Health Issues after Traumatic Brain Injury or Severe Head Injuries

What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) comes in two forms. Either a violent blow to the head causes the brain to strike the inside of the skull, or an object penetrates the brain. This kind of injury can be very serious. It may cause bleeding or swelling of the brain and damage its nerve cells. The brain is at the center of human functioning, and an injury to it can affect the messages that it issues to the body. In turn, these kinds of injuries can affect behavior, speech, sensation, and movement.

Health Affects After a TBI

The effects on a person with TBI can vary considerably. It all depends on the severity and location of the injury.

How Is Cognition Affected?

People with TBI can experience problems with basic cognitive skills. They may have issues with attention, concentration, and memory. Their behavioral speed may slow down. This can include thinking and speech. Also, their speech may be generally impaired. They may have problems recalling the correct word and understanding what other people are saying.

The executive functions of a person's brain may be affected by TBI. Executive functions are a group of processes that include attentional control, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. They also include reasoning, problem solving, and planning. All of these processes are necessary for the cognitive control of behavior.

With some training, people who have cognitive deficits from TBI may come to compensate for them. For more information on the cognitive deficits that may accompany TBI, go to brainline.org.

Affects on Mood and Behavior

When a person suffers a traumatic brain injury, the centers in the brain that regulate a person's social-emotional life may be affected. These changes may be so significant that the person becomes a totally different person to their friends and family. Their personality may radically change. This may change an optimist into a negative person or make a person who is conservative in their behavior into one that lacks behavioral control.

The victim of TBI may not notice the changes in their abilities and behavior. This may be because either those changes are too painful to recognize, or the neurological damage may affect their ability to evaluate things properly.

Psychiatric illness, particularly depression, can occur as a result of TBI. This seems to be because the parts of the brain most subject to trauma are the frontal and parietal lobes. These two locations in the brain are often associated with mental illness.

The changes in thinking and behavior that accompany a TBI can affect the relationships that the victim has with others. As a result of the inability to relate to others, the patient may end up feeling very lonely. This can occur because of the following reasons:

- It may be difficult for someone with a TBI simply to understand what others are saying. This can tend to make the patient feel isolated and lonely.

- The victim might feel self-conscious about their condition. They may feel that they are less capable than other people, so they shy away from interacting with others.

- The victim may lack behavioral control. This may lead them to say things that they ordinarily would not to others.

- There may be practical issues with respect to getting together with others. The patient may not be able to drive, and they may need to stop working. This means that they won't be seeing and interacting with others as much.

TBI can also have a severe impact on marriages. The spouse of a person with a TBI many times must assume a lot of the responsibilities that the patient used to take care of. This can be with respect to employment or any other major responsibility. Also, as mentioned before, the personality of someone with a TBI can dramatically change after their injury. This may drive a wedge between the couple.

Complications

Changes in Consciousness

Moderate and severe TBI can cause changes in a person's consciousness and awareness. Altered states of consciousness can include:

- Coma - A person in a coma is unconscious and is not responsive to any external or internal stimuli.

- Vegetative state - This is different from a coma in that the patient may be partially conscious. He or she may open their eyes or move. However, the person remains unaware of their surroundings.

- Minimally conscious state - In this condition, the patient has severely altered consciousness but may have some awareness of their surroundings.

- Locked-in syndrome - Someone in this condition is aware of their environment but cannot speak or move. They may, however, be able to blink their eyelids.

- Brain-death - This occurs when there is no activity in the brain and brainstem. If someone is in this condition, the removal of life support will cause a cessation of breathing.

For more information on this subject, consult http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-

conditions/traumatic-brain-injury/bas....

Sensory Problems after a TBI

Sensory and perceptual problems can occur in the TBI patient when there is damage to the right side of the brain or the parietal and occipital lobes. TBI can disrupt the senses and affect how stimuli are perceived. This may affect any of the sensory systems. This includes the auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory (taste) systems.

Even more noticeable than the disruption of sensory systems are visuo-spatial problems. 

Problems with these skills include:

- Recognizing objects
- Distinguishing right from left
- Mathematics
- Analyzing and remembering visual information
- Manipulating or constructing objects
- Awareness of the body in space
- Perception of the environment

Neglect

A typical issue happens where the patient ignores one side of their perceptual field. This usually occurs on the left side. A patient with this issue may ignore the food on one side of the plate or be unable to copy the features from the left side of a picture.

