Serious brain question

[Scylla]

I got thrown from a horse about 10 years ago into the side of a concrete barn, and received my 3rd and hopefully last concussion.

For the next 12 hours or so I suffered from sensory kinesthesia. That's where the senses get all jumbled up. I smelled taste, and heard sight and such on and off. It never came back.

I have no idea if this is connected to this other thing that happens, but I think it is.
I'm not depressive, but a couple of times a year I get this odd spell. From out of the blue I will have this wave of overwhelming sadness of crushing intensity just wash over me. Its as if the worst thing imaginable just happened to me.

It's not connected to any event or anything, but it's so bad it's almost physically painful. I feel sadder than I have ever felt over anything that was actually real.

In 15 minutes to an hour it goes away, pretty quickly but not all at once. A little while later and I feel great. Better than usual. This optimism and feeling of well-being usually lasts the rest of the day.

It happened today. The last time was somewhere in August.

Does anybody have any idea what this is?

Something to be worried about?

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"Remember, there ar no stupid questions, only stupid people."

[2sense]

Scylla:

I didn't understand the question.

Maybe I'll taste it again and feel if I can understand it. ;)

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{Christ, I hope there is nothing seriously wrong. Or I'll feel like a jerk.}
(Yes, it's all about ME)

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Just putting my 2sense in.
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Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered.
-Thomas Paine (fugitive slave catcher)

[abderian]

Scylla,

Since the causing incident occurred a decade ago, and you're still alive and functioning, it seems reasonable to assume that you're not in any horrible danger.

At the same time, you describe your sensations as "overwhelming", and they are large enough events that you stop and take note of them. It probably wouldn't hurt to consult a neurologist. At the very least, you may find an explanation that settles your mind once and for all.

[Scylla]

2sense:

Hopefully I've demonstrated that I don't mind being poked fun at or doing it myself.

I just wish instead of 15 minutes of sadness I had a fifteen minute orgasm instead!

Seriously. The best way I can describe it is like if you watch old Yeller or The Champ. You know the movies are tearjerkers and it's a fake, but the feeling is still there. It's a lot more intense, and I know it's not real. I said overwhelming, and it is, but it's not debilitating.

[2sense]

Scylla:

I am sorry. You posted about a possibly serious medical condition.
You asked for help.

I responded by making fun of you.

I am ashamed.

sensory kinesthesia. That's where the senses get all jumbled up. I smelled taste, and heard sight and such on and off. It never came back.

I have no idea if this is connected to this other thing that happens, but I think it is.
I'm not depressive, but a couple of times a year I get this odd spell. From out of the blue I will have this wave of overwhelming sadness of crushing intensity just wash over me. Its as if the worst thing imaginable just happened to me.

It's not connected to any event or anything, but it's so bad it's almost physically painful. I feel sadder than I have ever felt over anything that was actually real.

In 15 minutes to an hour it goes away, pretty quickly but not all at once. A little while later and I feel great. Better than usual. This optimism and feeling of well-being usually lasts the rest of the day.

It happened today. The last time was somewhere in August.

Does anybody have any idea what this is?

Something to be worried about?

[/B][/QUOTE]

[Scylla]

2sense:


::Cranking sarcasm to max::

Arrrghhh! I will never be the same! How could you? I will now self-immolate as testament to your insensitivity!

::Turning sarcasm off and locking it away safely::

Don't worry about it bud. I though it was funny.

Here's a smiley for ya.

:)

[2sense]

Scylla:

Hey, thanx for sharing my first simulpost ever. Want a cigarette? :)

Please ignore everything but the first 4 sentences. Sorry for the error.

What I'd really like to hear about sometime is this sensory kinesthesia.

Thank you for being a sport.

Once again I apologize for my rude post.

[Scylla]

As I said, I thought it was funny, so no need to apologize.

It's extremely disorienting. It made me feel like I was going to throw up, and I had a horrible headache. Part of that was the concussion, but it seemed worse during the kinesthesia. It's not an absolute replacement of one sense with another(not when I had it, anyway), but an overlap of varying degrees.

