Hello to all...... For the record.... I have had anxiety and panic since a teenager. I never take meds for it as I can manage it typically. 5 years ago I had a horrific episode ... Was given a med that more me worse . Absolute scariest time in my life. I then went on and suffered with horrific high anxiety/hyperactive nervous system all amped up for a year before I finally asked for help. I took Citalopram 10mg and within 5 weeks I was completely back to my normal self!!! No side effects!! Just wellness!! Never took the med again.

Jump ahead to April 3 of this year. I was bucked off a horse. Came off the side about 6ft and dropped down and slammed my head and neck into the ground with my feet hitting the ground behind my head. I sustained a severe whiplash as I slammed and kissed my chest. I'm lucky I was not paralyzed or did not break my neck. I stood up and could hear my brain sizzling. I knew I had done something.
About 3 days later I started having severe nervous sensations , rapid pulse 115 just sitting down...... and was sobbing uncontrollably. I mean sobbing all the time. I'm not sure if my own anxieties and fears kicked in, or I did too much researching later that week on concussion, but it was downhill after that. Looking at my journal I had plenty of days in April sporadically that I felt well. Since May thru today... (Also since trying the citalopram in very tiny laughable doses (2,5mg) .... I am very very unwell. I've had a hard time with the Citalopram this time. I think this particular generic pill was not sitting well with me and maybe made me worse. I have started another generic. I am on day 2 of the whole pill. 10mg. Bless my anxious heart. I have an anti anxiety med prescribed if I need It to get me through. I very seldom take it and as a consequence I suffer which doesn't help my brain get well.
I am so scared the meds won't work this time. I am so scared I won't recover. I am overwhelmed with the unknowns of how badly or mildly I insulted my brain.
My CT and subsequent MRI (a month later) were negative.
I am surviving a daily nightmare of high anxiety and a hyperactive nervous system.... I sob all the time. I have sobbed and prayed to God to help me. ... The worst for me is the surrealness (derealization) and the buzzes and unease in my entire being. I do have moments of calm from the nerves... But not the Surrealness and feeling detached from the world. Yes that sounds weird.
I miss myself. I miss my joy and silliness. I miss my wonderful simple no worries life .I'm so terribly fearful I won't get well. The thought of that is unbearable.
I did not lose consciousness, did not have blurry vision or balance issues.. Im fully functional.... I just am NOT myself. ...this is almost a repeat of 5 years ago to be honest except now I have a Head slam thrown in the mix. I went straight back to work 2 days later when scheduled . I am worse at work. Stressful job. I also went to a neurologist (about 7 weeks later) who told me "your brain is fine, this sounds like anxiety" I am talking to a counselor as I'm sure friends and fam are tired of hearing the same redundant things from me and can't believe I'm not better yet.
I'm sorry.... If I've rambled. Just wanted to be forthright about my history and this head slam. I've read the posts on "hope and recovery". Just needed a place to share. God bless you all.

Rahruwin,

Welcome to NeuroTalk. Sorry to hear of your injury. Sounds scary.

Despite a negative CT and MRI, it is likely you suffered a neck injury. What I call a subtle neck injury. It may not be painful or restrictive but it can cause inflammation to the blood flow to the brain.

The delayed symptoms are indicative of a concussion, too. Your brain is not fine. But, that should not cause you anxiety. You suffered quite an impact. But, as the neuro said, you do not have any serious issues to be concerned with.

What is most important for you is simple. You need to slow down and reduce your work load and stress. Anything you can do to reduce your stress level at work will be helpful. The quality of your sleep at night is very important.

Stay away from online research. It only makes your anxiety worse. You need to get your mind off your symptoms and busy with anything that is not stressful. Try to accept your current symptoms as just today's symptoms. Tomorrow is another day. Don't project them to tomorrow. Don't journal your symptoms daily. Once a week is enough. Improvements come over a longer period so daily journaling is not helpful. Expect daily ups and down.

Your anxiety and stress will have the biggest impact on your improvement. It may take months for you to get past your current systems. Try to be patient.

I suggest you read the Vitamins sticky at the top. Do some icing of your upper neck.

Please feel free to ask us anything. There are decades of experience here.

