Anxiety and concussions
 

Hello guys,

I haven't been hear in over a year and just want to spread my message.
Two years ago I thought my brain was damaged. I had all the symptoms you could imagine. I was detached, dizzy, had blurry vision and a set of crazy symptoms I'll never forget.
It all started when I bumped my head and I got a headache. I thought I had a concussion and a week later I sarted feeling miserable. I went from doctor to doctor but they could not find anything. I went to the ER and to every specialist around. It was a horrible time and I no treatment helped.
The doctors looked at me and just shrugged their shoulders and told me that my nervous system was probably damaged, some just stared at me with a funny look, like if I was crazy.
I was then send to a neuropsychologist. I remeber that session. I was sitting in front of her with dark sunglasses because I thought all the sensation around me would damage my brain even further.
She explained to me that the only thing being wrong with me was my reaction when I bumped my head. She said that it was only in my head and my anxiety caused all of this.
Well I did not belive her at first. What did this **** just say? I am not stupid, I thought, I really suffer from a serious condition and you don't know what I am going through.
But she urged me to believe her and yes it made sense. The x ray, nor the MRI showed anything specific and I just bumped my head. And I had an anxiet issue before all this happened.
But why was I experiencing all the symptoms then?
Anxiety does this to you. It manifest in crazy thoughts and symtomps. I educated myself on the subject and realized that every symptom I experienced was also found in anxiety disorders.
I went to a therapist and I was in fact diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, including health anxiety.
After this diagnosis I went out and did sport for the first time in months. Before that I wouldn't even dare to sneeze or shake my head. I didn't take my meds anymore and faced my fears and it just took a month and the first symptoms started to disappear. It took me a while to get up the courage but in the end I overcame my fears and lost all my symtomps. I do a lot of sport nowadays and lead a happy life.
This is for the people that only have a minor concussion, and didn't pass out or anything. This is also for the people that have had anxiety issues before. I really am convinced that the post concussion syndrome exists but our body is the best healing system in the world and when bumping your head it will quickly repair itself.
Please don't feel offended by my statement. If you can afford it see a neuropsychologist or a doctor that specialized on anxiety. Or just check out this website. You find a list of symptoms when you scroll down. http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms.shtml

Best wishes to everyone!

PS: Please excuse my English!

Lui,

I am glad you found help for your anxiety. I remember expressing concern that anxiety was a big part of your problem.

Good for you.

Yes I was just lucky that I got help! :)
I feel like a lot of people on here are anxiety driven people which do not suffer from a cocussion but anxiety and if anybody feels like anxiety might be their main problem,feel free to message me. I would be happy giving advice!

with a caveat that anxiety can be a symptom of PCS/TBI.

yep, but if the person suffered from anxiety before it can be the other way around and the person creates the concussion symptoms themselves due to imagination.

I appreciate the idea being spread here that anxiety can magnify the very minor symptoms that we may actually have. What about tinnitus and hyperacusis ? How do you relate that to anxiety ? Specially when the tinnitus started soon after the concussion . One possibility I know is upper neck injury .

I suffered from tinnitus very badly, it's also an anxiety symptom. Sorry my limited English skills won't tell me what hyperacusis is...
But all the symptoms people experience with migraines, migraine aura, epilepsy can be found in anxiety as well and oh man I had them all. Derialization, blurred vision etc.
Sure people could tell me that was all concussion related but no a slight bump to the head will never do that to you.
I'll quote my neurologist: "I don't know what's wrong with you and why you still have the symptoms. You would have gotten hit my a cannon ball to still experience such symptoms."
That's why so many doctors might give a wrong diagnosis and label you as "brain damaged" and tell you to take it easy, though the main problem might be anxiety.
Anxiety is a wide subject which is unfortunately not clear to all the doctors/therapists out there.
I will give a short summary about anxiety disorders:
Your nervous system is pretty much playing tricks on you. It's not damaged or anything. In most cases people start suffering from anxiety when under a great deal of stress. (Not the most uncommon thing in our society.)
Their nerves get tired/"bad". You react more sensitive to things and might start experiencing symptoms(detachment from the outside world, blurred vision, or just shaky hands etc...)
I think everybody has heard of the flight/fight system before, the nice gift inherited from our acestors.
Well when your nerves are "bad" it kicks in pretty easily and you develop fears. It can be all kinds of fears, fear of health included.
Every slight change in health can be a reason for the person to panic and imagining illnesses.
In my case I heard of concussion a few weeks before I bumped my head. When I bumped it my "bad nerves" convinced me that I had a concussion. I was under a lot of stress before that.
At that my point my body was so tired and run-down that it just shut off and all the symptoms came into place. The diagnosis of the doctors gave me the rest.
There are many ways leading to anxiety and as many people suffer from it.

I am so glad that you are feeling better.

Yes, anxious people can convince themselves that they have everything from concussion to cancer.

However, TBI patients, especially those with no premorbid history of anxiety/depression should resist - with every fibre of their being - any attempt by lazy/ignorant clinicians to make this the default diagnosis.

Your injury was very mild (not that very real TBI can't result from that), mine wasn't. I was in a serious, high speed MVA. I have anxiety and depression because of my TBI. I don't have TBI symptoms because of anxiety and depression.

In your case, the anxiety was diagnosed by a neuro-psychologist. If, after doing a neuro-psych, mine had told me my TBI symptoms were the product of anxiety, I would have believed her. However, I would never accept that diagnosis of the basis of x-rays and a standard MRI. That would be like saying I don't have throat cancer because I have no cavities. Those tests aren't even close to adequate, let alone conclusive.

As I said, I am sincerely happy that your TBI symptoms have been identified as a manifestation of your anxiety. However, you are the EXCEPTION, not the rule.

I agree. Like I said before, the post was meant for those with a history of anxiety and mild concussions, not for the servere cases on here. Sorry if I offended anyone.

Oh heavens, no. I hope I didn't come across as offended. I do think that a premorbid history of anxiety is important in evaluating TBI. I just worry that too many doctors use it as a cop out for brain injuries they don't understand and/or complex patients they don't want to deal with.

Many doctors have very dismissive attitudes about brain injury patients. As a group, we have to be strong advocates for proper treatment - whatever it turn out to be.