Hi all,

Been reading up on the forums here on-and-off for a while – was hoping I wouldn’t need to create an account… but here I am!

A bit of general background on my situation : had a first concussion ~3 years ago (spring of 2019) after banging the back/left of my head on a hard wall. Took me 2 months from initial impact to full recovery and (thankfully) had absolutely no lingering symptoms.

Then, approx. 1 year ago, I got my 2nd concussion after hitting my head under the sink in my bathroom, impact was more on the top/right area of my head. I took the same usual steps to recover: rest, no screens, no intense physical activity, daily walks, etc. About 3 weeks in, I lightly bumped my head which brought me back to square 1 in terms of progress. Following this, I started consulting with a physio and MD who followed my progress, gave me rehab exercises (balance, visual tracking, re-integration and build-up of physical exercise). However, the same pattern had been ongoing for the next 8 months: very decent amount of progress, random bump to the head, start everything over again. Then, starting in August/September, I finally got on a decent streak of progress, no random bumps or impacts to the head, got back to working 40+hours/wk in front of a computer screen, working out without any max heart rate constraints, etc. I would say I felt anywhere between 95% to 100% of my normal self. Also felt a lot less sensitive/vulnerable to impacts.

Then, 2 weeks ago, my 4 month old daughter, who I was holding in my arms, hit her head against the front in my teeth/chin. Just to give you a sense of the strength of the impact, she didn’t cry or anything, business as usual. On the other hand, over the next 2-3 days I developed the very same symptoms that I had been dealing with since my 2nd concussion. They have been lingering since.

Needless to say, my morale is at a zero, I thought this whole saga was finally behind me only to realize that I have to start all over again. Also, the idea that such a light (and common) type of bump would do so much has really got me depressed about the future… Let’s be honest, I don’t think it’s realistic for anyone to say they will completely eliminate all random small nicks to the head.

So anyways, I had a few questions on my mind, but the main one is this: I can’t seem to find a decent answer as to WHY this is happening. As is why a tiny impact brings back full-on concussion symptoms. No medical papers or professionals seem to be able to explain what is physiologically happening. I know some of you say it’s purely psychological or anxiety-related, and while I do agree that it probably feeds into the problem, I can’t believe it’s the only explanation. There are simply too many stories just like mine out there, of people getting the most minor nick to the head and getting all of their full-blown concussions symptoms back, for the “it’s all in your head” explanation to resonate with me.

In any case, apologies if my tone is coming off as negative, but I’m just in a pretty bad state of mind at this moment.

Thanks in advance for any feedback / suggestions.

The fact that you have increased symptoms indicates there was an inflammation response because inflammation is what causes the symptoms.

There are two injuries that occur during a concussion. First there is the impact force and then there is the inflammation that the brain produces in response to the impact. Inflammation has a beneficial role in the beginning, but prolonged inflammation is bad.

While the impact force from those head bumps most likely wasn't enough to cause a new injury, it was enough to trigger an inflammation response and the resulting inflammation has a damaging effect and can cause more symptoms than the initial impact.

Others point to anxiety because that can also cause the brain to produce these inflammatory compounds. So you can have concussion-like symptoms without a forceful impact. And while anxiety is a factor that should be controlled, it's not the only factor.

So take Curcumin and Fish Oil (both are anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective so they will minimize the cascade of inflammation that causes the symptoms to return), rest a couple days to allow the inflammation to subside, then gradually resume your previous activity level.

Take a look at my Concussion Strategy below for more tips on reducing and preventing inflammation.

vness,

Your 4 month old did not cause any injuring impact force .

So, were you diving under the bathroom sink? The movement you could make moving under a bathroom sink would never come close to the impact force required to cause a concussion. You would need to be moving very fast to suffer a concussive impact.

btw, I've bumped my head under bathroom sinks. I used to make my living working with kitchen and bathroom sinks. Plenty of contact with the sinks.

You are struggling with a severe case of Concussion Anxiety Syndrome.

Being told debilitating symptoms that last for months at a time are solely the result of anxiety is, in my opinion, dangerous. It can send people into a despair. This happened to me repeatedly, and I literally thought I was losing my mind.

