New member
 

I'm a new member to the forum. I was rear ended while in a work van last November. I just read Elliot Clark's book about his experiences. Most of my symptoms are consistent with his.

Fortunately for me, I found reasonably knowledgable care right away. I didn't have to push myself to keep up my previous commitments as he did. Because it was a workers comp accident, I am getting paid somewhat regularly, though enduring constant harassment, lies, and delays from the insurance company.

My wife is a nurse. She has searched for help for me and I couldn't have made it this far without her. I basically spent the first two months after the accident in bed. Partly because the concussion specialist told me to, but mostly because I could do almost nothing. I could barely dress myself, shower, use the toilet, or brush my teeth. Taking meds while my wife was at work was a comical, almost impossible task. I wore a sleep mask at night because even the tiny amount of light coming through the closed blinds would hurt my eyes. That remains almost a constant problem.

The same with my hearing. I can't filter out background noise either. I still stumble when I walk, usually to the left, and have trouble initiating steps. I've had a constant headache since the accident. Also constant ringing in the ears since the accident.

My eyes are a disaster. I can converge all the way to the end of my nose, but my left eye lags behind the right when diverging, even after months of eye excercises. I cannot watch any kind of movement without an increase in long lasting balance, other cognitive problems. My left eye feels like it's from another planet. It's always uncomfortable. A trip to the grocery store leaves me almost unable to function as a human being. I've seemed to have reached a dead end with the doctors I am seeing. My neurologist told me months ago to " get used to it, this is the way you are going to be from now on".

My concussion specialist seems to be only a " get them back into the game" doctor and hasn't offered any direction since I didn't conform to the usual healing timeframe. I've been playing games with WC ( workers comp) for 5 months to get visual therapy, and behavioral therapy approved. I don't know how this adjuster can look at himself in the mirror. His conduct is absolutely shameful.

I would like, now that I have read Clark's book, to seek the same doctors he finally found help with. They're only an hour away from me. Changing horses at this point is something we don't want to tackle. Maybe after meeting the ones Im trying to get approved now we can make a decision about it. If they tell me "get used to it"', then I'll tackle the problem of dealing with my attorney and WC to hopefully get the treatment I need.

My life has been a nightmare since the accident. I had an extremely technical and demanding job, and extremely technical and demanding hobby. Plus taking care of a home, and family commitments. Now I can work in the yard some. I thought a shovel would be a safe tool until the handle broke and left a large bruise on my chest. The lathe and milling machine and all other power tools are out. I have not driven since the accident. Depression has set in over the last few months. I want my life back.

Sexton,

Welcome to Neurotalk. Sorry to hear of your struggles.

Who is Elliot Clark ?

Your concussion specialist was definitely not up on concussion protocols. Sleep outside of normal sleep times is not recommended past 48 hours. Worse, restless sleep is rough on the upper neck.

It sounds like he/she got concussion training at a weekend ImPACT seminar or similar seminar as required to administer the ImPACT computerized neurocog test for athletes.

I found Clark on Google. I think somebody posted about his book years ago. If I remember, he spent a fortune on alternative treatments and a few more main stream treatments. WC is horrible at allowing many of them.

Getting a good concussion oriented behavioral optometrist assessment should be helpful.

You don't mention anything about your neck. 80% of concussions include a cervical component, more in whiplash events. The inflammation in the upper neck and brain stem disrupts blood flow to the brain and can cause miserable symptoms.

What meds are you taking ?

You need to read the Vitamins sticky at the top and check out some of the links. tbilaw.com and subtlebraininjury.com have good info for you to read.

How is your sleep ? Proper sleep at normal sleep times with good head and neck posture is paramount.

What do you do during the day to fill your time? Proper low stress stimulation is important.

What diagnostics, treatments, therapies and such have you had ?

My best to you.

Mark. My neck, upper back, shoulders, jaw were very painful after the accident and for several weeks. Yes, laying in bed aggravated those problems. At that time, I was most concerned with letting my brain heal. I slept fairly regular hours. During the day, I just laid there with my eyes closed.

A few months after the accident I started walking circles around my yard (2 acres) for excercises. I started digging in the yard. Over several months I dug a 340' trench for a drain pipe from the house. I planted hundreds of seeds of various kinds and have been tending them. I put considerable thought into finding projects like those to do that are good excercises, don't require dangerous tools, and don't make my symptoms too much worse. For instance, I can work in the front yard, but have to be carefull to not watch cars go by on the busy street. I must wear earplugs by the street too. And sunglasses when outside. And a large brimmed hat to keep the sun from reflecting off my glasses and making me unable to function. What fun!

I'm taking naproxen and a med for depression. One doctor has tried close to 10 different meds for my headache. All of them had crazy side affects. Not one of them helped my headache.

I had the usual scans after the accident. While in vestibular therapy I had several related tests. I had an eeg after a bout with drop seizures.

We're still looking for direction.

I was in Tbone car accident. It sounds like you need to see a neuro-opthamoligist. Make sure they can prescribe either tints or prisms. I got convergence insufficiency as a result of my accident and the blue tint glasses and eventually prisms made a huge difference in my ability to read and work.

I saw a neuro ophthalmologist several months ago. He did no testing. He took some prisms out of a drawer full and told me to read with them for 10 minutes. When I told him that they didn't make it better, but some worse, he told me he couldn't help me. We weren't impressed with him; especially when we got a bill from him. After we saw him for the WC approved visit, he decided that they would no longer work with WC and wanted me to pay for it. We're trying to get a neuro optometrist approved now. Hopefully he's more knowledgable than the last guy. There's not much care of that type available locally, and riding in a car kills me.

Sexton,

If your neck has a subtle injury, it can interfere with proper blood flow to your brain, making your concussion symptoms much worse.

Do you have tenderness around the base of the skull behind your ears ? This can be a big part of the cause of your headaches.

Mark. I do not.

Wow, I'm sorry that you saw such a terrible doctor and worse got billed for it.

He should have tested for convergence insufficiency. The statistic I saw was 65% of people with TBI have visual issues.

It could very well be that prisms were too much for your
visual system to handle and you just needed a blue tint. I know it sounds hooky that a tint could make such a huge difference, but I couldn't read without mine and helped my headache by reducing eye strain.

I went to Mind Eye Connection in glenbard north,IL. I saw Dr. Wright. Dr. Zelinsky also works there and she was the one working with the guy who wrote ghost in my brain(I think that's the title).

PM me if you have any questions. I hope you don't write this off as potential therapy because of it is convergence, no medication or therapy will likely help.

I would try to get a full evaluation from a highly skilled PT, if you haven't had any yet or has been awhile ago - you might have gotten used to a nagging discomfort in neck/upper back /shoulders, if treated you may finds some relief..
Might even be trigger points in some muscles..

A subtle neck injury does not always have any pain or stiffness symptoms but still causes problems. That is why it is called subtle. Imaging will not show it unless you have some very specialized imaging and assessment.

The problem is they cause inflammation and interrupt blood flow. This can manifest as a myriad of symptoms. Mine interrupted proper breathing besides causing stressful dreams that meant I would have a foggy brain day.

A PT with very good manipulating skills could tell my neck was messed up. I had subtle problems from C-1 to T-2. X-Rays and CT Scans did not show it. An MRI showed some foraminal narrowing.

Check https://nora.cc/healthcare-locator.html to see if there is a Behavioral Optometrist in your area. There are three different disciplines that look at visual issues, Behavioral Optometry, Neuro Optometry, and Neuro Ophthalmology. Most find better results with Behavioral Optometry.