A noise in my room might have been red and tasted salty. Most of the time I could still identify it as a noise, and know what it was, but not always. It was just all jumbled up. Apparently this is not all that uncommon with a good knock on the skull.

The Sadness only happens once or twice in a year. I had pretty much forgotten about it. It never happened before that concussion though, which is why I associate the two.

[slaveone]

From out of the blue I will have this wave of overwhelming sadness of crushing intensity just wash over me. Its as if the worst thing imaginable just happened to me.


Simple - you're just really sensitive to the Force... maybe a planet blew up somewhere.

You smelled taste and heard sight? I cant even begin to imagine what that would be like. Hang on while I go bang my head against the wall...

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"I'm somewhere where I don't know where I am"

[Boris B]

If you haven't already read it, I recommend Sacks' The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. I just wrote you a synopsis of a couple of the case studies and then hit ctrl-w thinking I had another window selected ... bye bye post. Anyway, it's a great book, about some very specific right-hemisphere brain damage cases. The point is, the book isn't about drooling vegetable or serial killers, it's about everyday people who often have a single, narrow brain condition which cause one weird thing in their lives.

I'm not sure what hemisphere your brain damage is in, or even if you really have brain damage. (My neurophilosophy doctorate is from the University of Freedonia.) My wild guess, though, is that you do have damage to a small part of your noodle, and my other wild guess is that it isn't going to kill you or turn you into a vegetable. The fact that the suspected cause happened years and years ago doesn't rule it out as the cause.

You should consider seeing a neurologist, but I'm saying that mainly out of caution. Some brain conditions can be progressive (funny word, that, your conditions gets worse and they call it progress?). You should think especially hard about going to the doctor if the depressive episodes get worse or more frequent. For all us amateurs and U of F graduates know, you might have some scarring that is affecting your moods. Or maybe a few synapses are bruised, and they go haywire whenever Neptune is in the House of Geraldo or whatever. This might come out in an MRI or something.

Maybe you'll get a chapter in Oliver Sacks' next book ... "The Cheerful Bulletin Board Afficionado Who Got Really Depressed for a Few Minutes Every Few Months". Wishing you well.

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Hopefully, I can convince you to accept "hopefully" as a disjunct adverb.
Frankly, I would be lying if I said I were confident.
Perhaps this subject is simply too complex for me to explain.
Unfortunately, I would be lucky to explain my way out of a paper bag.

[Zor]

I'm hardly qualified to make a diagnosis, but if I ever experienced anything similar, I'd be thinking in the direction of panic attacks and or some kind of anxiety disorder. Sometimes there are physiological reasons behind panic attacks, but sometimes there aren't. I suggest you consult your physician...

[whitetho]

From out of the blue I will have this wave of overwhelming sadness of crushing intensity just wash over me.

I have zero medical background, but the first thing that I thought of was a mild epileptic seizure.

[Jinx]

You say it's not depression, but it probably is. You should seek some professional help. Just someone to council you, in the least, to discover why this may be happening to you. Maybe you are repressing something. Maybe it is somehow tied to events leading up and/or surrounding your accident.

All the best...

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"They're coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time... :)" - Napoleon IV

[handy]

If it was caused by what happened to you, it wouldn't matter if you knew would it? Since there is nothing you can do about it.

I have yet to meet someone who doesn't have a mood swing. Most of the time when they do I would like to hit them on the head with a hammer.

[sulla]

Scylla, you might want to look at this:
http://www.efa.org/education/ps/simple.html

I agree with whitetho, this sounds like a type of partial seizure. Definitely doesn't sound like depression, in which the abnormal mood must be present nearly every day for a matter of weeks.

This info is from the Epilepsy Foundation:

People who have simple partial seizures do not lose consciousness during the seizure.
They remain awake and aware throughout. Sometimes they can talk quite normally to other people during the seizure. And they can usually remember exactly what happened to them while it was going on.
However, simple partial seizures can affect movement, emotion, sensations, and feelings in unusual and sometimes even frightening ways.

