1 month + 1 week, still my head is pounding
 

Hey everyone, just found this forum, read through half a dozen threads (including stickies).

In the last week of July this year I hit my head and was knocked out unconscious for an unknown amount of time. I hit my head in the the top front left area, just a few cm between the frontal and parietal section and about 1.5 cm above my temporal section. I'm not sure how long I was out on the ground, likely only a few minutes or less; no one was around at the time. I suspect I suffered a double concussion from the fall backwards in addition to my brain bouncing from the front to the back after suddenly stopping.

The day of my injury I struggled to write, remember who I was, and other common things that were generally easy to remember for the next 5 hours or so. Prior going to the walk-in clinic the same day, I continued with my work appointments. At the next work appointment I attended, I struggled to keep my balance and fell into the wall several times, slightly hitting my head a second time, although not that hard. I went to the walk in clinic and struggled to remember my name, address, etc. when filling in the new patient form. For the next day and a half I had a slight head ache, but that was it, or so I thought.

Over the following weekend from my injury (injury occurred on a Thursday, went to work on Friday) my head aches started to get worse. I struggled to text message or dial a phone because my hands were shaking and I kept pressing the wrong keys. I started to feel irritable, things seemed blurry, and I couldn't focus or concentrate. Anything that required any sort of brain strategizing or planning made my head want to blow up (tried playing cards). When ever I used a computer, my head hurt. The next coming days, it got so bad that anything moving on two different planes at the same time gave me head aches (i.e. one object moving front to back and another object left to right both within my sight); any light brighter than a candle gave me huge head aches. I couldn't drive, I couldn't use a computer, all these things gave me head aches to the point of wanting to vomit. I had a constant ringing in my ears. I put myself in a dark room and hid from light.

About day 4 I started feeling very emotional, and on day 5 I remember feeling very emotional, very fearful, upset, as if I was living the last moments of my life. My girlfriend had visited me, and when she left, I broke down in tears because I had this weird emotional feeling as if I was going to die and I just saw her for the last time - this is definitely not how I normally feel, prior to injury I was an emotionally stable person. I called my parents, who drove down and took me to the ER the next morning. The doctor there said to take some time off work and follow up with my family physician.

Then the nightmares started, for the first week I had no dreams at all (day 1 to 7 approximately) however I slept 13-16 hours a day, usually 11-12 hours each night then 2-4 hours during the day during naps. Then around day 7 the nightmares started. I don't usually have nightmares, or at least not ones I remember, more than once a month, if not once every few months. Nonetheless, every night, since day 7 I've had nightmares. They range from death, destruction, planetary annihilation, people screaming at me non stop, my family screaming at me, a lot of the time everyone around me dies in my dreams. Once again, this is not something I normally dream of.

Anyway, I'll stop my wall of text in the next few sentences. I still get severe head aches and it has been one month + one week since I hit my head. I've had a CT scan and it showed normal but my short term memory since I hit my head is garbage and it is frustrating as hell. My girlfriend could tell me she's on her way home from university, then an hour later I'll send her a message asking if she's still at school. It is becoming extremely frustrating because ppl will tell me things and in the next 45 minutes I'll forget, or it will take me a lot of effort to remember, and this is happening all the time - previously ppl would say I have a good memory because I would remember little details such as what someone was wearing, colour of shoes, etc etc days later.

Is my brain screwed? Can I make a full recovery? I haven't been back to work since, work stress also triggers these head aches when previously I would have head aches a few times a year. I was a fit, healthy, 28 year old, and had great health up until I hit my head.

A month and a week isn't very long after TBI for recovery.

Sounds like you need to take some serious time off. The brain changes for sure after concussion, and it will continue to change. So, the short answer is, Yes, you can make a full recovery. A lot of people do. It can just take a lot longer than you expect, and you may find aspects of your life changing that you would prefer didn't.

TBI/concussion is like having a tornado go through your town -- some things it trashes, some things it leaves intact, and it's not always clear why. It's also not always clear how the "infrastructure" of your brain is/was affected. Some changes take a while to show up, while others show up right away.

My recommendation is that you treat your head injury like you would treat a tornado that tears through a town with a limited budget -- it takes time to assess how everything has been affected, and it takes time to rebuild. One thing you can do that can help is practice types of breathing that calm down the nervous system and get your system out of fight-flight mode. Slow, measured breathing and relaxation helps take the edge off your high-alert state, which makes it easier for your brain to recover.

That intense high-alert state and the fight-flight priming floods your system with biochemicals that actually hinder healing and learning and higher functioning -- all of which your brain needs. If you breathe slowly in for a count of five, then breathe out slowly for a count of five, that can help retrain your system to calm down. And that may help your nightmares as well.

The worst thing about head injuries is the uncertainty, and that can stress you out and keep you on edge. Rest assured that a lot of us have been through similar, and there are a lot of us who are now back in the game. It's not easy, and it can take time, but it's definitely possible.

HI, I am 12 weeks out and still have blinding headaches and the symptoms you describe.

I've learned the hard way that I what I need to do is rest, rest, rest my brain. I cannot do what I did before right now, but may be able to do so again.

I've recently found a book that is very informative. It is "It's All In Your Head: Everyone's Guide to Managing Concussions" by Ann Engelland. I got it on Amazon for my Kindle. I think this book may help you too.

I just started here a few days again and the most important thing I've learned is I am not alone. There are many wonderful people here who are willing to answer your questions and help you along the way.

