[guitardude]

Hey all

to give a rough overview - slipped in the shower and hit the front of my head back in Nov 2018. felt kind of dizzy the rest of the day, and in the weeks to come I would notice tinnitus, felt very disconnected, cognition hindered, etc... just about everything except for headaches oddly enough. I also managed to bump heads with a friend while dancing about a month and a half after, and in the past two months following this incident my recovery has felt verrrrry slow, if not non existant.

Where I'm at now is that, I feel I'm at a point where I kind of need to take things into my own hands and get all the evaluation possible- ophthalmological, neurocognitive/psychological, what you have it, to pinpoint possible rehabilitation strategies, otherwise the months will just go by and nothing will change significantly.

I addressed this concern to my GP, who told me to send an email to the neurology department. However, the neurologist emailed back saying that there is nothing to be done and to simply make sure I live a healthy lifestyle. While I don't want to discount the merit in this, is it wrong of me to think it would be helpful for someone to assess the deficits I have?

I think this could be of most benefit for my eyes- while I had a normal eye exam a few weeks ago, I've got some strange visual disturbances including afterimages, light flashes when looking at the sky, and visual snow especially in the dark. Perhaps this is linked with the overall dream-like way that I feel most of the time?

Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone can relate to this sort of standstill with medical care- where do I go to get a full evaluation? or does this not really matter? thanks and hope we all get through these confusing times

[Waffles]

Hey guitardude,

First, my main rig is an SE245 through a 6505+ and a vertical mesa 2x12.

Second, I'm in the midst of your situation (recovering from old and new concussions), and while I don't have all the answers, I have learned some things.

First, I'm in an HMO, which means I have to go through my PCP first, He referred me to a neurologist who was...useless. I ended up doing a bunch of research to find physicians in my network who specialize in concussions. These doctors can be in a variety of fields (neurology, sports medicine, family medicine), which makes it tough because of the multi-disciplinary element to concussion treatment.

My recommendation: find a concussion clinic, or a team in your insurance network. I'm in the Chicago area, so there were a few options, but I did have to change my HMO network to be able to see the one I want to see. Depending on your insurance, you might be able to search a database to see what doctors have concussion as an interest or treated condition.

Good luck!

[guitardude]

Originally Posted by Waffles

Hey guitardude,

First, my main rig is an SE245 through a 6505+ and a vertical mesa 2x12.

Second, I'm in the midst of your situation (recovering from old and new concussions), and while I don't have all the answers, I have learned some things.

First, I'm in an HMO, which means I have to go through my PCP first, He referred me to a neurologist who was...useless. I ended up doing a bunch of research to find physicians in my network who specialize in concussions. These doctors can be in a variety of fields (neurology, sports medicine, family medicine), which makes it tough because of the multi-disciplinary element to concussion treatment.

My recommendation: find a concussion clinic, or a team in your insurance network. I'm in the Chicago area, so there were a few options, but I did have to change my HMO network to be able to see the one I want to see. Depending on your insurance, you might be able to search a database to see what doctors have concussion as an interest or treated condition.

Good luck!

Man - I used to run my seven string through a 5150 mk II for my old metal band, loved that thing... since have switched to a classic 30 which suits my needs a bit better lol.

Yeah, that sounds fairly similar to me- I'm on my family's insurance with Kaiser, and I've had musculoskeletal problems in the past where I had to bounce around between different doctors within the insurance, only to get to the point where I just paid out of pocket for a doctor that would actually understand my issues. I guess this might be another one of those things...

Hopefully my GP has other recommendations- my gut feeling is that a neuro optometrist/opthalmologist could get the ball rolling and likely would be able to find something, my eyes definitely feel pretty out of focus a lot of the time and I would definitely want to see if there is a possible benefit in trying to retrain them a bit

[Waffles]

Originally Posted by guitardude

Man - I used to run my seven string through a 5150 mk II for my old metal band, loved that thing... since have switched to a classic 30 which suits my needs a bit better lol.

Yeah, when I need cleans, I use the rectoverb 50 at home. oh well.

My guess (and I'm not a real doctor) is you have some sort of convergence insufficiency along with other issues. I don't know what a neuro optometrist/ophthalmologist is, but a doctor who specializes in concussions should be testing for these as well as other visual issues. In my own research, I've found this discussed in a blog that certainly resonates with some of my symptoms. I can't post the link, but if you google "pcs upmc zoloft" it's the first hit.

I have an appointment on Monday with an office who specializes in concussion treatment. I was told the initial exam is 2-3 hours, with testing for visual, vestibular, auditory and other insufficiencies. I'm more hopeful about this than a 15 minute meeting with a neurologist who finds my symptoms inconsistent with concussions (although the connection is all over the internet).

[Bud]

Gdude,

I you didn't you should consider seeing a neuro eye doc.

I saw my regular optometrist a year after my accident and he missed a number of vision problems that the neuro optometrist Mark located for me discovered a year later.

As far as the rest of the docs I saw, this place was more help than they were.

My docs seemed to be great at repairing the physical damage but stared at me blank faced about PCS symptoms.

Probably not much help but that's my story.

Bud