Has anyone else dealt with a back pain during the night?

I feel that my neck is coming along slowly. It's not healed completely but it's not affecting my sleep anymore. Back pain - mostly lower back pain - has been very disruptive for the last few months and I can't seem to get rid of it. It is mostly present during the night, although recently I've started to feel it at times during the day as well.

I wake up multiple times per night and often the back pain makes it difficult to fall asleep again. I'm still averaging 4-5.5 or so hours of sleep per night and have been for the last 2 months. Some nights I get a bit more sleep but those are rare. Some nights less. I don't know if back pain is the main component to the problem or if it's simply the concussion.

I'm doing a full regimen of yoga, other stretches, some strengthening exercises and working on my posture every day.

I'm keeping rigorous sleep hygiene. My windows are blacked out so the room is completely dark. I'm doing relaxing stuff for the last hour or so before bed. I'm attempting to not get overstimulated (although that can be difficult being underslept, anxious and symptomatic a lot of the time).

I'm not napping during the day and I'm keeping a strict sleeping schedule. I'm even limiting my number of hours in bed to a little bit less than what I would normally need to try to get the sleep to "tighten up" and have less wake ups. I'm eating pretty healthy (lost 20 pounds in the last couple months), taking supplements (multi vit, vit d, b12, curcumin, probiotic), avoiding caffeine and refined sugar completely. Drinking lots of water etc.

I know sleep problems are common but it's causing a lot of trouble for me. The lack of sleep seems to cause negative feedback loops with both the concussion symptoms and anxiety.

I tried 25mg trazodone but that didn't help much. It was unpleasant to come off of so I'm not sure I want to try my doctors recommendation of trying again at 50mg. I wonder if fixing the back pain is the key.

Do you sleep on your back? If you do, you could try sleeping with a pillow under your knees. It reduces strain on the lower back. Your yoga may be straining your back. It is far more stressful than it appears. Have you ever heard of TRX or any of the other suspension training programs? They are good at strengthening your core.

I take 400 mgs of ibuprofen an hour or two before bed? I have a shoulder problem and arthritis in my hands.

You also could try taking 50 to 100 mgs of 5-HTP an hour or two before bed. It's a precursor to serotonin and melatonin which help with sleep. It can also help with anxiety. It is not a drug. You body makes it from L-Tryptophan.

Your blacked out room may be working against you. Your sleep clock uses morning light to set the start of the day. Maybe a bright light on a timer to wake you in the morning will help you. Do you feel sleepy when you get in bed? How long does it take for you to fall asleep?

Does your bladder wake you up at night? Drinking lots of water may be an issue. The "drink 8 glasses or more of water a day" is not based on valid research. Drinking less after 6 pm may help.

Yes I sleep on my back and use a pillow under my knees. The yoga I'm doing is quite gentle but I'll tone it down for a while. I'll look into TRX thanks.

I took a lot of NSAIDS for the first couple of months but I was told that I might not want to continue doing so for the long term. It sounds like you've taken them for some time without problems?

I can't take 5htp at the moment as I've gone back on Trazedone for sleep, this time at a slightly higher dose.

I'm not sure that the darkened room is a problem. I'm usually awake for the last little bit of the night, even if I'm underslept, and so waking up isn't an issue. I feel sleepy when I go to bed but it takes me 20 minutes or more to fall asleep. It's been that way for most of my life.

The bladder was an issue for a little bit but I've been making sure to drink lots of water earlier in the day and very little in the evening. Not being woken by that anymore.

It looks like I have some episacral lipomas ("back mice"). Going to have a dermatologist look at them as they can sometimes cause pain that gets misdiagnosed as muscular.

Do you have an opinion on isometric neck strengthening exercises? I've been doing them for over a month on the recommendation of several therapists, doctors and a neurologist. Many have said that they are the most important thing to do for whiplash.
The last week or so I've started to experience a great deal of intracranial pressure. I've read a couple other posts on the forum that have mentioned this can be due to the neck.
The weather has changed so it could be related to that, but I wonder if it's because of the neck.

Years ago, somebody posted an isometric neck exercise program that some found beneficial. I lost track of the post.

If you are truly sleepy, most should be able to fall asleep within minutes. I found that using a heated mattress pad allowed me to get that cozy feeling quickly so I don't have to endure warming the bed. To me it is important so I do not extend that falling asleep period and turn in bed in a dozing state before I fall fully asleep. My best sleep is when I fall asleep quickly and wake in the same position.

