Hey its been awhile since i posted anything but have a few new questions to ask. occassionally i get this thing where my heart starts racing really fast and it beats extremely hard to the point where it shakes my whole body if im leaning against anything. i also white out get very light headed have shortness or breath and sometimes pass out. i have no idea if this is related to the concussion or not but it never happened before i got it so im confused.

does anyone else get this ever or does anyone know what it could be it get me kinda worried when it happens and i dont want to pass out at practice again or its back to the doctor and no more basketball. anyone have any idea what this could be?

Whatever it is, it's way more important than basketball. Please talk to your doctor.

By the way, blood pressure issues are fairly common in TBI patients.

Take care of yourself!

Cheers

I agree with Hockey. You should talk to your doctor and parents. I understand that it is important to you to be able to play (my daughter would give anything to be back jumping her horse again) but your overall health is way more important. With the symptoms you describe here and in other threads, playing doesn't sound like a good idea. If you were to pass out, you could hit your head again and you could have a major set back.

this leads me to some other questions. i have been getting some new symptoms lately and wonder if anyone else gets them. one ive noticed that has been happening a lot lately is that every noise seems to be the same volume. where its like i cant filter out other noises. if im having a conversation with someone i cant focus on just that one because everything else around me seems to be at that same volume.

its very overwhelming especially in a lunch room or a loud class with lots of people does anyone else have this feeling?

soccer,

Like the others said, you need to put your health above basketball. You are having classic post concussion symptoms. You also may have a problem with your cervical vertebra. Have you been checked out by a chiropractor who specializes in upper cervical issues? NUCCA is a good place to start for a referral. Check out http://www.nucca.org/find_doctor.php

The sound issue is common. It is more an anxiety issue but it is caused by the concussion. It may be linked to your light headedness, too.

You need a good medical work-up with blood work. All of your hormones, B-12, folate, D3, Thyroid (T3, T4, TSH), fasting blood sugar, serum insulin. These can all effect how your brain works and reacts to daily events. D3 impact the hormones so it is very important. Most people, especially in northern areas, have chronic low D3. Our diets and lack of sun exposure cause low D3. My wife and I take 3-5000 IU's of D3 as our physician's recommendation. .

The anxiety like issues are from your body getting either over-stimulated or just out of whack with your adrenal system. You might be going through a fight or flight adrenal response. It causes you heart to race and your senses to become much more sensitive. These senses then pick-up your heart beat and also zero in on all of the sounds around you.

I have this problem. Once my brain has started to 'pay attention' to all of the ambient (background) sounds, I have to remove myself to another area with different sounds. For example, I could be in church during singing.

At first, I heard others singing as a group. Then, my brain would start picking out individual voices. First just one, then two and three. If I was not headed for the door by the third voice, I could crash badly when the fourth or fifth voice has become pronounced.

I am on a medication now that greatly reduces these symptoms. I do not recommend the medication route if you can avoid it. You need to learn to remove yourself from these situations. In my experience, each time it happens, it causes the next time to happen with less stimulation. Your brain develops a bad habit of doing this and it become a big problem.

Have you started a nutrition regimen yet? You really need to get going on this if you haven't. It will make a big difference but it takes weeks for your brain to get the benefits. I have listed my vitamin and other supplements on a thread with "Waste of Kaitlyn." You could lower the dosage a bit for your body weight. I am 180 pounds.

Your basketball could also be triggering some adrenaline response. This is what happens when you get 'psyched' for a game or from a game.

Are you staying away from caffeine? You should be. It can mess up your adrenal system.

Have you bought some foam ear plugs yet. You need them too. They will help in the lunch room and noisy classes. They do not make you deaf,. They just lower the volume, mostly by reducing the background noise. You also need to be sitting in the front row as close to the teacher as possible. Your visual focus on the teacher's lips will help your brain focus on his/her voice.

If you think these things are too embarrassing to do, consider this. Your brain needs to heal. Any time you get these overwhelming situations and reactions, you are delaying healing, and maybe even setting yourself back. Tell your friends that you need the ear plugs while your brain heals.

I tell people I have an auditory processing disorder. If they ask further. I tell them that my brain cannot filter out the background sounds so my brain gets overwhelmed. You need to understand this physiological event so you can relate it to others.

My post mentioned above also has a link to Dr Shutz book. Here it is again: http://www.givebackorlando.com/hepusef/hepindex.html

He refers to these situations as Head Injured Moments. He has a complete system for learning to 'fix' them. The 'advanced techniques' section has some great information. Print the whole book out (150 pages) and put it in a three ring binder and read it with a highlighter. You mother needs to read it too. Some of it is aimed at more serious brain injuries but it has fantastic info for post concussion syndrome.

You need to understand that you have to work at recovery. It does not just happen over time.

And, about basketball. What if you fall and hit your head, or just bump heads with another player going up for a rebound? You will be in sorry shape. It is not worth messing up the rest of your life for a game of basketball. Later, you may be better able to tolerate the risks. Right now, your risk level is very high.

Print out this post and the others. Highlight the great advice you are getting.

My best to you.

I can't filter sounds. I hear everything and every sound is as important as every other sound. It's a profoundly disabling situation and, frankly, puts a real strain on one's sanity. My problem is not caused by anxiety (not that I don't suffer from that now too). I've been this way since the moment I woke up because of damage to my parietal lobe.

It is concerning that you've started to exhibit these sorts of symptoms. I hope Mark is right and this is a product of anxiety. However, with you insisting on bouncing your bruised brain around (read some of Mark's earlier posts on exercise to get an idea of how much force you're subjecting yourself to) to play basketball, you may have aggravated or even added to your existing damage.

Sorry to be so blunt, but you are putting yourself at enormous risk.

Please Take Care

hey thanks mark but i think i shouldve elaborated a little more and when the racing heart thing happens. it is always during practice after i have done some running for warmups or something like that and then we do an easier drill were we are jogging through plays or not doing very strenuous activities.

the last time it happened for example (because its hard to explain) we were doing a drill called shell were you stand on the outside of the 3 point line and the defense is in the middle. we were passing the ball around working on defensive movement not offense so we were literally just standing there.

then one pass from a teammate went over my head so i was running to get it thats when it started. it starts racing really fast and hard and about 5-10 sec later i start whiting out and getting lightheaded/dizzy. i then have shortness of breath for a while and a tightness in my chest and back if i ignore it for awhile.

probably one of the reasons this has me worried is that i have no way of knowing when it will happen. there is no pattern whatsoever. and every time this happens the symptoms tend to stay around longer than the last time. any advice on what it could be?
oh and i get exhausted once the "episode" is over and i return to normal (if you can even call it that)

Check your blood pressure before and during one of these episodes. I have to wear a monitor during exercise to make sure I keep my pulse rate in my PCS friendly zone. If I step over the line, my head feels likes its going to explode and I get dizzy.

how would you check your blood pressure?

You're going to need help from a health professional. In my case, I worked out with my PT wearing a monitor.

You could check your heart rate by counting your pulse. Unfortunately, during an episode you're too incapacitated to do that solo.

Please ask for the help you so clearly need.