3 months ago I was rear ended while sitting in traffic on the freeway. My foot was on the brake, the guy hit me going pretty fast (40-50) and it totaled my car. I had some minor whiplash and concussion.

I've been struggling with the whole constellation of symptoms since. Major:Vertigo, sleep pattern disturbances, sensitive to noise/light (esp flickering),migraines. Minor: memory, concentration, speaking, double vision.

About two weeks ago I noticed a low tone ringing in my ears. My Dr said that it was likely there all along, but that I've probably just now noticed it.

The point:
This evening, I was closing the door to barn (sheep/goats as pets), moved a water bucket out of the way with my foot.....and suddenly got the loudest ringing in my ears I could imagine!! It was like a tuning fork and just got louder and louder. I maintained vision,but I couldn't make sense of anything,it was like everything closed in and I was going to pass out.

No clue, but I think I got down from the barn down the ramp and managed not to fall.

Any ideas what the cause of this could be? Any one experience something so sudden and severe? It was scary, because if this was while I was driving...geeze.

I'm very active (competitive cyclist) and have worked my way back up to be pretty physically active. So I don't think it was anything like the stress of closing the door

Thanks so much!

Hi Heatherr,

I also have tinitis (that ringing) in my ears. I can't always hear it, but I know it's louder when I am more tired or have been doing something more stressful (maybe even laughing)

Once in awhile my tin tin ear, the left one that has it most, gets louder than the right ear. As I wrote this, I realized I got my concussion on my left side of my head too.

I think when my tinintis is loud -- my brain is telling me something. Probably that it is TIRED and needs rest and I need to GIVE in.

It sounds like you do a lot of very physical activity which might still aggravate your healing brain.

I don't know if this helps.

Sincerely,
pm

It sounds like you've continued on with fairly normal activity levels despite your PCS symptoms. Is that correct? If you want to heal and get better, you have to rest, truly rest. This scary incident is your body telling you that you are doing too much. I struggled with the same issue and ended up making myself much worse, and I've done this twice. Learn from my mistakes and stop now! Tell us more about your life and what you are doing, so we can better advise you on what activities could be making your symptoms worse.There are a lot of nice people on this board who can help.

Have you seen a neuro-opthamologist about your double vision? There are treatments to help correct it.

What doctors have you seen? Have you done any physical therapy?

Heatherr,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. You have found a good place.

Are you being treated by a doctor ? You should tell a neuro about this sudden ringing. You may have a neck injury that causes blood flow changes to your brain when you move your head and neck. There can be plaques that break loose in the vertebral arteries during neck/head movements that can cause sudden symptoms.

Any time you experience sudden changes in consciousness, motor control, sensations, intense head pain, etc. you should seek medical advice. If these changes are extreme, have somebody get you to an Emergency Room right away.

Your cycling puts you at risk. If you experience this same situation while riding, you could suffer a fall into traffic. Please take these symptoms seriously. Don't minimize this injury. It may end up following you for months and years to come. You also need very specialized legal help. Check out www.tbilaw.com and www.subtlebraininjury.com for information about the pitfalls of having less than the best legal representation. You strength to compete will not overcome your injuries when they are brain oriented.

My best to you.

I think I agree with the others. This may be a way of your body telling you it is tired. I have ringing in my ear and a headache all the time. I have not pin pointed when the ringing get worst, but I know I notice it more at times. Everything does get worst with fatigue or overdoing it. The double vision may be a vision issues which is fairly common with concussions. Do not go to a regular eye doctor, they can not diagnose this issue you have to go to a neuro opthomologist.

Good luck, let up know how you are doing.

I did take a very long, extensive period of rest after my accident. The first ten days, I took it easy. But when I realized it wasn't 'just' a concussion - I took a week off work and did nothing but sit inside. I did a few days back at work, then another week off.

I spent almost two months indoors spinning easy on my stationary bike about an hour a day just to keep my legs loose and to keep my body from stiffening up. Since I'm so used to physical activity, sitting fully still feels horrible! So an hour easy spinning feels very good and is low stress.

I've been seeing PT for my neck and to help with the PCS symptoms/headaches the entire time. I started seeing a concussion specialist about three weeks after my accident. My current level of activity is approved by him,and encouraged. I feel so much better on the bike! The blood flow also seems to improve my symptoms at this point.

I haven't seen a neurophthalmologist yet though... but am seeing a neuropsych for a baseline test soon mostly for the legal case. I'm lucky enough to have a good lawyer taking care of that confusing mess!

Heatherr,

Be careful with the amount of trust you put in the 'concussion specialist.' This specialty has popped up in recent years in response to sports teams' need to get a sign-off before an athlete returns to play. These concussion specialists often have no more training than a weekend seminar or two put on by the ImPACT Computerized Neurocognitive Testing people or another CNT program.

They are better than most PCPs but not by much.

Even if your activity level is doctor approved, I'd proceed with caution. Just the activity of opening a barn door would have been hard on me earlier on in my PCS. I got myself in trouble pulling weeds! Seemed like such a low impact activity but it greatly worsened my pcs symptoms. My theory is that it was the cumulative effect of various household activities that was my downfall. So it probably wasn't the barn door that caused your symptoms, but rather I'd guess that your symptoms resulted from having an activity level higher than your brain can currently handle. From my experience with PCS, I'd heed the warning. Good luck to you!