need help diagnosing head/brain "issue"

[nihonnyanko152]

This is a little hard to explain but please bear with me. It has been happening as long as I can remember, roughly once a month or so. I'm 17 at the moment if that's important.

Well what happens is sometimes when I turn my head sharply I get massive pain in the back of my head. I can tell you now that it is not a neck/spine problem. It is hard to describe this pain, but it feels like my brain has smashed against the side of my skull or something, it is almost unbearable at the start, and then it fades out after about 10 to 15 seconds.

It feels strange as it fades out, almost as if my brain is bleeding or something. Keep in mind this is not a sharp stabbing pain, it consumes the whole back-left quarter of my head. I have never sought advice for this as it has been happening my whole life, and as a child I thought it was a normal thing.

I had thought it stopped happening for a while, as it hadn't occurred all year, until last night. This was the worst one I have ever had, it took about a minute to completely fade away, and I couldn't do anything but sit down during. Afterwards, it felt like my brain had turned into jelly or something. I could not think straight and I was making a lot of stupid mistakes.

Please help me to diagnose this issue, as it is starting to get me worried. Thankyou for taking the time to read and I greatly appreciate any help you can give.

Even if this is not some crazy disease I would still like to know the cause and possible fix, as I can see this being very problematic while driving or something.

 

[johnny k]

i would not totally discount the spinal aspect of this just yet. its only because the upper part of the c spine is actually kind of 'into' that base of the skull? the best possible type of testing that you could have done right now that may show something going on with either the brain itself or the upper spinal would be to have a contrasted MRI done on the brain and the c spine areas. if "something' is just not right, or, and this does happen alot, you were actually born with some type of either brain or upper spinal 'anomaly' meaning something you were born with that is just not normally found in a particular area is actually the root of the problem?

believe me, my family and myself have had many insane and bizarre types of "incidental findings" pop up in many different scans, and also have been born with a liver and kidney disease that we had no real clue was even there til i was almost 40 years old and my son got horribly sick from 'his' mutated form of this disease. he was only 12 when he presented with this nightmare. anything is truely a possible to have show up in our bodies, believe me. it just takes in some cases that simple scan being done on the right area to actually find out you have something a bit 'different' going on from the 'norm', you know what i mean? i was actually born with a little glob of blood vessels right smack in the middle of my spinal cord that i did not have a clue was even there til it just happened to show up on the MRI i was having done on my c spine just to find out for certain what actual disc i had herniated and how badly. this too was around age 40. as you can already tell here, age 40 was NOT my best year.

just see your primary for an eval and ask about at the very least obtaining the needed MRIs done on the brain and the upper c spine. you just really NEED to actually see into these two areas just to see if this is a something or a nothing. this would either rule something in or out so at least you and your doc could move on to other possible reasons for what it is you have been feeling all this time. this is exactly what i would do if i were in your posistion right now. those key areas that could just be generating symptoms like this just need more in depth types of testing like with the contrasted MRI right now.

i hope your doc just does the right thing for you and gets these areas scanned. it does need to be evaluated in much more depth to really 'see" any possible anomalies/findings there. good luck with this and please do let me know what you find out,K? FB

 

[Mikey G]

I have considered getting an MRI but honestly I can't afford it. Someone on another forum said there might be some movement of the vertebraes or it could be spinal compression... I know what both of these are, but I don't know the seriousness of it, whether I should be worried or not.

 

[Katlyn P]

whether you should really be worried or not seriously would depend upon getting an MRI. i know you said you cannot afford one, but with what you described here, it truely IS about the only way you are really going to know whats going on in there right now, ya know? there is something called a 'chiari" that is exactly what you described as your brain being pushed into your skull kind of thing? what happens with having a chiari is that the very bottom of your brain IS sitting way to low and into the actual spinal area. while that is a long shot, you are very obvioulsy feeling 'something' thats simply not 'right' that needs to be identified. and unfortunetly an MRI really is the only way to really obtain the best possible look into the brain and the spinal area too.

since you are only 17, you may qualify for certain programs that could be set up by either your state or your county? i would most definitely see what could be there for you to use to help getting that very real need met. minors in alot of cases simply DO qualify for help that adults do not. but i would seek out an opinion from at least your primary. this just could be either spinal or brain related. trust me when i say that anything is indeed possible when it comes to our bodies. it just takes that inner look to really know what is going on in anyones body areas. i do hope you can find something to help. unfortunetly no one will be able to actually dx you with anything on this type of help board. it takes some real testing to do that hon. i do wish you alot of luck with this and hope you can find the answers soon. please let me know what you can find out. FB

 

[Umm Zekiya]

Thanks for your help... although I'm much more worried now lol. I don't know how I'm going to tell this to my parents... I've never even mentioned it in 17 years.

 

[new FS1e buyer]

believe me hon, i am NOT trying to scare you, just letting you know that without the proper testing being done, you just will not actually 'see' into the area of your most prominent symptoms. while chiaris DO occur, they are pretty rare, so do not even go there ,K? this just needs to be looked into only becasue you are actually 'feeling' it at all, ya know what i mean? our bodies show certain problems, injuries and or conditions by kind of sending out the signs and symptoms. this is the only way our bodies have to tell us that something may be wrong, espescially when something is really causing pain. the key is to try and track back the symptom to anything that could just possibly generate that particular type of symptom and rule it in or out as a possible. you just cannot really even do this without the proper testing being done on you.

you really DO need to clue your parents in here very soon and get this load off YOUR shoulders as well. trust me, i have two boys who are now full grown and when they had ANY type of problem or pain or symptoms going on, i could usually see it before they even told me about it in alot of cases(most parents just know their childs 'normal'). but we always DID get this checked out. if my kids are having ANY medical problems, i WANT to know, and i am certain your mom and dad do too. once they know they can at least help in getting this done since it IS still their job til you are 18 to simply take care of your medical needs. but they cannot help if they don;t know whats going on, ya know? if nothing else, simply have them read this post you made and you wont have to 'say' anything til they have read it, you know what i mean? its a good way to simply let them know what it is you are feeling right now and have been for way too long now. you just REALLY DO need their help and support right now in finding out the reason for what you are feeling hon. doing nothing will get you no where and waiting with some types of medical problems can simply make them much worse over time and much harder to treat. it all depends upon just what that underlying problem is.

do your parents have insurance on you at all still? if you do have this now, get this looked at while you are still covered vs waiting til you have no real ins coverage. i just do not know your ins situation here. but either way, please talk to your parents. it is just part of any parents job to be there and help their children when they have any type of problem, espescially something with the symptology you have going on. the answer could be right at the other end of an MRI. just let them know what has been going on now and for how overly long too. if you were my child, believe me, i would defintiely want to know whats going on with you. good luck, just talk to them,K? FB