Head injuries/concussions

[AF44]

Hey

I was wondering if any of y’all’s symptoms get worse after hitting your head. That seems like an odd question. TMI, but over the last 25 or so years I have been punched in the head, punched in the face, and choked out. (A few bad relationships, not just by one person. If that even matters.) I also got thrown headfirst into a wall and lost consciousness for a few seconds (I think; one minute my head crashed into the wall and the next minute I was lying on my back pointed away from the wall.) I read that repeated blows to the head and strangulation, even if you don’t pass out, can cause permanent damage. Nowadays if I hit my head on something it makes my visuals a bit worse. 6 days ago I was cleaning my house and I slopped a small puddle of water on my hardwood floor. I then ended up slipping on it, flew backwards and BASHED the back of my head into the edge of my coffee table!! It hurt so bad! I went to the ER to make sure I didn’t have a fracture. I’m fine, just a knot on the back of my head and I definitely got knocked silly. The day after, I woke up and had the worst HPPD symptoms! I take Klonopin and other meds and after I took them I was ok. Does this happen to anyone else when they hit their head?

[yarkadin]

This is an interesting post... how long have you had HPPD?  Obviously one of the first steps of managing HPPD may be to not get your head slammed into (or through) a wall.  I'm thinking HPPD may be especially troubling for professional wrestlers.  Excuse me for making light of this, you can either laugh or cry with such a disorder!  Better to choose to laugh, right? 

It appears that visual snow CAN occur from head injury... so ipso facto even a small head injury can lead to neurological problems.  We know this well in the history of boxing.

Here is an article I found through a quick search: https://www.townsleylawfirm.com/blog/2022/12/brain-injuries-and-visual-snow-syndrome/

[AF44]

On 7/22/2024 at 8:39 AM, yarkadin said:

This is an interesting post... how long have you had HPPD?  Obviously one of the first steps of managing HPPD may be to not get your head slammed into (or through) a wall.  I'm thinking HPPD may be especially troubling for professional wrestlers.  Excuse me for making light of this, you can either laugh or cry with such a disorder!  Better to choose to laugh, right? 

It appears that visual snow CAN occur from head injury... so ipso facto even a small head injury can lead to neurological problems.  We know this well in the history of boxing.

Here is an article I found through a quick search: https://www.townsleylawfirm.com/blog/2022/12/brain-injuries-and-visual-snow-syndrome/

Hi! I’ve had HPPD since August of 1998. So, that would be just about 26 years coming up. And I know what you mean! You just have to laugh sometimes about this or you’ll go insane. Your post made me giggle. But anyway, that’s really interesting that visual snow can sometimes be caused by head injury. I am going to read the article now. Thanks!

[James3524]

9 hours ago, AF44 said:

Hi! I’ve had HPPD since August of 1998. So, that would be just about 26 years coming up. And I know what you mean! You just have to laugh sometimes about this or you’ll go insane. Your post made me giggle. But anyway, that’s really interesting that visual snow can sometimes be caused by head injury. I am going to read the article now. Thanks!

If I remember correctly, there are a few studies that discuss afterimages as a result of occipital lobe lesions. I recall one of the moderators on the HPPD subreddit mentioning that he had a friend who developed visual snow static from a concussion. However, I’m not sure if these shared symptoms between physical brain trauma and chemically induced HPPD share the same underlying etiology. 

[yarkadin]

AF44, appears we are in the "HPPD Old Timers" club here!  An elite group, congratulations to us!  haha... Frantically searching the internet back when this started, thinking I had brain damage (which still could be the case), I would probably be terrified to read from others that have had it for quarter of a century.  But I would just tell such people to NOT PANIC... it's not the end of the world, life goes on, the human mind has incredible elasticity as far as getting used to almost any situation goes... you put it behind you.  People lose limbs, become deaf, become blind, for crying out loud... they don't all go kill themselves the next day.

I had an fMRI done in the early 00s that showed nothing out of the ordinary... so there is likely something happening on the molecular level or on a level we don't understand.  There are no big lesions from HPPD generally speaking that can be found in everyone's brain.  It could be the case with those with concussions and other conditions but it not a necessary pre-requisite for HPPD to my knowledge.

