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

Poison Ivy

     I've been a hiker and backpacker for a number of years, both before and after the scrambling of my brain that occurred during my motor vehicle accident. My brain's name is Briella-- still brilliant but a bit sideways. Vision begins in the brain. Besides having double vision in one eye and now having face blindness [I would say "suffering from" only I don't feel like I am suffering from anything], I am apparently no longer able to recognize poison ivy.

     Most fortunately, some years ago I had a flat-coated retriever who was absolutely nuts about the stuff. Dogs are generally not allergic to poison ivy. He used to roll in it, dig it up, toss it around, eat it. Then I would break out in that certain rash. The first summer with him, I had poison ivy six times. I figure that dog is the reason why I have very mild reactions to the leaves of three now.

     I've been weeding in the garden. During the first few years of living with my t.b.i., I purchased several berry bushes and planted them. I don't remember what kind of berry bushes they were. This is a problem now. I do have a rather prolific vine thing growing in the plot where I plopped the berry bushes. It is currently full of white flowers. When I walk by it, I feel little itches on my skin. [There is a particular weed in my garden too that causes the little itches but which I know is not poison ivy]. I go inside and I scrub my arms and hands and then that's the end of it. 

     I've never eaten the berries off of the prolific vine because I cannot tell if the thing is a version of poison ivy or if it is some kind of raspberry or something. This week, I will hunt through my plant identification books in hopes of figuring out what the vine actually is. If is it poison ivy, I suppose I will put on long pants and a long shirt and thick gloves and yank the stuff out. If not, then I will probably want to sample the berries this year. And I will also have to investigate the berry plot. Maybe there are berry bushes growing in there and maybe the bushes died.

sapphoq healing tbi says: Now that I have some distance from my car accident, I suspect that the changes in my personality and my neurological functioning bother other people a great deal more than they bother me. I don't feel like a victim. I keep striving.
     Most days I can say with some confidence this: It's good to be alive yo!

The Eyes [May] Have It

I was heartened today to see one tiny article about the possibility that visual difficulties may aid in the accurate diagnosis of traumatic brain injuries in veterans who continue having troublesome symptoms after sustaining a blast.  Psychiatrist Elaine Peskind noted that the vets she tested had irregular movements of their eyeballs.  Neuro-Optomologist Randy Kardon demonstrated that the vets exposed to blasts had retinal cells that were thinner than expected and also had developed photo-sensitivity.  [ article located here at: http://www.turnto23.com/lifestyle/health/eyes-may-provide-new-insight-into-brain-problems-including-tbi-in-soldiers ]

I've known about tbi-related eye problems because I have them.  I was diagnosed with true photophobia, ocular-motor dysfunction, and dyplopia in one eye.  The external vertigo that I experience on a daily basis [the room spins to the left] with occasional temporary upswings  is responsible for my latest back injuries which have landed me back in physical therapy.  Nystagmus, I have it now.  I did not have it pre-injury.  Misinterpretation of visual data in the brain has caused visual disturbances.  These are not frightening.  And dry eyes.  Because I no longer blink as much automatically as I used to.  Reading was not possible for me for longer than thirty minutes [and sometimes not possible after much less than thirty minutes] until the introduction of an e-reader.  It is not large print that I need.  My visual acuity is within the range of "doesn't need glasses while driving."  What I do need, and the e-reader provides for me, is more white space between words and the ability to adjust the light settings.

When hunting down the research into the use of various visual tests and measurements in the diagnosis of traumatic brain injury with our troops, the earliest reference I found was dated 2009.  This is the sort of thing that should have been reported on by the media much earlier than yesterday.  The research has implications for all of us who have sustained brain injuries from a variety of causes.

While I applaud the Veterans' Administration for the research being undertaken on behalf of soldiers who have suffered and who will continue to suffer blast injuries, it is my sincere hope that refinements to the diagnosis of a t.b.i. and delivery of services designed to address tbi-related visual difficulties does not become bogged down in the usual bureaucratic paperwork and a system which seeks to deny our vets services when at all possible.

sapphoq healing t.b.i.


