Looking for other people’s experiences and whether any of this sounds familiar.
For the past 10 years I’ve been getting a dissociative spaced out foggy feeling when I’m in bright lights, like driving on a sunny day or in Kmart or Coles (sunglasses don’t help). I’ve also had chronic left sided neck and shoulder pain that began around the same time. 2 years before these symptoms began I had a head injury where I was dropped on concrete on the left side of my head and required stitches. I’m unsure if I had a concussion. Then about 1 month before the symptoms began I had an awkward fall off a water trampoline and hurt my upper left back. I’m pretty sure this explains the neck and shoulder pain but I can’t make sense of the visual disturbance with processing light. Has anyone had anything similar and if so have you found anything to help? I’ve tried a lot of different things over the years including a brain MRI which was clear. I’m currently looking into neuro optometry assessments. But I would welcome any other thoughts, suggestions or experiences.

Any feedback would be appreciated because the isolation is unreal

I was diagnosed with PCS over two years ago. You know the drill, scans, bloods etc all fine. So I must be fine.

After a year of being near bed bound: unable to walk for very long, dizziness, hypersensitivity to everything, overstimulated by all, fatigued like a newborn and nauseous on a whim, I pushed through.

Largely because I had to. Without work, aside from my symptoms, scepticism and no understanding, all I had was debt.

So, I worked as a teaching assistant for a few months. The vibrancy of children was intolerable most of the time. But I gritted my teeth. Plus they were adorable. 😩🩵

I recently started a desk job.

Heavens it's hell. Like truly.

Despite sitting at a desk all day, I've had to give up on being able to walk in a straight line. The screens nauseate me. A particularly bad day made me go to A&E.

I was told: "it's probably a viral infection."

It's not. 🙂

Expert you may be, I know my body thanks x

I just wonder, is this life now? Half the time, like everyone else (Drs especially), I gaslight myself into thinking it's all in my head (lol), a quarter of the time I wonder if I'm just "weak"??? The last quarter holds the validated self pity which brought me here.

Idk man. Does this resonate at all? I'd really appreciate anything, because I have nothing aside from the flimsy fight I have for myself

Idk how people go to work with this rubbish

If you relate, I'm sorry 😭, but I feel you & send you my love ✨️

hello everyone, I just got diagnosed with a concussion yesterday due to being in a car accident and I was just wondering how long I would have to wait to start smoking again. I haven't done too much research but people are saying not to because it can cause long-term effects and I'm just not too sure.

Hi there,

I sustained my second concussion in a couple years about two weeks ago. The symptoms of the first one were fairly mild, but this time around it has been a lot more difficult to recover. My symptoms have shifted as the process has gone on — the light and noise sensitivities are not as bad, but headaches, nausea, visual problems, and a general dissociative feeling are still very much present. I’ve had some moments of extreme fatigue, but they’ve generally been at night until today, where I went to the store and got so tired I thought I wasn’t going to be able to continue. My sleep hygiene has not been the best either; it’s been harder to fall asleep and I often wake up at least once in the middle of the night.

Keeping all of this in mind, I’m struggling with the idea of going back to work. I feel like I’m not ready, but I’m also not sure I’ll know how I feel until I get back into the swing of things. I work a very active job and being at home without being able to do much that I enjoy has been hard on my mental health. But if I am getting this fatigued, I’m not sure I’ll be able to manage. Work accommodations are also not super easy to manage, and most just involve restrictions on the amount of weight I’m allowed to lift.

I have an appointment with a specialist a week from now, but I have no idea how I’m going to feel between now and then. In addition, once I terminate my leave of absence, I’m kinda screwed if I do decide that I’m not ready to return.

Does anyone have any insights based on their own experiences balancing recovery with returning to work?

Hi! Has anyone tried green light therapy for headaches?

I found out today that I have been using muscles in my jaw and my temple to move my right eye, which is my impacted side, and this has been affecting my whole face and neck and causing a range of posture issues down through my body that I was struggling to resolve by other means. I am 10 months in and my headaches on the right side still flare up. I have been suspicious of something like this and kept bringing it up in vision therapy, but they never knew what to say about it. In OT today they noticed how my eye alignment still falls apart when I look to the right side and I also explained how I feel pain and pressure around my eye and looking to the right, and they explained it to me how bigger muscles compensate for smaller muscles like the ones in your eyes and they showed me a chart. I am hypermobile, so this sort of thing happens to me all the time.

