Aa
strange symptoms
Thank you so much for your time. I am a 26 y/o female who was in a car accident on 3/18/04. I hit my head pretty hard and had loc for several min. Sense that time I have had significant weakness on my left side (arm and leg), and have severe head aches. I have had MRI's of brain, c-spine, L-spine, the only problem showing a slight bulge in the disc at L-5. I also had a MRA of my brain because the MRI showed what they thought was a small aneursym, the MRA was negative. They are not finding an answer to the weakness or HA's. I am unable to flex my left foot, and my left arm is able to do very little. I can almost raise my arm to shoulder level if my elbow is bent, but can't raise it more than a few inches if it is straight. Grip strenght in rt hand is 60 lbs, left is 15-20 lbs. After PT my arm is so weak and tired and have almost no use of it. After a few min. of walking I start dragging my foot. I am contantly tripping and get tired so fast. I am having some pain in both arm and leg but not severe, they are just weak. Is it possible that I had some type of brain/stroke injury? I have been in Physical therapy sense the accident, it helped with the ROM in my neck, but has not helped with the left sided weakness. I am a nurse, and have not been able to work sense the accident. I am also very active/athletic and want to get my life back. What do you recommend as my next step? Are there more tests I should be doing? Any strength exercises you can recommend? Sorry this is so long. Any advice you can give would be appreciated! Thanks so much!
I have been having wierd symptoms possible "anxiety" or "tia" also "optical migrains?"I had a stroke september 02 followed by heart surgery april 03 to fix pfo.I take celexa and aspirin.Hoping for insight
It seems we share the same left side problems and the HAs. Are the HAs overall or wicked on the rite side?
any dizziness, nausea, blurred/double vision things like that?
any problems speaking, reading, spelling, concentrating? my friend noticed that you are using the wrong word. you used the word sense when you should have used since.
"Sense that time I have had significant weakness..."
"I have been in Physical therapy sense the accident..."
"I am a nurse, and have not been able to work sense the accident"
I do not know if this a common mistake for you or it is something new. If is new then it is another indicator of brain injury.
tiredness is common for people with acquired brain injuries or stroke victims.
if you tilt your head forward (chin too chest) does you feel tingles around your lips, in your hands or feet? This would indicate damage to the c-spine and that part of the spine has put pressure on the spinal cord at the base of the skull and may have damaged it. I have no idea how well this shows up on an MRI
but is the result of a neck injury like whiplash.
depending on size of bulge in disc it could put pressure on the nerves or spinal cord which may cause problems.
EMG testing of the nerves would determine if they are conducting fully and properly and on what level. If I understand correctly they can determine if the signal makes if from the brain to what ever part of the body as well as the reverse path for things like hot/cold/touch/pain
I had this done and learn that only the main nerves are conducting signal. At 35 my nerves conduct worse then 80 year old. There also difference between left and rite but this likely from 3 strokes which result from heavy metal poisoning. The metals exposure also damaged my nerves. Then I was in a car accident as passenger, head injury with loc, neck and low back injury, on the way to hospital after having 1 of the strokes.
it is clear that you are having problems and need too pursue it too the end. I suggest you get copy of your medical file and take it with you when you see any doctors. take notes have them send you a copy of their reports. take someone with you as well. and dont settle with the car insurance company until you have all the answers.
hope this helps
any dizziness, nausea, blurred/double vision things like that?
any problems speaking, reading, spelling, concentrating? my friend noticed that you are using the wrong word. you used the word sense when you should have used since.
"Sense that time I have had significant weakness..."
"I have been in Physical therapy sense the accident..."
"I am a nurse, and have not been able to work sense the accident"
I do not know if this a common mistake for you or it is something new. If is new then it is another indicator of brain injury.
tiredness is common for people with acquired brain injuries or stroke victims.
if you tilt your head forward (chin too chest) does you feel tingles around your lips, in your hands or feet? This would indicate damage to the c-spine and that part of the spine has put pressure on the spinal cord at the base of the skull and may have damaged it. I have no idea how well this shows up on an MRI
but is the result of a neck injury like whiplash.
depending on size of bulge in disc it could put pressure on the nerves or spinal cord which may cause problems.
EMG testing of the nerves would determine if they are conducting fully and properly and on what level. If I understand correctly they can determine if the signal makes if from the brain to what ever part of the body as well as the reverse path for things like hot/cold/touch/pain
I had this done and learn that only the main nerves are conducting signal. At 35 my nerves conduct worse then 80 year old. There also difference between left and rite but this likely from 3 strokes which result from heavy metal poisoning. The metals exposure also damaged my nerves. Then I was in a car accident as passenger, head injury with loc, neck and low back injury, on the way to hospital after having 1 of the strokes.
it is clear that you are having problems and need too pursue it too the end. I suggest you get copy of your medical file and take it with you when you see any doctors. take notes have them send you a copy of their reports. take someone with you as well. and dont settle with the car insurance company until you have all the answers.
hope this helps
The headaches are to be expected, after a head injury resulting from a motor vehicle accident, especially one resulting in LOC for a few minutes. Usually, if an MRI is negative for organic brain injury, this is called Post Concussion Sydrome, and usually subsides over time. How long it lasts usually varies with the individually.
From my understading of strokes (or small strokes) an MRI can detect them, even those TIA's that went unnoticed by the patient. If you had a stroke, chances are you would have known about it. This is a tough one, especially because your MRI showed no organic brain injury. Any time someone takes a hard hit on the head, it causes some "brain injury" -- there is some neuronal loss at the axonal level. But then again, the sort of injury that would explain your symptoms would be seen on imaging, at least one would think.
The tricky thing about this situation is that the MRI did not show stroke or organic brain injury, so that's why I surmise your doctors are unsure of what's happening.
What I would do if I were you is get a copy of all your medical records, scans, and reports, and see a neurologist at a large academic health center. That's where people usually turn for the complicated problems.
From my understading of strokes (or small strokes) an MRI can detect them, even those TIA's that went unnoticed by the patient. If you had a stroke, chances are you would have known about it. This is a tough one, especially because your MRI showed no organic brain injury. Any time someone takes a hard hit on the head, it causes some "brain injury" -- there is some neuronal loss at the axonal level. But then again, the sort of injury that would explain your symptoms would be seen on imaging, at least one would think.
The tricky thing about this situation is that the MRI did not show stroke or organic brain injury, so that's why I surmise your doctors are unsure of what's happening.
What I would do if I were you is get a copy of all your medical records, scans, and reports, and see a neurologist at a large academic health center. That's where people usually turn for the complicated problems.
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