Face Blindness

This occurs where the patient can no longer recognize faces appropriately. People with this uncommon problem need to use other features of people to identify them, such as their voice or clothing.

Visual Problems

People with traumatic brain injury have a very high incidence of visual problems. This can occur with respect to vision itself or the perceptual system. More than 50% of neurologically impaired patients have visual and visual-cognitive disorders.

The following are the most devastating and impairing visual problems that result from brain injury:

Visual Field Loss

In this condition, the patient becomes blind to half of their visual field. Further injuries can occur from bumping into objects.

Double Vision

This is a serious condition that can occur in patients with brain injury. Patients who have this problem can use a patch over one eye many times to resolve the issue.

Visual Balance Disorders

These can be caused by disruptions of central and peripheral visual processing and other issues.

Vision can also be affected in many other ways. These include: Loss of vision, blurred images, and reduced depth perception.

Seizures

A small percentage of victims of TBI experience seizures. In most cases, the seizures will occur soon after the injury. In a few cases, the seizures may happen even many years after the injury. There are two types of seizures that may happen. Major motor seizures involve loss of consciousness and the uncontrolled movement of the major muscle systems. Local motor seizures do not involve a loss of consciousness and have less muscular movement. There are medications that can be used to control the seizures.

Paralysis

In addition to the altered states of consciousness mentioned above, traumatic brain injury can result in paralysis. This depends on the location of the brain that is affected. Spasticity is also a possible outcome of the injury.

Other Issues

Damage to brain tissue can also cause chronic types of pain, including headaches. There is now evidence that other body systems can be affected. These include the hormonal and endocrine systems. As a result of this, a person could lose control of their bowel and bladder functions or get a variety of other symptoms.

Prognosis

Doctors don't have the ability to accurately predict the outcomes of traumatic brain injuries. The brain is very complicated, and it is hard to tell exactly which body systems and skills will be affected by the injury.

The changes that take place in the patient are dependent upon many factors. These include:

- The severity of the injury
- The patient's age
- The amount of time spent in a coma
- The amount of time since the injury took place
- The skills that the patient needs for their particular life situation

For more information in this vein, consult http://www.brainline.org/content/2008/07/what-impact-will-moderate-or-se....

The Process of Recovery from Traumatic Brain Injuries

The beginning of treatment for a TBI begins in the hospital. At the hospital, the team of medical professionals will generally be led by a trauma surgeon. The trauma staff will make sure that the patient's vital signs are stable and resuscitate them if need be. The patient may need surgery for their injuries.

Once the patient is stabilized, they will be taken to the trauma care unit. There, the patient is monitored for infection and pain.

After this period, most patients will be transferred to a rehabilitation facility. The staff there specialize in the care of trauma victims. The goals of the team at the facility will be to:

- Stabilize the patient with respect to medical issues
- Prevent secondary complications, such as infections
- Restore any lost abilities
- Discuss with the patient's family any changes in the home environment that are necessary

Every day, the patient will undergo therapy. This may be difficult at first because of the lack of certain skills. The care of the patient is directed by a physiatrist. A neuropsychologist will also make an assessment of any changes in the patient's thinking and behavior. Other members of the team, such as a physical therapist and an occupational therapist, will help the patient with their pain and the skills that they need to adapt to their new life situation.

Surgical Treatment

Surgery is often used as a treatment in cases of TBI. In cases of closed head injury, surgery is not used. An intracranial pressure monitoring device may be put in the skull to determine pressure in the brain cavity. If there has been any bleeding there, then it may be drained. In severe cases, the surgeon may remove damaged brain tissue.

Conclusion

A traumatic brain injury can bring a lot of complications, both immediate and long-term. Since the brain is so complicated, it may be difficult to know the exact prognosis for how the patient's condition and life will change. It is important to emotionally support someone with a TBI because they may feel isolated and alone when they have troubles communicating with others. With the help of a strong rehabilitation team, the patient can relearn how to do certain life activities. For more information on general issues with respect to traumatic brain injury, please consult hemiparesisliving.com 

Author's Bio: 

Helping families and loved ones understand care after a stroke or brain injury and assisting the injured in rehabilitation and safety is a passion of the author , Leon Edward who has spent over three decades successfully living with effects as hemiparesis after traumatic brain injury being shot in the head and neck.