Don't be a stranger and keep reading! You will see yourself in many of the stories of their symptoms I'm sure!

First off welcome to NT.

The loss of consciousness and symptoms you describe suggest the concussion was fairly severe.

Have you had a follow up visit with a neurologist? That would seem the logical next step. Since there is no bleeding or other damage that showed up on a CT, consider a referral to a clinical neuropsychologist. They can assess your deficits and suggest a course of therapy.

As brain injuries go yours is very recent. I'm a lot older than you are and I was in the hospital for two months with my TBI. I made what I consider to be a full recovery, likely you will also. No reason to think that your brain is permanently "screwed".

Best to you.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply and give some advice and suggestions.

I haven't seen a neurologist, I would need a referral from my family physician. He's on holidays right now but I'm going to book an appointment with him when he gets back.

Thanks for the suggestion on the book Wndswptlady, I'll take a look at it.

Sorry to hear you had to stay in the hospital for so long Lightrail11, it sounds like you had quite a rough ride.

CerebrumIniuriam & Wndswptlady,

For starters:

Vitamin/Supplements by MarkofIdaho - useful Brain supplements thread on these forums.

Brainline.org - useful informative place to gather information starter.

Everything will first start with REST. Even reading a book can be a challenge. Have someone close - wife, girl/boy-friend read about the information for you.

Turn off TV, Cellphones, lights, noise, etc. Get quiet and comfortable as possible. If you have an injury that could have involved the neck in any way -Ice the neck 4 to 6 times daily , as much as tolerated, to ease the injury there too.

MarkofIdaho had a formula for a cheap ice pack he made up, sounds good to use - ice and isopropyl alcohol I think - can be found on the forums somewhere.

Lightrail and Brokenbrilliant have told you some good things - its all real.

You should be seeing a good Neurologist or Physiatrist(Physical Medicine Specialist) - experienced in TBI care/concussions/PCS) - ask them about their experience.

No one can predict whats going on, whats coming next, whats about to change, what changes can be expected - not even your docs. AND, no MD can tell you with any certainty that its going to be all better in 'such and such' time - if they do they are even fooling themselves.

They need to be listening to YOU, hearing what you are telling them your problems are, and making arrangements for therapies dependent on your symptoms, every time those symptoms change for better or worse - including being very informative as to expected/possible side effects of any possible medications they are recommending for use for your headaches or other problems.

And of course, if you are uncertain afterwards, you always have your new friends here on these forums.

Best Wishes............. :grouphug:

As well as all the above good advice, I would strongly advise you to see a doctor about those headaches.

I suffered for a long time with headaches, migraines, and with this fatigue, noise and light sensitivity, hypercusis. These are all interelated symptoms I believe.

It was only when I was prescribed Cymbalta and Imigran for my headaches that I got my life back. Certain antidepressants and/or triptans can really help post concussive headaches. Please don't suffer like I did, get the right medication to treat your symptoms.

The very best of luck to you.

Thank you for your response. You are 100% right...even being here too long messes with my brain. I am off to the store today to stock up on vitamins and I've changed my diet to include more good protein foods.

I just need to feel like I'm DOING something to help my recovery. Resting while good for the brain is difficult, as I know you all know!

I am so grateful to have found you all!

thank you so much.

I think people get distracted by things such as vitamins, protein etc, not that I am discounting these because they have some value. However the fact is that if you have very severe headaches you most likely need very strong medication for this. Good luck!

Ha just realized in my first post I thought I was 28, wow talk about a head injury, I'm actually 27!!! A lot of the things I mentioned were from a journal I kept as things were pretty hazy back then.

Has anyone experienced long term reoccurence of short term memory loss after mild traumatic head injury? I wasnt in a major car accident or had my head hit by a semi, but I did hit it hard enough to be knocked unconscious for a short period of time. After injury, I still forget little things I never used to forget, to the point where I'm beginning to think I'm a huge liability. A few days ago I left a pot on the oven and the water boiled away completely! Never in my life has this happened to me. Moreover, I've never lost my wallet, car keys, or cell phone for more than a minute (if they're buried under some clothes or whatnot). In the past two months I've lost them countless times (and fortunately found them soon after). I simply just forget where I placed them, even when I try to put them in obvious locations.

I was on the deans list of academic excellence in both college and university, just to add some credibility, and like I said, I'm only 28. I know that it is not normal for me to forget these things like this as previously this wasnt an issue. I still struggle with directions and actually have got lost and gone the wrong way many times; my previous job I used to drive around this city hundreds of km's a week and found my way, now I get lost on routes I've travelled dozens of times.

I have a few additional questions: do any of you struggle with worries people don't believe you and just think you have bad memory? I've had one or two ppl who were supposed to be family friends, but you can tell they just think its you and making excuses when something happens - such as getting lost when driving.

Another question, I went to the gym last week and had really bad head ache after. I actually went to my car and fainted in the car seat, waking up 20-30 minutes later. I tried going to the gym again taking it slower, but I still had a really bad head ache? Is this a PCS thing?

I just can't believe I still have issues. I haven't been back to work yet as the stress at work is like taking mortar shells to my brain. Even thinking about it gives me bad head aches.

Sorry, one other final question, tylenol doesnt seem to help with the pain with these head aches. Advil doesnt help either. I've taken up to 4 x 500mg Tylenol (just to test) and the head aches were still largely there. Is this also a normal PCS thing? I still have a hard time coming to grip with reality that this happened to me in the first place over this stupid injury to the point where I even doubt myself.