[Consider]

Hello,

I hit my head on a bunk bed 3 months ago back in late october trying to get to a cellphone. At first, I was super nauseated, dizzy, ear pains and I felt like my life was over.

Three scans later (2 MRIs and a CT scan), which was all negative, I am still wondering the mysteries of the oh so called brain. I had insomnia, and sat in a chair depressed with panic attacks. During this time, I was diagnosed with a mood disorder. I was on zyprexa, weaned off of it with permission from my doctor, and now I am on celexa and have been for a week and a half. The back of my head still hurts and I am still nauseous in the mornings with diarrhea. So what gives? Am I recovering or am I stuck like this forever? I am seeing a neuro on the 18th.

[mrsD]

SSRI medications like Celexa increase serotonin levels in the body. Serotonin is a major neurotransmitter in the gut, and many people get nausea and/or diarrhea from it.

Typically this side effect wears off with time, but some people are just very sensitive to it and those people end up avoiding all SSRIs from then on.

[Mark in Idaho]

Consider,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. mrsD gave you good comments. You may be able to reduce your mood disorder with good brain nutrition. I have posted a thread called Vitamin and Supplement Regimen with a long list of ideas. You may also want to get your hormones checked by a bio-identical hormone specialist. There is a referral system at
https://www.womensinternational.com/..._referral.html

You will be shocked to learn how badly hormones can mess up mood functions.

My best to you.

[Consider]

Thank you Mark and MrsD,

I am going to talk with my doctor about getting off these dreaded pills and finding a better solution, like therapy perhaps? So far, with the Celexa, its been a nightmare, and whats even worse is I can't tell if its my concussion or just the pill, cause well i had nausea even beforehand, so its all a mystery to me at this point. But I pray that once I wean off this stuff with the help of my doctor, I can finally get back to where I was, recovery. But what's killing me more, is not playing video games. The neuro is on the 18th and I am seeing a gastro today to make sure nothing is awfully wrong. I do have another question though, my PCP seems to think I have Occipital Neuralgia from the injury. What is this and how is it treated? I heard surgery is involved, and if so, should I consider it? And as for the concussion recovery, is there still hope for me? Am I going to get through this?

[Virginia in Canada]

I, too, was diagnosed with Occipital Neuralgia following my accident. My GP injected Depo-Medrol into my Occipital points and this reduced my headache considerably. This is only a temporary fix, but, since the Occipital Neuralgia was primarily caused by my neck injury, it lasted long enough for the physiotherapy on my neck to do some good. Also, try icing the back of your head and upper neck to see if that helps.

All the best.

[Mark in Idaho]

Consider,

Video games can be a big problem with PCS. You may need to find a new activity that has less stress on the brain. The competitive stress and excitement of video games alone is enough stress on the brain. Add the visual and audio stimulation and you have quite a brain stressor.

There are plenty of other ways to have excitement in life.

My best to you.

[Consider]

Are there any other activities for me to enjoy? Can I watch television?

[Eowyn]

If you go to this page: http://eowynridesagain.wordpress.com/game-basics/ and scroll down to the "Power-ups" section, you will see the list of activities I developed that I could do without hurting myself.

One of the ones I ended up spending the most time doing was coloring. Buy yourself a box of crayons, Google "coloring pages for adults" and go to town! I also spent a lot of time walking outdoors when the weather was good.

[Consider]

Thanks, Eowyn! The link is very helpful! and thank you Mark! This all really helps