Guy with concussion

[Countrygirl]

The condition your work colleague developed may be post-concussion syndrome (PCS), which has ME/CFS-like symptoms. Most cases of PCS will resolve within six months, but 1 in 10 cases will persist for more than a year.

I don't think there are any specific treatments for PCS, but I certainly think it would be very interesting for researchers to examine PCS patients and try to figure out what is driving their symptoms, because that could well throw some light on what is causing the symptoms in ME/CFS.

This very much interests me.

As some of you know I have developed what has been diagnosed in A&E as bouts of Malignant Hypertension.

The first one I actually caught on my blood pressure machine. My BP was very low, but abruptly tripled from about 85/60 to 250/180 in a couple of seconds or so. It gives a horribe sensation (not to mention a sense of impending death) and produces the symptoms of a stroke, sometimes leaving permananent damage and, on one occasion, I was unconscious on the floor for several hours.

(And I will add my beef of the day here : on account of the ME .........which doesn't exist the hospital consultant told me and that it is just a name for people who are mentally ill, and so he wrote on my hospital notes, despite a confirmed diagnosis of MH, that there are to be no tests or investigations as her main illness doesn't exist..............i.e. as he knows nothing about ME, it doesn't exist, as ME doesn't exist no other disease can exist in the patient....ergo.........the patient is immortal.............anyway, now that I have that off my chest............reminds me too that I need to update my will as I think the particular clown who has stopped investigations could be considered attempting murder by wilful ignorance.........)

Anyway...........it feels as though one has had a powerful blow to the head.......but from the inside. Following each attack I am left with what seems like a very severe ME...............there are only two added features: marked air hunger in the day which I only ever experienced at night with ME, and resolved by hanging out an open winndow, while this doesn't resolve and am too breathless to walk three steps.............the other is the only non-ME symptoms..........visual and auditory hallucinations within 24 hours of each attack...................

Apart from the hallucinations, I have been curious why a blow to the head should trigger severe ME symptoms. I had been wondering if this is actaully post-concussion syndrome, but if it is, I cannot differentuate between severe ME and PCS.

 

[andyguitar]

In simple terms, a blow to the head can cause inflammation of the brain.

 

[Rlman]

@Countrygirl wow so sorry to hear about your scary symptoms and that doctors are so mean to you. has pheocromocytoma been ruled out for you? (not sure it can cause your exact symptoms though, i just heard it can cause high BP though of course many other conditions do too. Best Wishes!

 

[ljimbo423]

Apart from the hallucinations, I have been curious why a blow to the head should trigger severe ME symptoms.

There are very strong connections with TBI/concussions to leaky gut. I think leaky gut can cause a lot of symptoms, starting with immune system dysfunction.

One of the major consequences of TBI is the lack of
cortical activation of the pontine vagal system, leading to an
alteration of postsynaptic autonomic changes.

Those alterations promote decreased intestinal autonomics and increased
inflammatory reactions, leading to intestinal permeability.
Intestinal permeability occurs when the tight junctions of the
epithelial, multiprotein complex are compromised, allowing
for abnormal trafficking of large macromolecules.21


Evidence from one study suggests that intestinal
permeability plays a role in the onset of autoimmune
diseases.22

That study also has shown that such permeability
precedes inflammatory bowel disease, promotes cytokine
responses locally at the intestines, and encourages chronic,
systemic inflammatory responses

Traumatic Brain Injury and the Effect on the Brain-Gut Axis (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/public...n_Injury_and_the_Effect_on_the_Brain-Gut_Axis [accessed Jan 26 2018].

 

[Countrygirl]

@Countrygirl wow so sorry to hear about your scary symptoms and that doctors are so mean to you. has pheocromocytoma been ruled out for you? (not sure it can cause your exact symptoms though, i just heard it can cause high BP though of course many other conditions do too. Best Wishes!

This is what the A&E doctor thought and he wrote to my GP advising her to test for it after the next bout. She hasn't done so however. I then saw an ME consultant privately as I was worried about the lack of action. He wrote an excellent letter about the necessary testing and also information about ME, but I think it was filed in the bin. It didn;t appear in my records. I don't think I can do more. It is the usual problem that when you have a diagnosis of ME, there are to be no further investigations.......even if it has no association with ME. It is totally irrational.

 

[Rlman]

It is the usual problem that when you have a diagnosis of ME, there are to be no further investigations.......even if it has no association with ME. It is totally irrational.

That is irresponsible and totally illogical and stupid!!! Maybe there is some other doctor you can find? that is criminal to not test you and that they actually think a person with ME can't have other health issues.

 

[Prefect]

How would it be helpful? i see its a beta blocker. so it lowers BP i guess?

My doctor who sees many CFS patients feels eyeball and head tremor is caused by autonomic nervous system activation; propranolol relaxes the autonomic nervous system, dilates blood vessels, and reduces your heart rate, so even though your blood pressure goes down a little you get more blood flow to your head because reduced heart rate increases venus return (a pump that's too fast is actually less efficient, flow increases at an optimal pulse rate that may be lower). This also reduces the involuntary hyperventilation people with POTS have which also prevents cerebral vasoconstriction, improving blood flow to the brain. Chronic blood alkalinity resulting from hyperventilation stimulates the nervous system and causes more agitation.

My blood pressure is low-ish too and alcohol lowers my blood pressure but makes me feel better. I suspect this may be partly due to autonomic nervous system relaxation, among a whole bunch of other things.

How do you respond to alcohol? Most suffers here don't react well to it.

 

[Rlman]

How do you respond to alcohol? Most suffers here don't react well to it.

I haven't had alcohol in a long time so don't know how i'd react. what alcohol do you find helpful? wine or stronger?

 

[Prefect]

Whiskey, wine it’s all good. Start slow because initial vasodilation Will make your limbs feel a little weak which point you stop and let your body adjust. Then you take very small sips until you feel good. But do it very slowly. If it doesn’t make you feel better stop. That’s when you know it’s not for you.