If you have back mice, I can understand how that can disrupt your sleep. My wife has a sebaceous cycst removed from her back by a dermo. It can be worth the short term healing time.

This pressure in my temples and sinuses has been constant for about a week. It ranges from tolerable to pretty debilitating and seems to increase with any kind of activity.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips to deal with the pressure or is just a waiting game?

Have you tried any kind of sinus medication to see if the sinus problem is treatable that way? Or, get examined by an ENT?

I saw an ENT at the beginning of November. I had an allergic reaction at the beginning of October that brought on greatly increased sound sensitivity (I had a little bit previously from the beginning of the concussion recovery) and tinnitus. I hadn't had these pressure symptoms when I saw the ENT and they just wrote everything off as part of the concussion. I was thinking there might have been some kind of infection in the inner ear but they just looked in my ear and said go home and rest.

I'm planning to call them again on Monday and try to get a follow up. I haven't used any sinus medication. I asked a pharmacist at a drug store and she mentioned that she didn't think you should take decongestants with a concussion.

Does it seem uncommon for a symptom, like this head pressure, to come on seemingly spontaneously at 3+ months post injury?

I've never heard of any problem with using a decongestant with a concussion. Besides, you are months into recovery. If you tried a decongestant for a day or two and it helps, you have your diagnosis.

I think you may be putting too much focus on every little symptom. Life has symptoms. Often, issues we would have ignored before were suddenly a big problem. They should not be.

I have seasonal allergies. In my experience, any kind of sinus pressure will increase any PCS symptoms, especially the head pressure. I use nettie pot and steam to get my sinuses draining. I don't think nasal decongestant used over a short time should be bad but if you are worried there are saline nasal sprays you could try

I understand how it might sound like I'm getting worked up over things that normally would not be an issue. That's not the case here though. My symptoms have been pretty debilitating for the most part.

I've found that some cocktail of symptoms comes on quite quickly, after relatively small amounts of mental and physical activity. I haven't found much progress in the amount of time I'm able to do most activities either. For example, just after the injury, a 5-10 minutes of screen time would bring on a great deal of brain fatigue. It seems like it's still only about 5-10 minutes that I can do now. Just writing a post like this brings me pretty close to or even past my threshold. The same goes for things like reading, having a conversation, short attempts at low intensity on the stationary bike etc. There may have been some slight improvement in some areas but it's hard to say.

I was able to listen to podcasts for most of the day for the first month or so after the injury, but after the allergic reaction I had, this ability is very limited too and I get feelings of fullness and pain in the ear plus fatigue after too much listening.

I try to pace myself and stop at the early signs of fatigue and symptoms but I find that I often get to a point fairly early in the afternoon or evening, even on a very slow paced day with not much stimulation, that I reach a threshold where my symptoms come on and stay for the rest of the evening and so I just have to practice mindfulness and relaxing until bed (even for 7+ hours etc.) Reaching my limit (to the point of having to do nothing for the rest of the day) earlier in the day has seem to happen much more recently than it did earlier in the recovery.

Now this head pressure is here whether or not I do any activity and for a large part of the last several days it's been pretty intense and inhibiting.

My guess has been that an inability to solve the sleep and neck/back issues has been the cause.

Estreetfan - I tried inhaling some steam but didn't have any luck with anything draining. I'm not even sure if there's anything in my sinuses. I don't have any nasal congestion, only sinus pressure and I've heard that it's rare to have chronic sinusitis without nasal congestion. Maybe I'll try a decongestant.

Ironically, I was on the subway headed to my doc to get a prescription for anxiety medication when the train came to a pretty abrupt stop. Usually they slow down and come to a relatively slow stop but this time it was unexpectedly fast. I was standing and I may have fallen over if I wasn't holding on to a handle.

I wasn't ready for it and my neck jerked to the side somewhat violently, left ear towards left shoulder. My anxiety/ptsd kicked in and my neck stiffened as the movement started. I have pain all through the left side of my neck and a headache on the left side of my head.

Not ideal for my still recovering whiplash.

Would you be worried about possibly being reconcussed?

NO, This was not a concussion. The amount of sudden deceleration to jerk you head enough to cause a concussion would have thrown you to the floor.

What are you doing therapy wise to help with your anxiety?

Anxiety meds should be used at minimal levels unless they are not benzos and instead are SSRIs or SNRIs or TriCyclics.

Yes I'm starting an SSRI to complement my cognitive behavioural therapy.

Thanks for the reassurance, it's really helpful at present.