I was just reading over the POST-CONCUSSION SYNDROME MANUAL, in particular the part where he tries to assure you that headaches are not caused by brain injury, but rather from muscle tension, when it occurred to me that I simply use the term "headache" because it's the closest word equivalent for what I sometimes experience. There were the traditional headaches, sure, but that was just the beginning.

If I really think about it, I realize that an entire world of different head "discomforts" was opened up to me after my concussion. I had never realized there was such variety in all the ways your head could feel, or more accurately, feel crappily.

Sometimes it just feels like a "sensation" in my head. It's not painful or irritating particularly, it's just like my brain (or consciousness even) is just slightly agitated by something.

I have these weird pressure sensations too, and what's really weird is they will sometimes slightly throb (becoming more or less "tight"), or even drift from one area of my head to another, like a pressure cloud. Normal headaches don't seem to have nearly this degree of localization. Occasionally this fluctuation will occur on a long time scale, but sometimes it occurs on the scale of seconds or minutes. I was talking to someone the other day, and I literally felt my head get "heavy" and "tight" within a few seconds.

That's just the beginning, and if you want to include feelings of dizziness and visual blurriness, there is even more variety.

Do you guys ever swing your head around too fast, or get up from a chair too quickly, and get a weird feeling like your head is having to catch up with your body?

Anyway, reading that manual over just made me realize how difficult it is to describe a lot of this stuff, particularly while you are experiencing it!

Wow, this is a great description. It's exactly what I have been feeling and sometimes I feel like my skull is too tight - weird. In the first month or so I thought my head was going to explode, lucky for me it didn't. It's like nothing I have ever experienced.

Did your headaches ever completely go away?

Yes yes!! I sometimes feel like my brain is being squeezed - that is the tightness! Hadn't thought of it that way! This happens when I am tired or having to force myself to think - trying too hard. Often goes with the sensation of feeling that my skull is not attached to the top of my spine properly,. I can't move my head too quickly or jerk it as it is like I get instant pain/sensations in my head - I joke about needing a stabilizer in my brain. Seriously though I have wondered if by brain is loose inside my skull and bangs around now! Even though I have had PCS for 6 years, I am still discovering different symptons that I was unaware of from reading the postings - things that make you think wow I do that too - often I don't think that we are even aware of all the changes! Personally I believe they are headaches as I have learnt to relax my muscles - I call them tired headaches from trying to function on zero energy - that is when all the symptons come to the surface. There are also the weird aches from moving or jerking your head too quickly. Maybe we should form a list of all the types of headaches we all get!!!!!

Yes I feel the same way too. You've described it well! I feel like the muscles around the top of my head have contracted and I can't relax them. There is a tight feeling. Sometimes I feel pressure at the back of the head (the kind described in other threads on this forum).

Have any of you found any ways of reducing this tension?

Yes, Sissy, right when I was about to give up for good.

I had them every day for a year or two, then for another year they would come and go, and then finally (after 3 years?) they were gone for good. That is until I just hit my head again recently.

Thank God they seem to have gone away again (for the most part) after just one week (it wasn't a bad blow at all). Now I'm just spacey and tired. I'm hoping this will go away soon too.


Has anyone experienced a weird tingling before? That's another sensation I had forgotten. It's usually short in duration. It feels like little pin pricks in (or on top of) your head.

e-head, I can't imagine having to live with these headaches for a year or two or even longer! Mine usually start right after I get up in the morning and get better by afternoon - just not today. I don't remember having any tingling, but I do get a weird feeling from caffeine, like popcorn popping or a pingpong ball hitting the inside of my head. I have cut down to half a cup of coffee in the morning and some tea in the afternoon.

I really hope that your symtoms will go away fast this time, good luck.

E-head I call my headaches "head pain" which is exactly what it is. I have had C-spine problems for years and have had surgery. Still can get head pain from that. was told for years it was migraines...my hind foot! They were cervogenic headaches from my spine.
I also get odd sensations in my head since the PCS started. Gaye

Yes, my son had the tigling and was also frustarated with needing to describe his pain more accurately. Part of the issues initially when you are so sick in the fogginess is being articulate at all about how your feeling. This is why I am so appreciative of your accuracy of this. You are all on you way toward not feeling you are losing your mind and it is not all in your head because here is the proof that you are all experiencing very similar symptoms from your brain injury. I am amazed at how little knowledge neurology has in this area. It is still very weak. Alot more listening to the patient's experience needs to go on. Thanks for tolerating my presense here since it is not me that has gone through this, it was my son but it has helped me cope and understand what he is going through.

Does anybody have any experience with Topamax for headaches? My neuro gave me this med to try (25mg at night), but I am very reluctant to take it after a bad experience with Neurontin. I checked up on all the side effects and it doesn't sound good. The only other med I'm taking is the Fioricet.

I had some questions for the neurologist and he told me to look on the internet -- yikes! And he wants to get paid for this????

I know Topamax can cause weight loss and sure wish I was on it and not Lyrica.
The Topamax did not help my head pain some years ago, but mine was from a ruptured disk in my C-spine at that time.