5 months after concussion, feeling better BUT...
 

Hey guys, it's been a while,

Anyway here's my story:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ghlight=hockey

Cliffs:

- massive concussion during hockey game on October 13th (lost consciousness for 5-8 minutes)
- a broken nose
- a broken cheekbone
- a perforated sinus
- 4 of my teeth went numb
- damaged shoulder ligaments + damaged rotator cuff
- Massive PCS starting 2 weeks after accident. Lasted somewhat until 3 weeks ago.


Anyway so the PCS symptoms seem to have disappeared from my "everyday" life, no headaches, no dizziness, no sensitivity to light, etc... so the physio gave me the green light to start exercising again about 3 weeks ago. The first few weeks I went real slow, nothing serious, it was the first time in 4+ months since I had done exercise.

But now, doing stationary biking and lifting exercises is fine but after a 45-50 minute gym session I get dizzy, lightheaded and every time I want to crank it up a bit (benchpress, pullups, HIIT...) I feel like hell. I feel nauseous, dizzy, lightheaded and feel like my head is turning.

Also, things like laser-tag and clubbing make the symptoms come back again, went clubbing last night, didn't drink alcohol (haven't since the accident btw), this morning, I felt like I had a hangover, massive headache, felt like hell. I'm 99% sure it's the loud music and lights so I should avoid going back until I'm better. So I'm not 100% yet.

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But, I've been getting these massive stomach aches, started around the 25th of february. It started one night when I had beef burgers, lots of fries (low fat) and salad. About 1 hour after the meal, it started and I was literally twisting and turning for 5-6 hours, until I went to bed.

Ever since, I get these massive stomach aches, sometimes they are so violent I start sweating. I can't do anything when I get them, I tried to study and work on a paper the other day, it hurt/bothered me so much, I couldn't do a thing. Went uni, couldn't follow what the teacher was saying it hurt so bad. Ever since the day it started, I get these stomach aches often times after a meal, sometimes after a coffee or sometimes out of no where when I've only been sipping on water. When I don't get a stomach ache, my stomach feels irritated, not normal. I just feel there's something not right. I do not have diarrhea, not problem whatsoever there. Everything is normal. Mornings seem better, don't have a stomach ache when I wake up.

Cliffs: stomach aches:

-Sometimes after a meal, sometimes after a coffee or tea, or sometimes out of nowhere
-Incredibly painful stomach aches, like cramps, start sweating sometimes it's so bad
-Virtually impossible to do something when I have one, only thing to do is to lie down or sit down.
-NO DIARRHEA, nothing wrong on that end of the line.
-Can last 1 hour, 2 hours or even 5+ hours.

For a week now, this has truly been ruining my life.

Can it be my diet? (I've tried to eat no bread and no pasta for a month now, kinda like a paleo diet, felt fantastic in the beginning, I just feel better without those types of food (less sluggish, less mind fog,...). Went to get some stomach pills at the pharmacy, the lady told me that eggs (I've been eating tons of them) are very rough on the stomach and hard to digest. She thinks my stomach is irritated because of that.

Or can it be a consequence of my concussion? I heard that taking lots of NSAID pills can damage your stomach. I was popping those in (advil, ibruprofen, tylenol,...) like candy for at least 3 months, now I take a few a week. Can it be that?

I've been looking online and I think I might have a Peptic Ulcer. I read that causes can be: taking lots of NSAID drugs.

What do you think guys?

Is it slightly to the left? Maybe gallbladder? Could be an ulcer too. Gallbladder you could try a lowfat diet and do some googling on other foods that may trigger it (fats, spices, etc) I had mine out quite a while back and I don't remember all the triggers I just remember it hurt like heck!! Sticking to a bland lower fat diet for a few months made it all go away until I could have it removed.

I've also had an ulcer and again pain was excruciating but lower down and more in the middle. Food and stress relief helped with that one.

Congrats on recovering so quickly from your concussion! You might want to be careful not to totally over do it! Remember too though that a heavy workout will naturally cause fatigue, pain, lightheadedness etc in a deconditioned person.

Good luck
CC

Have you considered maybe a hiatal hernia ? It is when the top of the stomach bulges up through the diaphragm. It can come from straining efforts.

I have had hiatal hernias. They can cause the stomach pain you describe. The doc taught me to resolve mine by doing heal drops. On a solid floor, concrete or such, rise on your toes and drop your heals to the floor. The jar can pull your stomach back into place. In some extreme hiatal hernias, surgical intervention is required. They can do it with a laparoscope. Ask you doctor about your symptoms if the heal drop does not help.

My chronic TOS can also cause stomach trouble. My physical therapist helps me with that.

You may be putting too much effort into your exercise.

In have a friend who is currently going through the gall bladder pain problem. He does not have gall stones. He has a 90% clogged bile duct and weak wall to his gall bladder. When his gall bladder needs to release bile, very little is released. A ruptured gall bladder can be a serious issue. There are some imaging systems that can diagnose these problems.

I haven't done anything out of the ordinary. Just biking, benchpress, shoulders, legpress,... To be precise it doesn't feel like that, it does feel like my stomach is constantly under pressure from an ulcer type of thing, always irritated. It's been better today but these past few days have been hell.

You said, "it does feel like my stomach is constantly under pressure from an ulcer type of thing, always irritated."

Have you had ulcers in the past ?

How do you define an ulcer type of thing ?

No I havent. But you re right, it can be what you said. Its just that Ive been looking up all of my symptoms and ulcer would always pop up.

Mind you, im definitely going to see my doc this week.