Soreness, numbness, crackling in head brought on by meditation.

[fantomas94]

Hi,
I've been suffering with some horrible symptoms for the past 7 months, and nobody can tell me what's wrong or how to treat them.  This is very bizarre so bear with me.  I am a 35 year old male, otherwise very healthy.  I always ate well and exercised regularly.  On November 18 2007, I tried meditating for the first time.  I downloaded a program off the internet which described how to perform a mantra meditation, where you close your eyes for 15 minutes, and think of a syllable in your head over and over.  It was supposed to be relaxing.  So anyways, I do this, and as soon as I opened my eyes when finishing, I felt electric-like explosions all over the side of my face and my entire head went numb.  It became very sore all over, and starting making horrible crackling and crunching sounds in my ears, on the crown of my head, and in my neck.  I went to the doctors and had a ct scan done, as well as an MRI, an MRV and bloodwork.  Apparently this showed nothing irregular, so according to all the docs (2 primary doctors and 3 neurologists) I was fine.  I also went to see an acupuncturist, 2 chiropractors, a hypnotherapist, and an all natural pharmacist who does energy healing and works with homeopathy.  I always get the same story, either there's nothing wrong with me, or that they can fix me up pretty easily, yet here I am suffering immensely with no relief at all in 7 months.  These symptoms are 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with absolutely no relief.  I was hoping that it would eventually work itself out or go away, but that has not happened yet and I am getting very concerned.  Especially with the bizarre circumstances in which this all started, its very hard to get any doctor to think outside the box, and take it seriously.  They just say "oh meditating couldn't do that."  Yet it clearly did as it was like flipping a switch as I opened my eyes.  I went from feeling great to this.  Clearly it is not a headache, it is something very different, I just wish I knew what it was, and how to treat it.  Life has become pretty miserable more or less.  I try to stay positive, but its just time for this to end...  I just found this site, and thought I'd put my story on here to see if anyone had any thoughts.  

Thanks so much,
Rob

[fantomas94]

Hi vrenaf,

the forums you listed did not show up properly.  it looks like this website has some kinda of filters to prevent you from posting links.  maybe type out "dot" instead of writing one...

thanks!

[vrenaf]

Hi there.  I wonder if you might get an answer from more metaphysical healers.  Get a perspective from those who really know meditation and have heard of these things.  Try posting your question on the ****.*** forum.  Or perhaps someone from ****.*** can help you.  

[mtflyfish]

Sorry to keep bombarding you fantomas, but I've been researching as much as possible on this.  Here's another interesting article: http://books.google.com/books?id=jrkq7s2i12EC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=meditation+hazardous&source=web&ots=gSwWMPXZfp&sig=Nn61KPjAvlznjwE9fR73g3rRe2c&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result#PPA5,M1

[mtflyfish]

Found an interesting article: http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_articles/brundage_sandy_warningmeditatingmaybehazardous.htm

[mtflyfish]

Sorry for the immediate follow-up to my last post but I have my own theory what might be happeing, at least in my case: the binaural beat tracks I listened to are meant to sync both hemispheres of the brain.  A normal result of this is that there will be increased blood flow to the brain.  Perhaps after two weeks, the continued increased blood supply coused some type of injury and/or pressure against the skull.  The best I can describe my symptoms are: physical - constant headaches with intermittent sharp bursts of pain;, ringing in ears;  perception - feels distorted. Nothing overtly wrong with my vision or hearing but it's like there is a disconnect betwen what I see and how I want to respond vs. how the events are registering in my brain... basically I can't will myself to be the person I want to be.  It would be much appreciated if any doctor on this forum can add some insight.

[mtflyfish]

Do you have any good days mixed in?  I first felt like this for a few days then the symptoms went away for awhile and now they are back again.  The route I am going to take is to let whatever neurologist I go to study the cd's I listened to.  Because the cd's bring you inth theta brainwave state, at least I can use this knowledge to determine what might be going on.  If they can hook me up to an EEG and notice abnormal theta brainwave activity, I can prove what it is going; then I will proceed to sue the hell out of the company and Amazon.  Also was wondering about how you can function at work; with all these symptoms I'm having I can still basically do everything I could before but it's just like I don't feel like me; plus I have to deal with the headaches, "spacing out," and the ringing/hissing in my ears.  Hope everything goes ok with your doctor.  I have an MRI scheduled for Monday.  Will let you know how it goes.