Thankyou so much for your rapid response. Yes, I really did a number on my neck... Really pulling the muscles on my right side ... Affecting my face/eye. I see floaters daily now. I did a follow up X-ray and CT on my neck aswell and found no major injuries except degenerative arthritic changes. I have been seeing a chiropractor 1-2 X weekly for adjustments as my c1c2 like to pop out. I am also getting Therapeutic massage biweekly. I'm walking my dogs alot and try to be outside as much as I can as I feel better psychologically when I'm outside.... Even thou it feels dreamlike. I have 4 days off a week so plenty of time to relax. I have thought about taking a leave at work but the thought of weeks of down time causes me a great sense of overwhelming anxiety. Obviously that's my state of mind/condition as I write.
I agree with you about the journalling...basically it is a written reminder of every moment of distress I have suffered, with a handful of moments of "normalcy" jotted down. I'm just too hyper-vigilant ... Always have been. My heart goes out to each and everyone of y'all who are suffering any type of head issue/ anxiety or depression. Bless

If your chiro is doing the twist the head and pop the neck adjustment, it may be too aggressive. For many it is. C-1 to C-2 and C-1 to occuput do not settle in like the lower vertebra do. The twist the head and pop the neck adjustment may help a lower level and traumatize the upper levels.

A gentler technique may be worthwhile. Gentle traction with mobilization or an upper cervical chiro technique (not the machine) or Activator with a follow up of icing can be good. My PT would first release the neck muscles with myofacial release then with me on my back, pull gentle traction and mobilize the vertebra. My outstanding Activator chiro was not helping me with atlas and such like he hoped. He sent me to the PT. She helped me immensely.

I had to change how I worked with my dogs. No leash jerking. And, I had to change how I scanned the yard for messes. I had to turn at my shoulders rather than at my neck.

The most important change was sleep position. I had to sleep with my head and neck straight. No pillow lift or head twist. I did best in a recliner until I learned to sleep on my back consistently.

You can choose to let go of the issues that you are hypervigilant about. It takes a lot of effort and maybe some CBT. You need to replace those thoughts with safe thoughts. The Celexa may help. It usually takes a strong dose to get the OCD help. Hypervigilance is a form of OCD. PCS often make hypervigilance worse. It did for me. Except, I would get stuck on meaningless thoughts that would exhaust me.

I was on an SSRI for 14 years before detoxing and replacing it with 5-HTP and the vitamin regimen, especially the B-12. You might want to consider 5-HTP instead of the Celexa. You can't take both.

Thankyou Mark for the vitamin tag. As it goes, I jut started D3. 2000 typically every other day. I have been taking B12 1000mg daily for quite some time. I will certainly heed your advice and got get the GNC multivit and the b complex. How much calcium and mag do your recommend? Im a 51 yr female if that even makes a diff.
My GP gave me samples of Deplin ... (L-methylfolate ca)...supposedly works on serotonin way better than otc folic acid. Have you heard of it or heard any reviews? I've been reluctant to try it... That's my anxiety doing that. I'm reassured it's just a vitamin but nonetheless I haven't tried it yet. I'm really hoping my SSRI will work and the anxiousness subsides and I will be my old self. I'm hoping my joyless depressed self is merely from the anxiety as I know that can cause it as it did for me 5 hrs ago. Gosh I don't know. The unknowns are awful. Oh, regarding the chiropractor.... Sometimes she doesn't manually manipulate me as I'm too tense in the muscles... She uses that metal rod clicky thing.
Can I just add.... Yesterday I took my good horse to the trails. That was a huge hurdle for me.... Not because I'm afraid to ride.... But just because of the overwhelming anxiety in me at the "thought" of it. We rode for a few hours . My anxiety subsided, my surreal vision became clear, I was engaged with others and can honestly say I had the best day I've had in 10 weeks. Today I feel very anxious and have the surreal....I have kept a photo in my phone of what you said about daily ups and downs, and not projecting today on tomorrow . Thankyou for that .

Good to hear you are doing better.

I suggest you go ahead with the Delpin. Have you asked for blood work to see your folate levels, D3, thyroid, B-12, calcium and mag ?

Your GP is more open minded than most. Most ignore supplements.

