Originally Posted by concussedGuy

Hey guys, just wanted to share a strong suspicion I have about what's going on in our heads. Now this from about a month of research on the Internet. Many of you on this forum complain of a pressure feeling in your head. I believe that it is not muscle/tension headaches that some of your neurologists label it as, however I could easily be wrong and it could be muscular for some of you.

In my experience with this feeling, I strongly believe this has something to do with intracranial pressure being built up in your head. Whether it's caused by inflammation/swelling of the brain or a build up of cerebral spinal fluid, I think there is an increase in intracranial pressure which is causing this pressure feeling. Yes your brain cannot sense pain or pressure because it has no sensory receptors along it, however there are plenty of sensors along the upper neck and the sinuses and so on, so the pressure feeling could actually be a build up of pressure.

Now this buildup may not warrant a lumbar puncture but in some cases some people on here did need that. It may go away for some as some have said their pressure feeling left but others it hasn't left. I would challenge your neurologist as I will mine about if it could be intracranial pressure built up or intracranial hypertension to see what he has to say.

I believe it is this for a multitude of reasons. There seems to be a strong correlation between intracranial pressure and head injury if you look on the Internet. Also like myself, many say it increases with exertion/exercise which would in fact increase intracranial pressure. The pressure feeling also seems to increase as other symptoms worsen which intracranial pressure would cause these symptoms. Laying down and sleeping also increases intracranial pressure from body position and the breathing while sleeping. These circumstances would increase intracranial pressure

Many of the symptoms you all/ I describe are completely shared with intracranial pressure. Such as tinnitus, severe headache, my eyes get red as if my eyes are swelling with pressure, the head swelling feeling, neck pain, feeling/hearing swooshing in your head and a bunch of vision problems. There are more as well. You can do some research on the Internet to affirm this.

Other reasons I suspect some of these symptoms are attributed to intracranial hypertension (term for increased intracranial pressure) is that when I took a vitamin with vitamin a the pressure feeling and all my other symptoms shot up. Vitamin a severely increases intracranial pressure. Exercise severely worsened the pressure feeling and other symptoms which exercise would increase intracranial pressure.

With my thinking that it's intracranial pressure affecting my head I decided to eat a very anti inflammatory diet and take anti inflammatory substances such as magnesium and fish oil. When I take this stuff it seems to greatly reduce the pressure feeling as one would assume an antiflammatory would reduce pressure in your brain because stopping your brain from swelling would lessen the pressure in your head. When I get the pressure feeling badly I take bromelain and drink green tea which incredibly seems to GREATLY reduce the feeling. Bromelain and green tea are very very anti inflammatory.

Now there is a difference between intracranial pressure being raised and idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH). IIH is a chronic condition where the pressure is raised and it could permanently ruin your vision from swelling of the optic nerve. I don't know if you guys need to go get lumbar punctures to go reduce your intracranial pressure and cerebral spinal fluid which most of you just probably don't although 2 people in this forum actually did need that. As I said before, ask your neurologists about that and see what they have to say.

The only way to measure intracranial pressure is through a spinal tap (lumbar puncture) or a catheter which are both invasive so I doubt your doctor would order this but I would ask the neurologist to see their opinion. I will at my next appointment although idk how seriously they would take my suspicion.

In all likelihood you will not have IIH, but I strongly be live that your intracranial pressure is raised. That being said this whole post might be useless as you could know that it is raised as it seems sort of to be knowledge that concussions/TBI raise intracranial pressure.

So what is the point of this post? As I said, ask you neurologist about this, especially if your pressure feeling is constant and it turns into a terrible migraine as it could be IIH. Also, from my 3 months of research on concussions and the brain, inflammation/increased intracranial pressure is all around BAD FOR THE BRAIN especially a recovering brain.

So my advice is to avoid vitamin A supplements and great concentrations of it and to stick to a healthy anti inflammatory diet with anti inflammatory supplements. Bromelain works for me idk if it will for you and careful with the green tea because of caffeine, I drink decaf even though it has less of the "good stuff" through the decaffeinating process. It may not work for you but it seems to work for me!

I hope this post may help you all and I'm curious about your comments on my suspicion. I have a bad headache and no sleep so my apologies for the odd organization/sentences/grammar/errors. Thanks for reading!