[ConcussedEngineer]

Since my head injury in fall of 2015 I have not been able to lift weights really at all. I thought this was due to my neck as when I bend over I get a pressure sensation behind my left eye and my sinus closes up with pressure behind it too. I have tried to slowly build back into weightlifting by doing push ups, pull ups, and ab workouts, but every time I try to get into a routine I have to back off. My eyes just seem to go crazy from this. After I workout my pupils will dilate and I get a very "spacey" feeling. I pushed it too hard clearly as I have been dealing with really bad vision and this depersonalizing feeling all week. I am not sure if this has to do with intracranial pressure or just blood flow. I can run decent distances as long as I keep my heart rate low, and row a lot as well. I thought Trazodone might be the reason for this inability to workout, but I have gotten down to 10 mg a night and it is still persisting. Any help or ideas are appreciated. I should add that a NUCCA chiropractor hasn't made that much difference for me.

[BirdOntheWire]

I get very similar symptoms (pressure in the head, eye pain, blurred vision, spaciness, neck pain, tinnitus, etc., all of which can last for days or longer) from any exercise beyond a couple minutes of gentle walking. It drives me crazy, since exercise is widely regarded to be one of the best activities for concussion recovery and brain health in general, but for 3 years it's only made me far worse and caused countless setbacks. NUCCA chiropractic has helped my symptoms some but doesn't seem to fix the underlying issue for me either.

My concussion doctor can't fully explain it, but his theory is that it's a blood flow issue, as you suggested, since the injured brain can lose the ability to properly regulate cerebral blood flow. I haven't found a way around it either. My doctor has told me it's possible to retrain the body to regulate blood flow to the brain via the standard exercising below symptom threshold with an extremely slow increase in intensity or duration. I've been through several rounds of physical therapy as well as following this protocol on my own, and have found that I'm able to slowly work up to walking 20 minutes or so with only moderate symptoms but anything beyond that will inevitably cause a major setback after which I have to start all over again.

But since you're able to run and do bodyweight exercises I feel like you're in a better position for success with that kind of protocol. So, have you tried doing your weightlifting routines with extremely light weights and increasing the weight very slowly over the months? I don't know why it doesn't work for me but maybe it would for you. And have you tried physical therapy? My PT helped me with finding the right posture during exercise, thereby minimizing symptoms (though optimizing posture only did so much for me).

In terms of meds, I've been on and off various ones (trazodone, amitripyline, gabapentin, etc.) and none of them have affected these symptoms.

[Bud]

CE,

My timeline was a full 2 years before I was able to get back into exercise..the plethora of symptology I experienced ran over me like a train prior to that.

I am able to get a pretty decent work out in now but not without some lingering symptology when I stay at a higher aerobic rate...but maybe that's isn't all that necessary, I'm sort of competitive with myself.

Bud

[ConcussedEngineer]

Well, it is good to hear I am not the only one who experiences problems like this. Everyone is so quick to say it's just anxiety or stress from other life events. I have a friend who is a PT that has given me some input, but nothing too substantial.

This has just become a terribly depressing thing for me as I used to be I great shape, and had a job that required me to be on my feet all day and do physical work. I have aspirations to get back to that some day, but I reminded myself that trying to just push my way out of this state does not work.

Bud, thanks for the encouraging outlook. I don't care if it takes 2, 3, or however many years, I would just like to hold on to the hope that I have a good base to build off of and this will get better even though there may be no clear explanation.

[Bud]

CE,

I missed 2 summers of water skiing and 2 winters snow skiing....fortunately I am back at both 2.5 years later, it will be 3 years in April since my accident.

I can tell you that despite the problems I am in good shape again and my time on skis is really deeply appreciated as never before. It was a driven passion, now it is a blessing that brings joy, same goes for my time at the gym.

My nagging deal on the water is when I first come out of the water all the motion of the water from the boat churning the water around it, the wake and wind/breeze making ripples can be confusing.

