Post-Traumatic Headache and Its Mechanism

The mechanism of so-called post-traumatic headache is complex, and so is its rehabilitation, involving multiple therapies (medical, physiotherapy, psychology, etc.).

To qualify as a post-traumatic headache, there must have been a direct (to the face or head) or indirect (car accident, fall down the stairs) cranial trauma. A multitude of structures and mechanisms are involved. Transient tissue damage is possible. Other associated disorders or syndromes may be more complicated to treat.

One mechanism that may occur in you, following a trauma, is the appearance of avoidance strategies (often due to fear and/or pain) or de-training of your neck muscles, creating irritation in the area that could lead to headaches similar to cervicogenic headache.

Rest assured, it’s normal to feel extremely tired after a trauma. Pain is present at all or most of the time, so your brain has to deal with a constant flow of information. This flow leads to a mechanism of over-stimulation and over-recruitment in the brain and various other structures causing fatigue. Searching for words can also be a post-traumatic symptom, like fatigue, resolving itself in a few weeks to a few months. The various structures need time to heal properly.

Posttraumatic Stress

Post-traumatic stress is the consequence of various reactions that can occur after exposure to a situation that disrupts your sphere of security in relation to your life, your habits or your existence. A number of events can be considered traumatic (natural disasters, accidents, violence, etc.).

A traumatic event will brutally shake up your psyche, stimulating extremely energy-intensive defense mechanisms to cope with the dangers, moving from relative tranquility to extreme anxiety.

The most common form of anxiety in post-traumatic stress is the fear of death, with the story of your life flashing before your eyes. Your emotions completely invade your mind, preventing you from channeling them.

In reality, it’s the disconnection of your brain and the failure of your defenses that causes post-traumatic stress. Freud was the first to speak of this notion, known at the time as “war neurosis”.

There are 2 types of post-traumatic stress:

• Acute stress occurs immediately after exposure to the trauma. It leads to sleep disturbances, a feeling of reliving the trauma over and over again, and the presence of anxiety symptoms.
• Chronic stress develops 2-3 months after the trauma, leading to permanent symptoms. An anxiety and depressive disorder then sets in, as you lose confidence in yourself and your abilities, and avoid social contact.

To minimize the impact of various post-traumatic manifestations, you should seek help within 72 hours of traumatic exposure.

When stress is present, it will mobilize such defenses that your brain is constantly fighting to gradually integrate this experience and make it an episodic element in your life.

When a stressful event occurs in the absence of trauma, the defenses mobilize and allow the situation to be integrated as a chapter in your life, making it easier to move on.