Review a copy of author's Kindle ebook,Hemiparesis Living After Stroke or TBI, Understanding and Care: Focus on Safety and Home Care , Rehabilitation for living with : One Side Partial Paralysis or Muscle Weakness, Footdrop or Spasticity … , Rehabilitation exercises,, Hemiparesis Living on Amazon , Click Here .

At his brain injury and stroke living tips and rehabilitation website for click here for Hemiparesis Living Tips . He presents articles. free resources, Checklists and tips from well known professionals and authors in the field plus blogs on his own experiences with over 30 years living and working with hemiparesis after being shot in his head and neck.

Also At his Mind Brain Health and improvement website, he offers all tips, techniques, to improve focus and concentration, ways to remember better and increase our memory skills, techniques to focus better and read faster, resources to optimize your brain power, use all of your intellect and even increase your IQ including brain software and audio training. visit,
click here.

Tips After a Stroke or Traumatic Brain Injury Resulting in Hemiparesis and Minimizing Impact on Daily Life

With hemiparesis, daily life is obviously affected. Exercise at home and assistive aids will help to increase mobility and improve independence. Repeated practice of regular daily activity increases body control and coordination for daily tasks. Individuals with hemiparesis learn to perform daily tasks in a modified manner and with compensatory adaptations.

- Driving: It is essential to participate in a driving program after rehabilitation, if the individuals plans to return to driving. Eyesight, cognition and reaction time are evaluated in order to determine safety while driving. Even if the individual has weakness in the right leg, vehicles can be modified with hand controls for independent driving Use of a spinner knob allows ease of parking and being able to get out of situation easily and safety. In some states, you may need a doctors approval to get one installed. In other states, they sell these over the counter at auto part stores. I would opt for the professional installation with these and the more sturdy it is , the better. Don’t skimp when it comes to safety in a vehicle. .

- Dressing: Use of adaptive aids such as a sock aid and a reacher allow many individuals to continue dressing themselves independently. With adaptive clothing using snap closures, Velcro instead of buttons dressing is easier. The even have pans that can be changed from a seating position completely. Button down shirts can be challenging, but can be successfully performed with a buttoning aid. There are many adaptive aids available such as side opening pans, zipper front dresses or robes, custom design shoes for drop foot and also Velcro closures. Myself I have to laugh sometimes but I feel it necessary to have a bib during eating at times and none-skid socks around the home. It is difficult to find clothing under searches for hemiparesis living but regardless of how this illness or injury occurred, searching for stroke patient clothing and adaptation will give you a wide availability of suppliers.

Silvert.com is recommended not only for the large line of specialty clothing available for men and women but also for valuable information on how one with limited movement
should dress and videos free online with tips for dressing.

- Kitchen: Adaptations can be made to the countertops and cabinets to allow for wheelchair access, if needed. Regularly used items should be stored within easy reach. Meal preparation can be more challenging with hemiparesis, but adaptive utensils make this easier. Microwave use can be more safe than stovetop for individuals with any cognitive impairment. Use. Lightweight non – breakable dishes. Moving food around might be better when using a rolling cart. Sliding items along a countertop or moving them short distances without moving your feet is often the smart way to go to prevent spills or dropping an item.

- Communication issues: Depending on the part of the brain affected, it may be difficult to express or understand others verbally. Utilization of alternate forms of communication can compensate for limited verbal communication. Gestures, demonstration, communication boards and reading and writing are viable options for communication difficulties.

- Working with hemiparesis: Even with weakness on one side of the body, many people go on to live very productive lives through work, social and recreational activities. Because of improvements to laws in the United States, employers cannot discriminate against individuals due to disability. Employers can make reasonable accommodations for equipment space to allow for continued work. For many individuals, cognition is not impaired, therefore critical thinking is not affected. Therefore, physical disabilities should not limit access to meaningful occupation.

- Mind Body Health Needs
Concentration and Focus are the key in most everything that the person with hemiparesis might have to overcome. That is why ongoing brain training is so important.

Human interaction, relationships contribute greatly to complex usage of our brain and even helping to stay young. Well living alone minimizes this benefit ad over time can have an adverse effect. Sure, some will say the upward potential may be limited but start with the objective of not losing ability. Without regular exercise, mind or body can atrophy to borrow a term used to describe not using muscles.