Other references:

http://www.rehab.research.va.gov/jour/09/46/6/pdf/cockerham.pdf

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/neurologist-markam-human-brain/

http://www.army.mil/article/74675/

http://www.lowvision.org/traumatic_brain_injury.htm

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20104404

http://www.brainline.org/content/2010/02/vision-issues-after-brain-injury-brainline-talks-with-dr-gregory-goodrich_pageall.html

T.B.I. on SecondLife and on-going VESID stupidity

I took a break from blogging for a bit in order to explore SecondLife(trademark owned by Linden Labs)-- a virtual world created by Linden Labs. If anyone is interested, well then you can go check it out at:
http://www.secondlife.com/join/?u=492430f4263844fdb2cb9ef952ebf4a1

or at the potentially less threatening:
http://www.secondlife.com/?u=492430f4263844fdb2cb9ef952ebf4a1

and for those of you who aren't interested, obviously you don't gotta. End of unpaid commercial.


Anyways, my avatar (a little figure in clothing used to represent me in Second Life, thus from here on in will be referred to as "my avie" or simply "I" -- past English teachers be dammed) got to pick a gender and some clothing, went through utter confusion of orientation, and then was deposited along with other newbies at a Welcome Center. From there, my avie went off exploring. SecondLife is total eye candy in 3D.

After flying around for a bit and collecting a bunch of free clothes, I found that I was lonely for human communication. I went to some 12-step meetings (we're everywhere!) and found a few folks there to talk to. I began studying the events notices, joined a few groups, bought a bit of land. I began my first brain-damaged experimentation with 3D building and started going to events and classes regularly.

My avie got a job as a stripper in a club, something for which I make no apologies. The Lindens (money in SecondLife) are good. Real life mate doesn't care what I do in SecondLife. Dancing is varied and automated. The mobility and vertigo problems which plague me in real life are absent there. Plus, like most other avies, my avie is younger in appearance, skinnier, hotter, and has better hair than I do!

Besides exotic dancing and other events, I also found that the Asperger's community is alive and well on S.L. That made me happy and I now have some friends to hang with who do not expect great social feats from me. Many of them have some of the same passions that I do and that is excellent!

And yes, there is a t.b.i. group on SecondLife. We meet usually on Saturday mornings S.L. time at a comfortable and extravagant 3D clubhouse on a beach. The house is situated on an island. There is the ocean right there, a pleasant deck, several dogs, the meeting room itself, and offices upstairs. The man who facilitates the t.b.i. group lives in the States. He is very welcoming. I immediately found myself at home there.

When I told him about the most recent VESID stupidity, he was appalled and asked me if I have a case manager, case worker, or service coordinator. I am not eligible for Medicaid and thus not eligible for the T.B.I. waiver in my state (a situation which pisses me off-- the financial hit we have taken from my car accident and subsequent loss of career has been astronomical) and so I could not navigate the system well enough to get a Service Coordinator. I had tried but nothing much happened there. The facilitator-- also a T.B.I. survivor-- offered to meet with his case manager in order to seek out information for me and will be checking back with me soon. He also suggested that I call the Office of the Aging and the United Way in my county. I hadn't thought of that. More on the hunt for service coordination as it evolves.

The last time I had spoken with the job handler (a young woman who means well I suppose but who is young enough to have a MySpace account under her own legal name) she expressed grave "concern" over the latest two week bout of vertigo. This should not have been news to her or to anyone else related to VESID. It has been documented in my records that I have benign positional vertigo. The benign means it isn't a tumor or anything causing it. The positional means it is outside of myself, that is to say that the room/the world slides to the left. Vertigo means dizziness of a sort. Thus, I am not dizzy. The world is dizzy. I am used to it. I consider my 24 hour vertigo to me similar to allergies. And the occasional attack--where the world dips and spins madly-- to be akin to a common cold.

