Brain News

Take it, use it, but don't hot-link it. Credit and link back not necessary.

From Science Daily:
 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150218101839.htm

From Science Daily: It turns out that Broca's area is more of speech and language synthesizer rather than a producer. When we speak out loud, the Broca's area shuts down. Results are from a very small sample-- seven patients with epilepsy-- and so I suspect that the study will have to be replicated on a larger scale. Still, this is intriguing to me.



Also from Science Daily:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150217114430.htm

There are two pathways for visual information [not just one as previously thought]. New techniques involving M.R.I. have revealed evidence that-- especially in children-- when the primary pathway is damaged, a secondary pathway can re-route around the primary.
My special [t.b.i.] eye doc told me that "the eyeballs are the outcropping of the brain." Visual acuity is indeed separate from ocular-motor function or dysfunction.



From The Hindu:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/brain-dead-woman-saves-three-lives/article6906825.ece?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication

The organs from a brain-dead woman were harvested and saved three lives.



From Chronicle Live U.K.:
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/brain-damaged-county-durham-woman-8667602

An English woman who sustained severely debilitating brain damage early on in life was awarded a huge amount of money. The money will enable her aged parents to move to a larger home [they are her primary caretakers] so that the woman can remain in the community rather than suffer institutionalization and will also ensure her well-being after their deaths.



From National Geographic [on-line]:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150217-shell-shock-ptsd-tbi-world-war-one-ied-veterans-administration-science/


A short interview involving blast-induced traumatic brain injuries being sustained by our service people. And a cool mask.



From Yahoo News:
https://news.yahoo.com/eye-tracking-tech-could-detect-concussions-football-players-150621714.html;_ylt=AwrBEiQZDeVUiDIAQVrQtDMD

I could have told the researchers this [if they had known to ask]. I have ocular-motor dysfunction caused by my t.b.i. Yeah, I do rather horribly on eye tracking tests. My eyeballs don't play nicely with my brain or with each other.



From North Jersey [dot com]:
http://www.northjersey.com/news/health-news/cyclist-sets-sites-on-bi-coastal-ride-1.1272211

A man who sustained serious head trauma approximately five years ago plans to bike across the country to raise awareness of traumatic brain injury. This is a wonderful thing! You go, Daniel Mollino!



From W.B.T.V.:
http://www.wbtv.com/story/28131593/stepfathers-abuse-conviction-sentence-upheld-by-nc-court

R.I.P. little four year old Kalih Davenport. Her step-father rammed her head into a wall, leaving her with brain damage. She has since died. 



From York Press in the U.K.:
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/11799709.York_man_was_savagely_attacked_with_golf_club__rock_and_drill_then_left_for_dead_with_dozens_of_wounds__court_is_told/?ref=rss


A young woman claims during trial that after two men beat on a fellow, she went upstairs and was on Facebook. She didn't realize until later that he was bloodied up in her cupboard.
Hearty wishes go out to Adam Blythe who sustained brain damage and other injuries from the attack.


From I09:
http://io9.com/gourmand-syndrome-is-the-most-delicious-kind-of-brain-1686326418

A curious article about changing food tastes after brain damage brought on via stroke or t.b.i.


sapphoq healing traumatic brain injury

Organizing

I took the photo myself and I can prove that. I added the caption with my legally obtained digital photography software. Copyright monopolist trolls are not welcome here. All others may save the pic to your computer if you want to and use it on social media if you want to. Credit and link back to this blog not necessary. Just please don't claim it as yours and no hot-linking. The photo is copyleft. Thanks.

     Whatever organizing skills that I had pre-traumatic brain injury have gone the way of my old multi-tasking skills. I now have the help of a friend who knows how to organize. I point to stuff and the friend organizes it.

     I no longer have a problem with throwing out or getting rid of stuff that is no longer useful to me. I can't remember why I wanted it in the first place.

     I suspect that I am not the "only" citizen in this community who has problems with household organization. And I also suspect that I am not the only t.b.i. survivor with this problem. I'm fortunate that our situation allows us to hire someone to help with this. And I also know that not everyone with a similar problem can afford to hire help.

