[bjaminwallace]

Hi there. I don't usually seek help on forums but it's a relief to see others who are going through similar symptoms actually receiving advice.
I hit the top middle part of my head on a forklift 3 months ago. I didn't black out, though I did constantly check for blood, which there wasn't. A couple days later, I had sudden ringing and pressure in my left ear which went away after an hour or so. When I got checked out, the Dr. said they saw fluid I my ear and Im dealing with vertigo as I showed accompanying symptoms. Since then, many other symptoms have followed to which I had all checked out and received a CT scan, ecg's, chest x-ray, blood work and urine work and heart ultrasound. All came back okay, though I'm still pushing for a head MRI.
It was only until recent that my vertigo physiotherapist, and a couple doctors agreed it looks very much like concussion.

I've always been calm and collective as is needed for my job in the Forces, so this hit like a brick wall and has been constant for 3 months.
My problem now is trying to identify my triggers. I find the smallest form on exercise, ie. Pulling my daughter up a tobogganing hill, could intensify my symptoms immensely over at least a couple days. So much so I feel like a crazy person. I've been given ativan and sleep pills which I try not to take as I loathe taking meds. I know it's a lot of reading so to help the Doctors, I have a general list I show to all. Thanks for reading,

"Common symptoms:

- Sharp headaches in various parts of my head often including sides of eyes between bones, and rarely migraines above the eye that will last until I take Advil. Most often occur at night. The later I stay up, the more likely to occur.

- Internal tremors happen most often when waking up in the morning, and at night. Sometimes during the day after strenuous activity, ie. Driving longer than 10min or busy day at work. Feels like body is shaking internally, but rarely reflected externally, lasting at least a couple hours or days.

- Dizziness and anxiety has been continuous for 2 months. Not a spinning sensation but more of a lightheaded, foggy brain feeling. Gets worse with more visual sensory, ie. Driving highway, or inside large complex buildings. Looking up and quick head movements increase dizziness. During particularly bad periods, vision (especially long range) appears blurred. Takes longer to focus after head movement. Always feels like headrush like after standing up too quick.
- Increase in frequency and vividness of nightmares. Waking up to bad anxiety, and trouble getting back to sleep.
- Constantly tired.
-When eyes are closed, can feel a swaying or rocking sensation corresponding to heart rate.

- physical activities have been dramatically reduced. Exercise produces strong, uncomfortable, and sometimes body shaking heart beat. Also, exercise produces internal shakes shortly after exercise cool down. (Currently the main problem and most likely to intensify symptoms)

- Triggers: Managing triggers has involved reducing time watching tv/cellphone. No video games. No driving long distances. Looking down at the floor in front of me instead of what's ahead. More time sleeping and sometimes naps through the day. Avoiding loud noises and bright lights. During anxiety attack, will maybe take an ativan or 1/2 sleep pill and try to reduce stress. Physical exertion extremely irritates above symptoms, especially lightheadedness.

- General: Not getting enough sleep (8hr +), increases likelihood and potency of all above symptoms for that day. Since this all began 20 Sept 2017 with ringing and pressure in my left ear, appetite has been reduced significantly. Doctors have been inconsistent with whether they see fluid in my ears or not. Heartbeat often slows down between 45-60 bpm, producing a strong, uncomfortable, sometimes body shaking heartbeat making it difficult to sleep on back or left side. Vertigo physiotherapist says all my symptoms are that of concussion. As well, osteopath says definitely post concussion. No vomiting."

Ben






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[Bud]

Ben,

Glad you found us, I found out that the folks here understood my plight much better than the docs.

First off you aren't nuts, head injuries are really complex issues, while each one is different there are many shared symptoms.

I will try to make brief comparisons on your listed symptoms.

Exercise became impossible, it took 1.5 years before I could return to the gym and another year to get back to where I had been prior to my accident. The honest best I could manage was walking to the mailbox 500' away for over a year. Elevating heart and respiratory rates sent me south for a long time and still has its days but now I can push or slow down a bit, at 58 I'm not going to the olympics. I had to watch my grandkids play for 2 years.

I can still get a certain feeling of dizziness but I never have any adverse effects from such, I ski water and snow. Those activities would reflect a problem and they don't. I have learned to tell myself that that "feeling" doesn't matter. It isn't all the time.

Sleep and nightmares were part of the deal during my first 1.5 years and took another 1 year to return to mostly normal.

Anxiety yes and still but I recognize it as such now and carry on, anxiety is a great liar and a normal life can be led. I chose to go med free on my recovery.

