Sudden braking in car yesterday
 

So yesterday I was in the passenger seat of my moms car and we were doing around 35 mph. We were in an unfamiliar area and she went to turn and second guessed whether she could and slammed on her brakes. My head flew forward as a result but I tried to keep my neck still and not let myself fly back once the car came to a stop. Not sure what that would help but it felt like the right thing to do. So anyway, after that I completely psyched myself out because I know deceleration can cause another concussion. So when we got home I completely broke down that I was concussed again. For the rest of the day I had really bad neck pain and was dizzy and much foggier with head pressure and a slight headache. My sleep last night was also mildly interrupted. I already had whiplash from my original concussion 9 months ago. My mom and boyfriend think i'm upset/symptomatic because of anxiety and the original neck injury possibly getting jarred a bit but I of course am convinced I have another concussion. Especially since today isn't much better symptom wise. Just wanted to get thoughts from people on here who I know have more experience on the topic.

Have you had any treatments for the neck/whiplash? Or any self care for tight muscles or even trigger points? That might help with some of it..

We do have many past postings on fast braking and anxiety - you can use the search to find those -
https://www.neurotalk.org/search.php
or you can look back through recent threads if that is easier.

I have gone to see a massage therapist a couple of times but other than that no. I have taken motrin and been icing! My anxiety of course just keeps telling me it's not even worth the trouble though because i'm just concussed again and theres nothing i can do, i'm just a sitting duck. Anxiety is a lovely thing:Doh:

The deceleration required to cause a concussion would be so strong that you would have severely bruised your sternum (chest and ribs). You could have aggravated your neck a bit. Breaking alone cannot cause more that 1 g of deceleration, the same as laying down like you do when you go to bed.
The startle, a bit of neck discomfort and such triggered an anxiety attack and maybe a flashback of your concussion that cause your brain to replay the concussion symptoms of the past.

Take a few deep breaths. Try to relay. Find something to distract yourself from your anxious thoughts.

You will be fine.

My best to you.

Mark reading your posts make me feel so much better about how sensitive I believe my brain to be. I always feel so silly with the things I think reconcuss me but it's like I just don't want to prolong this feeling. I feel like I can chalk most of it up to anxiety. I haven't been back to baseline since the car incident but today was a bit better than the past two days. Todays little incident was I was walking out of my room laptop in hand and collided with my mom completely and the laptop jabbed my arm so of course I decided that little body jolt also concussed me. I think i'm stressed because I have my college orientation tomorrow and I was hoping it would be an up day rather than a bad one but judging by these two events i'm not sure my anxiety will allow that:laugh:

That's good to know. I was also in an unfamiliar area today and was caught in a situation where I ended up slamming on the brakes. It was on a two-way street and I was looking to the side for a second to take in the country scenery - I do not live in a rural area and the simplicity of the roads was interesting to look at.

I was completely caught off guard when I looked forward and noticed the car in front of me was nearly stopped and I thought for sure I was going to hit it. This was all within about a second's time and traffic was probably moving around 45 - 50mph before I slammed the brakes . It was also raining and so the brakes or tires sounded like they skid or stalled a bit. I wasn't prepared for the braking and so I didn't 'brace' for it; my body was thrown forward ,and my head was very close to the steering wheel since I keep both the driver's seat at its lowest position and pretty forward, closer to the pedals. I'm 150 lbs, male, very flexible.

Guessing my head did not clip the steering wheel since I was wearing my seat belt - it would be extremely obvious if I my head even glanced the wheel, right? I've had a headache and nausea since as the symptoms. No neck pain.

Nothing to worry about?

Reread my last post about the force required to cause a concussion. Did you crack your ribs?

I saw the post about your [Mark's] daughter who experienced a concussion from a pretty violent car accident even without the head hitting a solid object. That does help put things in perspective. I'm trying to convince myself that these events are more like going on a rollercoaster where a headache might be a natural response and nausea could be because of stress. The only thing that really startled me was how close my head was to the steering wheel after I moved forward - I probably didn't hit the wheel and it likely would've been obvious; however, I have broken bone(s) before without feeling any pain with the high adrenaline rush of the moment.

And tires sliding on wet pavement decreases any force of sudden braking..

I prefer my car seat adjusted higher for better visibility , also adds more distance away from any possible impact objects..
My car doesn't have air bags, but I wouldn't want them exploding in my face anyway..