     Offering me an hour visit with an occupational therapist who might want to offer tips on how to make housework less exhausting is something that I do not find to be of value to me in my situation. I also deem that particular suggestion as impractical. 

sapphoq healing traumatic brain injury asks: To the "helping" professionals in my life and in the lives of other folks with traumatic brain injuries and/or other disabilities: Would you put a small square of sterile cloth on a deep cut that calls for stitches?
     Your offer of quasi-assistance is hereby rejected. If you aren't going to help me, then don't hinder me. Just get out of my way. The quick fix is worthless in the complexity of our individual lives. No love.

Balance Problems

     Some physician somewhere that I had to go see-- and I don't remember which one although I suspect it was the no-fault insurance company doctor. No-fault means "It ain't our fault so we ain't paying"-- gallantly informed me that since there was 'nothing wrong' with my inner ears ergo I do not have any balance problems. Dude clearly hadn't seen me in action. I can fall on level ground. 

     The needle-sticking neuro-doc directed me to tell him right away if I ever got dizzy. I wasn't dizzy. The room was dizzy and slid slowly to the left. Still does. He didn't ask me to speak up if the room got dizzy. So I never told him. Hey.

     It was the chiro-doc who first educated me about the two vertigos. The internal vertigo means I am dizzy. The external vertigo means the room is dizzy. I have the second one.  The room slides slowly to the left all of the time. During attacks of vertigo [and I've had a few of them], the room twirls to my left a bit faster than usual and also bobs up and down like ocean waves. The room and everything slides to the left. I fall to the right. 

     Yes, I fall more often these days. The latest fall involved a spill off of a step. I landed  *s p l a t*   on the hard earth. My lower legs resembled purple sleeves. There were also some lumps. After a week, I went to the primary care doc.

     "Leukemia?" I asked. 

     "What?!?"

     "The bruises. And the lumps." I pointed to my lower legs. "I'm going to have lumpy legs forever."

     The anxiety was pre-injury but let us just say that the t.b.i. did not improve that aspect of my psyche.

     I don't have leukemia. Armed with an explanation of exactly how bruising and lumps work, I left fortified with the knowledge that this may take up to two months to heal.

     I did mention that I went *s p l a t*.


     "You aren't using your cane," a buddy of mine accused me later.

     I shrugged. I've fallen with the cane too.

sapphoq healing traumatic brain injury says: Balance is one of those things that can be worked at and I do. Even so, I still go 
*s p l a t*  once in awhile. No reason to quit. I keep striving.

Concussions Can Be Serious-- Ya' Think?

     After my traumatic brain injury, I used to think frequently that "Not so many people give a crap about concussions or about t.b.i." That changed. First there was some news about our veterans returning from the battlefields with brain injuries. [I do have several relatives involved with the Wounded Warrior Project]. Then people decided to get excited about concussions in professional sports and in high school football.

     Attention can be a good thing. Awareness gets raised that way and suddenly one community passes a law about bicycle helmets. Another implements guidelines for high school athletes who get their heads banged in the field. 

     But attention can also be not so good. When the populace is not exposed to original research-- and don't know how to interpret it if the data was made available-- articles written for common folks can be mystifying and contradictory. In the references below, articles have maintained that either location of impact has little to no impact upon outcome or that top of the head impact is worse than other areas and is more likely to cause unconsciousness. Or that high school football players are most at risk for permanent cognitive effects. 

     Do you want to believe the professional athlete who has had three concussions and is not fazed by the idea that a fourth can end his career? Or do you want to believe those folks who are no longer able to work after what was initially diagnosed as a "brain bruise," "a concussion," "post-concussive syndrome," or nothing? Or the guy in the sailboat race who was hit hard by the boon in an accident, gets hospitalized for several weeks and almost dies, can return to work but is told he cannot ever sail again? Another injury to his head like the last one may well be his last one.

     The thing is, every head injury looks different. Whether it is a concussion-- a brain injury with no lasting effects-- or a brain injury that is judged to be a traumatic brain injury (which has lasting effects), or an acquired brain injury (from stroke or brain tumor removal etc.), every single head injury looks different. The t.b.i. survivor who did not lose consciousness at all may in fact be more permanently disabled than the survivor who arrived to the emergency room unconscious. Add to that, the reluctance of the adolescent to admit to having cognitive symptoms or how badly his or her head hurts and the denial of the professional athlete who figures the glory of the game is of higher priority than the integrity of the brain.

sapphoq healing traumatic brain injury says: Those of us who have had brain damage know how serious any injury to the head can be. We also know that repeated concussions can alter brain functioning permanently. 