There are free and paid sources on the web. There are now brain improvement magazines at the local supermarket and brain games are popular and effective, most even for one
hand use.

- Final Tip on Safety 
Some of the techniques and tips outlined here may seem obvious to some or simple but they are not always thought of ahead of time before they are used. This is evident in support forums online, knowing individuals and my own thirty years of living with hemiparesis. There are of course more but in general, consideration that movements can be slow at times as can thinking. An important point is if there is a loss of balance or tripping, it will most likely be on the weak side which of course doesn't react fast nor have enough hand strength usually to hang on to something firmly. This is why safety is the first priority when living alone with this injury

Author's Bio: 

Helping families and loved ones understand care after a stroke or brain injury and assisting the injured in rehabilitation and safety is a passion of the author , Leon Edward who has spent over three decades successfully living with effects as hemiparesis after traumatic brain injury being shot in the head and neck.
Review a copy of author's Kindle ebook,Hemiparesis Living After Stroke or TBI, Understanding and Care: Focus on Safety and Home Care , Rehabilitation for living with : One Side Partial Paralysis or Muscle Weakness, Footdrop or Spasticity … , Rehabilitation exercises,, Hemiparesis Living on Amazon , Click Here .
At his brain injury and stroke living tips and rehabilitation website for click here for Hemiparesis Living Tips . He presents articles. free resources, Checklists and tips from well known professionals and authors in the field plus blogs on his own experiences with over 30 years living and working with hemiparesis after being shot in his head and neck.
Also At his Mind Brain Health and improvement website, he offers all tips, techniques, to improve focus and concentration, ways to remember better and increase our memory skills, techniques to focus better and read faster, resources to optimize your brain power, use all of your intellect and even increase your IQ including brain software and audio training. visit,
click here.

After a Stroke or TBI, Exercise Ongoing After Therapy Services - What Can Be Expected

Families can expect expert guidance from the physician team at the hospital with specialists in physical and occupational therapy providing customized plans. However with stroke or tbi and some brain injuries, live at home can be certainly changed as well as he lives and planning of families.

Despite rehabilitation efforts, many people do not regain full strength, balance and independence. After therapy services have been discontinued, it is essential that people continue exercising on their own. Exercises that one can expect as options listed , described here as proven over time provide beneficial returns for the effort given.

Land exercise: There are many limitations that should be addressed through exercise for optimal mobility and pain relief. It is important to keep full range of motion in the affected limb or limbs. For many people, spasticity limits how well a joint can fully bend or straighten. Active range of motion exercises are those in which the individual moves the arm fully straight and then fully bent. These simple exercises keep the joints limber and moving.

Strengthening exercises - It is also important to keep up with strengthening exercises. Strengthening exercises should be done for the entire body, not only the affected limb. The unaffected side of the body needs to compensate for weakness on the involved side. Therefore, both sides of the body need strengthening to support functional movement.

Balance training should be performed in a safe environment, such as with a caregiver or loved one. This is because people that have hemiparesis have a higher risk of falling and injury. To challenge balance, sit or stand without any upper body support. Then, practice standing with feet together and reaching forward. It is important to have a counter or chair available for purposes of grabbing to avoid falling.

Cardiovascular exercise should be incorporated to promote healthy heart and lung function. Unfortunately, for many people with hemiparesis, endurance is low and the heart and lungs do not tolerate a lot of activity. Walking, cycling, and other cardiovascular machines are great ways to improve endurance. The NuStep is a seated stepping machine that incorporates arm and leg movement and is an excellent and safe option for individuals with hemiparesis.

Aquatic exercise: Exercising in water is an excellent way to improve strength, endurance and flexibility. By choosing the right pool, you can exercise while reducing joint pain as well. Warm water pools promote improved muscular flexibility, while cool water pools help reduce swelling or edema in limbs. Water has properties of buoyancy and resistance, which can be used to build muscle and alleviate pain.

The buoyancy of water allows for joint decompression while submerged. The water buoyancy supports your limbs in a way that is not experienced while on land. It is as if there is an artificial brace around your joints or spine. This is excellent for individuals that have joint pain after onset of hemiparesis. Because of the buoyancy of water, most people have little pain while exercising in the pool. This phenomenon allows people to more fully participate in the exercise to improve cardiovascular endurance and muscle strength.

