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!

A simple test for intracranial pressure due to inflammation would be a round of steroids to reduce the inflammation. If it causes relief, the treatment is the diagnosis. Steroids are commonly used to reduce neural inflammation.

Blood pressure can also cause the pressure feeling. Checking BP when this pressure feeling is strong would be a good idea.

I believe everybody should have a home BP kit. Don't use the wrist BP systems. The upper arm systems are more accurate. Getting a baseline BP would be a start. Then, when pressure is felt or head ache manifests, the BP can be compared to the baseline. Adrenal malfunction can cause BP issues.

Thanks for the response mark.

I have had high blood pressure issues ever since going to the ER 4 months ago. I have had adrenal tests in the past and they came back normal. I was on diuretics which lowered for about week however the diuretic seemed to worsen my concussion symptoms. I have been testing at home with an arm BP testing kit for about 2 months as I suspected I had high blood pressure and was correct. My bp has been less severe then it was before the diuretic, but after coming off it, it is now in the 140-150 systolic range and usually around 80 for diastolic. I am reporting the results to my physician and he will soon make a decision about putting my back on another BP med.

I know that the systolic number can correlate with raised intracranial pressure when high, another reason I have the suspicion. Also I know what a high blood pressure headache feels like as I had high bp for a short amount of time 2 years ago. This pressure feels a lot different that I am experiencing with the concussion. It's also not just localized to the back of my head like a high bp headache.

What is the neural inflammation test? Also raised intracranial pressure could be from increased CSF, would that neural inflammation test indicate that? I know that CSF being raised doesn't necessarily have to do with brain inflammation and raised CSF can still be attributed I head injury in some cases even regardless of neural inflammation. I read 3% could develop Idiopathic intracranial hypertension after a head injury and being as it is idiopathic it does not mean that is caused by any other condition including brain inflammation, but there was still a relationship with head injuries and development of IIH.

I have the same issue with pressure i my head, basically from your post give it to me in a nut shell...what should I ask my neurologist?, as I have an appointment Dec. 20th.


ED

concussedGuy,
There is a woman who posted maybe a 1 1/2 yrs ago. She had to have a lunar puncture. She also wrote about it because it took awhile to happen. I don't know it there is an easy way to search past posts, but she did write a lengthy post about her experience.

Best to you,

thanks for your post…If it is not IIH, acupuncture might work for you. My daughter used to have bad head pressure all the time, could not read, and had bad headaches. The integrative clinic at Stanford Hospital introduced us to acupuncture. It almost immediately reduced the pressure. This would last a few days until her next appointment. It was a positive experience.

Since then we have found someone locally because the multiple drives to Stanford/week were not good for her.

Is there a book you follow for an anti inflammatory diet? She was just tested (blood taken) for inflammation in her body and it came up negative. I think the doctor was looking for some type of arthritis.

I was the one who had to have the lumbar puncture a couple of years ago. Jan '11 to be exact.

The pressure felt severe - the course of strong steroids that were prescribed didn't help me (that I remember) which is why the lumbar puncture was ordered.

There is a huge difference between inflammation and an increase of intracranial pressure. They are two different and separate medical conditions.

I was in such severe pain that I had trouble moving, walking and talking. Sitting upright was not an option. Our windows had to be covered with black out curtains to allow 0 light in - even the tiniest amount of light was excruciating to me. I could not even tolerate whispers.

I can not convey how excruciating the pain was all the time and the pain increased in intensity slowly over the six months I had it until the lumbar puncture was given - then ALL the pain went completely away within about 5 minutes of the lumbar puncture - it was a complete medical miracle to me and I believe it saved my life.

I believe there is some merit to your assumption concussedGuy - but trust me when I say that you do not need a lumbar puncture unless your neurologist thinks you do. If your body and brain can adjust the pressure inside your skull naturally which may take some time, then you need to allow it the time to do that. It is certainly worth bringing up with your neuro, but it might not be worth fighting for because other things might help you.

Pressure inside the head is also how some people describe some different kinds of headaches. Your neuro may want to try some different headache treatments before opting for an LP.

I had to undergo many, many different kinds of treatments before an LP was even considered. Increase of ICP is considered rare after a concussion. I think that's why it took 6 months to finally have one suggested as an option. It definitely worked for me, but remember, every head injury is different and unique.

Esthers Doll, thanks for coming back and replying on this. I completely agree with you. I don't believe most people have a chronic increase in intracranial pressure as you did or close to the severity you had. I'm sorry you had to deal with it. Although it may be possible for some, so as you said it is worth to bring it up to a neuro. I think basically everyone here wouldn't need a lumbar puncture but maybe a select few. I'm not telling people to go seek lumbar punctures from their doctor (READ BOTH LINKS I HAVE AT BOTTOM TO SEE IF YOU MATCH SYMPTOMS)

ED, I would ask if it was a possibility that you have increased intracranial pressure in your head causing this. No harm in asking. See what he says and describe your symptoms because a lot of them are similar to as if your intracranial pressure was high.

Going back to my theory, I believe that intracranial pressure is increased or can spike a little at situations likely to set them off for those of you complaining of pressure in your head and how it increases when exercising or sleeping. I know a concussion can cause the brain to swell or be inflamed and that would cause intracranial pressure to rise. You can look it up on the Internet.

