Severe Concussion 9 yrs ago, now having excruciating sharp pain in the head

[AF Wife]

Hi! For a lil back ground, I am just shy of being 27 yrs old, I am in good health, not over weight, I'm fairly active, I do suffer from migraines (diagnosed 12 years ago) and I was in a bad car accident 9 years ago and had a severe concussion from it. (the left side of my head was swollen out 3" off normal size) No MRI or any test were done. 5 years ago the left side of my head and body went numb. Dr at ER said it was stress, no test were run. Now for the past 2 years I have had what I would call "bolts of lightening" go through my head. They last about 10 seconds to a minute or so and then they are gone! These have been occurring more and more often as time passes.  3 weeks ago I had the worst pain I have ever experienced. It was to the base of my head and it lasted for about 2 minutes, I beleive I lost consciousness b/c for severl seconds my husband said he could not get me to respond, then the pain died down to a minor headache that lasted for about an hour.  Since then I have had 3 instances that were the same, just not as severe as the first time (pain wise) and 6 times were to the right side of the base of my head. Again, the pain still was not as bad as the 1st time, but bad enough that I would rather have a full blown migraine then this type of pain.  My husband has noticed as well as I, that my memory is slipping. I who had the memory of an elephant have trouble remembering the simplest things. I am very scared! Can you give me some insight as to what this may be?

[computergeek4you]

Dear AF Wife: I am a 54 year old named Joe. I had a bad car accident also when I was 18 - I almost died. I also had a severe concussion where my head slammed up against the driver's side window. I have been receiving those "lightning bolt headaches" as well and I had a 4 CAT Scans at the time (1975) but they never found anything wrong with my brain. The headaches started almost immediately after the accident and have stayed with me all of my life. At first, the were constant. My dad freaked out on the doctors but they never found out why I got these headaches and continued to tell me that there was no damage to my brain. To this day, I disagree! As time went on, the headaches subsided by 90% and now I only get them when under a tremendous amount of stress. My concern is the tie-in between the damage done by the concussion and a possible stroke as I get older because that front left side of my brain would be the weakest link.

[Micetro]

I am 43 years old. I have type 1 diabetes, which is in very good control. I have high blood pressure, hyperthyroidism,and moderate to low cholesterol, all are being treated with medication.I am slightly anemic,and am taking iron. My problem is I sometimes get a really sharp pain my forehead area. It comes on really strong to the point where I have to close my eyes and squint alot and bend over for around 10 to 30 seconds at times. It usually happens while I am outside doing yard work. It has been going on for quite some time.They seem to be getting more frequent. Can you give me an idea what is causing this.