Water also resists movement. Resistance allows people to perform strength training in the water. When a limb is moved up and down or back and forth under the water, it must fight against the water’s resistance. This strengthens the musculature. Greater resistance is elicited by using a broad paddle or board and pushing it through the water. Moving the limbs quickly also increases the resistance and engages abdominal strengthening.

Walking in water is a great form of exercise, as it simulates walking on land, but in a supportive medium. Traditional swimming ( or adapted with assistive devices) is excellent for building cardiovascular endurance. Stretching in a warm water pool, promotes improved muscle flexibility and allows for stretching of tight joints. Many aquatic centers have classes that are meant for individuals with hemiparesis, which may be a terrific way to start getting into aquatic exercise.

Brain Training –

Cognitive problems can be similar after a stroke or a head injury. Common traits as brain fog, the inability to follow conversations, memory issues, comprehension even in short term reading and not being able to recall what one just read.

Not all people develop the same symptoms, but common symptoms depending on severity of injury can include confusion, headaches, irritability, nausea, blurred vision, difficulties with body balance, fatigue, slurred speech, light-headedness, noise or light sensitivity, lack of concentration, memory disturbances, sleep disturbances, alterations in your normal sense of taste and ringing in your ears.

. Part of the goal at the early stage in rehabilitation is continued restoration of your previous skills and abilities. However, not all brain injury patients can regain normal function, and another goal of rehabilitation is teaching you how to adjust and adapt in the face of permanent changes in your physical and/or mental skill set.

Experts have proven that the brain is able to keep learning and changing regardless of its age. This means that what you have done up to this point, you can make your brains activity better than ever.

Signs that may likely occur to different degrees as finding it difficult to pay attention to things going on around oneself. Also reading or listening to information and then being unable to recall any of the details when finished. The brain is having difficulty staying focused on what you're doing.

By engaging in a variety of exercises for your brain you will learn to focus your attention. This is a very valuable skill that will be used in all aspects of your life. It can be hard when you begin, as some become frustrated and quit. Keep reminding yourself of what will be accomplished once you've cleared the hurdles standing in your way.

As you work on exercising your brain you will start to see an improvement in your processing speed. You will find that you are completing certain tasks more quickly. You will start to comprehend things you have read the first time and will no longer have to read everything two or three times. Things that caused you to struggle in the past will start to be very clear; it will feel like someone has flipped a switch inside you.

It is very important to exercise your brain so that you will be able to keep these benefits. If you don't want to lose the skills you have, you will have to keep them sharp. Make it a priority to continue learning all the things in the world as you grow older. If there are things you want to explore, make a list of them. Discover ways to learn these things while exercising your brain and you will get twice the benefits from your efforts.

Before long, you will start to notice some very significant changes to your thought process. You will process information more quickly, remember more, and you will have no problem focusing your attention where you need to. Your life will become more enjoyable no matter what you take part in.

Now that you about the incredible benefits of exercising your brain, find some activities to take part in that will keep your mind healthy. You can do many of them alone at home or play games online. There are many that you can do with someone else too. The key is to find plenty of brain exercises that you find intriguing. Then make a commitment to do them often.

Helping families and loved ones understand care after a stroke or brain injury and assisting the injured in rehabilitation and safety is a passion of the author , Leon Edward who has spent over three decades successfully living with effects as hemiparesis after traumatic brain injury being shot in the head and neck.

Review a copy of author's Kindle ebook,Hemiparesis Living After Stroke or TBI, Understanding and Care: Focus on Safety and Home Care , Rehabilitation for living with : One Side Partial Paralysis or Muscle Weakness, Footdrop or Spasticity … , Rehabilitation exercises,, Hemiparesis Living on Amazon , Click Here .

At his brain injury and stroke living tips and rehabilitation website for click here for Hemiparesis Living Tips . He presents articles. free resources, Checklists and tips from well known professionals and authors in the field plus blogs on his own experiences with over 30 years living and working with hemiparesis after being shot in his head and neck.

Also At his Mind Brain Health and improvement website, he offers all tips, techniques, to improve focus and concentration, ways to remember better and increase our memory skills, techniques to focus better and read faster, resources to optimize your brain power, use all of your intellect and even increase your IQ including brain software and audio training. visit, click here.