With so much discussion of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and concussion in the news lately, I would like you to know more about these from a personal perspective. Most might say they know what a TBI or concussion is, but until you experience one, you do not. I know this because when I tell people I have had both, their eyes glaze over and they don’t respond.
I just started reading Being Brain Healthy: What my recovery from brain injury taught me, and how it can change your life. I can highly recommend this book to those with brain injuries as well as those who want to maintain their present level of brain health.
It’s an important lesson. My father suffered a TBI in military service in 1945. It left him with seizures (never completely controlled), occasional attacks of rage (got better after a time), and, basically, impacted the rest of his life. Shared this on social media.
LikeLike
Thanks Alana. I’m sorry to hear about your father. So many more people than football players are impacted by brain injuries. I think that’s important for others to know.
LikeLike
In 1981 I was in a terrible car accident that required 16 stitches in my forehead – a true scarlet letter. I had a concussion and the beginnings of my MS. I am beginning to realize the devastation that accident caused to my brian. Thanks for posting this.
LikeLike
Yes Cathy! Most don’t understand that the long-term effects of TBI are slow to emerge, which in some ways makes them even more devastating. I am still amazed that NOBODY in the hospital neuro unit talked to me about seeking future help with my brain injury, and I didn’t. Now, 8 years later, I wish I had had some guidance in follow-up treatments. Perhaps I wouldn’t have fallen again if I had…Expecting a person with a recent TBI to know what they need to do to help themselves is ridiculous!
LikeLike
My husband suffered a double rupture brain anuerysm in February 2015, he was given a less than 2% chance of survival and we were told if he survived he would be a vegetable……fast forward 10 months, he is walking, talking, no feeding tube, has regained most long term memory he has no short term memory and still gets disoriented. He spent 6 months is various hospitals, including Craig, and is now home and doing outpatient therapies at Craig and several other facilities, but no one has given us any guidance on what we can do to help with his memory issues or how or what we can do to help heal the brain. He was deemed a stage 5 bleed and most of the damage he suffered was in the frontal lobe. I am so overwhelmed with the caregiving aspect, getting him to all his therapies and still trying to keep up running the office of our business I find little time to do research. I’m hoping your book can help with our journey.
LikeLike
Dear Jaime, I’m so sorry to hear of your husband’s troubles. I also found little help after my brain injury, although Ruth Curran found lots of help. Perhaps you would like to contact her directly. Check out her blog here: http://craniumcrunches.com/blog/
LikeLike
Thank you, I will do that
LikeLike
While living in the USA I’ve suffered several TBI’s now living in Jamaica which lack the expertise and experience to provide care, I’m left on my own to suffer through it.
LikeLike
Pingback: Health consequences I wish I had known about when I was younger… | Adventures of the NEW Old Farts