So my cognitive issues are now much improved

However I'm still very sensitive to any sort of jolting. I have not run for a year because each step would be too much of a jolt, and I am still very uncomfortable going over speed bumps in a car (leaning forward helps FYI).

So the only real issue in terms of work is that what I call this 'fragility' or sensitivity precludes me taking part in from significant aspects of my job, which my employer is now getting touchy about.

It has helped in the past when I have found evidence and information from official sources to show my employer that my weird cognitive symptoms are recognised sequelae of a head injury. There are plenty of references to concentration and attention difficulties, fatigue, overstimulation, headaches and other common symptoms.

However this 'fragility' I have (and which I know many others on here have). Doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere. I don't know how common it is, if there's anything I can do to help get rid of it, and I don't have anything to show my employer to help convince them that I'm not malingering in some way. I was offered CBT to overcome my anxiety the other day - but I'm not overly anxious, I just know that any impact to my head would be disastrous and am trying to avoid it.

Does anyone know of any reliable evidence or information on this symptom?

Klaus,

I have had a fragile head for years. I have never found anything that helps.

Any employer who refuses to accept that head jarring can be problematic has no grounds for their position.

You may do some research about sub-concussive impacts to see if you can find anything that will help with your employer.

You may find some worthwhile info at www.tbilaw.com or www.subtlebraininjury.com

Hi Klaus,

I've had this issue to - I have referenced this forum to evidence the fact that I'm not the only one who feels sensitive about my head getting jostled.

I'm not sure that it's not psychological. Although there might be some merit to subconcussive impacts being more detrimental to people still in recovery from a concussion.

I have done a significant amount of research about concussions and mild brain injuries but have not come across anything in regards to this issue - which is why I have to use other people's experienced here to prove I'm not the only one who has issues with it.

Hopefully, someday, we'll be well enough not to care if our head gets a little jostled.

Good luck with your employer!

I have also been looking for some of the same information and this is what i have found so far:

case study of a girl who sustained 11 concusions:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/200...ncussions.html

Quote: "Her head inadvertently hit the elbow of the vice principal walking by. Soon after, she passed out. Concussion No. 11."


Another article:

"Is it true I am more likely to get a concussion after already having one?"

http://scienceline.org/2008/04/ask-heger-concussion/


And another:

"Routine Head Hits in School Sports May Cause Brain Injury"

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1114133738.htm


And the last:

"Soccer's concussion problem"

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/new...rotect-players

Quote:" In 2004, he again had multiple concussions, from increasingly weaker blows to the head. By the 2005 preseason the slightest contact to his head would trigger his concussive symptoms."


Hope some of this can help.

-GlassHead

I suffer from a chronic lack of balance (always have, it's how I got the injury in the first place!) so I frequently jar, jolt, hit and hurt my head. Which of course isn't pleasant, but is more frustrating that I am dazed, confused, and as my friend who was with me when I got the injury would say.. I go back to square one for a day or two and am exactly how I was when I got the concussion. I don't know what to do most of the time.

So, I am afraid I cannot offer some profound advice which has a solution at the end. But it helps me to know that I'm not alone and this is.. 'normal'

Thanks for posting this, I hope everything goes well for you!

Hi Klaus, I to suffer from the exact same thing, I feel every movement, ever step. You call it jolting I call it vibrations. Just being in a car drive me nuts, then the bumps etc..

Thanks for the responses everyone, sorry haven't been back my internet connection has been very tempremental this week. Will go through all those links, they look really interesting.

Some of them seem to be about permanent susceptibility to further concussion, ie that for example footballers who have a concussion, recover and then go back to playing will get the next one more easily. Whilst I have no doubt that this is true and is of great interest to me, I think on this thread I'm talking about something slightly different:

I'm talking about ridiculous oversensitivity as a PCS symptom, the kind that meant that I had to wear specially cushioned trainers (sneakers) for around 6 months because otherwise even walking was too much of jolt. A kind of sensitivity which would mean that you would not even consider returning to any sort of contact sport, but which is not permanent and seems to improve slowly (I can now walk around in normal shoes and the jolts I do get seem to affect me somewhat less than they did )

This seems from what I have heard on here and heard from clinicians and others to be a fairly common complaint, yet little if anything is written about it anywhere. It seems odd that such a relatively easy to describe complaint seems almost unheard of whereas something more abstract such as 'executive function deficits' seems to get a lot of explanation....

That's interesting, I hadn't considered it being psychological, it feels far too real. I think it's not psychological because

(a) I didn't expect it to happen after my concussion, so why would I imagine it

(b) it seems to be improving with my other symptoms, though admittedly at a slower pace

(c) when I did get a big jolt last June, it caused a massive relapse, even though the person who jolted me didn't touch my head and the jolt was not bad enough to cause concern amongst the people who saw it. SO in effect I have 'tested' it and found that jolts do in fact cause me more damage than they should.

(d) it seems to be a fairly common experience and I doubt we would all share the same delusion

Yes, I totally understand! I experience it too! And mine was worse than it is now too.

Remember, I'm not an expert or a Dr. at all.

But I don't think it wise to completely rule out it being psychological. Who wouldn't feel a little more sensitive about their heads being jostled after sustaining major trauma? I think of it like you don't want someone to touch your bruise...

And some experts believe that some issues with PCS are psychological... so even though your symptoms got worse after a serious jolt, that could have been psychological too.

I too think it could be detrimental. It could certainly be that a jolt can cause a subconcussive impact and physically make a person worse biologically.

I just threw it out there because that's what I think of it - I can't really tell what's what.

I think that patients with PCS are not well researched yet in some ways, so maybe researchers haven't included it in the list of symptoms. Or perhaps, most patients are usually more concerned with other symptoms and they don't even mention this one as a symptom at all because they only have 15 minutes to talk with their Dr.s and they have to make that time count.

And really, I think that people recovering from a brain injury and PCS really have a heightened sensitivity to all stimulation - so it could just be that too!

Who knows?!?! I'm also hopeful to find some documentation about it.

At the very least, for myself, I'm just glad to know that some of you guys also experience this, because I have and still do too.

I think it's pretty much a definite fact that some PCS symptoms are psychological, mine included. But that serious jolt brought all my symptoms back with a vengeance, I was off work for two months and I didn't recover to where I had been for about 6 months afterwards.

For me to hallucinate such numerous and extreme symptoms for such a long period would pretty much make me psychotic I think, which I'm certain I'm not (but then I would say that, wouldn't I .... )

That said, you've got me thinking about the psychological aspect a bit more - I'm sure my fear of jolting must make it seem worse to me than it actually is, even though I still believe there's an organic problem underlying it. Maybe I could try walking on eggshells a little less

Regardless of whether it is an organic or psychological symptom, it seems common and debilitating enough to warrant at least some information about it somewhere!