Hello redit,
I've been reading this subreddit for the past 30 minutes and I'm absolutely mortified in the amount of gaslighting and waiting people are experiencing!
Anyways, here's some context. Late January had an accident at work where I fell backwards, hit my head, LOC for ~3 seconds, classic concussion symptoms post fall.
A month later, I had a horrible spout of headaches that would be relieved when lying down, and absolutely no response to any OTC (Panadol 500mg, Panadol Osteoporosis 665mg, Ibuprofen 400mg, and even knocked down a Panadol Forte!!) Headache was at the top of my head and back of my head, there were times I probably would have felt better slamming my head through a wall! Anyways, this spout of headaches lasted roughly 2 weeks.
This is where the calamity starts, Easter Thursday rocks by and I noticed I have TMD (first time ever, jaw joints hurt with popping sound). Easter Friday I develop rhinorrhea, headaches, neck discomfort/stiffness and an onset of new eye floaters and weird tiny white dots in my vision. The runny nose was more so on the left nostril, clear watery fluid that was hard to distinguish from mucus. It was roughly this time where I started to develop a strong salty/metallic taste in my mouth. Headaches were easily 5/10 pain. I was basically bedridden all Easter.
The week of Easter Monday I travelled interstate by myself, and I felt like I deteriorated so badly. Headache 6/10, slight static noise in both my ears, occasional episodes of very pronounced tinnitus, white "lighting strikes" in vision, occasional sinus and eye pressure. The headaches were almost 100% at the top of my head or at the very bottom. My neck and shoulders were sore/stiff as hell, and I kept getting nosebleeds! When I bend over small drops of fluid would come out of my nose, or I'd get a feeling of reservoir. At the end of the week my ears had a strong pressure feeling, and they started to feel "full", but though it was just elevation changes from traveling over mountains...
The next week rolls over, it's the week of my work placement (at a hospital, ahah!). Woke up Monday with discharge from my ears on my pillow and my ears felt wet, thought oh well, more than likely an ear infection. Throughout the day I would have moments of feeling dizzy and weak. Went to my GP after placement and was given antibiotics, GP said my body was just reacting to an infection. Headache came back to a 4-5/10, still in the same positions though. On the Tuesday I felt extra dizzy and tired, and that I wasn't feeling right. Towards the middle of the afternoon my left side of my face went completely numb (but still moveable), almost collapsed from the dizziness and tiredness. Got wheeled to the ED by my nursing educator, had a stroke evaluation, everything was completely unremarkable (apart from my symptoms, ofc). The on call neurologist was under the impression that I was suffering from Vestibular Neuritis (the reason for my facial numbness), but he couldn't care for all my other symptoms regardless of how hard I tried. But I got an outpatient referral to their neurology dept. (which as not contacted me, and I have no way in contacting them...)
For the next few days I was completely out of it, headaches were just awful, the bitter taste was starting to drive me insane, and the tinnitus was just relentless. I also didn't get to finish work placement because of it. It was at this point my neck pain started to radiate to the shoulders, and my hands/feet would get tingly and occasionally pins and needles.
It's now the week of the 20th April (last week). My GP says my ear infection is resolved because theres no fluid in the ears that he can see. However, I still have pain in and around the ears, still feeling of pressure and "fullness". I then started to develop coloured dots in my vision. Had an MRI with and without contrast, nothing remarkable whatsoever.
Its like 4am at night when I'm posting this, its been hard going to sleep as I've been getting sleep disturbances constantly since my concussion (flashing lights when closing eyes), and just a general difficulty to sleep. Whenever I move my neck it makes cracking sounds that I've never had before. My GP who was previously a neurologist thinks it's a chronic migraine with aura. I feel like a train wreck right now, I'm a fraction my previous self as I can barely function out of my bed. My symptoms are pretty much 24/7 with no relief, and my vision and ear problems seem to be getting worse. The past 2 months have been an absolute disaster for me, I'm barely at school and when I am, I'm borderline a vegetable. My grades have hit the fan, and since I'm in my last year of high school I've got the HSC only in a few months, it's an uphill battle. It's also starting to affect my parents, as they've been watching me decline this past year. We're scrambling to get a neurologist that doesn't automatically label my symptoms as a migraine.
Sorry for this godawful rant, and if anything is unclear, I'll try my best to explain if you have any questions.