Emotions. A sudden feeling of fear or a sense that something terrible is about to happen may be caused by a simple partial seizure in the part of the brain which controls those emotions.
In rare cases, partial seizures can produce feelings of anger and rage, or even sudden joy and happiness.

I don't see why profound sadness couldn't result, as well, depending on which part of the brain is involved. Partial seizures can traget very specific areas. This seems to make sense to me as the most logical explanation, expecially since a history of head injury is frequently present with seizures.

I agree that you should see a neurologist, for reassurance that this isn't serious if nothing else.

-sulla

[Scylla]

Thanks guys. I have an idea. Why don't I go see a neurologist?

It hardly seems worth it for something that happens so rarely.

My experience with doctors is like this:

If I go to a neurologist, he's going to tell me I have dain bramage.

If I go to surgeon he'll want to operate.

If I go to a psychiatrist he'll say it's depression or some such.

A chiropractor will tell me I need an adjustment.

A witch Doctor will probably tell me I have demons.

Thanks for the link Sulla.

I don't think it's epilepsy because none of the other symptoms occur, just the sadness.

I'm really not depressive at all, quite the contrary.

I prefer the Jedi explanation, or that of Joeyblades'. Maybe I'm just catching up on missed sadness.

At any rate, I will ask my Doctor. Thanks for the insights.

[douglips]

This doesn't sound like it applies to you, but I recall hearing that if you have a sudden change resulting in new or unexplained types of these wierd experiences that it could be a tumor - thus a neurologist is a good idea.

If it's happened the same way forever, it's probably not anything too serious - but always err on the side of seeing the doc.

[JoeyBlades]

Yeah, no matter who you go see, they're gonna wanna perform a walletectomy...

[lablonde]

A friend of mine suffered a head injury, and weather (pressure) changes affected him.

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3 concussions ! Maybe you should start sporting a helmet.

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I, uh, was nowhere near your neighborhood - Campbell Scott,Singles

[Lord Jim]

Since we have plenty of serious posts, have you ever thought that maybe it is really sadness? Could it posibly be brought on by seeing piles of dead groundhogs?

Just a posibility.

I agree with your assessment of doctors, though.

Jim

[Scylla]

Concussion #1 -"Hey I bet I could be an excellent boxer!" Ka-Pow!

#2 "Hmm. This little guy trying to mug me with a baseball bat doesn't look all that tough!" Bonk!

#3 "As an expert rider I am in complete control of this horse!" Whoa!!! Thud!

One a year for three years.

[SINsApple]

While Boris B. suggested a good book for you to read that might help, I think a better one would be "The Man Who Tasted Shapes" by Richard E. Cytowic, M.D. It deals expressly with synesthesia (the mingling of senses such as tasting shapes or hearing colors). It might answer some questions, but at the very least it is a great read.

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Rather, I was in the position of a spore which, having finally accepted its destiny as a fungus, still wonders if it might produce penicillin.
--Ayi Kwei Armah

[lachesis]

one more pop diagnosis to add to the brew could be a mild/developing case of manic-depressive syndrome. i postulate that condition because you mentioned that after the 15-minute sad-attack, you experience a counter-balancing feeling of extreme (or at least enhanced) well-being.

all in all, though, i join the chorus
(all together now): See a good neurologist/doctor of your choice and get it thoroughly checked out!

p.s. as a rider myself, my extreme sympathies and understanding. ah, the joys of the unexpected ER tour. :(

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next one who says "Fates a bitch" gets whacked with my measuring stick.

[pennys]

Scylla,
This could be a form of temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy can be associated with head trauma and the temporal lobe is the site of all sorts of wierd and wonderful sensations such as music, emotions etc. Similar occurances are covered by Oliver Sacks in "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat".
Provided you have never experienced any seizures and the episodes occur relatively infrequently, I suggest not to worry about it. If you want to investigate it an EEG may be helpful but this is not my specialty and I think that EEG is probably unhelpful for temporal lobe. Do you experience any aura (a feeling that an attack is imminent) or do you feel sleepy afterwards (patients often fall into a heave sleep after a fit; it's called a post-ictal state)?

