Almost 4 years with Neurological symptoms. Been to my share of Doctors, wondering and trying not to worry.

[Girth1]

After a head injury in the Summer of 2019, I noticed several symptoms 3 mths later. I also had injury's in sports when I was younger. My begining symptoms were Frequent urination, dizzynes when standing, major loss of libido, flu like symptoms at night, apathy, short term memory problems, mood swings, blood pressure Flucation, blurry, double vision, sever neck pain. vision, and balance issues. Supposedly essential tremor s cause not seen at rest. Most all autonomic symptoms. So my first thought was early PD, yet my symptoms seemed backwards for PD. Most people develop these much later. Led me to think it was PD plus, which is much worse I went to like 5 Neurologist in last 3 yrs or so. Two of which said it could be early PD, one Dr was movement specialist.

Well soon after I jumped to stem cell therapy hoping it would help. It was Chiropractor that did it different then everyone. He injected blood cord cells in Brown fat. It's the powerhouse of mitochondria. He said it would help me. He said in 3 to 6 mths I feel better. Well in 6 mths I did feel better, no neck pain, more energy, slept better, urinary symptoms improved. I felt better period, even apathy improved.

Shortly after I made appointment to Mayo to have DATA scan, and a Neurologist told me I didn't have any form of PD. I was happy but still wondering why I still had symptoms, because they didn't disappear just got better. So I looked up everything I could do to help my brain, supplements, exercise, and diet. I am athletic and have worked out my whole life. I take most of the stuff many on here do. I do feel bad after running sometimes, which never happened before any of this.

This takes me to my current situation. I noticed my right index finger and ringer finger jerking at rest. I also experience stiff fingers that are sometimes painful, and numb. I tried not to stress about it and it did go away for 3 mths. Then a stressful event came and it started again. It only happens sporadic ly at times. I mean, aren't all tremors at rest PD? Plus I starting to feel worse again. Positive still no movement problems, yet right hand closes sometimes slower. Sorry to bother all those going through this disease. It's been almost 4yrs since first symptoms. I guess I go back to a specialist.

[park_bear]

Firstly, no apology needed, and thank you for providing a complete description of the situation.

It is true that PD can cause autonomic symptoms, but as you say, usually these are not the first to manifest. The only symptom you have mentioned that strikes me as being at all like PD is the jerking of your fingers. However, I would not describe my tremor as a "jerking", and have not seen that description used elsewhere to refer to PD tremors. So my amateur opinion is this is not PD, but a TBI leftover. One way to test is to see whether the symptom is responsive to levodopa.An even simpler test is whether it stops when you give the jerking fingers your full conscious attention. PD tremors are result of an oscillation caused by adding a delay to the neurological feedback loop that tries to keep our limbs in place when we are not paying conscious attention to their position.

You have mentioned seeing a chiropractor so I presume you have been checked for cervical vertebrae misalignment which can also cause neurological troubles.

[Girth1 in reply to park_bear]

Thank for your time, you sound like a very intelligent man. The tremors sometimes go side to side for like 2 seconds, but the used to just be kind of postural. It just feels like a jerk, or twitch cause sometimes it just moves quick like once. I do have postural tremors when fingers are stretched, it goes side to side. Anyway I take some of the supplements you recommend because I feel like even if it's TBI , it will help the brain. Anyway I hope the come up with something soon to help you and others. It's crazy there not more advanced by now in Neurological conditions. There good at emergency medicine, but chronic conditions not so much.

[park_bear in reply to Girth1]

Parkinson's tremor is a repeating oscillation, generally faster than one per second.

Here is an article on differential diagnosis of tremor. It covers a variety of conditions. I did not check to see if any of the possibilities match your symptoms:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[Girth1 in reply to park_bear]

Again, I thank you kind sir for your reply. I am trying not to stress to much cause I know it makes everything worse, regardless of disease or not. It just funny cause everybody just said, it's probably just age. I only 46. You know it's not age when you have several new symptoms in a matter of mths. I will just do the things I can to help my brain and hope for the best. Especially exercise, diet, and sleep. Try limit my beer consumption. Yet I do like a good beer from time to time. Anyway I do hope they find something soon all of you . I know there making some strides, but time is crucial for many.

[kevowpd]

Have you had a full brain and spine MRI?

[Girth1 in reply to kevowpd]

Yes, the radiologist told my first neurologist that there was a little shrinkage in my dopamine producing area of my brain. Yet when the movement specialist looked she didn't seemed to see it or be concerned, same with Mayo Doc. It's kinda odd too me.

[Hidden]

I’m sorry Girth but you sound very similar to me. I’m 46. I started asking doctors what was going on at 35. Diagnosed at 45. Almost 2 years post diagnosis I have not gotten worse or barely. I’m sharing this to say that if it is PD, it can and frequently does progress very slowly if you take good care of yourself like you are doing. There are people on here that are still not on CL after 7+ years.

So from my experience and from my heart, please, do not be too fearful. If you end up having PD, there is much you can do to help protect yourself and in so doing it likely will either not progress for years or progress very slowly.

❤️

[Girth1 in reply to Hidden]

No need to be sorry. I know it's something neurological. All I can do is fight what ever it is. If it is something bad, then I will keep fighting it. Like you said I think exercise and other stuff is huge in protection of the brain. When my grandma had it, she just sat around cause they didn't know the impact exercise had on it then. My first cousin also has it and she doing pretty good, because of her habits.

I have a 2 year old , beautiful daughter that helps me feel good. Although sleep isn't always great, lol. Anyway I glad ur fighting it and doing pretty good. I hope yours stays slow , and somehow they find a way to reverse these disease for all inflicted.

[Hidden in reply to Girth1]

From what I’ve read from various sources, the inflammation from brain injury can cause neurological conditions to manifest. My Mom head a concussion and lost her sense of smell and taste and has mild cognitive impairment and personality changes. My Dad has pd. We are quite the family! ☺️ Clearly you are very knowledgeable.

[House2]

It could be post concussion and or POTS syndrome?

[Girth1 in reply to House2]

I not to sure post concussion last 4yrs. I am sure that TBI symptoms can last years or for life. As far as POTS my heart doesn't race when I stand. Weird thing though sometimes my blood pressure falls when standing other times it goes up like 150/110. Sitting and laying like almost perfect.

[House2 in reply to Girth1]

dysautonomia (POTS family) which is not uncommon post TBI, Did your chiro do vestibular rehab with you?

[Girth1]

Yes it's definitely probably a form dysautonomia. Yet other symptoms like apathy, mood swings, short term memory problems, make me believe it's more then that. They said maybe small fiber neuropathy. Yet symptoms seem bigger then that also. One thing I thought about was my iron levels were slightly high when tested 2 years ago. This is also believed to cause symptoms and eventually if left at high levels can cause death of dopamine neurons. Which also can lead to neurological disease. I was also someone who took high amounts of supplements that raise nitric oxide levels. I did this because I worked out a lot, and made it easier to do more reps Studies show that too much nitric oxide, sometimes raises iron in brain. It's just my opinion, I think injury, high iron and other things cause a storm in the brain. So now I don't eat much red meat, limit alcohol, take supplements that block iron absorption. It's just my theory on it. I done my share of research on brain. I mean even before this I like studying different faucets of the brain. Yet my degree in college was something else, 😂. I thank you for your reply.