     

References:

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/


http://www.steamboattoday.com/news/2014/aug/10/monday-medical-concussion-tools-help-recovery/
        The article that I liked the best.



http://www.empr.com/for-concussion-outcomes-impact-location-has-limited-effect/article/365564/

http://www.designntrend.com/articles/17823/20140811/football-concussions.htm

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/11/us-concussions-football-high-school-idUSKBN0GB07C20140811

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/280869.php



http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/HeadsUp/index.html

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/health/blasting-away-at-concussions-270711161.html?cx_navSource=d-tiles-2



http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/135137/lowery-no-reservations-after-concussion

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2014/8/9/5987021/dwight-lowery-returns-to-practice-saturday



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concussion_grading_systems

http://post-concussion-syndrome.com/
         From an attorney website, sorry.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/medical-professionals/clinical-updates/general-medical/diagnosing-treating-sports-related-concussion
         Guidelines from the Mayo Clinic re: sports-related concussions in schools.

What Duck Dynasty Teaches Me

     I am fortunate to have a variety of mentors who have helped me to learn how to continue living and having a life after my brain damage. I appreciate people who have believed in me enough to teach me about responsibility and dreams at a time when things were pretty dark. Traumatic brain injury changed my life. Although my life is different now, I still very much have a life.

     Through my interaction with conservatives on Twitter (tm), I am reminded that in spite of my present neurological difficulties I can keep striving. I do not have to be a lump in a chair sleeping my life away to the drone of teevee talk shows. I can be a contributing self-supporting member of society. There is no self-esteem to be found in hand-outs. No one owes me a living. 

     Yes, I am an atheist. I have been a non-theist for many years. Even so, I can certainly learn from those who have differing religious viewpoints. I have found that in spite of my non-beliefs, I fit in better with those of a libertarian bent than I would have ever suspected. And I discovered Duck Dynasty.

     The Robertson family is from around Monroe, Louisiana. They are proud red-necks. They make me laugh. They remind me of folks I used to know when I was living in Baton Rouge. They are practical and fun people. At the end of the show, they pray. They get to do that. I don't care. The right to self-expression is not limited to "those who agree with me totally on everything." I stand with Phil Robertson. He expressed his Christian beliefs in an interview with a magazine and the world blew up. He has an absolute right to do so. As a heterosexual man, he does not have to understand same-gender love and relationships. As a Christian man, he does not have to endorse something that he believes is wrong. No one has to.

     Here are some of the things that I've learned through watching Duck Dynasty:

Being different is okay.
     
Doing stuff differently than other people do it is okay.

Building stuff is fun, even if it comes out weird.

I can express myself without cursing.

Family is important.

sapphoq healing brain damage

Aphasia, I Haz It

     The second neuro-doc told me that I have mild expressive aphasia, or more specifically a phonemic paraphasia [N.B. which some professionals characterize as being entirely separate from expressive aphasia] with pragmatic and substitution errors.  I also have the associated right-sided weakness that a physical therapist recently pointed out as still being evident a decade after my head trauma.

     I am conscious of my speech errors.  I know when I've substituted a sound for another sound at the beginning of a word.  I figure that if the person that I am conversing with understands what I am endeavoring to convey, no correction of my pronunciation should be forthcoming.  A few other people appear not to agree.  Sometimes I've said to them, "Do you understand what I mean?"  After their response in the affirmative, I've told them to s.t.f.u. about it then.  I've become less defensive about this than I used to be.  Now I will repeat the correction out loud and visualize it cementing itself in my brain.

     I also get irritated when I cannot think of a specific word that I want to use in conversation.  That appears to be an anomia and anomia is central to almost all aphasias.  [Note to testers:  Many of your test subjects know that if you point to the thing on your wrist, the correct answer is "watch" and when you point to the writing implement, the correct answer is "pencil."  Just so you know that, I thought I would tell you that].  Fortunately, I am able to hunt through my brain for a similar word.  Although the substituted word is not exact to my intended nuances of meaning, I get my point across.  The vast majority of people that I interact with do not recognize this sort of thing when it happens unless I point it out to them.  I despise the blank that happens when my brain blocks a word from me however I do know that my ability to pick a different word is evidence that my cognitive slowing has speeded up a bit. 