I would say one of the most frustrating parts of HPPD is the stigma and the lack of training of most doctors and specialists... I went to a psychologist a few months ago and she literally thought I was schizophrenic, "Oh, your symptoms really match what I know of other schizophrenics".  Thanks a lot!  That pissed me off more than anything as I was dumping tons of information on her, studies, knowledge I've obtained through the years, and that flew over her head...  on the other hand, the psychiatrist I "visited" (it was a Zoom meeting, I don't know how these qualify as visits really) immediately understood me and took me seriously.

 

Anyway, to get back to the post of this thread... I think all sorts of things need to be taken into account for us including head injury.  We already know that lack of sleep, illness, even changes in weather (I know for a fact this is the case for me, my visuals get worse before large storms and rain) have an impact... tracing the correlations between other head injuries would be a useful project.  I'm not a scientist or a doctor and I don't have the time for it.  Again, if not for the stigma of this we could potentially be seeing more research.

Perhaps (controlled) legalization of psychedelics will bring more attention to this problem.  I am not thrilled about it given my experience, but on the other hand, I am not the center of the world and I have to accept that other people can benefit from these drugs even if it caused me trauma and years of suffering.

[AF44]

On 7/27/2024 at 6:53 PM, James3524 said:

If I remember correctly, there are a few studies that discuss afterimages as a result of occipital lobe lesions. I recall one of the moderators on the HPPD subreddit mentioning that he had a friend who developed visual snow static from a concussion. However, I’m not sure if these shared symptoms between physical brain trauma and chemically induced HPPD share the same underlying etiology. 

Interesting! This disorder is just a tangled web of wtf.

[AF44]

On 7/28/2024 at 9:29 AM, yarkadin said:

AF44, appears we are in the "HPPD Old Timers" club here!  An elite group, congratulations to us!  haha... Frantically searching the internet back when this started, thinking I had brain damage (which still could be the case), I would probably be terrified to read from others that have had it for quarter of a century.  But I would just tell such people to NOT PANIC... it's not the end of the world, life goes on, the human mind has incredible elasticity as far as getting used to almost any situation goes... you put it behind you.  People lose limbs, become deaf, become blind, for crying out loud... they don't all go kill themselves the next day.

I had an fMRI done in the early 00s that showed nothing out of the ordinary... so there is likely something happening on the molecular level or on a level we don't understand.  There are no big lesions from HPPD generally speaking that can be found in everyone's brain.  It could be the case with those with concussions and other conditions but it not a necessary pre-requisite for HPPD to my knowledge.

I would say one of the most frustrating parts of HPPD is the stigma and the lack of training of most doctors and specialists... I went to a psychologist a few months ago and she literally thought I was schizophrenic, "Oh, your symptoms really match what I know of other schizophrenics".  Thanks a lot!  That pissed me off more than anything as I was dumping tons of information on her, studies, knowledge I've obtained through the years, and that flew over her head...  on the other hand, the psychiatrist I "visited" (it was a Zoom meeting, I don't know how these qualify as visits really) immediately understood me and took me seriously.

 

Anyway, to get back to the post of this thread... I think all sorts of things need to be taken into account for us including head injury.  We already know that lack of sleep, illness, even changes in weather (I know for a fact this is the case for me, my visuals get worse before large storms and rain) have an impact... tracing the correlations between other head injuries would be a useful project.  I'm not a scientist or a doctor and I don't have the time for it.  Again, if not for the stigma of this we could potentially be seeing more research.

Perhaps (controlled) legalization of psychedelics will bring more attention to this problem.  I am not thrilled about it given my experience, but on the other hand, I am not the center of the world and I have to accept that other people can benefit from these drugs even if it caused me trauma and years of suffering.

