Strange Sensations and Other Oddities After a Brain Injury

by Linda W. Arms

After a brain injury there are many strange sensations in our head and body.    For me, the sensations began a few hours after my injury and have slowly decreased in intensity and frequency over the last years.   Sometimes, lying awake at night, I would notice these and be afraid because I felt that no one really knew what was going on up there in my brain.   I would mention these sensations to doctors but most did not even acknowledge them or have anything to tell me about them.   Science still refers to the brain as the “last frontier”.    I felt I was in a strange, mystifying state where that “brain fairy” was doing its work that others did not understand.

I expect everyone with a brain injury has different sensations.   I’ve noticed from reading others’ experiences there seem to be some similarities.   How many of you felt the same things I did?

• Flip-flops or butterflies in my head – it actually felt like there was a movement up there, sort of like waves, very strange.   It was not pleasant.  Sometimes very intense. I couldn’t do much of anything when this was going on.   The first hours after I got up in the morning were especially bad.   Sometimes I would just sit in a comfortable chair with my head back and let the “brain fairy” do her dance.   I could not stop it.   Nothing would stop it.
• Bursts of light – during the many hours each day where I would be sleeping – before falling asleep or waking, there would be little bursts of light when my eyes were closed.   I’m not really sure if I saw these with my eyes or if it was just a sensation in my brain.   Again, very strange, very mysterious.   Almost like shooting stars.
• Pains in my head – obviously my head hurt from the physical trauma but there were odd shots of pain in different places in my head.   Very quick.
• Tingling, prickling and numbness – this was a rather obnoxious sensation I had in different parts of my body.   I would feel it in my face, my head, my hands and feet.
• Slideshow at super speed – this is strange, I know.   As I woke, with my eyes still closed, I would see a bunch of unrelated pictures that would speed through my head.   It was like someone was running a slideshow in my brain but very fast.   I could not really focus on the picture but I could tell it was a person, or a scene or something.   I mentioned this to many of my medical providers.   Finally, one doctor said it was something called hypnagogic hallucinations.
• Creepy crawlies – when I was very tired, usually in the evening, my entire being felt totally discombobulated, everything throughout my body felt unsynchronized.   It was a physical and mental sensation.  It was a disturbing sensation that was made worse by sounds and light.  There would be a throbbing in different parts of my body that was not in the same rhythm as the throbbing in another part of my body at the same time. I wanted to curl up into a tight little ball and be thrown down a dark hole were nothing could disturb me.
• My eyes would water intensely if I was overwhelmed.   I was not crying but tears would run down my face.   When I first started driving again, my eyes would start doing this after about 15 – 20 minutes which told me I was reaching my limits.

Besides these strange sensations, I also went through periods of behaviors that were unusual for me.   How about you?   What did you do that was odd for you?  Things I remember:

• Bursting out in laughter for no good reason.   It would last for a few minutes and be done.
• While drifting off to sleep, reaching out at things with my arms which eventually just caused me to wake up.
• Craving Raisin Bran cereal.   I never was into eating cereal, but for some reason, I could not get enough Raisin Bran for a few months.   I’d go through a box every few days.
• Dreams during which I “attacked” my husband by hitting or pinching him.   I would have a bad dream where I needed to defend myself from something that was trying to get me.
• Speaking while I was sleeping.   Sometimes I would wake myself up.
• I would scream as a result of an unexpected sound or sight.    This was embarrassing a few times when I did it out in public including in a store.    I guess my brain could not figure out quickly what I was encountering.

Thank goodness these things have faded.   They still come back sometimes but not to the degree as in the early years.   Does any of this sound familiar to you?   What were some things that you experienced?

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