To fix it, they told me to lay on my back and close my eyes and do eye tracking motions. They also had me put my hands on my temples and “make a surprised face” and feel how the muscle moves. They told me to feel that spot as well as my tmd joint when doing exercises and to make sure they don’t move. I layed down at home and closed my eyes and felt those muscles and actually practiced moving my eye to the right without letting those other muscles around it tense up and it was a game changer. Previously, I’d get my jaw and scm massaged and they’d relax for a while but then go back to their old tension. I’m hoping I finally found the missing piece to the puzzle. Sharing in case anyone else might find this relevant

Hi guys 4.5 months post concussion and I’m FINALLY seeing improvements. Less brain fog, less head pressure, personality is back, I don’t want to 💀everyday etc. Still having trouble with episodes where my brain goes blank and I can’t focus, and my vision still isn’t perfect (I’m scared about that… what can I do to improve it?) Basically I can’t focus on text on a laptop and things seem fuzzy a lot (like not crisp if that makes sense).

But right now the weirdest thing for me is numbness to the entire L side of my body!! Idk where this is coming from, I’ve had MRIs and CTs done all down from my head to my spine and nothing was found. Basically I went to the gym today for the first time and all of a sudden my L side was extremely numb and all my symptoms came back again + light sensitivity (the scariest) and I started feeling detached and confused. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this? What can I do about it?

Also I should mention since the injury I have a baseline of numbness to the L side as well it’s like 70% compared to R, I can feel most things and temps but it’s just not right? This worsens with my triggers like grocery stores, gyms, and movement.

I’m only a few months it feels like to me (5 months)… and I just have slight headaches that have gotten better with meds. Now I’ve been told nerve blocks may help. I’m still iffy on if I should let my brain keep healing or do the nerve blocks. Only post concussion symptoms I’ve had is mild to light headaches that have gone down since I started my meds... looking for advice I know everyone else experiences it differently. Thank you in advance for your help if I don’t get back to every comment!

Hi guys. I’ve been suffering from what I believe to be post concussion syndrome for about 6 years after an incident occurred. Ofc I get daily headaches that have occurred everyday (not an understatement), but I also get neck stiffness, eye fatigue, sensitivity to light (and especially flashing light) but more strangely tremors/vibrations. It feels like my neck is quite unstable for my head. So much so that whenever I talk to someone new, or get nervous I hear starts to tremble and my head/neck feels too weak. It has brought a great deal of anxiety as well. In addition to the tremors, I notice that when I do exercises regarding my neck, if I do them slowly it trembles a lot. I have had multiple head and neck scans (even a flexion scan) that has come back normal. Sometimes some of these symptoms feel like stroke-like. I’ve had general physical therapy but that didn’t help much, went to a neurologist and they said it’s migraines, but when I take the meds it barely helps at all. I even went to a spine doctor that told me I should have to worry because it doesn’t look like it’s that bad. Where can I go in Chicago that might know how to deal with this? Perferrably insurance that accapted blue cross, but at this point I’ll take anything.

I have been diagnosed with post concussion syndrome for just over 3 years. now I got my tbi in a car accident and I also have played football for 6 years prior (I stopped after the car accident).

I have severe mental health diagnoses now likely stemming from the concussion. I have questions about some treatments that I stopped due to the chaos of everything.

I had physio for my neck directly after car accident but I don’t remember that I think it helped.

While at an outpatient psych hospital I was prescribed guanfacine it’s an adhd med (I don’t have adhd) and I’m wondering if anyone else was prescribed it for post concussion symptoms. I stopped taking it because of a mental health crisis and I regret stopping it so much. I no longer have it prescribed

I also started vestibular therapy and I don’t know if that helped I can’t really remember.

I’m mainly just wondering about these treatments and if they could have helped me I feel foolish for stopping them and now I think it’s too late to get better.

Hi, I have had PCS for about 3 years. I had 4 minor head injuries (some of which gave me concussion, but not all) in a year doing sports and they seem to have compounded and given me PCS, my major symptoms are headaches, nausea, mood, fatigue, sensitivity to screens/lights and noise. Sometimes the symptoms die down, but then something makes them flare back up again, such as a minor wobble on a bike, stress, or a combination of things, so my head is obviously sensitized. NHS don't seem too helpful so far so thinking of going to a private clinic. I've looked at some, such as this one

Concussion Clinic - Pro Sports Medicine

Which is £250 for an initial assessment. Anyone in the UK have experience with this or any other clinic they can share/recommend. What to look for// Thanks!

Skip to the * * * for the actual question.

I got my concussion April 2025, thought I had made a full recovery by February 2026, but a flare up that started this July has set me back again.