The condition I believe Esthers Doll had is Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension, I could be wrong and this condition can be benign or chronic. Idiopathic also means that it is not caused by another condition meaning that swelling of the brain is not causing an increase in intracranial pressure. There's just a build up of CSF. In your case it sounds like it was benign because it was relieved from the lumbar puncture and didn't come back it sounds like. I have no idea, sorry if I'm making wrong assumptions about your condition, I truly apologize if I did. It's rare for you to have Esthers dolls condition but possible.

Now I don't think any of our brains are severely swollen or anything I think they may be slightly inflamed, or something be it idiopathic or not is causing minor increases in intracranial pressure.

At least for people that fit these symptoms: it feels like their brain is swelling or a pressure feeling that isn't localized in on area of your head, you have tinnitus, you can hear swooshing in your ears, and here is the main reason I believed that I have some spikes of intracranial pressure in my head: my vision problems. I had random episodes of where one of my eyes would move in a different direction for about 2 to 3 seconds. I wake up with my eyes feeling swollen and looking swollen and red (like a temporary papilledema). I also have sleep apnea like problems which increase intracranial pressure and that correlated with vision problems and other intracranial pressure like symptoms.

These symptoms strongly correlate to an increase in intracranial pressure. If you have these symptoms, think about it.

So this is my conclusion, I do not believe most of you have severely built up intracranial pressure that warrants being called a condition or would require a lumbar puncture (although possible so ask neuro as well as about inflammation of the brain, just bring it up), I do however believe there is some relationship no matter how mild or minor between rises of intracranial pressure built up and concussions/TBI for some of us sufferers. This is just my opinion because so many symptoms seem to overlap and they seem to be related from my research. I'm no MD but there seems to be a correlation between the two. Just do some research on it.

As I said most will not need a lumbar puncture and the pressure will go away on it's own, but I think stuff like anti inflammatories and not pushing too hard physically will speed this process up if it will go away on it's own. All I know is anti inflammatory = good for the brain, so it won't hurt. I guess saying "challenge" was too strong of a word but definitely bring it up to your neurologist. HOWEVER, If you have Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension symptoms and/or have a case like estherdoll definitely CHALLENGE your doctor! Here are some links to the IIH. Base IIH off of these links. READ AT LEAST SYMPTOMS FROM FIRST LINK, AND READ ALL OF SECOND LINK (mayoclinic symptoms on second page of first link)

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pse...erebri/DS00851 (2nd page is symptoms, I suggest reading most of it)


http://www.ihrfoundation.org/intracr...sion/info/C20/ (read the myths)


http://www.health.com/health/m/galle...881_12,00.html (anti inflammatory food link)

Hopefullmom, I don't follow a book, I'm sure there is a good one out there which wouldn't be a bad idea, but I just research off the Internet. Mainly I eat a lot of fish (quality salmon), drink green tea (watch caffeine) but I may switch to white tea, eat lots of spinach, eat a lot of spinach, dark green leafy vegetables are anti inflammatory, lots of fruits and vegetables, lean beef.

Anti inflammatory supplements I take are fish oil and bromelain. Magnesium may be good too. I'm also on a vitamin regimen and a drink a bunch of water. Be careful with supplements everyone reacts different to them but I think the bromelain helps me. Read up on these, before taking and look up drug interactions. I hope this helps you daughter!

For the record, I did not have idiopathic increased intracranial pressure. This happened to me after I was in a MVA. I did not suffer from headaches before the accident. After the accident, I had a constant headache that continued to get worse and worse over six months time. I became incapacitated from the headaches around weeks 6-8. The headaches completely went away after the LP. That was almost three years ago. Increase of ICP can be caused by a concussion, as mine was, but it is rare.

PLEASE DO NOT DIAGNOSE ME UNLESS YOU ARE ONE OF MY PHYSICIANS - thanks in advance.

You apologized for possibly making a wrong assumption in here twice but then at the end of this little paragraph affirmed it again and you went even further to call it "my" condition - when it is not.

I think I've been very clear in past posts and current ones that this happened to me due to a concussion I sustained in an MVA. I apologize if I wasn't clear about that.

I do not like to "own" a challenging medical condition. It's not "my" concussion, etc.. It is a concussion that I sustained.

First of all, I apologize for offending you. Looking back at what I said, I see clearly how it comes off as offensive, especially in the assumptions I made. For what it's worth, I'll explain my thought process, but clearly it was flawed and mislead. What I meant by condition was something you had to deal with medically and temporarily at the time. I'm sorry for saying you had a condition.

I was going off my understanding that intracranial pressure being raised is called intracranial hypertension (hypertension meaning high pressure) in any case and idiopathic if they find nothing like a tumor or infection causing the increase of CSF. The Internet uses it as a very loose name describing both a chronic condition or something benign that would be relieved and never come back after a lumbar puncture, but clearly my understanding is wrong. It was wrong to say you had it because your right I have no business in giving you a diagnosis. That was my thought process. I made too many careless assumptions and was careless in wording

I think another mistake I made was using Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension interchangeably with increased intracranial pressure, which is what you had, because the Internet uses it so loosely too. All that being said, it's not an excuse, I was wrong for labeling you. I had no right to do so. I am genuinely sorry and hope you forgive me.