Why do small bumps cause symptoms for so long?
 

After my PCS started, I noticed that small bumps are enough to cause symptoms of a concussion for a long time (a few hours or even a day).

For example, I was at a party yesterday, and a friend of mine has thrown a rice-filled ball (or a small stress-ball) and it hit me in the back of the head above the neck. It probably weighs a few hundreds of grams (it's one of these small balls that can be covered inside the head and pressed).

I immediately got startled because of this and got anxious that some damage might have occurred, but I quickly calmed myself down.

Even though it was almost a day ago, I feel some neck pain and dizziness which I didn't feel in the last few days. I don't think it's from anxiety - I calmed myself down quickly after.

Why so such small bumps cause me symptoms that you get after a concussion? That ball was maybe 300-400 grams - it was thrown in a high speed, but is it really enough to cause me a sub-concussive impact that leads to such symptoms?

If it's not an impact, so where all these symptoms come from? As I said, I get anxious because it hit me in the head pretty quick, but I quickly calmed myself so I don't think my symptoms now are related to anxiety. Could such a ball thrown to the head cause a small impact that leads to concussion-like symptoms?

Thanks,
-ProAgonist

Upper neck
 

I have the exact same problem - but I can have symptoms for days!

I dont have an answer, but I think the symptoms is upper-neck or brainstem related.

I have had some big and a lot om small impacs, and it takes less and less to get symptoms (and obviously hitting a foam pillow lightly can not give a concussion), so my best guess is, that my nervous system reacts when something happens, which reminds it of the original injury, perhaps because my deep-upper
-neck muscles is not working properly, so my nervous system is in a constant fight or flight mode.

But just a guess....

There have been a hundred posts like this recently. Read them...

The only thing I've found to help is curcumin and PEMF therapy.

I think there can be a variety of causes for symptoms.
The startle can cause a muscle reaction that can effect a subtle neck injury.
The chemical flow from the anxiety of the startle response can take a while to correct. One may calm the physical part and thought part of the startle but the chemical (adrenaline) part can take much longer.

I know how long it can take to get the chemical response to settle down. I experience it myself. I do not get anxious about the impact. I only react to the startle. The PCS brain can easily over-react chemically. I've experienced times when I am 'on edge' for a day or longer even though I can not thinking about the bump.

It can be annoying to have to put up with these longer responses but I don't think there is anything that can be done to settle the body without a medication. I have used propranolol to help with the settling if it lasts to long or is too intense.

TheNorwegian,

Thank you for the reply. Your explanation makes a lot of sense! I hope this gets better as I recover.

Mark,

Thank you for the reply. Is it possible for the brain to become desensitized to this type of impact during the healing process? Have you experienced times when you recovered faster and times you recovered slower from small impacts?

The more I ignore these small impacts, the faster I recover. If I focus on them, my recovery can be longer. That usually means an anxiety component is part of the delayed recovery.

I agree with you. I was on my way back from a party a fortnight ago and was drunk. I encountered many road bumps on my way back but felt totally normal.

BINGO!

i experience this all the time. and i blame my anxiety.

However if you got hit with one of those little bean bags at a high speed in the back of the head, its hard to say if it is indeed an anxiety issue so i understand the poster 100 percent.

Anybody who believes a rice filled ball, even at a fast speed can cause a concussion, is beyond reasonable. The physics of such a light weight that is also grossly deformable means the impact force is very low.

Cops fire 'non-lethal' bean bag rounds out of shotguns at 800 feet per second (250 meters per second or 880 k/h). They leave a minor welt on the skin but do no damage to internal organs. Yes, they sting. But, the light weight means no energy is transferred to the target.

I'm to the point that I do not even want to address such ridiculous ideas. They are just anxiety. The startle of such hits can last if the person lets the anxiety take over.

I agree with you Mark. Since my concussion i been lightly headbutted a few times, hit my head on walls, hit concrete doing a pushup, and hit my head getting inside a car ... and these thing never caused PCS symptoms but my anxiety / depression made me think so initially.

Depression / Anxiety and PCS is not a good mix.