I still get those deep chills into the bones. My skin feels just fine but way inside I get chilled and it takes awhile with my comfortor and water bottle to beat it back. I have had the flu this week and I sleep in sweats under 4 blankets and my water bottle, not exactly the norm in north Ca.

I lost 25 pounds and haven't gained it back in 3.75 years now, my appetite changed, doesn't exactly bother me.

A sleep routine is very necessary even if you don't actually fall sleep.

Light, sound and crowded buildings very much bothered me. I used earplugs when I was able to return to church after1.5 years. The same buildings with light people activity did not bother me so I learned to leave church a couple minutes ahead of everyone. That all settled down after vision therapy.

Don't worry when you see my timetable, I took a pretty good thump to the head and all cases are different.

I hope this wasn't to busy but you had many similar things I wanted to address.

Good luck to you,

Bud

[Mark in Idaho]

bjaminwallace,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

I'm confused. Did you have the vertigo physiotherapist before your injury?

What symptoms did you have before the fork lift incident?

What immediate symptoms did you have?

Have you had any neck stiffness? Can anybody observe your sleeping? Head injuries and upper neck injuries associated with them can cause many if not all of the symptoms you have.

Exercise, pulling a toboggan, sleeping with poor posture, looking up and such can all exacerbate the injury and magnify symptoms.

Being attentive to these issues can help point toward your triggers.

[bjaminwallace]

Originally Posted by Bud

Ben,

Glad you found us, I found out that the folks here understood my plight much better than the docs.

First off you aren't nuts, head injuries are really complex issues, while each one is different there are many shared symptoms.

I will try to make brief comparisons on your listed symptoms.

Exercise became impossible, it took 1.5 years before I could return to the gym and another year to get back to where I had been prior to my accident. The honest best I could manage was walking to the mailbox 500' away for over a year. Elevating heart and respiratory rates sent me south for a long time and still has its days but now I can push or slow down a bit, at 58 I'm not going to the olympics. I had to watch my grandkids play for 2 years.

I can still get a certain feeling of dizziness but I never have any adverse effects from such, I ski water and snow. Those activities would reflect a problem and they don't. I have learned to tell myself that that "feeling" doesn't matter. It isn't all the time.

Sleep and nightmares were part of the deal during my first 1.5 years and took another 1 year to return to mostly normal.

Anxiety yes and still but I recognize it as such now and carry on, anxiety is a great liar and a normal life can be led. I chose to go med free on my recovery.

I still get those deep chills into the bones. My skin feels just fine but way inside I get chilled and it takes awhile with my comfortor and water bottle to beat it back. I have had the flu this week and I sleep in sweats under 4 blankets and my water bottle, not exactly the norm in north Ca.

I lost 25 pounds and haven't gained it back in 3.75 years now, my appetite changed, doesn't exactly bother me.

A sleep routine is very necessary even if you don't actually fall sleep.

Light, sound and crowded buildings very much bothered me. I used earplugs when I was able to return to church after1.5 years. The same buildings with light people activity did not bother me so I learned to leave church a couple minutes ahead of everyone. That all settled down after vision therapy.

Don't worry when you see my timetable, I took a pretty good thump to the head and all cases are different.

I hope this wasn't to busy but you had many similar things I wanted to address.

Good luck to you,

Bud

Thanks Bud.

I sure hope your flu gets better soon. Though I would trade you our -30°C for the weather there in North Ca.

Regarding the exercise, I've found several articles contradiction each other whether one should get back into exercising or not, post concussion. It's been 3 months since the incident yet if I exert myself even a little bit, I find myself back to square one for at least a couple days. Square one being complete fogginess, feeling borderline psychotic. Of course I want to get better but I'm worried as hell, especially in my occupation, that not exercising isn't doing me any good as I've shown no improvement over the last couple months of solid resting. I am otherwise very healthy. Again, thank you.

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[bjaminwallace]

Hi Mark,

The first month, the Doctors presumed it was only vertigo and directed me towards treatment for such. The vertigo therapist also trained in concussions pointed me towards further concussion assessment and connected the dots to the hit to the head a couple days prior to this all kicking off.

Immediately after the hit, I was a little dazed but returned back to work. It wasn't until a couple days later that this all kicked off with ringing and pressure in my ear which eventually subsided. ENT did asses and gave me the all okay, besides slight cloudiness in my ear.

No stiff neck. Sleep is interrupted even with sleep meds and nightmares are vivid as all hell, which sometime lead to mindless pacing around my house while trying breathing techniques.

Another consistant problem has been my slow but intense heart rhythm. While sitting calm and still, I can feel my heart beat sway within my head back and forth, if that makes any sense.

