I'm confident that the neurologist selected by your solicitor will send you for an MRI. I would suggest that you also ask your solicitor to send you to a neuro-psychologist.

While much better than CAT Scans, MRIs have real limits when it comes to diagnosing brain injury. (If you want, I can give you the long, technical song and dance about what types of MRIs there are and what they might or might not be able to show.)

Neuro-psych testing is better than MRI in terms of pinpointing how your brain is actually functioning and identifying what cognitive therapies might help.

Are you seeing anyone about your depression? A TBI turns your whole world upside down and causes depression in the vast majority of patients. Try not to let this get out of hand.

I'm sorry it's taking so long for you to get proper attention. I know from experience what that does to one's anxiety level.

Cheers

You might have a couple of things going on...

I'm going to address the blacking out stuff.

I've had three major head injuries in the last two years due to blacking out (fainting). FINALLY after breaking 9 bones in my face last December, my PCP sent me to a cardiologist.

After wearing a four week heart monitor, I found out that I have tackycardia. It's a condition where your heart races for no apparent reason and then goes back to normal very quickly. In my wildest imagination I would have never thought this to be a problem because my blood pressure has always been really low. I always thought low blood pressure = good heart.

The tackycarida is what's causing the fainting. I could be just walking around in my house and then all the sudden BAM- I'm starting to black out. I have almost always been able to sit down quickly before this happens. My heart goes back to normal pretty quickly and then I'm fine.

While wearing the heart monitor, I found out that my heart would race to 180 + while I was just sitting on the couch, and then go back to normal within a minute or two.

I get the tingly hands and feet and certainly the blacking out with this condition. I'm 49 and it took all this time to figure out my problem. Talk to your PCP about maybe getting in to seeing a cardiologist.

I hope this helps!

Lori

Hi Enigmatise-I am Grandma Sue, and I have no advice because I am still trying to figure out how my head injury exacerbated my symptoms and what it all means-but I just want to tell that I am sorry it has happened to you, but excited about all of the good advice you have already received from members. Also, congrats on joining our Pre-happy group. I was on NT for a long time before I even knew there WERE sub-groups. Good Luck and I hope you can find great medical care.

There are also things called absence seizures.
These can be strange and should be tested for as well.

RisibleGirl

My God - you might be on to something there. The blackouts have only started since the accident but I am very aware that i often feel suddenly quite awful, nauseous, very weak etc (but not necessarily with the tingling), and feeling like i want to pass out (doc mentioned aura this morning )- one thing i am sure of though is that when it has happened i sometimes feel my pulse and it going really fast!!! And my blood pressure is fine!!

Re the Neuro-Psych I did actually see one twice after the accident. He was a lovely guy and felt very comfortable with him. The fist time he sat me down and asked me to talk about how i was feeling, said it was absolutely normal for my kind of accident and said i had concussion/mild head injury and it should pass within a couple of weeks and to be very careful of depression cos they sometimes have the same symptoms. Went back to see im again a couple of months later still feeling the same but haven't seen him since.. i can't remember the second meeting but i know i was quite cheerful and he gave me zopiclone for my sleep.

I did see a stress councellor after my counsellor sessions had stopped and took a HADS test. Apparently my depression levels were within normal limits but my stress levels were pretty high. However, that was in May....so, things may have changed since. I know my time at work has caused me alot of "pain".

In fact I let slip to my boss about the blackouts - have been re-referred to occupational healh today!

What is an absense seizure?

GMA Sue - thank you for your kind message. To be honest I'm finding this very overwhelming. I really hope you find the answers your looking for. If you just fancy a chat, please feel free to PM me, I know that although I'm scared by all this, it is nice to be able to talk to people who understand xx

Random qs for those out there - has anyone found that their spelling and stuff has gone WAAAAYYYY downhill "afterwards"? I always had excellent spelling and grammar but now it sucks. Was convinced that "news" was spelt "nues" the other day!!!

Have you read any info about upper cervical {c1 c2} adjustments?

whiplash & hitting the windshield could have knocked your c1 c2 out of alignment.

My chiro adjusted mine when it was needed - it's about the simplest adjustment- no force at all.
But not all chiros do it.

explore these sites for more info-
http://www.upcspine.com/self.htm
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=...39ab19175450f1


videos-
http://video.google.com/videosearch?...tle&resnum=10#

Has my spelling and grammar slipped since the accident? You bet - and that’s just many among a bevy of deficits.

I now find it next to impossible to learn anything new. I can’t do the simplest math without prompting. I make errors (to which I am oblivious) addressing enveloped and writing cheques. I get lost all the time – even in familiar settings. I have great difficulty speaking: I stammer, have difficulty finding words, say one word when I mean another, unknowingly repeat myself. If I’m interrupted I can’t pick up where I left off and have to start all over again. I leave out major ingredients when cooking. I can’t remember the characters in a book from one page to the next. I can’t filter sound: I hear everything and the hum of the refrigerator is just as important as the voice of the person to whom I’m speaking. In over-stimulating environments, like grocery stores, I simply shut down. (By the way, do you find your blindness strikes when you’re in busy places?) And then there are all the personality changes… I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

If something as basic as your capacity to write and spell has deteriorated, you’ve got a problem. You need neuro-psychological testing to determine exactly what that problem is. In my previous post, I wasn’t too clear about what I meant by seeing a neuro-psychologist. I meant for actual neuro-psych testing. I answered a question about neuro-psych testing for another member a couple days ago, so I’ve just pasted it here if you want to give it a read:

The neuro-psych is painless, but exhausting.

You'll meet with your neuro-psychologist and do a series of tests (verbal, written, motor skills) that are designed to see how your brain is actually functioning.

