Anxiety about small impacts to head
 

Hello,

This is going to be an "annoying" question, so bear with me.

Ever since my second concussion, I've had anxiety about even small things hitting my head. Sometimes I get symptoms from these things but I'm not sure how to know if it's a concussion. I no longer have daily concussion headaches so when I get headaches now, I notice. I am writing this to help put my anxiety to rest.

Would any of the following cause a concussion, or just anxiety? (all of these things were accidental of course)

-grabbing your nose, and jolting your head to the side with it (I was wiping my nose)
-poking yourself hard in the head while grooming/washing
-missing a bottom step on the stairs and landing hard on your feet (no head impact, just sort of thudding hard on your feet)
-going over large potholes in the car
-being slapped on the back

that's all I can think of for now, but I know there's more.

I guess my question is, how hard do you have to hit your head to get a concussion? My first two were obvious - heavy doors/doorways hitting my head.


Thank you for your honesty and patience.

There is a difference between suffering a new concussion and just causing a relapse of symptoms. Plus, anxiety can cause a relapse of symptoms. I don't think any of the 'impacts' you mentioned are likely to cause a concussion. But, they can cause anxiety and stress that can cause symptoms to return.

You will be better off if you accept that these are not concussions. If you have an impact that causes that immediate dazed and confused feeling, that would be a concussion. If you do not have that feeling, please try to not get anxious. Anxiety can be your worst enemy. Keep in mind that these events can cause a startle to your system with resulting symptoms. That startle can cause an involuntary anxiety reaction. Recognizing this startle reaction will help you say to yourself, "This will pass. Take a deep breath and try to relax."

I agree with Mark the impact has to be pretty hard to have any effect. Since my concussion I've hit my head on a tyre whilst working under a car and knocked it on a campervan door frame whilst getting in without any symptoms appearing. Both were just bumps unlike the concussion which was a violent insult.

I don't think any of the incidents in your list can cause concussion, the human body is designed to withstand everyday knocks.

Thank you. That is helpful. These are hopefully the last things I will ask for a long while:

-Do you know if it is okay to shake things up and a down or side to side, like a bottle of salad dressing, a package of spices, etc.?
-playing violin (it used to give me awful headaches bc the sound is right in your ear, but then I wondered if because your head is basically sitting on a wooden block, and there's a lot of jolting back and forth (I used to be kind of an intense violinist before my concussions, I played for like a decade before myy first concussion a year ago, and I was wondering if it would be safe to return). it makes me nervous, bc I can't play without moving a lot, which makes me nauseas. but I don't know if that's just nauseau or if it's actually bad for me.

You can learn to shake things without the head shaking. I do it daily. We drink non-homogenized milk and the cream settles. I have had to learn to shake it without shaking my head. It's simply a matter of stiffening your upper body.

The violin playing should not be a problem from what I understand about it. But, if you have an upper neck issue that is unresolved, the stiff neck holding the violin may be an issue. I've see violinists put a folded hand towel over the need of the violin so they do not have to bend the neck as much to hold the violin.

Claired,

I have the same problems. My anxiety is so bad.
If you want you cant write me a private message.

Anja

I used to have this feeling too. It's an awful feeling to have. I got over it by just letting go, and not worrying about it so much. i am still very cautions about not hitting my head again, but in a case I come accros some situation like you named above I would just tell myself that it is not another concussion, your going to fine.


Best of luck!

Sam

Thank you all for your helpful words. I have been getting a bit better at ignoring these things this week, but today something happened that really scared me.
We have one of those newer front-load washing machines, and when it spins on high it makes a huuuge racket and shakes the whole house (like you can literally see the thing jumping up and down). It goes on several minutes, and you can feel the vibrations through the floor. In retrospect I should have left the house, because now I'm extremely nauseous.

You are nauseous from the anxiety from the over-stimulation. Not uncommon.

Your washer should not be vibrating so much. It may need the feet adjusted or some other adjustment. There are vibration dampeners that are supposed to handle this. They may be worn out or the washer may have never been set up correctly. There are clamps in some washers that need to be removed prior to use. These clamps hold everything in place during shipping.

Here are some other ways to reduce vibration from http://joneakes.com/jons-fixit-datab...ashing-machine
"Precaution number two: a primary element that creates vibration is too much soap. I am serious. Some manufacturers specify low suds soaps, and in general we tend to use too much soap in all our machines. Just a suggestion of a bubble on the water is the limit of soap. The reason too much soap causes a problem is that the suds displace the clothes in such a manner as to create the imbalance. Along with this you really should sort your clothes not only by colour, but by density. Washing very light material with very dense material will cause vibration as well. This is not much of a problem with the top loading machines but it is important for front loading machines. Also small loads do not work well in front loading machines."
Jon has a lot more to say about vibration. Check the link.

I know how this over-stimulation can be a problem. We don't have the vibration problem but I still have to make sure the washer and/or dryer is set up correctly and the door to the laundry room is closed. The stimulation can be exhausting.

THank you for the links. Yes, we don't have a "laundry room" per say, it's just in our kitchen, so it's sort of "in your face" so to speak. Jon in the article is right - the dishes really do "walk themselves" out of the cupboard. It's disconcerting when you're in the room, I guess the anxiety was caused from fear the vibrations would be bad for my head. I guess that's what happens when you have an old wooden house!