     Another difficulty that I have appears not to be part of expressive aphasia or of paraphasia.  When people talk too fast-- and I think this chiefly happens when a store clerk or someone on the phone wants me to agree to something (like "buy this object" or "agree to this contract")-- I lose the gist of what they are saying.  I've learned to tell them to slow down.  If they don't, then I tell them that I have a brain injury and that if they want me to understand them, they must slow down.  A second failure to slow down results in my termination of the interaction, or less frequently a request to speak with someone else like a manager.  I've resorted to taking someone with me to a store or having someone listen in on an important telephone call if contracts are involved.  I describe the second person as "my disability advocate" because it then becomes more difficult for the other party to dismiss the presence of my helper-friend.

     Like all of the complications that I've had due to my traumatic brain injury, I continually work on improving those difficulties that I can identify.  Movement is especially important to me.  I substituted my [severely lacking] motivation with motor-vation.  Social interaction [including interaction with other folks on the web], adequate rest and nutrition, and challenging my brain on a daily basis has become a lifestyle.  I do not believe that the majority of improvement after a traumatic brain injury occurs during the first year.  I've had significant improvement throughout because I keep practicing everything.  That which cannot be fixed [and with a t.b.i., there are things that cannot be fixed] can be worked around.  My philosophy is not one of "attitude" or "surrounding myself with 'positive' people."  Action is the word that sums it all up, with periods of rest so that way I have the energy to take repeated action. 

sapphoq healing brain damage says:  I would have gladly settled for a less-challenging life.  I am not "better off" because of my brain damage.  Certainly, I am financially much worse off and my career (that I fought so hard to have) ended.  I have not found any evidence that a god "did it" or even "allowed it to happen."  I have found that it takes courage to dream new dreams and even more courage to take action on the stuff that I say I want.  Anyone can make a list for Santa Claus.  Very few people will want to even attempt to drive a sleigh hooked up to a bunch of grumpy overworked reindeer.


A few links:

http://www.aphasiahope.org/

http://www.aphasia.org/

http://preview.tinyurl.com/n8r6zc6    [Neuro-psych Central, a pdf on aphasia assessment tools].

On Suicide

Right-click to save to your computer if you want it.

Brain damage in the area of the left frontal-temporal lobe is fairly common.  That is also the area of the brain that is thought to be responsible for depressive symptoms.  Because some percentage of us do not want to be identified as having a psychiatric problem-- cripes, the brain injury is "bad enough" we think without adding the word "nutcase" to the mix-- we ignore the development of suicidal ideology or any indication of a mood disorder at our peril.  Our brains are damaged.  There are people who think we are whacked, odd, different, dumb, stupid, peculiar or weird anyway.  If prescription meds used as prescribed are able to give us a break from some distressing symptoms then why not?  That false ego that says, "I can do this myself" or worse yet, "I can blend in and be like everybody else" can kill us.  It takes strength and honesty to conclude that we cannot conquer all of this crap on our own.  It takes guts to ask for help.  Some of us who were already being treated for psychiatric conditions pre-injury will find that our old levels of medication no longer maintain us.  We need more.

Recognizing a need for professional assistance or a need for more of a previously adequate dose of psych meds is not a cause for alarm unless we make it so.  This insight is a sign that the left lobe of the brain is not all dead yet.  Insight originates somewhere in the left lobe.  The ability to put that insight into action rests within the frontal lobe.  If we are able to determine that something isn't working, we might choose to endorse ourselves rather than to put ourselves down.  Even better the ability to act on that knowledge [or to ask someone to help us] and locate a medical doctor of some sort who understands at least something about traumatic brain injury and will undertake to prescribe for us.

Presenting ourselves to that professional is a beginning.  We have to be willing to answer some background questions and to listen to suggestions.  This is not a passive operation.  Our appointments are a chance to list the symptoms that bother us and to ask questions about medicine or any other treatment which is suggested.  The reality is that public mental health or behavioral health clinics often do not listen well.  Locating some help within the private sector [providing our health insurance will pay enough towards said specialized help] might be the better option.

If you are finding any of the following:
     You want to kill yourself or harm yourself or have been flirting with thoughts like that;
     You have thought about how you would do it;
     You have access to the weapon or instrument of your choice [such as a gun, knife, blades, pills, a car to drive over a cliff etc.];
     You would do it if the random chance came up to off yourself;
     You think you wouldn't have to worry about stuff or that the world or everyone would be better off if you just weren't here anymore;   
s t o p reading this blog post, get off of the internet, and tell someone who will take you seriously what you have been thinking.  If the first person you tell does not understand that you are serious about hurting yourself or committing suicide, then tell someone else.  
Get to an emergency room if you must.  Being drugged temporarily [and hospitalized if you have to be for your own safety] sucks but quite frankly, there is no hope of improvement if you are dead.  It takes guts to ask for help.  
If you are able to promise to postpone taking action on your suicidal thoughts, then call your doctor's office for an appointment, show up at a walk-in clinic, contact your insurance company for a referral list, or ask a family member or friend to assist you with this if you need to.  Again, you don't know if these painful feelings could have been alleviated if you are dead.