I realize that some folks on here have a "fear" of hitting their head, with no real history of lasting symptom exacerbation to back it up, but it sound like this member is seeing a true, lasting symptom regression.

There's been some posts on situations like this. Some folks are sensitive to sudden movements (falls, etc.), and some are sensitive specifically to head contact. Either way, it's usually an indication that something else is going on (eg a neck injury that needs to be addressed or some other pathology that is being triggered, like migraine)

Don't give up. Your brain is not being damaged. The brain can create some really disturbing sensations and symptoms that feel like they will last forever, but they can and do resolve with proper diagnosis and treatment.

sensitive-jolting-information?

The simple physics say a 4 month old cannot cause a concussion or even subconcussive impact.

But, the mind can cause problems by memorizing symptoms of a prior event and replaying those symptoms with the right trigger.

Sometimes, the trigger causes the person to 'look' for these symptoms.

I guarantee that anybody who looks for concussion symptoms will find them, whether they are real or not.

I don't deny the symptoms but the anxiety that often is triggered by those memorized symptoms needs to be addressed.

The symptoms are more of a PTSD like flashback. The continuing thoughts of, "Did I do brain damage?" and the attempts to justify those questions can lead to a spiral down into dysfunction.

Regarding Concussion Anxiety Syndrome. There has been extensive research into the impact depression and/or anxiety play in symptoms manifesting. The correlation is up to 80%.

Learning to recognize triggers and take appropriate immediate steps to mitigate any progressions is very important. I have rescue meds that I used after some triggers as I sensed things progressing.

So, as BW says, we need to take those steps... Migraine meds, thought modification, environment modification, and such can go a long way in minimizing the progression.

Often, the person is unwilling to seek the therapy to learn how to moderate these events. They may not have insurance that covers such therapy and are unwilling to pay out of pocket but end up losing wages for lost work days that exceeds the out of pocket costs for therapy.

There's more going on than just anxiety. It's totally understandable that someone would have sky high anxiety after a head bump - they have new symptoms and don't know why so they worry and that feeds back into the symptoms and makes it worse. So I'm not t denying the mind-body connection.

But the anxiety explanation falls apart when you apply it to more severe symptoms resulting from minor head bumps. I was bedridden for 4 years barely able to open my eyes from head bumps. (Bedridden for 11 months after the 3rd head bump, 15 months after the 4th bump, 26 months after the 5th bump. You can read about it in my blog.) And the impact force wasn't enough to do any significant damage.

How do you explain that? That's not anxiety. Something else is going on. I think it's inflammation. But not knowing makes anxiety worse.

There are many factors that contribute to concussion symptoms so by having a better understanding we can provide better treatment and intervention.

Drew, Your history defies explanation. It always has. Nobody on NT has ever experienced anything even close to your experience. It is like you had an awake version of locked in syndrome. It is extremely rare but real. Trying to compare it to the struggles of common impacts is not of value.

Someone mentioned Microglial Priming in another thread -
The inflammation from microglial priming will cause symptoms and there doesn't have to be a forceful impact for that to happen.

When trying to understand a complex problem, it helps to examine extremes. And if you look at more severe cases of PCS, they often involve multiple head hits. The impact forces weren't enough to cause severe symptoms, and anxiety alone wouldn't cause severe symptoms either.

For example, what about other people who complain of having trouble reading computer screens. It's not that they can't read, they just can't read very much. That's called neurofatigue and it's a sign of inflammation.

Same in my case. The symptoms have mostly been the same whether I was in bed or not - mild headache and dizziness (shaking sensation). What changes is the capacity for activity such as conversation (extreme neurofatigue). So basically there was so much inflammation that I couldn't get out of bed.

In this article about neuroinflammation and PCS symptoms, they conclude that a new term, Post-Inflammatory Brain Syndrome (PIBS), is necessary to describe Post Concussion symptoms - A review of the neuro- and systemic inflammatory responses in post concussion symptoms: Introduction of the “post-inflammatory brain syndrome” PIBS - ScienceDirect They also discuss microglia and how repeated mild impacts result in reduced cognitive function.