Hi,

I had my first concussion 6 weeks ago. I fell and hit the timber floor on my chin. I blacked out for 10 seconds and don't remember the accident at all. I remember what happened before and after the accident. I felt absolutely fine after the fall, no cognitive dysfunction was seen. I was discharged from the ER with a minor head injury. No scans were done.

I started feeling weird 2 days after the accident. Typical post concussive symptoms: headaches, foggy, de-realization, fatigue, trouble sleeping, tinnitus, bad memory, feeling really tired if I was in the city for a long time, feeling lost when there were too many things and people around, loss for words. I had 4 days off work. The first two weeks were hell: the symptoms fluctuated and I felt lost all the time. I use the computer fine and have no visual problems. No neck pain. No imbalance.

I am getting better now, slowly. However, there is a weird symptom that I am worried about. Within the first week, I started noticing rhythmic muscle tingling in both of my legs. Doctor said that it is unlikely nerves disorder but only my body is reacting against the traumatic event happened to my brain. I trust my doctor.

The tingling subdued but for the past few days, I have had very bad tremor on the back of my left leg. The tremor feel like something is shaking deep inside my leg, all the time - more when I rest and try to sleep. No obvious shaking of the leg is seen.

Has anyone experienced this symptoms?

Yes I have this with my right arm.....I find its what I do that triggers it...

If it persists, try and find the XY and Z's and see if their is a pattern...

firstconcussion,

Welcome to NeuroTalk,

What a odd coincidence of a time to have this subject come up. I used to struggle with similar sensations in my legs. That was 15 years ago. Then, last night, I had strange pulsing tremors in my legs. It lasted for an hour or two then it was followed by mild cramping like pain in my right thigh. I had to experiment to find a leg position that gave me some relief. I finally go it to subside enough to go to sleep. This morning, my legs feel tired. I'll go to the gym and work out a bit on the rower to push fresh blood through my legs.

I've had these odd leg symptoms many times. I've never found them worth worry. They are just uncomfortable and annoying. The have always gone away after some time. Some times, I can find a relief position or activity like DavO suggests.

I don't think there is a reason to worry. You will likely experience more odd symptoms that come and go. I'm going to take a calcium w/ magnesium capsule. Magnesium is often needed when muscles do strange things.

My best to you.

Thanks davOD and Mark in Idaho for the advice,

The internal tremor stop today. I'm thankful for that. I hope all the odd symptoms have passed and only good recovery ahead. This is the 7th week. And I am still not recovered fully yet. I am taking fish oil, zinc, vitamin B12 and B-Complex, vitamin D, magnesium every day. Is 7th week still early in the recovery process?

Is waking up in the middle of the night during your sleep (usually straight after REM - when i dream) a common symptom? This has been happening since the accident 6 weeks ago. Some nights are worse than the others. And i feel fatigue and tired and sleepy the whole day even though I have 8 hours of sleep the night before.

Are your dreams pleasant or stressful? If stressful, you may not be breathing enough and that can cause a wake up and feeling tired and sleepy all day.

Why are you taking zinc?

Is it mag oxide or another magnesium?

Is the B-Complex full of other things besides B vitamins or is it a B-50 Complex?

7th week is still early. But, you should try to not think about a timeline. Timelines cause anxiety. Anxiety is the enemy of recovery.

My best to you.

I don't have many nightmares or dreams where i wake up sweating and shaking if that's what you mean. I just wake up.

I started taking zinc before the concussion for my skin and hair health. I keep taking it after the concussion.

