Two concussions - symptoms returning from running?
 

Hi everyone,

This is my first post in this forum, there seems to be a lot of good information and knowledgable people here who have had similar experiences as myself. I'm very much looking forward to sharing experiences and advice.

I had a pretty severe concussion while boxing about 2.5 years ago, and a much less severe concussion playing hockey about 10 months ago (non-contact league...just got bumped in the head by a guy's shoulder). Since then, I've stopped all contact sports and have really tried my best to take care of my head.

However, this summer (starting beginning of June) I've taken up running outside again. For the past 7 weeks, I've been dealing with horrible feelings of weakness, muscle achiness, headaches, irritability and mood swings, inability to concentrate at work, and sometimes fatigue. I noticed in the last 8 weeks or so I was getting WORSE at running.

I was pretty bad for a few weeks and then decided to take it VERY easy for 2 weeks, i.e. didn't go to work for a week, slept early every night, no exercise. I got a lot better up until last weekend. I stayed out very late one night, and the next night got (too) drunk. I know....sounds really dumb....but I thought I was better.

This last week has been horrible, with all of the above symptoms. Mostly, the horrible weakness feeling. I am often out of breath from chewing my food.

I am going for a CT scan on Tuesday, but I was wondering if anyone had similar experiences or heard of anyone aggravating their PCS by running, especially so long after the initial head traumas. The only thing I can think of is the impact on the hard pavement is rattling my brain.

This honestly feels like when I had mono, but without the sore throat and swollen lymph nodes. I cant do anything. I cant take my dog for a 10 minute walk without feeling like a feeble old man.

I am a 26 year old male, I also have ulcerative colitis, but it has been under control and I don't think has anything to do with this.

Any feedback is much appreciated.

Thank you

Bas

I think you are right about the brain jarring from the foot pounding. Try running or walking with foam ear plugs in. You will hear the pounding as it impacts your brain.

The CT is not going to help unless you have serious head aches and /or a loss of motor control like a stroke would cause.

You do not want CT radiation on your brain if you can avoid it.

How's your neck, specifically your upper neck ?

Have you tried icing your upper neck and back of your head when you get a head ache ?

Have you read the vitamins sticky at the top of this forum ?

When you are out of breath, try to notice if you have been holding your gut tense and holding your breath. This can be a problem with PCS.

I have had a lot of struggle with breathing since my mTBI in 2001. Being aware of breathing can be a help.

My best to you.

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Mark,

Thank you for the quick reply.

You are right about the CT, I think my doc wants to rule out anything more serious.

My neck is horrible. It has been a constant problem since my concussion. I always thought that it was whiplash and that I haven't let it heal properly by working out, etc. But it's been over two years and there are a lot of things I can't do because my neck will get incredibly stiff and cause really bad headaches. Is this something that you know about?

I actually put ice on my neck last night when I had a headache...it just felt instinctive that I needed to do that. Is that something that I should be doing regularly?

That is very interesting about the breathing and gut tightness...I have definitely noticed that. I try to take deep breaths when I notice this. Is there a sticky here on that as well that has more information? I will go read the vitamin sticky now.

Thanks again for the input, looking forward to hearing more.

Bas

Two years does not necessarily heal an injured neck. You may have torn tendons and / or ligaments. Icing and learning good neck posture behaviors is important. This means resting and sleeping with your head supported so it can not tip or rotate to a bad position.

It is difficult to find good help and treatment for these neck injuries. The treatment should not be aggressive. Some light traction and mobilizing can be helpful.

Upper cervical chiropractic (NUCCA.org for a referral) and atlas orthogonal chiropractic can be helpful. Google " atlas orthogonal " for chiros.

The biggest issue is postural behaviors, especially during sleep and resting.

I wanted to share two things:

I have had gentle C1,C2 adjustments to the neck, as well as ultrasound to the neck area that seemed to have helped.

also, sleeping on a small buckwheat pillow also seems to help.

best of luck!

.
 