The attacks are annoying. The singular medication which the doctor demands I take during the worst of the attacks is annoying. The med leaves me able to navigate my home looking like someone who is slightly tipsy rather than totally plastered. There is not much that I can accomplish during an attack. Feeling miserable, I spend a bit more time sleeping than I usually do. Although I cannot do what I used to do, I certainly am not "home watching television." (That is what most voc-rehab counselors assume that folks with disabilities not slaving in sheltered workshops are doing with their days.) During the attacks, I am too miserable to even consider much teevee or much of anything else. So sleeping fills the bill. And serves to keep me from descending into total fatigue afterwards.

Consequently, when the job handler expressed her cloying concern over my latest two week attack I was not feeling a need for sympathy. I was feeling pissed off. And I knew that her concern was a smokescreen for another message. I may be brain damaged but I am NOT stupid. The job handler went on to inform me that until I got a doctor's note saying I am healthy enough to be nagged by her on a regular basis over where I had put in job applications and gotten interviews that the VESID counselor was putting my case on hold. I asked her, "Is the VESID counselor paying for my doctor's visit to obtain such a note?" Her answer was obviously no. "Well then, the VESID counselor will have to wait until I go to the doctor anyways for such a note. Do what you have to do." Shit. The primary care doc does not require me to see him before, during, or after these attacks. And as I've said already, vertigo to me is like allergies and colds.

I thought that would be the end of it until I delivered the note. But no. The job handler called my answering machine twice more. I didn't return the calls because: 1. a close friend who is also an addict was in the hospital and I was busy in a daily fight for her to get adequate pain relief, 2. I figured if my "case" was on hold then that meant that I didn't have to deal with the job handler, and 3. I just plain didn't feel like it. Angry? Oh hell yes. I was angry and I still am. I am not grateful for the crumbs. I can't get Walmart's to hire me, never mind any agency that offers jobs in my previous career. Hell. I can't even get the local newspaper to agree to give me a route. And I intensely dislike cloying concern and people nagging me for information about exactly where I've applied for work. To top it off, I am at the point where I am not sure that I am able to get back to work of any description. What part of, "I don't fucking feel well enough to do anything for four hours a day, never mind eight hours" is not clear English?

I am not a quitter by nature. I am tired of VESID, tired of incessant demands, tired of nagging whiny voices, tired tired tired. The shrink who understands t.b.i. has maintained from the start of all of this foolishness that the original plan is NOT to work even part-time until a 55b/c job comes through with the state. He tells me repeatedly that the 55b/c program expects me to be a fuck-up (not in so many words, he says it nicer) because I will be hired with the knowledge that I am disabled. With the 55b/c program, I will provided with a job I can do and a salary that I can live on. And the added benefit because I will be hired as a fuck-up, I would really have to be outrageous in order to get fired. The problem I am having in my interviews is that it is obvious that I have some serious impairments and no company wants to deal with a new employee who has vision problems, auditory processing problems, non-existent capacity for multi-tasking, can't navigate stairs well (the vertigo), and is at risk for falling in spite of the braces and cane. And let's not forget the fatigue.

So there is SecondLife. I have a sort of goal there to amass enough Lindens to go into virtual business for myself. And there is VESID and the professional and para-professional paid "helpers" associated with VESID. And there is my life and there are my crumpled dreams.

VISION RESTORATIVE THERAPY 2/15/07

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/552149

Over at the International Stroke Conference most assuredly held in some warmer clime than this one, Dr. Jose Romano presenting his findings. Using specific patterns of light, patients who had narrowed vision fields-- from traumatic brain injury or from stroke-- were found to have increased field of vision after completing a course of treatment with V.R.T. (Vision Restorative Therapy). The device has been F.D.A.-approved. Medicare reimbursement for treatment with V.R.T. is being sought.

Due to my own experiences with Vision Therapy and the use of a specific colored light, I am cheering loudly!

sapphoq healing t.b.i. and a.b.i.