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I am here for a friend who had a car accident 2 years ago. Apart from having to nap around twice a day she is feeling pretty good. She is a personal trainer and is back to close to before the accident. One big exception which is driving her crazy. That is when she feels any tiredness the muscles around her face tighen up stopping her from doing anything but lie down and rest. It is very dibilitating for her. She has just been to a specialist who has never heard of it before. He perscibed some drugs that those suffering form schizophrenia however they are not working. They dont want to use botox due to the large amount that would be needed and the possible loss of smile etc. She is really at wits end. Can anyone help

HI, my accident was 7 years ago and I have hit my head a few times since.

I have to sleep 2x a day and have had to do so ever since "the accident". At 11.30 am for half an hour and in the afternoon approx 3.00 pm for an hour and actually have to sleep in the afternoon. If I don't I find that I have terrible headaches and all the muscles "keeping my head attached to my spine" and forehead etc are really tight and ache badly.

At night I take nortriptyline which is supposed to be like a muscle relaxant. If I take my rest times before I feel the headache and tightening I can get away with a painless day. Can your friend do that? The absolute worst thing that I can do for myself is ignore the signs. Often you can feel that you are doing ok on a particular day and make things worse for yourself. I now force myself to lie down before I feel that I have to even if it is in the middle of something I am doing. My entire life is now planned around my sleep times which makes things difficult - sometimes I take my pillow and a blanket in the car. I also had my morning snooze in my office with the telephone off the hook and door shut.

Debilitating is a good way to describe it - as you can imagine 7 years of this has wrecked my marriage, my career - basically my life. For a short while I was thinking it was temporary, now I have kind of found a way to live with it and make the most of my good time. I have remarried - a lovely man who "reminds" me when I am tired as I don't notice sometimes and it can prevent what I call the symptons getting me.

I personally don't think botox would be the way to go. I think your friend's brain is getting over tired and then the muscles are tightening. Has your friend had a C/T, MRI or QEEG? The only test that showed anything physical for me was the QEEG which showed that parts of my brain were racing and other parts doing nothing.

My psychiartrist has tried many drugs - none of which have worked. At the moment I am taking a small dosage of anti depressant - every now and then I feel sorry for myself and can't deal with the new limits on my life.

Which specialist has told her that she has never heard of it before? Try another one. Has your friend had psych tests for memory concentration etc? And does she deal with loud noise ok?

Tell her it is normal to rest during the day after a head injury

Lynlee

welcome Simon

I am sorry you friend has this problem I have sensory problems with my face, , Now if it was a limb that was affected a nuero psychologist would most likely proscribe physiotherapy, to back train the brain, so this may help your friend, so a physiotherapist that specializes in facial anatomy , perhaps the stroke forum may have some input

has she tried acupuncture that can help with cramp type symptoms or perhaps yoga

kind regards vini
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[QUOTE=simon aitken;413396]Posts: 0

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If there has not been a satisfactory solution to the facial tightening problem, I have a possibility. I take Neurontin. It is an adjunct neuroleptic. For me it helps with jaw clinching and other muscle tensing problems. It is generically know at gabapentin. It can be pricey but is available on the WalMart or WalGreens savings program.

Hope this helps someone.