Hi I'm new here

I spent the day in Accident and Emergency yesterday having collapsed at the son's football class. I've had PCS for nearly 5 weeks.

There's a lot going on in my life and I've been trying to stay busy despite the daily dizziness, fatigue, loss of concentration, intolerance of noise etc.

I collapsed two days after I hit my head (minor injury at home, broke skin but no other symptoms to suggest major trauma). I've had some wobbles where I've had to lie down for a bit but yesterday it was like my body went into shock or a fit or something. I pretty much passed out and was sick too. The CT scan showed no damage so they discharged me.

I've taken to my bed for a couple of days. I'm scared now.

Thanks for reading.

Ali,

Sorry to hear of your struggles.

I've never experienced a collapse like you had but I know that the motor control brain area can become overloaded. One researcher talks about doing a neuro-exam where they test your reflexes (the rubber hammer ) and after repeated negative results (the nerve causes a reflex action) the nerves can finally fatigue and cause a positive result (the reflex action is fatigued and absent).

It is not a good idea to keep busy after a concussion. You may not need bed rest but you do need a very low stress environment. It is more important for you to sleep well than rest in bed. When you are sleeping well, you will enter REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. This is when the brain repairs itself.

So, the rest you need should be quiet (no chaotic noise), no visual over-stimulation, only light physical work load (household tasks should be OK), and not time demands on completing these tasks. Take is slow until you get a sense that you can focus better and slowly increase the intensity of your day.

You may need weeks of this low stress rest. So, simplify your day and over time, things will get better. Search NT for nutrition and you will find some vitamin and other supplement recommendations. The brain needs these to purge the toxins from your injury and heal.

My best to you.

Thanks for your reply, Mark, and all the other useful stuff I've read in your posts while I've been researching PCS on this forum. I've also got hold of the TBI survival guide you've mentioned on here.

I really am wondering what happened yesterday and am considering the possibility of seizure. I am so fatigued today and dizziness is worse than ever when I move around. I'll try to do a bit more tomorrow.

I'm seeing a neurologist in a few weeks if symptoms aren't improving.

Home is nuts while extension building work enters its, thankfully, final stages. But still I plan to stop racing around pretending all is well when clearly my body is crying out for me to take it slower.

Ali,

If you have commotion at home, you need to find a place of respite. I can imagine the chaos if there is building/remodeling going on, especially for the woman of the house. You need to find a place of comfort. Your home is not likely that place right now.

Do you have a friend with a comfortable home that would be gracious enough to put up with your needs for part of the day?

The female need to protect/order the nest can be taking you for a wide ride. Your hormones may be screaming and especially your stress hormones.

I can not comment about whether you had a seizure or not. I have a friend who experienced the same thing after a concussion. She was at the chiropractors office and became immobilized by a similar event. The first thought was to call an ambulance. They waited and she recovered enough for someone to pick her up and take her home. She was also left in a very weak state for a few days.

Strange events can follow a concussion. Many are unexplainable. Any effort to get a proper explanation will likely lead to being dismissed as a hypochondriac by the doctors. If doctors don't understand an event, most will question your description of it.

Hope you find some respite.

My best to you.

Good advice indeed and my husband is keeping the house as quiet as possible by taking the kids out this weekend. I do find their and the builders' noise / disruption so so stressfull since my accident. I have keys of neighbours and relatives to use their place but my kids are often with me and it's easier to look after them at home, even if it's noisy.

I've been reading about non epileptic seizures and found an article mentioning this phenomenon in PCS, which I can't post here until I'm a more established user of this forum.

I'm not sure if I should try to work out what happened and mention it again to my doc and the neurologist whenever I get to see him / her, or just keep quiet and hope it doesn't happen again.

I have young children that I often look after in the absence of another adult, and I do drive. I don't want to risk others, and myself.

Hope you are feeling well today.

I would suggest being very careful with driving. If your brain is like mine, you can tell when you are less able to perform at your best. My wife will look me in the eyes and ask if I am 'good' to drive. Some days I am definitely not good to drive.

My best to you.

I still collapse and have tremors. Noise and light is intolerable after a collapse. I take Neurontin and these symptoms COMPLETELY go away. Generics do not work. Cognitive therapy does help! If you have more than 1 collapse keep in mind it may, or may not, take a long time to heal. Drinking a gatorade or G2 in the morning helps and staying away from alchohol or anything that dehydrates the brain. A PET scan can show what areas of the brain are not operating correctly. My MRIS and CAT scans were and are all clear. EEG s without light and sound stimulation are clear, but, with stimulation EEG is off. Unfortunately, most neurosurgeons have no idea how to help you.

Hi,

I had about 6 months of fainting/convulsions which my neurologist explained as a phenomenon that wasn't really understood but often resolves after a few months.

I am happy to say that I have not fainted for 2 months now, which I am happy with as it was every week or every other week before. I am now on Gabapentin too and it has reduced my headaches and dizzyness, Elavil has helped with sleeping.

I am about 14 months PCS and am happy to say that my life is improving every week. I have more energy, and feel like the fog has lifted. I gave myself a lot of rest, took it easy and took Mark's advice to "accept" that things are different and that this was ok.

Rest and quiet is so important and I only wish I had been a little more careful and gentle with myself a year ago and not pushed it and gone back to work. Live simply, let yourself heal and I wish you all the best.

margomills,

Do you take the Neurontin after the collapse and tremors to make them go away? Or have they stopped after you started taking the Neurontin? Neurontin has only an 8 hour half life. To maintain level blood concentrations of it, you would need to take it three times a day.

Regarding the G2, I am a proponent of staying away from artificial sweeteners, especially for those with PCS. Acesulfame potassium can cause problems with reactive hypoglycemia. Reactive hypoglycemia can make PCS symptoms intensify and take you on a roller coaster ride. I have lived with reactive hypoglycemia for decades. The jury is still out on the long term effects of Sucralose, which is sucrose with three chlorine atoms added to replace three hydroxyl groups . Organic chlorine (versus ionic chlorine as in salt, NaCl)) is the active ingredient in many pesticides due to its toxicity.

I would stay with the Original Gatorade. It is much safer.

Tengboche, what has the Elavil ( Amitriptyline ) done to improve your sleeping? I use the gabapentin for improvements in my sleep. That reminds me, time to go take my dose prior to bed time.

btw. I have been on generic Neurontin ever since Teva started producing it. Makes no difference to my system.

I think most of us agree about the usefulness of neurologists for most PCS.

I have been trying to take life much slower since my collaspe / seizure or whatever it was last thursday. I rest once or twice a day in a quiet room if I can find one (at least two more weeks left on the house extension project!). The doctor at the hospital was not at all interested in me once he saw my CT scan was ok.

I'm only 6 weeks into my PCS. I am a mother of 2, one 3 years old, one 5 years old. I'm finding my role as a mother the hardest, despite using lots of help from friends and relatives.

I only use NHS here as I've always found it more than adequate for me and my family's medical needs, even though my daughter has complex and rare respiratory problems. However, my mum really wants to pay for me to have an MRI privately, as it'll be weeks or months til I get to see a neurologist on the NHS.

Do you think I should wait and see how the symptoms are. I'm gathering from posts on this thread and others that scans don't always show anything worth seeing, especially this long after the injury was incurred.