Haha! Yep, we are definitely part of the old-timers group! Which is kind of good because I think we can better empathize and encourage people here who have not had it for long and are in those scary first stages, thinking their whole life is ruined. It definitely isn’t. It’s hard but I have worked, had children, good memories…etc. I know what you mean about these doctors though. When I first found out that I had it (I was googling caffeine overdose because I had been swilling Red Bulls like crazy and everything was flaring up really bad) and somehow I ended up at an article about HPPD. I was so happy I cried! Sounds silly to be happy but now at least I knew it was a true disorder and the article mentioned clonazepam as a medication for helping symptoms. So I immediately went to the doctor (who was an ass but referred me to a neurologist) and the neurologist was as cold as a block of ice and came off as arrogant and unfeeling. I explained everything to him and he said it was migraines. I looked at him and said, “So I’ve had an 11-year migraine?” He didn’t seem to have an answer for that. He would not help me so I left his office in a huff and filled out a card (you know, like rate your visit as good or bad) and I put the lowest score and put it in the box and went home. A little while later he called me. He said he had taken the time during his lunch break to look up HPPD. He was still skeptical but prescribed me the Klonopin and then suggested I find a mental health clinic. I respect the hell out of the neuro because that took some balls to call me back and admit there might be something to this. After I called a mental health clinic, the director himself wanted to take me on as a patient (he did not take patients or do therapy or anything) but my case fascinated him. The first thing he did when he walked into the room was put a sheaf of information about HPPD on the table. He said me being in clonazepam was just fine. He asked if he could tape record me. I noticed his hands had tremors, I believe he must’ve had Parkinson’s or some other disorder that causes tremors, and I thought maybe that was why he was so interested. Like maybe he wanted to make a case study out of me…I don’t know, that probably sounds ridiculous! Or maybe he was fascinated by a possible link between weird brain stuff. I sound stupid right now but I have had (please excuse the language) an absolutely SHITTY day and am not thinking too straight. 
So though I suffered for I guess 11 years with full-blown HPPD, I got very lucky and by the grace of God was able to find truly caring, open-minded doctors who were willing to help me. These days, I have a meds prescriber who is aware of HPPD and prescribed my Klonopin each month. She’s an absolute angel. Smart too! I am also extremely grateful for this forum. I’m glad your psychiatrist understood and took you seriously. Well, as I mentioned, my day was crap, my brain is fried, and I’ve been having panic attacks all day for no good reason. A nurse from my mental health clinic was supposed to call me since I couldn’t get in with my prescriber, but no one ever contacted me I got in the forum and now my panic attack is mostly gone. Thank you everyone!! Love all of you and am always praying for y’all.

[yarkadin]

I hear you, my friend... many of these doctors who make hundreds of dollars an hour think they are above their patients on the hierarchy/ladder of value of their imagination.  That's quite a story with the director calling you in... he probably felt a threat to his reputation or business... and also thought he could take some advantage of such a rare case by creating a case study with his name emblazoned on it, just taking a guess at it.  You may call me cynical for believing this but I have yet to find a single human being on earth practicing medicine outside of a direct research project who has ANY curiosity about HPPD whatsoever.  Most of them just find it strange and probably forget about it the moment you exit the door, at least their behavior speaks as much.  These pompous snob doctors should also be required to take some classes in humility, especially with the climate nowadays with the shortage of specialists (at least that's a fact here in Philadelphia) where they treat their patients like numbers on a conveyor belt, going at 100 miles per hour to push you out the door quick enough for the next opportunity...

I also ran into something like that when I was young...  but it wasn't as dramatic.  It was a young upstart neurologist who ordered my fMRI and didn't take my condition seriously, kind of trivializing me.  Once he saw that there was no issue and that I was not playing a game with him, his arrogance cooled down a bit. 

Generally speaking I have a very high level of disdain for neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists... good doctors who actually care about their patients and don't treat them like money on legs are rare, and you should be very fortunate.  The psychiatrist I went to a few months back took me seriously, we both spoke Russian so maybe there was that, a confluence of culture, but I also didn't exactly feel much sympathy from him for what I was experiencing, pretty dry guy...
 

Anyway, here's to positive days for us ahead... and little to no physical head injuries to align back to this thread. 

Edited July 30 by yarkadin