because if people / family around you doubt that you're feeling horrid (as they did in my case) at least you have proof right there in your hand.

Also - brain and neck injuries can and do get worse so they should be checked out. If you can find a really GOOD chiropractor (I seem to have found a good one) - and I say this with caution because there are some out there who will only want you coming back for more - then by all means, go get adjusted. But make sure you get some good referrals first, don't just go to the first one in the phone book.

Research on the net if you are able to (I know I couldn't use the computer much at all during my first 2 weeks) - you will be able to connect a lot with what you are going through - I know I did. At 2 weeks out - you could still be dealing with PCS (post-concussive) issues, and those may go away sooner or later (hopefully sooner) and you won't have any more to worry about. But I would worry about the injury to your neck, and it wouldn't hurt to get some images of your neck and an MRI of your brain just to see if something didn't get knocked loose - I have a couple marbles missing myself :D So you're in good company.

My symptoms which I have still (some 4 weeks after my car accident) are similar to yours which is why I responded to your post:

- extreme tiredness (can't even get through a single day)... :Zzzz:
Not me before the wreck, as anyone would tell you!

- inability to concentrate

- inability to process information

That inability to process information could be brain-related also; it was in my case. So be careful not to fall into the assumption the doctors at the ER make a lot of times - that its PCS and will go away in "four weeks" :icon_evil: The bottom line is, if they aren't looking into your brain on CT scan or MRI, they do not know. I had to find that out for myself the hard way. So see if you can get an MRI if you can afford it and have health insurance. It's better to be safe than sorry - as the old saying goes. Take care, I hope you find a way around your injuries... and back to yourself. :) I'm still looking for me. I know I'm somewhere around here, lol

hi tigress, thanks for posting. i know how you feel, especially the tiredness- its a killer. However i have discovered something that seems to help- ginkgo biloba. I started taking it 3 days ago, and for the past 2 days i've had the most energy and clarity since i hit my head. i dont wanna speak too soon, and maybe thats not whats helping but i definitely have been feeling a lot better. Maybe it would help you too..
The neck though, is still just the same- if it doesnt get better soon i will have to get it seen to. I did consider a chiropractor actually,if it doesn't get better, but as you said, its hard to know if they're good or not.
Another weird thing that just started is this twitch in my leg. Who knows if it's related but it's driving me mad. The muscle above my knee twitches, involuntarily, all the time. I couldn't sleep last night for it!! Maybe a side effect of the ginkgo.. still worth it though.
It's still early days for both of us though, so there is hope. Let me know how you're getting on.

Little help for duncan ...
 

Duncan,

Hello, Duncan. You mentioned "The thing im a bit concerned about is the cracking in the back of my neck, has anyone else experienced this?" Well, I absolutely have ! I want to say with the strongest emphasis that if you NEED TO SEE A NEUROLOGIST ... like, yesterday! If your doc is a brain doctor, express your deep concern. It's a legit issue.

I had a motor vehicle accident and I broke my neck in 2 places. The Thoracic vertebrates have been fused to the Cervical vertebrates via a titanium rod. I was also in a coma for over a month.

If you have ANYTHING similar, I implore you to get a doctor (specializing in brain and spinal cord injuries) to look you over. What you've been describing sounds very similar to an injury to your brain. I may be 100% wrong, but please get that ruled out.

If you ever need someone to talk to or questions answered from someone who's lived through it, please don't hesitate to send me a message (if your new ... look in the right corner of your screen, and click "Private Messages")

Good luck & God speed!

Joe M

hi joe
thanks for telling me that, you've convinced me to demand some proper treatment.. one question though, is it the cracking in my neck that makes you think i could have some brain injury or because of the other symptoms? I ask this because the other symptoms seem (touch wood) to be getting better, despite the fact a bike fell on my head the other day!! (i work in a bike shop) but the neck is still the same..
Could i be walking around with a broken neck all this time?
Cheers, Duncan.
i was gonna send this as a pm by the way, but couldnt get it to work for some reason.

Duncan, I would NOT let a chiro touch me until I had exhausted all other options. DO see a specialist as has been suggested. I wish you well.

