[canina]

Hello, everybody

I was hoping that someone on here can help me. My son has had two head injuries two months apart. With the last concussion he blacked out and came to mins later. My son has had seizures, But, all of the test have come back normal.(MRI,EEG,CT scan) I son has the mood problems and headaches, sleep problems and very sensitive. He now faints. Sometimes severe times a day. He's hitting his head and hurting his self even more. I know that PCS can take a while to heal from. But, no where can I find that people faint after a couple concussions. How any of you fainted or know someone who faints after a concussion? If so what did you do for it? What was your diagnoses? My son has seen Neurologist, but still I have no answers. I NEED TO KNOW HOW TO HELP MY SON, HE ONLY 8 AND HIS LIFE NOT THE SAME BECAUSE OF THIS. PLEASE HELP.

[Mark in Idaho]

canina,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. I am so sorry to hear of another youngster dealing with concussions.

How do you know he is fainting rather than seizing? An EEG is not as reliable as many think. The inconsistent seizures often will not manifest on an EEG.

How is his blood pressure and pulse? Does it drop to low levels? Do you have a home BP test kit? Sometimes, the autonomic nervous system malfunctions allowing the BP and pulse to drop very low. It can be caused by an upper neck injury that causes inflammation that interrupts the nerve signals to the heart.

Symptoms like these will likely take a lot of observing him by you. The doctors can only schedule a test. You can see the situation before and after one of these events.

If he continues to fall, ask if he can wear a portable EEG and pulse Ox to help determine what is happening. How long does it take for him to regain consciousness?

Does he relate any feeling he has just before and after these episodes?

You may want to have him wear a helmet until you get these episodes under control. Adding more impacts to an injured brain will only make it worse.

How did he get hurt each time? Maybe something from his injury is being missed.

My best to you.

[canina]

My son first injury was when he fall off the monkey bars at school. He hurt his ankle and was put on crushes. A couple days after being put on crushes he was out with me at a store and slipped and fall backwards and hit his head on the hard floor. He hurt his neck,back and hit the back of his head. With that injury he had the peeing on his self not knowing it,headaches, vision problems,balance problems, and terrible personality changes.

Second injury came about a month later. He fell backwards again out of a bar stool and knocked his self unconscious for a while. not sure how long he was out, but when he came to he was screaming my name. He had a big knot on the back of his head. A day later he started having seizures. He was admitted into the hospital and had a 24hr EEG normal, MRI normal. So they said it was psychogenic. My son never had a problem before he hit his head. NO kind of psych issues at all. Now he is fainting. He will tell you that he feels a little weird before hand. He's only out a couple mins and he feels weird afterwards. He always says it feel like something is moving in his head. I not sure what that mean. I have not done the BP thing. But, thinks for suggesting that because now I will go get one.
I would like a helmet for him. But I don't know where to get one.

Thanks a lot for responding. Please keep sending your suggestions

Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

Welcome to NeuroTalk. I am so sorry to hear of another youngster dealing with concussions.

How do you know he is fainting rather than seizing? An EEG is not as reliable as many think. The inconsistent seizures often will not manifest on an EEG.

How is his blood pressure and pulse? Does it drop to low levels? Do you have a home BP test kit? Sometimes, the autonomic nervous system malfunctions allowing the BP and pulse to drop very low. It can be caused by an upper neck injury that causes inflammation that interrupts the nerve signals to the heart.

Symptoms like these will likely take a lot of observing him by you. The doctors can only schedule a test. You can see the situation before and after one of these events.

If he continues to fall, ask if he can wear a portable EEG and pulse Ox to help determine what is happening. How long does it take for him to regain consciousness?

Does he relate any feeling he has just before and after these episodes?

You may want to have him wear a helmet until you get these episodes under control. Adding more impacts to an injured brain will only make it worse.

How did he get hurt each time? Maybe something from his injury is being missed.

My best to you.

[pcslife]

canina,

I get near fainting episodes but don't exactly faint. Docs named it as pre-syncope. You can google about Syncope and one way of testing is TILT table test. I have not done that bcuz what I have may be anxiety, overstimulation, neck issues, seizures etc., My BP didn't go down for sure.

My friend's 7 year old daughter having this fainting episodes and with last one a month ago she hit her head and had a minor concussion. He immediately called me on his way to ER.

Now they have appointment with Pediatric Cardiologist and may be Pediatric Neurologist in a Children's hospital. Wait is 4 months!! This is a big city so they have options. I am not sure what your situations is.

Until then helmet is a MUST as Mark told. You can order online fast shipping if you cannot find a store nearby.

Peace.

[Mark in Idaho]

Walmart and other stores that sell bikes have cute helmets that you can get for him.

His problem is not likely psychogenic. It is more likely idiopathic. Psychogenic means he causes them from withing his head/thinking. Idiopathic means the doctor does not know why he has them. Doctors rarely use the term idiopathic because it means they do not know something. Another term used is somatic or somatoform. It means real but of unknown origin. Psycho-somatic or psycho-somatoform which means caused by a psychological cause. Some docs use the last two interchangeably but in error.

Docs and mild head injuries are a bad mix. Do you homework and you will likely learn more.

The personality changes are his injury. If you can, try to help him understand that he is safe and secure. I believe many of the personality changes are the brain over-reacting to a sense of confusion. I have undergone personality changes a few times after head injuries.

If he has regular friends, they need to understand that his outbursts and other abnormal behaviors are his brain messing up and that they have nothing to do with how he feels about/toward them. .

If you want to PM or email me, i will give you some suggestions for these struggles.

I went through this at 10 years old. i know how much of a struggle it can be.

My best to you.

[canina]

Thank you Mark for your suggestions. I would like more info about how to help him, but I'm new to this site and don't know how to PM or email on here.

[Tengboche]

Hi,

I can relate to this, I have fainted several times since my latest concussion 3 years ago.

I have tried diet changes (salt), had my BP checked, had an EEG (showed seizure patterns but no seizures), holter monitor etc.

My vestibular therapist also mentioned what Mark has said about the autonomic system and blood pressure. For now I take precautions if I am not feeling well, am tired, etc as I tend to feel much dizzier and black out. I had also done some research why I would convulse after fainting, which seemed to be related to blood pressure as well.

I hope that you find some answers.

[canina]

Did you ever find out what was going on with your fainting? Was it your autonomic system? What doctor do you go to to check your autonomic system? I truly believe that is what is wrong with my son. But, because my husband is military it's hard to get a referral and and get it done quickly.

Originally Posted by Tengboche

Hi,

I can relate to this, I have fainted several times since my latest concussion 3 years ago.

I have tried diet changes (salt), had my BP checked, had an EEG (showed seizure patterns but no seizures), holter monitor etc.

My vestibular therapist also mentioned what Mark has said about the autonomic system and blood pressure. For now I take precautions if I am not feeling well, am tired, etc as I tend to feel much dizzier and black out. I had also done some research why I would convulse after fainting, which seemed to be related to blood pressure as well.

I hope that you find some answers.

[canina]

Today my son started having is shacking of hands and fingers and stiff arms. Then he went into a full blown seizure of his whole body shacking. Now I have been told that these are not seizure's. But, he did this when he first hit his head also and now there back. He don't see the neuro until oct 1st. I just want to cry, because it seems that nobody will ever find out what's wrong with him.

[Mark in Idaho]

Did you call the doctor about his 'seizure?'

How long did this episode last?

Do you have a way to make a video recording of these episodes? Most digital cameras have a video mode that is almost as good as a video camera. Some good evidence would be helpful.

I can't imagine how tough it is to watch him do this.

My best to you.