In advance of your appointment, he/she will want all of your medical records, educational transcripts and letters from employers and friends to try and get a clear picture of pre-morbid you that can serve as a baseline and determine which tests would be most appropriate.

You will also have a long pre-interview where the neuro-psychologist will ask you questions about yourself, your injury, etc... They like also to talk to a close family member or friend to help get a more complete picture. (For example, I had no idea that I constantly repeated myself until my husband said it and all my friends mentioned it in their letters.)

The testing is usually done over the course of one long day. However, they can break it up if that proves too tiring for you.

Most of the time you will get your results in about two weeks. The neuro-psychologist will call you and a family member (if you want) in for a long discussion about your results and make any treatment suggestions. You will also get a written report.

I understand your fear about getting neuro-psych feedback. However, it's not as bad as you might imagine. Frankly, it's not that you don't know something is wrong. During the testing, you may find, as I did, that there are tasks you can't do at all. And, of course, you've seen your MRI and live with your deficits every day. So, in short, while the specifics and extent might surprise you, the news that you have brain damage isn't news at all.

In a funny way, listening to my neuro-psych was a relief. Finally someone understood how I was thinking and feeling and behaving and could explain to me exactly why I was thinking, feeling and behaving that way. Before that, I thought I was going nuts.

The neuro-psych also helped target my cognitive therapy and got me access to some of the support services I obviously needed.[/COLOR][/COLOR]

Hi, I'm Donna. And I've had more than one PCS or TBI either one.

I'm doing much better than I did in the beginning of any of them. And I have no real clue how many I've had.

But I have a now 18 year old that has epilepsy or a seizure disorder.
So I'm going to try and explain what the different kinds of seizures are.
One Someone told you to look into. And I would also suggest you request a EEG or VEEG. But I will also let you know ahead of time that even if its seizures it might still be normal.

Absence seizures -- Are small seizures, that you just kind of slip away, pass out like. But your still there. They last for seconds usually. But you realize that you missed something. The times they are recognized the most are by teachers when students aren't paying attention. (and honestly a student has to have many in a row)

simple partial seizures -- You have no altered consciousness (usually), but you twitch, jerk, shake, tremor. You can also smell things not there, hear things not there. See things not there. Sorry these I can't always remember if are simple or complex partial seizures.

Complex partial seizures.== You have a altered consciousness, but you can either talk intellengently, walk right, do normal things. But you don't remember later. Easiest way to explain this, My son has done two things.

1. He walked across the room, when a Teacher told him, To get a kleenex,
then to go sit back down, and he proceeded to fall off the chair.

The thing you can't see in the words are the following, the class and teacher saw, Him walk across the room, shaking, slabboring, walk back same, and then pass out when he sit back down. He had a complex partial w/ second generalized seizure.

2. He carried on a full conversation with a player on his soccer team, in 6th grade, in Taco Bell. But 10 minutes later, he walked up to the drink area, and saw the kid and asked when he had came in. The kid looked at me making sure I heard this. And talked to my son, the seizure was obvious through the conversation. My son returned to our table, and asked me why the boy was so funny about him being there then. I explained, they had already had a conversation about the soccer game 10 minutes earlier and everything he had just talked about. He said, oh I had a seizure did n't I.

This is my younger son, and his soccer team protected him on and off the field. They were very good, and made sure the ball never hit him in the head or face.

There is also other kinds of complex partial seizures. And I would really ask you to investigate these, I would not be surprised if you might be experiencing some of these. I can't explain exactly. But you can go to the
Epilepsy foundation of america site and look up the different kinds.

Donna

Donna,

I developed absence seizures after a bike accident in 4th grade. Teachers called me a habitual day dreamer. Now, I recognize that they were absence seizures. I had a serious relapse into more frequent absence seizures as a 10th grader. My neuro thinks they were caused by heading the ball at soccer practice. Back then, they were called petit mal seizures.

They did not show up on an EEG. There was just a bit of irregularities.

I have had more due to a head injury in 2001. EEG was normal. QEEG, VEP and AEP have all shown brain injury but no seizure activity. I have had 4 QEEG/VEP/AEP tests but none showed any seizure activity. There was plenty of imbalance right to left and front to back. The Neuro was surprised at my high level of function with all of the imbalances.

All this to say that even if the tests do not show anything, believe the symptoms. They are what are treated anyway.

Regarding upper cervical adjustments,

Be very cautious. There is a wide difference in skill sets. Some chiros are like junk yard mechanics. Others are like fine concert violinists. I have been seen by both. The former usually only once. The later, who know how to play your body like a fine violin can be true healers

As Jo*mar said, the adjustment takes very little pressure. It should not be accompanied by a loud pop or uncomfortable sensations.

Mark

You have a very strong is the word I think for absence seizures. And yes, I may not have told strong enough that they don't always show on the EEG.

I was told its something in the pattern of the EEG that tells its a absence seizure. I can't exactly explain this. See I was treated for almost 16 years (1 month shy) for them. I went off my medicines the month before I turned 16 to see how I did. I hadn't had any symtoms for years.

I can't say for sure that after I had head injuries later in life that I stayed seizure free still. Because we aren't sure now. But they don't show on a EEG for me. My son's the EEG's, VEEG's are very irregular. They show nothing regular. Its because of that he is on medication. The very last EEG he had is the only one that I can state I've been told they caught a definate seizure. Weird as it is he and I both were happy to hear it.

Its been 12+ years and to finally have confirmation on a machine that seizures happen.

It was a good day for him and me. It told him its okay to not be able to drive. He already felt good about it, but it helped more.

Donna