What is distressing to me at brain injury conferences is the invariable presence of one or two survivors who have symptoms of major depression or schizophrenia or other disorder, are taking medication for their symptoms, but deny that they have a psych condition.  Psych conditions can arise from the impaired functioning of the brain or from the stress of living with a t.b.i. or some combination of the two.  They are separate disorders and we deserve treatment for them.  It stands to reason that if we treat all of the health problems and complications that arise, we will have better outcomes.  In other words, psychiatric symptoms just like the symptoms of our brain damage does not have to rule our lives.

With the brain injury, we can have many complications: photophobia, dry eyes, ocular motor dysfunction, hearing loss, sleep apnea, impaired limb movement, paralyses, motor disorders, language disorders, structural changes in our feet as well as gait changes, fatigue, obesity, addictions, slowed cognitive functioning, and more.  We don't hesitate to pursue medical alleviation for any of these issues.  Why is something with psychiatric implications different?  The bottom line is that many if not all thought and mood disorders have neurology as a basis, or at the very least contributing neurology.

Yes, there is certainly widespread discrimination [screw the nami mommies and their big pharma monies and their talk about "stigma"] against people who have psychiatric labels.  Guess what?  There is discrimination against brain injury survivors too, just like any other potentially disabling condition.  If you haven't run into it, you probably will.  [If you don't, please contact me and tell me what state and country you live in. I want to migrate there].  
I've lost friends to suicide.  It isn't any fun. Suicide hurts those that we leave behind-- whether we think it will or not.  Brain damage, like any other changes in neurology, brings on changes in one's life.  Don't make this any harder on yourself than it already is.  Commit to staying alive and to taking care of your mental health, just like you would the rest of you.

sapphoq on t.b.i.      

Oh Go Stuff Your Happy Happy Joy Joy

Today, as usual, I was tired.  I slept deeply last night.  I ran out of energy mid-afternoon and slept for two hours.  With dreams.  This is the fatigue that does not let up.

Different things throughout the day gave me wholeness.  A house wren singing a mating song.  The new kitten jumping up to the toilet paper roll, neatly tearing off one sheet, and tasting it.  The happy dog ready for another walk in the quiet neighborhood.  Smells of a stir-fry drifting into the bedroom from the kitchen.  Clean sheets and washing machine and a cat in a curled up in a basket and a full tank of gas and the stillness of my thoughts.

Different things assaulted my irritable brain today.  An acquaintance with a too-loud voice and a message that he felt compelled to "share" with the rest of us.  The infiltration of New Age batshit woo-woo into conversations held by those that I was surrounded by.  A feeling that I didn't belong.  I could not relate.  The fish stinks from the head back.

I want to run away.  I want to go to the triple A and point out places I'd like to see on the map and buy train tickets and hotel reservations.  I want to pack a light bag with a set of wash-and-wear quick drying clothing, a few toiletries, and a second pair of shoes.  I want to travel alone and break bread with people that I've never met.  I want to go to a park and dance to music with the crowds.  I want to eat at a small diner away from the masses.  I want to hang with the common people in strange places.  I want to journey to more places where I've never been and retrieve more pieces of my soul from those places.

I want to have hope.  I want to have hope that is real hope based on realistic probabilities.  I am tired of the false hopes pedaled by the professionals who think they know better than I do what I want.  I am tired of settling.  I've done far too much settling before my brain damage was inflicted upon me.  I am done with settling.  I am anger.  I am rage.  I do not yet know what my true options are.  I must go find them myself.  Because the cast of helping players bombed the stage.  The play did not hold my interest.  I am wandering out of the theater.

Today, as usual, I was tired.  Today, as usual, I sought a place of people where I belong and I could not find it.  Today, as usual, I became anger and rage within my own true self.  Today, as usual, I felt the sadness and the grief of dreams that do not let up. 

sapphoq healing t.b.i.