I take a product called Go Magnesium Sleep, 2 capsules per day, each capsule contains:

Magnesium amino acid chelate (equiv. Magnesium 30mg) 150mg
Magnesium (natural marine) 372mg (Providing elemental Magnesium 134mg)
5-HTP (5-Hydroxytryptophan) 80mg
Zizyphus (Zizyphus jujuba) ext. equiv. to 1,500mg
Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) ext. equiv. to 400mg
Tart Cherry (Prunus cerasus) ext. equiv. to 600mg

I'm taking two tablets of Swiss Memory & Focus per day, each contains:

VITAMIN B1 (thiamine hydrochloride) 25 mg
VITAMIN B2 (riboflavin) 35 mg
NICOTINAMIDE 20 mg
VITAMIN B5 (pantothenic acid from calcium pantothenate 70 mg) 64.13 mg
VITAMIN B6 (pyridoxine from pyridoxine hydrochloride 25 mg) 20.56 mg
VITAMIN B12 (cyanocobalamin) 25 mcg

Plus 50 µg of vitamin B12 pill per day.

Also VITAMIN D3 (as cholecalciferol 25 mcg) 1000 IU per day.

Looks good but I would increase the B-12 to 1000 mcgs in a methycobalamin.

By stressful dreams, I don't mean waking up a mess but rather just a dream where there is stress as compared to pleasant dreams. I experience either pleasant dreams or stressful dreams. When I have stressful dreams, my wife can see the stress on my face as I sleep. She knows I will have a lousy day, either sleepy or fuzzy brain or both.

The natural marine magnesium is mag oxide. Not much gets absorbed.

What sensations do you notice when you wake from sleep?

Do you struggle to fall asleep? How long do you lie in bed before falling asleep?

You need to get sleep that includes the stage after REM. That is when the brain detoxifies.

Do you have times during the day where you could lay your head back and just fall asleep?

Hi,

I guess i did have many quite strange, stressful dreams that involve falling, violence and hitting head. There was a night when I woke up and i noticed my body was shaking and my heart beats were fast. Lots of time when i woke up one of my hand was numb (I'm sure it is because of my sleep position).

However, most of the time, I woke up feeling fine and i could get back to sleep shortly. Some other time, I felt hard to get back to sleep (minor cases).

It's a bit all over the place but I am sure that I tend to wake up mid-way (at least twice per night) through my sleep more often after the concussion. I have attached a sleep diagram that I took using Sleep Cycle app last night. I always snore loudly at night (I used to smoke). I always try to get at least 7 hours of sleep each night.

My sleepiness started to show up this week more so than the first few weeks. Or I noticed it more. I think this week fatigue and tiredness come more from my sleepiness. The feeling is just different to my first few weeks fatigue, tiredness and fogginess. It's more like i'm tired from not having slept the night before. In a way, i assume it is a part of the recovery process.

Or maybe it is because of the concussion. I'm not entirely sure. I started work again this Monday. And I noticed i got worse gradually during the day. Maybe it is my tolerance for brain activity is not really there yet.

And yes, I understand the anxiety part. I just hit my head mildly when standing up to get off the bus and I got worried a little bit. I am sure minor hits like that are harmless. We all have those growing up.

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If you take a lot of magnesium, i would recommend taking some calcium too. Magnesium depleted the body of calcium which is needed for normal muscle functioning. Calcium binds on the muscle during contraction. Breathing issues and tremors can be seen in calcium depletion.

So it's been two months since my accident. I reduced my work hours to four per days for 1.5 week and started to feel better and 'normal' consistently on a daily basis during those time. Before that, it was one day good then the following day bad. Those 1.5 week, I felt like I could ignore my minor symptoms coming and going through the day and felt fine.

I increased my hours today and symptoms (mild headaches, fatigue, dizzy, foggy and feeling off) started coming back mid day. It seemed as bad as the weeks before those 1.5 week again. I concentrated fine to do my job. I just felt tired during and after.

Im seeing a physio therapist tomorrow since my occupational therapist said a lot of my symptoms might come from visual problems. I realised my visual is likely to be the culprit of all those feeling off, foggy problems. I don't have obvious visual issues like double vision . However, I find it hard to see in low light condition.

Am I getting back too early? What else can I do but waiting it out again? I hate this whole process of getting better then getting worse over and over again.