Missed a step
 

This morning I was walking down slippery steps and my foot slipped making me land hard on my feet (about a 5" drop, or however tall a step is). This didn't really cause immediate symptoms other than some pain in the back of my head but I now seem to have bad pcs symptoms (light sensitivity, nausea).

Is there any conceivable way this was concussive? I think I've read about someone on here getting a bad concussion in a similar fashion so I'm pretty freaked out at the moment.

No, it was not concussive. There is a lot of energy that can be absorbed by the knees and back before any is transmitted to the head.

What are you doing to help reduce your anxiety levels?

I'm doing cognitive behaviour therapy and may start a trial of medication. I don't mean to question your judgement but didn't you experience a similar situation where you injured yourself? Like you I was not expecting the fall since I slipped accidentally and therefore my legs and back where fairly straight when I landed.

Also the step was substantially higher than a regular step since it was on an escalator and like I said my legs and back remained pretty straight

Have you explored more into of the anxiety side of things?
Anxiety Disorders - Types & Symptoms - Psych Central

A recent member mentions getting hormones /testosterone checked, you might look into the symptoms of that.

Thanks, I definitely acknowledge anxiety as a big factor although I'd never considered hormones since I'm pretty young. Ill look into though thanks, how do you get your hormones checked?

Ben,

I'd suggest some relaxation breathing techniques. They certainly help me when I'm hypersensitive to potential symptoms.

Stress Management: Breathing Exercises for Relaxation

Ben

My son developed the same type of sensitivity you are mentioning now. Any slight movement triggered nausea etc as you describe. We had his neck worked on by a NUCCA Chiro who said he had a misalignment but months later he still had these issues. moving his head when startled etc etc. all things that are not concussions even sub-concussions per the neurologist we had talked with way back when he started reporting them to us. It could very well have a large psychological component.

At the same time his anxiety was getting worse and he started eventually having debilitating panic attacks. When we finally got in to see the hrt doctor the doctor assessed him and said he would immediately check for hormone imbalances and that he was treating many others for it including some hockey players. . He also said he could help my son get better. and he DID!

After starting the Hormone therapy my started feeling better and I have now (a year later) not heard him mention the quick head movements resulting in nausea etc. About 3 months or so into the treatment his depression was gone, his panic attacks were gone and at the 1 year mark now he is happy and cheery like he was before his concussion. I have done a lot of research on the hormone subject over the past year and there is an enormous amount of evidence that hormone imbalances can create the same symptoms as PCS including fatigue, sleep disturbance, depression etc. Exactly what the Dr told us.

The hormones that he focused on were testosterone, estradiol, thyroid. Imbalances (too high or low) can give you some serious psychological symptoms that can be resolved by getting the levels back in range - this is in the medical literature. In any case, as a first step, I would ask my doctor to check my testosterone and thyroid levels because you feel very tired and you want to rule those out. Hopefully with this approach the most basic of the initial tests will be covered by insurance. For Thyroid you need to ask for TSH, and be sure to get T3 & T4. When you get your results back know that your doctor still may not want to treat any low testosterone he may find. I will bet you a coffee you are at the low end of teh range or below rage. I personally know 2 other PCS sufferers who had the test and the results were either below or at the low end of the range. The range I mention is a the medically agreed "normal" range based on a sampling of adults which includes 18 year olds to 80 year olds. So at the low end of the range you're "normal" but producing the testosterone of an old man. you need to be in the upper range as a young man. If you are to low the netx step would be to research HRT specialist doctor (better would be one who also mentions concussions ). Ask your doctor for a referral. He will likely not be comfortable treating the imbalance and really you dont want him to try . If he determines you need testosterone, he will need enough knowledge to know you need to manage the potential increase in estradiol (estrogen) also - seems standard doctors have no clue of this .

We've been fighting this PCS battle for years and looking back after hyperbariic treatments, chiro treatments, psychologists, psychiatrists, sleep specialist Drs, I can say it was a hormone imbalance. It took us 9 months to get in to see the specialist after we decided we wanted checked! Some misery my son could do without.

Benefit from what we went through, get checked. I assume it would be covered if you position it right with your doctor and stick to your guns that you want to be checked, he may drop the estradiol but at least you'll get numbers for testosterone and thyroid which are likely the issues.

As another route for testing I should also mention you can get your hormones checked in the US using some online websites I found at the testosterone forum sites. I have done that on one occasion. I drove to teh US where we had we had a blood test at a well known standard medical lab and results were emailed. FYI Its is not possible in every state - I recall its not possible in New York . I think I paid around a hundred bucks.

I would however first get your doctor to do the basic test I describe in my earlier post. If it turns out you are low then you dont need to get any more tests since you can request to see a specialist for the low levels. The HRT doc will do what other tests are needed for you when you get in to see him.