Originally Posted by LoneRanger
I have had sleep disturbances ever since the accident, related most likely to the broken neck and brain bleed, but I made a full recovery, exceptional recovery according to the MD's.
I guess it could be due to the sleep problems, I wake probably at least four times per night, twice to whiz and at least twice for no apparent reason other than to shift my head around to a better position on pillow(s) because of a stiff neck in the area of the C6 and C7 which were the fractured ones. That would be the trauma related osteo arthritis the neurological MD said commonly develops in cases like mine.
I don't feel tired through the day, so I don't think the wake-ups at night are that big of an issue. I do have a titanium rod in the marrow of my right humeris bone (elbow to shoulder bone) from the accident that I wonder if my body is somehow reacting to, by the bone marrow system scaling back on immune response or something. We do know bone marrow is key to immune response, and sometimes the body can have unusual reactions to various types of implants. The surgeon played it down and said they rarely remove those rods "unless there's a problem."
The surgeon will downplay it but you shouldn't. Ti implants are considered stable, in the same way Aluminum because of an oxide layer, but galvanic corrosion is yet still a significant issue with biological Ti implants of all kinds even tiny dental ones. Ti ions in the body are known cytotoxic.
Here is an excerpt from a study investigating (much smaller) dental Ti implants including 'extra-oral' health effects. Remember, this study focusses on tiny Ti dental implants, not even big ol' rods of it.
Quote
The metal ions may cause staining of the peri-implant tissues and reactions, like perioral stomatitis, osteolysis,
oral edema, and
extra-oral manifestations, such as fatigue, hair loss, eczematous rashes, and even
episodes of brain-fog have been reported. Kirkpatrick et al. reported the patho-mechanism of the
impaired healing occurs due to specific metal ion release by corrosion [8].
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/12/3/368
Best of luck to you