Mark, I've sensed some of your frustration at these "bump" issues posted by numerous community members in recent times. I understand that you've lived and endured a long battle against what appears a very complex and difficult battle with PCS. In doing so, you've developed good approaches for dealing with a lot of things and have a substantial and impressive knowledge about things that we all seem to face at one time or another.

However, expressing your frustration at what you deem ridiculous may not be the best way of helping community members. While you've come to terms with these issues over your 30+ years (more?), individuals who are in the 1st year of recovery, or perhaps even the 2nd, may not be similarly skilled to do so. I think a bit more compassion could and should be afforded. After all, the anxiousness, the unknowns about how long it'll take to recover, all the questions about whether the individual will ever be the same, all the issues about returning to work and paying the bills, about depression, relationship problems, etc, etc, are completely and totally overwhelming during the first 12 months... having questions about bumps to the head seem highly relevant and asking on this forum can be extremely useful in quickly finding out information, which, in turn, helps alleviate stress and anxiety.

After all, who hasn't had a concussion and subsequently hit their head only to have that "Oh ****" moment...

These same questions have been asked by the same individuals and answered many times.

I spent endless hours showing the physics behind impact forces. The force or impact formulas are not questionable. The forces required to cause injury to the brain are known.

If we want to move forward, we need to build our faith in the facts so we can eliminate those issues and focus on the core issues.

A. Fact, a rice filled bag, furniture pillow, foam filled ball, etc. will not cause a concussion, even when thrown at a high speed.

B. Fact, our heightened startle response can cause symptoms that can last for hours or even days.

C. Fact, anxiety can cause existing concussion symptoms to magnify.

D. Fact, A startle response, if allowed to resolve itself, will resolve in a few hours. If it takes longer, having a way to assist such recovery will be helpful.

E. Fact, Taking on a belief that A is not true can cause anxiety to outlast the resolution of the startle response.

That said, we have choices to make as we consider the facts. If we cannot accept A as a fact, we need to find help to accept A as a fact. Otherwise, we will get stuck in a never ending and self-perpetuating roller coaster of symptoms.

The "yes, but" argument will be counter to our recovery. (Yes, but, the rice bag was thrown at a high speed and I felt symptoms after getting hit.)

There is a saying in medicine, "When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras." This means, when there is a symptom, consider the most logical explanation rather than the most far fetched. A concussion from a fast thrown rice bag is far fetched. A startle response from getting hit with a rice bag is logical.

Believe me, I know how anxiety can cause a situation to be perceived as much more than any reality or logic can support.

If we keep feeding the small impacts/bumps monster, it will only get bigger until it starts to consume us.

A fool does not learn from their own experiences.
A smart man learns from their own experiences.
A wise man learns from OTHERS experiences.

Hopefully, people will strive to be wise and settle for being smart if they struggle to learn from others.

I feel your frustration. The same thing happens to me. I was in a car recently that hit a curb going 20mph and it intensified my symptoms for weeks. My doctors do not believe it was anxiety, either. They said they do in fact see things like this happening on a regular basis -- someone gets jolted and their symptoms return.

I have this problem, It has to be a little harder than that for me to cause symptoms, but the symptoms linger for weeks. I think the problem is is that the brain defense mechanism is hyperactivatrd (and there may still be some lingering minor damage left) and the brain's inflammation processes are triggered. I am experimenting with exogenous ketones which have decreased inflammation somewhat and dhea (jury is still out) ,and fish oil which has also decreased inflammation.

I can tell you mine is not anxiety also bc when it happens to me I think not much of it and typically takes a couple of days for the symptoms to show face. I think it's having a hyper reactive/ hyper excitable brain. My best guess is to take supplements to decrease inflammation.