Duncan
 

Hi, you should definitely have your spine xrayed. I am in my 7th year of pcs and have had a continual battle with getting "good" help and information.

I have only recently had my xrays taken by a chiropractor and she also looked at my MRI.( she is a relation who sepcialises in cranial massage for new born babies). AND guess what!! The MRI shows that in the past I would probably have had broken bones around my sinus as one of the passages is so crooked and narrow and there is a piece of bone showing that she told me has broken off either my first or second vertebra.

It sounds weird but I felt like cheering as finally some evidence of a severe knock - all the time that I have been told by the insurer's specialists that my concussions were only minor and that the effects are more than you would expect for such minor bangs to the head. They didn't accept my QEEG report. So finally I could see something physical - immense relief.

So Duncan, trust your instincts, there are not that many specialists/doctors etc that actually know a lot about concussion. If you don't agree with anything you are told keep going until your find somebody that you can trust.

In the meantime avoid being over tired and learn to pace yourself - in my 7 years of this pcs, tiredness is the cause of most of the symptons. It is hard to accept that less effort is better and to not think that you are being lazy.

In the initial time after my accident - and yes concussion is cumulative - I am a walking example of this - I pushed myself and kept tyrying to work full time etc and it was the worse thing that I could have done. The A&E that I went to actually accused me of being a fraud when I kept going back saying that I felt really terrible and still had headaches - it was a nightmare. A neuro/psychologist eventually said I had pcs and that was over 3 months later.

Lynlee

well well, i finally made the doctor (reluctantly) refer me to a neurologist.. i was at the hospital yesterday with a broken finger (it never ends!) and tried to get them to x-ray my neck at the same time but no luck. why are people so reluctant to help? its like pulling teeth to get even the most basic treatment!! anyway the doc finally gave in, probably to shut me up as much as anything else. hopefully the neurologist will take the neck thing seriously and i can see if there is anything wrong or not..
anyway, thanks everyone who's given me advice and whatnot, it really makes a difference.

Oweee!!! How did you break your finger???

well, i was riding my bike again. probably not a great idea i know but i thought it might make me feel better, and it did. until i broke my finger. haha.

You're sounding quite upbeat and happy in your posts which suggests that you are quickly mending as PCS almost always makes you low and anxious. I did the same as you, came off the back of my BMX and wacked my head on the floor. I was confused and disorientated for about 20 minutes after and I don't remember much of it then I started to develop PCS a few days later. Again the docs told me I was fine as I checked out fine in their scans and neurological assesments but even now 7 months on I'm basically a different guy to who I was before my accident. I had the gushing sound in one ear (which I still get when tired), was sensitive to light and sound and suffered severe deperonalisation, derealisation, depression and anxiety. It was hell. Fortunately you seem to be ok but yes, get your neck checked out as I've heard lots of stories of people who think they have PCS when actually their neck is just out of line. All the best.

yeah you're right i have been feeling a bit more cheery of late, although i seem to have bad mood swings which i never used to, its just that i dont really feel like posting when im feeling low.. i think it may well be to do with my neck actually, because when i turn my head the rushing in my ears increases as well as the visual disturbances. Im wondering also, just how much of all this is psychological. I mean i know there are physical symptoms, but for me anyway i dont notice much anymore when im in social situations or if im busy with something. I suppose thats because im getting better but even in the beginning i found that a positive outlook made a massive difference to how i felt.... makes me wonder if anyone actually gets better or if we just adjust? anyway, i hope you feel better too. Just out of interest are you still riding?

Take time to rest duncan. I went through a concussion but all of that has cleared pretty much except the extreme anxiety attacks / depression. But thats attributed to my PTSD which was linked to a past of anxiety previously, the accident just sent me off. When i'm not on the brink of some anxiety moment or attack i feel fine just a bit disconnected with depersonalization, which is normal with PTSD and people who suffer from an anxiety disorders. It sucks but I'll get through it too. Just be patient.

hmm, yeah i probably should rest more but i just itch to ride all the time... i guess im lucky i still can. i definitely think more before throwing myself at something now.