If you want a second opinion I would consider a migraine phenomenon, although it is more common for migraine sufferers to experience a feeling of great well-being before a migraine rather than after. The lack of headache is not particularly significant, some people experience so-called migraine-equivalents which involve all the phenomena without the headache.

[JoeyBlades]

Scylla,

I don't know if it's the same thing, but it sounds similar... Every year or so I'll be almost completely overcome with paranoia, self loathing, and fear of detection (detection of what, I'm not sure). These episodes last for about 15 to 20 minutes. At the time, it all seems to make sense, but later it all seems non sequiteur and without any merit. It happens just before I fall asleep, but I'm pretty sure that I was awake - at some level because I may get up and walk around trying to think of a way out of my predicament. A little later it will dawn on me that I was worried over nothing and I feel a strong sense of relief. I've always suspected that these episodes were some form of anxiety attack, but I've never been able to trace them back to any particular source of anxiety. In fact, I'm the least anxious person I know... (I'm so laid back, my wife always has to hold a mirror up to my face to make sure I'm still alive...) Maybe the human mind needs a bit of anxiety and my psyche dishes out a massive dose of it every once in a while.

Anyway, I don't see how this could possibly help, but it sounds similar so I thought I'd share it with you... (and the rest of the world) Even though it's emotionally nerve wracking for a short time, I don't think it's anything serious.

BTW, not meant as correlative information or anything, but I've suffered several very serious head injuries in my life, as well, but I doubt that they are related.

[Bored2001]

Concussions are simply a temporary stop of blood flow to the brain. There is no brain damage. Contusions leave bruises on the brains. Lacerations are uhh bad. =)

I'm just a high school student but...
I was reading my physiology book a few weeks ago and I've noticed that Endorphins are generally connected to both Euphoria and Depression.

What i'm hypothesizing is a kind of negative feedback mechanisms. For some reason your Endorphin levels drop really really low in reaction your brain\endocrine system releases a "make more endorphins" hormone which then brings the Endrophine neurotransmitter back up and as in most negative feedback mechanisms usually above normal output level. This accounts for the better then usual feeling. Since pleasure is generally considered a good thing by the Brain it does not make an attempt to inhibit the production of Endorphins. This means it will take basically all day for this feeling to drop back down to normal levels.

As for why you may drop below normal levels of endorphins is completly elusive to me. Chemical imbalance?

[moriah]

What you describe does not, I repeat, does not fit any of the standard signs of psychological depression or manic-depression (bipolar a.f.). It is not like any affective or anxiety disorder.

It does, as mentioned already, sound a lot like an epileptic siezure.

If it is an e.s., will they operate on you? No way. Unless there is a danger of suicide, or a significant loss of lifestyle, or danger of crashing your car while driving, they don't do anything for such mild seizures.

However, if the seizure with its accompanying temporary depression significantly altered your lifestyle, or became a danger to you or others, then it would be treated with a regular regiment of seizure preventing medication -- a rather mild dose.

Peace.

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Standard disclaimer: I am not a licensed medical doctor or psychologist or God.

[elbows]

The book Boris recommended will be an excellent read and I also thought of it directly upon reading your post.

I would urge you to go to a neurologist. I've been to one and can tell you that they are not as quick to operate as you might have been lead to believe. (Though I chose to step back when he reached for his prescription pad.)

Mostly I would urge you to do this because, anyone who's had a neuralogical exam knows that it's a real giggle. Literally. I mean they tickle you with feathers and do other very interesting things.Nothing painful or such, just very curious trials and tests. I found it very interesting.

If your health coverage will pay, I say go. Though it could take a while to get into see a good Dr.

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Wisdom is the boobie prize,they give you when you've been --unwise!

[Chief Crunch]

I've heard of synesthia occuring when people take LSD. It blows my mind. I can't imagine what it'd be like.