Lingering PCS and head sensitivity
 

Hello all, I've been lurking on and off for a while and have decided to post. I've had by my count 5 concussions in my life doing various things. PCS has gotten worse and worse, lasting longer with the last 3 concussions. The last one I hit my head in the shower (closed injury), and have had PCS for the past 6 months. It has been a slow recovery so far, generally slow improvement the whole time with some setbacks.

My problem is that my head is very sensitive to shaking, I've had 5 or 6 setbacks recently in the last couple months from simply shaking my head "no" out of reflex when someone asks me a question. It is normal to be this sensitive? It usually take 1-2 weeks to recover from a setback like this, which brings on the full range of PCS, weakness/fatigue, vision/focus trouble, sound/light sensitivity, headache. The other trigger I've found is vibration, running an orbital sander gave me symptoms, as did a massage device at the chiropractor.

If I'm not having these setbacks, PCS isn't ruling my life anymore. I'm still not ready to do anything really active yet, but it's very discouraging to be getting these symptoms from a head shake so small. My current neuro gave me an very unsatisfactory answer (tearing nerve tissue in my neck), which doesn't make sense with the vibration aspect, or that I got PCS from trying to gently shake water out of my ear. Does anyone else experience this? Are there other treatment options that I'm missing?

metmike07,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

Head sensitivity to quick movements is a common problem. As I was reading your post, I was thinking upper neck. Then, your neuro said the same. I'm not agreeing with the nerve tearing idea but can't say he is wrong. Either way, treating your upper neck with discipline may be helpful. I am concerned about upper neck inflammation. This can interrupt blood flow and nerve function.

Twist the head and pop the neck chiro work may be too aggressive. The mechanical massage may be too.

I suggest you work on maintaining good head and neck posture during sleep and resting. This can take a few months of discipline to get to a stable condition. Icing your upper neck may be helpful, especially when you have a headache.

You may need to learn to moderate head shaking movements. I have had to. No quick 'no' for me.

My best to you.

Try looking at what "Dan Higgs96" posted here few years ago (I can't post the link sorry, use search). Maybe you will find that your story sound familiar. He found that a weird diet that completely helped him to get rid of all sensitivity symptoms. And the doctor that advised it also mentioned it helped in a lot of similar situations (including mine).

There are many diets that work, not because of what is in them, but because of what is not. Sometimes, they are just a reason to be disciplined about food. That discipline can make a difference. The diet mentioned has a very large list of foods to avoid. It almost requires an OCD personality to stay on a diet like that.

A diet worth considering is the anti-inflammatory diet. There are many web sites that discuss anti-inflammatory diets.

I based only on what I know. And I know that for me, and for this guy every other means failed to improve symptoms consistently. After all, it's just food, you eat to live not vice versa.

Thanks guys, I will look into an anti-inflammatory diet. I think I do pretty well already, but I could always improve.

Thanks Mark,

I sleep on a contoured neck pillow from Tempurpedic, and have for years. I think I'm good in that departement.

One "symptom" concerning the upper neck that I've noticed is many times I can feel the blood pulsing through my upper neck into the back of my head. It's something I know I couldn't feel before the injury. Consuming alcohol makes this very noticeable, which I've completely stopped these days.

It took me two weeks to feel that diet thing is working. But it was the most strict one. Just a time scale for you to know.

Can you please share your diet? What symptoms have you noticed improvement with?

Of course, I can post links now:
Here is his thread. You should read it and check if your symptoms sound familiar.
Here is his solution. This was his diet.
I recently contacted him and found that he recovered completely, told me that when he had last hit in the head he didn't even noticed anything, he's living a normal life now.