Mark, thanks for that information. I will check out those websites and perhaps see if there are physiotherapists in my area that specialize in concussion related injuries and neck injuries.

I want to thank you for your input....you've been more helpful in the last few days than any of the doctors I've seen, regarding what I should expect after my concussion and how to deal with it. I don't say this with any disrespect to the doctors I have seen, but I think that concussions and PCS are so new to the public eye and the symptoms differ so widely between people that there aren't many doctors well versed in this area.


berkeleybrain: Thank you for your input as well! I will look into the buckwheat pillows. I have my two pillows adjusted pretty well so that my neck is supported in a good position when I sleep. I find that I need to sleep on my back, legs straight down, and head in a good position. Any other positions, like on my side, really cause me issues in the morning.

;)Hi,
I have a very similar story to yours. 4th concussion was a severe one 12 years ago when I over rotated a back flip snowboarding.

Fast forward to last dec 9 when I received my 5th, after taking a shoulder to the head in a no- check hockey league. The hit didn't seem bad at first and I didn't go down and actually finished my shift. The symptoms set in mildly in the locker room and progressed and peaked around day 3. They have persisted since.

I soon after (march) tried to return to surfing and smacked my face off of a wave which in most cases would have not been an issue at all. Instead i saw stars and have been dealing with ultra sensitivity to any jarring or sudden movement from things as innocent as a sneeze since.

My very active lifestyle has ceased to exist. Hockey is done , surfing, hopefully some day I can return?


Running is definitely something that aggravates my PCS symptoms.
My advice is to take it slow. Try swimming or biking for exercise. They are two of the only things that I can do and I keep them in short duration to avoid a worsening headache.

I am on month 9 and wish I wouldn't have made it worse early on by not taking it easy.

Best, Nolan

Pillow for neck
 

I crashed skiing back in march, definitely had a whiplash concussion. I am not sure how badly I injured my neck during the crash. Over time, I got so depressed with the concussion that my entire posture changed, I was super hunched over and prone all the time. This causes your neck to have to use different muscles to hold the head up, mainly the oscipitals in the back of your neck.

What I found was that this pain/stress in your oscipitals is connected to muscles that run along the sides of your head and thus can create pretty bad headaches and eye strain. My solution had several parts. Change my posture, hold your head up and tuck your chin slightly. I also bought a special pillow that helps create the curve that your neck is supposed to have. Finally, I saw a PT who helped me with some neck exercises to strengthen the muscles that should be holding your head up. I lay down on my back and raise my head up and hold for 10 seconds, repeat 5 times or so. You can hold longer as you get stronger.

Anyway, I found this to help a lot!

Noland, thank you for sharing your experiences. It's good to know that someone else has issues with running as well. I'm sorry to hear about your latest string of concussions. You definitely are right, that the worst part is impatience in trying to get back into things because you think you feel better and then making things worse in the end. Hang in there, try and be patient, I hope your symptoms resolve as soon as possible.

ClayR, thanks for the advice. I am booking an appointment with a sports injury clinic this week. They actually have post concussion testing, but I think I'm too far from the actual concussion to be able to utilize this. I will inform them about my next, hopefully they can help me out. It's been getting better since I've done no physical exercise for a few weeks. I thought I was feeling a lot better on Weds and tried 3 sets of 10 pushups (really light...compared to my regular workouts) and the next morning I was so dizzy I could barely walk. Neck felt horrible too. I've promised to take the next week or two off anything and try again, but go VERY light.

Thanks again for both of you.

Bas

Bas,
Definitely stop running, at least for a good while and if you start again, don't do it on a hard surface.

I had problems even walking on a hard surface when I first got PCS. This might be hard to believe, but I could feel the jarring going right to the back of my head.

If you feel that it is jarring that is because it IS jarring, and you need to stop doing it before you get the condition permanently.

Nolan gives excellent advice to try cycling. I found that even when I was at my worst, I could cycle with no jarring effects. You can even use a stationary bike. A cross-trainer seems to be OK too. Before running I would try walking for exercise. If you can do it on soft ground, even better.

Good luck,
CS