PCS flare-ups or new concussions?
 

Hey guys and gals,

I am about 1 year out of my major incident. Just a few months ago I started feeling pretty darn close to normal. Then on Saturday I turned my head too quickly and immediately felt concussed agan. Headache, droopy eyes, very sleepy, a bit slow. It was like I received another concussion.

I keep grappling with the question of, are these slight turns giving me new concussions and brain damage, or are these simply flare-up symptoms of my prior major injury?

These rapid head turns may be aggravating your injury in 2 very different ways. Your brain may be very sensitive to movement within your skull. If this is the case, you will need to learn to avoid these head movements. It can be done because I have had this limitation for decades.

The second problem may be an unresolved neck injury that causes instability in areas where blood flows to your brain. This is less likely because it usually takes a while for this to trigger a return of symptoms. If it does, icing the upper neck is usually helpful at reducing symptoms.

Getting a accurate diagnosis of this symptoms is near impossible except for your own observations. Doctors will think you are just a hypochondriac. The important issue is to recognize this as a real trigger and find ways to avoid this trigger.

My best to you.

I experience the same thing almost daily. I'm certain its my neck but the symptoms go away within minutes. When I look up artery blocking online I only see material on the carotid artery. Is it possible to have a fractured neck and not know about it?

I felt the same way fairly early on and started limiting any bending,lifting or anything that causes blood flow to the brain, and twisting, turning of the head because I felt like any such movement was giving me mini-concussions.

Ex. bending over into washer,bamm,concusion,grab some clothes, raise up,bam,concussion, turn bend over,bam, concussion, trhow clothes into dryer, raise up,bam, concussion...repeat and do it again.

13 years later, last fall I started just kicking off my shoes and sleeping in whatever I was wearing. That has helped but now what? I am down to the absolute minimum now, I have no idea what else can possibly go next. I'm at the end of that line.

See a spine specialist
 

It could be neck/spine related and not be a fracture. I had a gap between my C2 and C3 vertabrae, which caused me to have terrible headaches! Bending over was the worst! My physical therapist fixed the problem for me and my daily headaches went away! Good luck!