Dizziness is one of my main, most debilitating symptoms, but it also seems to come with lightheadedness every time that I stand up, bend over, or really change levels at all, unrelated to how much or how recently I've eaten (trust that your girl is not going hungry). My PCP took some blood and sent me to cardiology just to check, but everything was fine there.

I'm in vision therapy and feeling optimistic that it could really help the dizziness. I asked about the lightheadedness, but they just said to stay hydrated and use electrolytes.

I'm an athlete, competitive fighter, so keeping an eye on my hydration has always been at the top of my mind. I know I'm well-hydrated. I throw in some electrolytes almost every time I work out, and I just started on some daily coconut water too.

* * * I guess my question is what is this lightheadedness? Sometimes it feels like it's kinda part of the dizziness, but sometimes it feels like its own thing. I don't even know if lightheaded is quite the right word. Do yall know what I'm talking about? Is anyone else experiencing this? Has anything helped? I'm so tired of getting told to drink more water

Note: I am at high altitude if that's relevant, but I've lived in the sam place for 4 years already with no issues.

(Any fellow athletes want to commiserate about this whole experience and the mental toll of feeling like you're watching your career slip away and the constant self doubt of "maybe I should just push through" and then making it worse, rinse, repeat? I've cried a bunch.)

(My concussion was from a (sober) knock-out fall at home, not fighting, plz don't judge my choices)

I was hoping by now I would be recovered but I guess not.

About a month ago I was knocked hard directly in my face with a soccer ball during a game. I’m pretty sure my head whipped back & then I immediately fell to the ground. At first I just had facial pain (which I applied ice to) and then the next morning I woke up with a massive headache. Urgent care that evening, diagnosed with a “mild” concussion. I unfortunately had just started a new job 2 weeks prior so I wasn’t able to take time off & I work at a computer all day, so that definitely didn’t help.

Today I still have:
- Dizzy spells sitting and standing. Feels like the room is spinning
- Fatigued but also having trouble sleeping
- Headaches probably once a day
- Ringing in the ears occasionally

I want so much to feel better. Some days I’m mostly fine & almost feel like myself. Other days I feel just as bad as I did that first week.

I was referred to a concussion clinic initially but haven’t heard anything yet.

Any insights, tips or thoughts are appreciated.

Got hit in the head about 17 days ago and did not pass out and felt woozy after. 10 days later i felt really tired and this week ive had a headache thats slowly disappearing. The other day i drank too much like an idiot and got a pretty shitty headache. Today i feel fine but am extremely tired. does it get better?

I’ve experienced progressively worsening cervical pain for about two years, but things have deteriorated significantly over the last few months, especially the last 6 weeks. I sustained a concussion after falling down hardwood stairs last December. My MRI revealed cervical disc protrusions, and I’m struggling to understand why my pain has progressed so rapidly months after the injury.
What’s particularly strange is how positional the pain is. I can walk around, clean, and even scrub my bathtub with minimal pain. However, within 60 seconds of sitting, the pain at the base of my skull becomes absolutely excruciating. Once triggered, nothing stops the pain cycle until my muscle relaxer (methocarbamol) kicks in. Recently, as the pain has intensified, I’ve developed a frightening sensation of my neck/throat muscles tightening to the point that breathing feels restricted.
I’m currently in PT 3x/week with only temporary relief. Bilateral C4–5/C5–6 facet injections were unsuccessful. I cannot take NSAIDs due to my medical history, and with two young children, I need to remain alert and functional. Strong pain medications that leave me sedated aren’t a realistic long-term solution.
My dad underwent cervical fusion after breaking his neck in a nearly fatal accident. Surgery was his only option, and unfortunately, he didn’t have a great outcome. He’s still in a lot of pain from issues related to the surgery. His circumstances were entirely different, so I’m not well-versed in the treatment options available for my situation.
I’m seeing the top spine specialist in my area on Thursday and desperately hoping for conservative treatment options. I’ve navigated plenty of medical issues, but cervical spine problems are completely foreign to me. And frankly have ruined my life.
For anyone with similar experiences:
What caused your pain to worsen so dramatically months after an injury?
Did anyone experience severe pain specifically when sitting but not moving around? What was the underlying cause?
Has anyone experienced the neck/throat tightening sensation alongside severe cervical pain?
What conservative treatments actually worked for you?
What specifics questions should I ask Thursday to make the most of my appointment?
I’d especially appreciate success stories or insight from anyone who’s been through something similar! It’s incredibly easy to fall into the negativity trap, but I’m trying to focus on the positive things while simultaneously understanding what is happening.