At 51, if you are taking a good capsule cal-mag, 500/250 combined is a start. My wife takes 4 horse pills to get that much. The hard tablets do not absorb as well as the capsules for many people.

You may benefit from a full hormone assessment. They may be changing and complicating your injury. Information Request | Women's International Pharmacy has a good referral for bio-identical hormone replacement in a fine tuned targeted form. My wife started at your age and it changed everything. Her anxiety went way down.

When I went off Paxil (SSRI) after 14 years, I added L-Tryptophan to help with serotonin. A while later, I had to go on Celexa (citalopram) for 6 months and used L-Tryptophan and 5-HTP as a replacement when I came off. The 5-HTP is much better.

Re chiro, if the metal rod clicky thing is grasped in her palm, it is the Activator. It is often used with leg length check diagnostics. I love it but it is difficult to find a good practitioner. My favorite chiro retired.

My best to you.

Yes Mark my GP is very thorough and knowing how I am (terrified to take meds of any sort) is such a blessing to have. We did the MRI at 4 weeks merely for my "peace of mind". We both predicted it would show nothing abnormal but I was willing to spend the little bit of copay. He did, in fact, run every lab test on me, including all those your mentioned and everything was perfectly normal. We ran those labs a month after my event also.
I had the hormonal panel done last October and I am definitely post menopausal (3 yrs actually) but I take my little birth control pill to give me the low dose estrogen and progesterone that keeps my hot flashes away. I did appreciate your link to the compound pharmacy. I've been told these places are great, albeit rather expensive monthly.
I expect my boyfriend would hope I would follow up with them. Hahah
I'm on day 5 of my new generic Celexa 10mg and it seems to sit with me way better than the other batch I tried (they were some jacked up pills!!!!) I also don't hesitate to take it ... Which is huge for me... I realize I won't get well if I don't give it a true whirl and I'm not having any crazy side effects that I can notice that I could honestly say" oh that's the Celexa doing that". It's just my regular anxiety condition and weirdness I feel. So nothing new there. I haven't cried today!!! Small blessings. And you are a blessing to me and many here I am sure. Thankyou again for your attention to every detail!!!

I cannot encourage you more to get a targeted hormone therapy assessment. The labs use a wide range of 'normal.' Many do not fit that wide range. A stock formula estrogen/progesterone pill is like using a fire hose to put out a candle. It gets the job done but causes a lot of collateral damage.

My wife pays $105 for a 3 month supply locally. She paid $45 a month from Women's International. She is checked and rebalanced once a year. Once she got properly balanced, I got my wife of years ago back. The hot flashes were nothing compared to the moodiness and such. Your boyfriend will likely have a similar observation. Plus, getting the proper balance helps fight off osteoporosis. I'd support my wife taking bio-identicals if it cost 3 times as much.

There is a whole thread from the past about getting hormones balanced for PCS women without even a menopause concern. You could use the search function and look for esthersdoll. Here is one thread. Scroll down to find her comments. There are some doctors mentioned. Neuroendocrinology

What were your B-12 and folate levels?

My best to you.

Oh wow. I thought it was over $100 a month. I did send off for the women's patient package earlier today and I went to Herbmart and got vitamins. My b12 was 589. I do not see a folate level after all. Hmmmm. My TSH was a bit low at 1.41 but within range. The reason behind my bc pill was I thought it would be better to have those smaller doses (and I've basically been on them since I was 16)---- yikes right. was going to switch to Premarin or something and those doses were like 25x higher and I just felt I didn't need that. (Like I really know what I need) I'm going to heed your advice and do this bio test. Thankyou for all the links you provide. You're a fabulous resource!!

You could almost double your B-12. Many do best at about 1000. The normal high range is 960 or so. Minimal is usually about 400. The injured brain needs more.

Folate is helpful with the blood brain barrier and the myelin sheath over the nerves. Hopefully, the Delpin will do good for you.

Keep in mind that the RDA levels are minimums to prevent malnutrition, not optimum health. The normal ranges can very between labs.

I use Vitacost.com for almost all of my vitamins. Their house brand is good and affordable. They sell Now brand B-12 that my wife likes because it dissolves easily. They have good BOGO sales regularly.