PCS and anxiety
 

I hit my head 4 months ago with little fanfare. However, 6 days later, I had a panic attack because I was worrying like crazy. It was only AFTER the panic attack, that my symptoms started. The symptoms took about a month to subside.

2 months ago, I smoked marijuana and had another panic attack. Back came the symptoms, which are present today.

I have no history of panic attacks and no history of major anxiety (although anxiety does run in the family). I've used marijuana rarely throughout my life, but never had such a reaction.
I've seen my DR and a neurologist. Neurologist suggested I might have GAD.

Could the hit to my head have "brought out" the anxiety in me?
Is this medical or psychological in nature? Or both?
Any advice on what to do next in terms of treatment?

Part of me wants to wait it out, part of me wants to seek help. I'm terrified my DR will refer me to a psych who will simply dispense SSRIs and send me on my way.

Pcs
 

Hello and welcome here. Neurotalk is a good place. What you are describing with getting panic attacks sure sounds like post concussion syndrome. You probably did get a concussion, but didn't realize it, and the panic you feel is from your injured brain.

I don't know why panic can be a symptom of a concussion, and anxiety is too, but I look at it this way. It's your injured brain telling you it needs rest.

I hope you can find some calm and quiet to really rest your brain. Limit screens including TV, computer, phone. Eat good food and check out the stickie at the top with the vitamins and supplements. This is no cure all.

As for smoking marajuana, well, your brain chemisty may be differnent now due to your injury. Alcohol too might affect you much more than it did before. You need to rethink smoking anything in order to get your brain to heal.

I have to be very careful with alcohol now and my hubby makes wine. It's best if I stay away from it.

Keep asking your questions and giving us your symptoms. Other, experienced people will weigh in here.

Take care,

poetrymom

Try to think of a panic attack as your brain being given too much information to process and not being able to sort it out so it can process it one piece at a time. The concussed brain has much less ability to sort out information and stimulations so it will tend to go into panic mode with lesser amounts of over-stimulation. Altering brain chemistry can make this even more of a problem.

It sounds to me as if you need to learn to live with a very sensitive brain, at least for the near future. This may be a long term issue.

Learning to let go of worries and such is extremely important with PCS. Maybe a therapist who understands PCS can help you learn some coping strategies. You may be able to get a referral from a Neuro Rehab clinic or hospital.

My best to you.

The good news (if any) is that I haven't even come close to having a panic attack. I can control that very effectively.

I just can't tell if my symptoms are from PCS, which are leading to anxiety
OR
if my symptoms are from anxiety, period.

Previous to having the panic attack episode, my symptoms were starting to go away. I smoked marijuana with the intent of helping to calm myself. Unfortunately, that backfired. :(

Panic attacks and anxiety are from stress. PCS just lowers your threshold for tolerating stress. Don't worry about the difference between PCS anxiety and generic anxiety. They both effect you the same. You need to convince yourself that worry about your PCS and anxiety is detrimental to recovery.