My Story
 

Hello Everyone, just to introduce myself my name is Matt, I am 24 years old.


I received my first concussion from football at age 20. My symptoms were: intense headache, vomiting, nausea, and sleepiness. I was not unconscious and I healed very quickly (in about 1 month I had no more symptoms).

I received my second concussion from snowboarding at age 23. My symptoms were vomiting, nausea, intense head ache, and amnesia. I was unconscious for a very short amount of time (must have only been 5-10 seconds and I have no recollection of the fall, just right before the fall I remember)

It has been one year since my last concussion and I am still not fully healed. The symptoms I am getting right now is reduced memory (I had a very good memory before my second concussion, now I find myself forgetting the names of certain movies etc.) I get head aches while I am at work if it gets too stressful (I work in the finance industry in a contract job I only have 8 weeks left in my contract then I am taking time off until I get better). My head just feels "off" its hard to describe it. My neck is also quite stiff and painful.

I am trying to determine if my brain is still injured or it is now an injury in my neck that is continuing to cause my symptoms or a combination of both. I am starting to think I have occipital neuralgia.

This is my thesis for having occipital neuralgia: My occiptal nerves are quite tender. I have been going to acupuncture. I get accupunture both face up and face down. When i get accupunture when I am face down (so he can put the needles into my neck) sometimes my head does feel quite clear and I feel perfectly fine. Other times it does not seem to help my head very much. I feel like my neck just has alot to do with the symptoms I am still feeling, except it probably does not tie into my reduced memory.

Right now for treatment I am continuing to go to acupuncture three times a week, I am also trying to do light cardio everyday, and taking some supplements.

The supplements I am taking are as follows:
Fish oil, curcumin, pantethine, acetl l carnitine, b12, d3, and b 100 complex.

Basically with this post I wanted to introduce myself to everyone, I lurk around these forums alot. I wanted to talk to someone about how I am feeling, I am pretty depressed about my situation but I understand it could be a whole lot worse (recently me and my girlfriend broke up and my car also got stolen, my car did get recovered though which was good).

I also want to try to understand if it could be just my neck causing my symptoms, or my brain, or both (I think it is a combination of both but I believe my neck is causing a lot of my symptoms).

Does anyone have occiptal neuralgia that has similar symptoms to me? What did you do for treatment?

Well Thanks in advance for the help!

Nex88,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. It sounds like your neck could be contributing to your problems. The combination of neck injury and concussion can be troubling to understand. There are two issues with a neck injury. First, you need to find a way to help the neck achieve proper alignment so it can heal. Some gentle traction and manipulation can help. Second, you need to adopt posture disciplines so the neck is not strained when you are sleeping or resting. Third, good posture during your work day will also be good.

I had to lower my computer screen so I did not need to lift my head to see the screen. I also learned to turn my shoulders if I wanted to turn my head to look to the side. Treat your neck as if it is always symptomatic even when it is not. It takes months for the cervical ligaments to heal and strengthen with proper posture.

Finding the right help with your neck will be a challenge. Most chiropractors are too aggressive. A physical therapist may help if he/she is not obsessed with range of motion gains.

My best to you.

Sorry to hear you're still dealing with symptoms. But I think if you have a hunch about your health, maybe it's worth pursuing. I always find that personally, if I have a feeling something isn't quite right, I'm usually correct about it.

I had a bad whiplash injury with my accident (and three herniated or bulging discs depending on whose looking at the MRI, I prefer to consider them only bulging since it makes me feel better) and I just went to the University of Buffalo concussion clinic. They put me through a ton of tests, things no other docs have done, like having me point laser lights at bulls eyes with my head, all sorts of stuff and they concluded my neck is contributing to my symptoms along with a lingering visual problem from the concussion.

I'm less sure how neck would relate to memory, but maybe if your brain is over-taxed from processing issues (necks have proprioceptors and help tell us where we are in space) or vestibular dysfunction it could cause an overwhelm which would negatively affect your memory. Or maybe that foggy/stressed feeling would then contribute.

Did you hurt your neck when you got your concussion? Have you been to PT?

Also, a physical therapist or someone else could press your occipital spot and see if it triggers the same headaches...that could be a clue.