I also have trouble in the gym when the treadmills are busy...there are 60 machines and when they are full all the legs moving and the different colors of the women's clothes moving are a bit overwhelming at times but I figure ways around it all.

I don't know if this will make sense to you, it is my theory. I believe what happens is pre accident I was able to filter out motion that was inconsequential to the chore at hand...it was automatic. Now, I must conciously filter and categorize fast paced and busy motion. It is quite learnable.

Bud

[ConcussedEngineer]

Originally Posted by Bud

CE,

I missed 2 summers of water skiing and 2 winters snow skiing....fortunately I am back at both 2.5 years later, it will be 3 years in April since my accident.

I can tell you that despite the problems I am in good shape again and my time on skis is really deeply appreciated as never before. It was a driven passion, now it is a blessing that brings joy, same goes for my time at the gym.

My nagging deal on the water is when I first come out of the water all the motion of the water from the boat churning the water around it, the wake and wind/breeze making ripples can be confusing.

I also have trouble in the gym when the treadmills are busy...there are 60 machines and when they are full all the legs moving and the different colors of the women's clothes moving are a bit overwhelming at times but I figure ways around it all.

I don't know if this will make sense to you, it is my theory. I believe what happens is pre accident I was able to filter out motion that was inconsequential to the chore at hand...it was automatic. Now, I must conciously filter and categorize fast paced and busy motion. It is quite learnable.

Bud

I have had similar troubles on the water too. I had the sensation of bobbing up and down on the waves for almost a week after a couple hours on rough water this summer. It was as if my fight/flight response was getting triggered with every wave.

I forgot to add earlier that I have done the graded levels of exercise before, and built up some endurance. There just seems to be this plateau with lifting and the head pressure. I hope I can regain that progress I made after pushing it too hard last week though.

[ConcussedEngineer]

I had somewhat of a breakthrough after working yesterday. I was at a computer screen all day yesterday, working pretty well. In the afternoon I had to do some work on paper, and could hardly focus my eyes to work while looking down. It was extremely hard to get it done. I then thought that I would go for a run just to test the waters. I ran a few miles on grass as my shins have been hurting with no change in symptoms. I pushed it hard at the gym last week, and noticed that I could row, bike, etc. pretty hard. As soon as I did any lifting my eyes went crazy, but after I relaxed my neck and took a break they were fine again. I think the sharp decline I had earlier this month was not from the cognitive strain of getting back to work after a break, but trying to lift more and not going to the NUCCA chiropractor long enough to have any long term healing.

This article kind of sums up what Mark has said so many times, but I never realized until now:
7. Concussion and whiplash — The Invisible Injury

I never thought about how much the neck can affect the ears and eyes, and other peripheral systems. It looks like I will be holding off on lifting, keeping up with the NUCCA chiropractor, trying to get better posture while working at a desk, and looking for a good PT.

[Bud]

I had to put a total of nine other characters to do this..👍🏃

[avalon]

I heard TBI is actually causing weakness. Do here folks also have problems with testosterone deficiency? It helps to keep mind working as strong body and libido.

[Brosef]

Originally Posted by ConcussedEngineer

I had somewhat of a breakthrough after working yesterday. I was at a computer screen all day yesterday, working pretty well. In the afternoon I had to do some work on paper, and could hardly focus my eyes to work while looking down. It was extremely hard to get it done. I then thought that I would go for a run just to test the waters. I ran a few miles on grass as my shins have been hurting with no change in symptoms. I pushed it hard at the gym last week, and noticed that I could row, bike, etc. pretty hard. As soon as I did any lifting my eyes went crazy, but after I relaxed my neck and took a break they were fine again. I think the sharp decline I had earlier this month was not from the cognitive strain of getting back to work after a break, but trying to lift more and not going to the NUCCA chiropractor long enough to have any long term healing.

How heavy are you lifting? I would start with a much lighter weight and if you're OK with it go from there.