Need help PCS symptoms or not?
 

Hello all, I'm new here (20yo) and this is my story

It all started 3-4 month ago,
when I practiced an acrobatic move (handspring) in which my legs hit the ground in locked state, very forcefully, so my head and neck have suffered the most,
I was dazed and saw stars(litte dots floating) for a minute, then I was stupid enough to do the move over and over again.
I felt very bad, my neck was very painful, felt jolts in my neck.
Later, I felt fine in few minutes so I forgot about it.

Following day I had this weird headache that doesn't go away.

In the first weeks I had difficulty looking at bright objects in addition to the headache.
I feared I might be losing my eyesight and was scared.

By that time, I didn't know anything about PCS or even a concussion.

Past 4 months I had difficulty with concentration and vision.
The headaches are the main issue though, especially behind the eyes,
Along with nausea that triggered by studying and reading.
Things got little better,

But for no obvious reason I had many setbacks and the headaches changed to tension headache, and eye strain.

Noticed many symptoms, difficulty concentrating, eye strain, nausea, anxiety, something room spinning when I lay down, but the most persistent is headaches that Changes in frequency and location.


The headaches went on a daily basis, even though I have good days sometimes even a week.
A month ago my doctor sent me to neurologist then I did cat scan that came normal.
I had to quit my studies and now Im at loss, no diagnosis, severe anxiety, tension headache.
Did i get PCS, or maybe i am loosing my mind?
Any help is appreciated

Everybody is different. It very well could be, however it usually starts with a concussion from hitting your head. Have you had your neck and back checked? I would suggest having those checked. It could also be you jarred something in the vertebrae and haven't let them heal.

Did you hit your head during the handsprings? :confused:

If not you might have more of a whiplash/neck strain/or back strain issue or all of those.

A good PT should be able to evaluate & assess & treat most of those.
*Muscular trigger points can cause referred pain and other symptoms like eye problems headaches..* So have them check for those..

As far as I remember I didn't receive any direct hit, this is why I never even considered this as a possible cause.

Nevertheless, the impact force was significant, traveled from the legs to the spine and then to my head which felt very strong and nauseous, and as mentioned my neck was all in pain for a short while, like getting electrified.
No other immediate symptoms.

I know the stars could be from the flipping itself,
but even though the impact was repeated, and made me feel like I my head bumped a rock. Since then my headache always feels like getting hit in the head.

Gideon,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

As Jo*mar said, Did you impact somehow?

Your first paragraph is incomplete. "so my head and neck have suffered the most, "

How did they suffer?

Was this a whiplash like stress?

Or, a vertical compression?

I suffered a vertical compression injury. It messed up my upper neck. It caused inflammation that, when at its worst, cause autonomic nervous system dysfunction (heart rate, blood pressure, breathing) and cause brain fog. All I did was step off an 8 inch curb and land with my knee locked and my back arched. Ouch.... Jarred from my pelvis to my head.

A physical therapist with very special skills (not range of motion and strengthening therapy) used myofacial release and similar pressure/trigger point therapies to get muscles to release from spasm (cause of headaches) so the joints in the neck could become mobile. She also did gentle traction and mobilization.

The most important part was my posture when resting or sleeping. I had to maintain good straight head and neck posture so the ligaments would not be strained.

The joint at C-1 to occiput (C-0, skull base) tend to not like these vertical compression stresses.

There is also a though that one can suffer a brain stem concussion by a vertical impact of the brain in to the brain stem.

Either way, the goal should be to reduce inflammation.

I iced frequently and took anti-inflammatory meds (enteric aspirin that does not cause stomach upset)

These injuries do not show up on imaging studies. They are more of a treat and see if improvement happens.

So, focus on inflammation and your neck. Give it a rest.

When I hit the concrete(very hard) my head was completely tilted backwards(from the gravity), and somehow I felt the blow up in my head, like the force went up my spine and legs.

Then I felt very bad in my head, not exactly pain more like nauseous headache, and entire neck being electrified.
I don't know about whiplash or vertical compression I'm not familiar with these terms.

And I did it over and over like 5 times, ignoring the outcome

I would assume you have been doing these hand springs for quite some time. Handsprings take a lot of practice to perfect. You likely have been wearing out these cervical joints. The head back position puts the spine into a straight line which takes all of the impact absorption out.

You may have given your brain a good shaking but it sounds like you surely gave your cervical (neck) spine a rough time. The joint between the skull and C-1 vertebra has no tolerance for impact. Jamming it together can cause the nerves to be traumatized. This can be dangerous.

80% of concussions have an upper neck injury component that causes concussion like symptoms. It sounds like you got the neck injury part of the trauma.

Vertical compression is pushing the two bones (skull and C-1, C-1 and C-2) together. This can bruise the surfaces. Whiplash is straining by using momentum to put joints at the limits of their range of motion.

You need to find a therapist, sports trainer, or such who can help you understand these issues and terms and the mechanics involved. They are rather simple concepts.

You should not be doing any more gymnastics until somebody has diagnosed what happened.

Did you learn handsprings on a gymnastic track that has give and then moved to a hard surface?

I used to do handsprings in the past, and all I can say is that performing this at hard surface was a huge mistake, just as the many other mistakes I did.

40% of my headache severity was gone 3 weeks ago(3 month after this all began), but I'm still dealing with some other aspects of it, especially pain around the eyes, tension headache, and surprisingly I had head related severe fatigue only once or twice, which disappeared after running 6 miles.

Ever since my cat scan went out fine I'm afraid no therapist would take my complaints seriously.

Great to know you're here for people who need help and advice

Recently I'm dealing with severe dizziness/lightheadedness,
shows up when I'm tired, and when I'm visually overwhelmed, like doing an exam, or when I drive. also it takes time to focus my right eye, especially at distances.
Cant keep my both eyes focused on objects.
Feel fatigue at noon.

Each time I would feel alot better after some sleep, been that way for at least 4 months since ny accident.
headaches and nausea sometimes.

I went to an opthalmologist who didn't find any abnormalities
What specialist could help me,
also could that be related to my neck/head injury?

You are not losing your mind!!! Head injuries are crazy and in my opinion not very well understood yet. The brain is so complex and everyone's experiences are vastly different. I have been suffering from a concussion for a year and five months now and have some of the same symptoms you have. From my experience you have to be your own advocate. Keep insisting something is wrong and don't let them tell you you're anxious. If you are typically anxious then you are, but don't let your doctors tell you are unless you are. I was anxious about my symptoms because no one was doing anything for me. My nausea was so bad that I was going nuts. I am not an anxious person, so didn't want a med for anxiousness, just wanted something to get rid of the nausea. Anyways I was told to exercise and get my heart working as that would help my brain heal faster. Best of luck to you!