Ok..i get this on and off during the day -- chill like feeling thru my body. I'm not necessarily cold, but like a tingling throbbing kind of feeling. It was especially bad last night when I went to bed. I have had a busy weekend..well since thanksgiving...so a very busy 4 days. I couldn't sleep ...after 45 mins of just laying there with this weird feeling on and off I got up and took a half ambien (5mg) and finally feel off to sleep...11 to 7ish.

I felt a little better today so far ...but symptoms are starting. Just playing a card game of UNO for half hour or so with my son (who is recovering from surgery) set my head spinning and feeling all off balance.

I've been getting the chills too..I'm not really quite sure why they are happening. I can't tell if they are the cold chills either. It seems like when I'm having an anxiety/panic/derealization attack they happen the most. Sometimes they just happen randomly. I'm actually getting them right now as I write this.

Read online about some of the side effects that whatever medicine your taking causes. That could be it, or just to rule out any infection in the body (chills can mean infection), go to your doctor and have them do a blood and urine test.

i told the dr about them ..several to be honest and they all just ignore it or say they don't know what that is.

Its not a cold chill...just a weird feeling...like a chill minus the cold hard to explain.

what do you mean by derealization -- what is that??

I get that feeling, like a cold chill but not cold. Mine happens in my head most of the time, sometimes in body mostly head. Derealization is a feeling you get, for me it happened a couple times. Was out to dinner at steakhouse and was at table with 6 people i felt like i was looking at table from outside my body. Like i was watching the table from above even when i was talking. Really weird feeling

The derealization sensation you describe is a form of an anxiety attack. Sort of a mental confusion combined with a common anxiety attack. You might call it a PCS anxiety attack.

It is a sign that you should remove yourself from the environment. Get to a quiet area and sit with your eyes closed. This may help your brain regain focus. Take you pulse and BP if possible. They are probably elevated.

When you get the chills, try sucking on a spoonful of honey or sugar. If it helps, you blood glucose may be low. Your body will respond quickly to sugar from the honey that is absorbed sub-lingually (under the tongue).

If this reduces the chills, try consuming a low glycemic snack.

I suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as a result of my brain injury. While the precise mechanisms of CFS are still a matter of debate by the medical community (and unfortunately in many cases, its very existence), in my view is a disorder characterized by inappropriate immune system symptoms.

For example, I have myalgia, constant muscle pain. Myalgia is an appropriate response if one has a flu, for example, in that it discourages excessive movement of the organism, inducing it to rest and recover.

With certain types of brain injury, there is loss or impairment of a very important stage of the immune response- the signal to turn it back off. The I.S. becomes a runaway, sapping off tremendous amounts of metabolic energy, and producing the titular "fatigue" of chronic fatigue.

Your chills are very similar to the myalgia I experience. You have gotten chills from an actual flu in the past, yes? Chills and shivering is a way of generating body heat in an attempt to kill the infection. Something has triggered them now, and your body is not getting the "off" signal it needs.

This is analogous to the anger issues some of us experience. Anger is a basic survival emotion generated deep in the limbic area of the brain, and is mainly regulated by the frontal cerebral lobes. In a frontal damage victim, emotional impulse control is compromized, and the anger is acted out.

Kenjhee,

I can really relate to what you wrote. I am at 22months past my accident, and one of the most frustrating symptoms that I have is what you described: the unrelenting fatigue and the achy muscles.

It is the first time that I remember seeing someone write about this. I have other symptoms as well, but the fatigue is something that scares me, because from everything that I read, I thought that it was supposed to get better and go away by at least a year. Doctors do not seem to understand it.

I did not really understand what you wrote about the mechanism that causes this, but I am grateful that you brought this up. If you don't mind, could you explain it in simpler terms so that I might get it. Also, is this a theory, or is there some place to read about it?

Thank you for bringing this up.

ShellyK

Thank you, Shelly. No, this is a personal theory I am still developing (so glad I majored in Biology now). I have not seen it anywhere else, although it might be. Roger on the lack of discussion on this specific aspect of TBI-induced Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I believe it is much more prevalent amongst TBI survivors than would be indicated by the lack of mentioning. Generalized symptoms like pain and fatigue tend to get glossed over, even by the people who suffer from it. Perhaps I will be the one to change that.

I don't wish to scare you or anyone else, but my brain injury was 35 years ago, and I have struggled with the myalgia/fatigue thing ever since. I now take a heavy schedule of opiate pain meds to control the pain, and even then there is considerable breakthrough pain. However, the past few years the fatigue has lightened considerably, to the point I can at least function to some degree (and I am one of those CFS sufferers who has known extreme fatigue, like spending a night shivering from cold because my arm didn't have enough energy to pull a blanket up higher). So there is still hope.

I will definitely expound a bit on my thoughts if you like, in fact I think I should open a separate new discussion. Give me a chance to collect my thoughts, and I will repost as soon as I can.

Kenjhee

Let me know what you think...Chronic Fatigue, Pain, and TBI

Pain with shivering.....................what happen to goosebumps?