This is all very new to me as of 3 months ago. And I've always taken pride in my fitness and health. Thanks,

Ben

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[bjaminwallace]

Originally Posted by Mark in Idaho

bjaminwallace,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

I'm confused. Did you have the vertigo physiotherapist before your injury?

What symptoms did you have before the fork lift incident?

What immediate symptoms did you have?

Have you had any neck stiffness? Can anybody observe your sleeping? Head injuries and upper neck injuries associated with them can cause many if not all of the symptoms you have.

Exercise, pulling a toboggan, sleeping with poor posture, looking up and such can all exacerbate the injury and magnify symptoms.

Being attentive to these issues can help point toward your triggers.

Hey.

I did reply. Just seeing if it worked or if it takes awhile to show up with this.

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[Mark in Idaho]

The subtle neck injuries common to concussions often do not cause any stiffness. If you have stiffness, it would point directly to a neck issue. Without a stiff neck, it still can be a neck issue.

Your sleep struggles suggest neck inflammation that is disrupting blood flow to the brain and/or disrupting breathing so you get oxygen deprived. This can cause the waking up and the stressful dreams.

The delayed onset can be caused by slow onset of inflammation in the neck.

In my experience with vestibular therapy, there is a lot of head movement exercises. These can make any subtle neck problems more problematic.

Many have found that working with weights is a problem. If one watches weight workouts, a common observations is neck tensioning/stiffening. Many physical exercises cause muscle tension. A common symptom of a concussion is called postural rigidity when the upper body is held rigid. Paying attention to these posture issues and focusing on relaxing when exercising may help.

btw, If you use the Post Reply at the bottom left below the Post box rather than the Reply at the bottom right in the post box, the Reply post with not quote the previous post and be easier to scroll through.

[bjaminwallace]

Thanks. I'll ask the neurologist if he can check my neck when I get in.
Also worth noting as it's morning and my body's reminding me, using a heart rate monitor for the first 2 hrs or so after waking up, my bpm sits between 35-55. I'm very off balance and the intensity of my slow heart rate sends shakes through my whole body. Again, this only begun along with the other laundry list if symptoms. I have had ecg, holter monitor, heart ultrasound, and chest xray.
Has anybody else experienced this slow and uncomfortable heart rhythm, post-concussion?

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[bjaminwallace]

Also, the only way I can make it through the night without waking up a dozen times, feeling panicky as all hell, is taking zoplicone. But I've seen mixed opinions if sleep meds are okay for PCS.

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[Mark in Idaho]

bjamin,

I missed you post last week. I have experienced slowed pulse a few times. For me, each time, I believe it was triggered by neck inflammation. Once, I fell asleep in the car for a few hours and slept with my head hanging forward. It took 2 weeks for me to get back to normal. I had low BP and pulse. I could hardly get up from a chair without teetering.

Regarding your neck, your neuro will not be any help. The subtle neck injuries are not imageable. They require trial and error behavior changes. For me, when my wife noticed the change in my facial expression when I was sleeping flat on my back or in my recliner and with a tense look if I was sleeping with my head and neck elevated.

I also experienced a strange event when I was having an EEG with sleep session. With the electrodes on my head and a towel rolled up supporting my head, my head was tipped forward. As I tried to fall asleep and relaxed my breathing, my breathing stopped. I had to consciously take a breath. I was able to repeat this breathing issue. Then, my wife stayed up and watched my breathing and saw me stop breathing 16 times in a hour.

We determined that neck position was the likely trigger. Time has supported this.

btw, I was taking clonazepam to help me sleep without jerking. It was making me sleepy all day. I tried combating the sleepy days with caffeine and my doctor objected strenuously. I was changed to gabapentin (1200 mgs) to get away from the sleepy days.

15 years later, I still take 300 mgs of gabapentin. It helps my brain to 'let go' of things that get in the way of falling asleep. I still need to use good sleep hygiene to fall asleep.

Using sleep meds, especially hypnotics or benzos, the brain does not sleep properly. Sure, you get sleep, but you get limited restoration from that sleep.

Do you have any way to try different sleep positions to see if there is a position that allows you to sleep soundly?

In the early stages, I needed mundane stimulation to fall asleep. I watched boring TV or videos. I spend many nights falling asleep to one of a few music CDs or DVDs. I have a friend who still needs to use visual stimulation to focus his mind 20 years after his concussion. He has a TV and DVD player in his bedroom.

So, be your own investigator. Experiment. Find the combination of things that allow your brain to let go. Don't discount the slightest or oddest issue.

btw, I also had to experiment with bed sheet texture and pajama texture. I do best in all cotton that has a warm feel.