TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

TIPS FOR HEALING TBI

helpful hints when confronted with a changed brain

• GET ALL THE HELP THAT IS AVAILABLE. This includes some form of cognitive rehabilitation, a vision check by a behavioral or developmental optomotrist, a complete audiology examination, services of a competent psychiatrist who understands traumatic brain injury, physical therapy, massage, vocational- rehabilitation assistance, job coaching, counseling, cognitive testing, brain injury specific support groups, tbi-specific chatrooms and e-groups...
  
  I went to the local RCIL [Resource Center for Independent Living] to talk to a disability advocate. I also have permanent brain injury related vision difficulties. I was able to get specialized vision therapy and prism lenses. Proper medication helped me with a worsening mental condition. Therapy in a heated pool helped with my flexibility and my back pain. My mild expressive aphasia [expressive aphasia: I can't always find the words I want to say] and my central nervous system tremor [tremor: shaking without meaning to] are two of the other things that I just put up with.
• REMEMBER THAT HEALING TAKES TIME. Learn to recognize small increments of progress. Be prepared for setbacks, mood swings, tantrums. Having a routine and structure helps with healing. So does exercise, nutrition, and rest.
  
  I thought I would be able to pick up my old life and return to work within a matter of weeks. Instead, I found myself having to keep working at things that used to be automatic. I also lost any ability to multi-task [multi-task: do more than one thing at once: like look for a word in a book and have my husband ask me a question]. I had to learn how to do things in new ways.
• FATIGUE IS THE ENEMY. Fatigue interferes with healing. 50% of all TBI survivors have a sleeping disorder. Advocate for referral to an ENT doc who will be able to screen for sleep apnea and narcolepsy.
  
  My own sleep apnea was diagnosed a couple of years after my traumatic brain injury. I now sleep with a C-PAP machine because the sleep study showed that I stop breathing in my sleep. The C-PAP machine forces me to keep breathing and I feel more rested. I am no longer sleep-walking through life.
• WE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO DO SAFELY EVERYTHING THAT WE THINK WE CAN DO. Our insight into our injuries and our changed personalities depend very much on the sites of our brain injuries. We may insist that we can drive even with severe field cuts [field cuts: what we can see is not wide enough to see to our left or our right when driving; or we may be missing parts of what we are looking at] in our vision. We may want to go to the gym when vertigo makes it unsafe. We may want to pick up with our lives long before it is possible. For some of us, we will have to learn the courage to dream new dreams.
  
  I have to check with the people and professionals around me when I have a great idea about something that I want to do. I also cannot be on the go all day long like I used to. I had a career which I can no longer manage. I am in the process of learning skills for a new line of work.
• HUMOR IS HEALING. It is natural to be oversensitive at first to the changes around us. Some of us lose friends who cannot handle the changes they see in us. Sometimes we find that we are making the same mistake over and over. Or we may forget things a lot, complain a lot, or not want to use aids to help us with everyday stuff.
  
  I became a chronic complainer. Nothing was good enough. I no longer understood the people around me. I was too serious and very easily hurt.Reaching out to other survivors helped me to regain my sense of humor. I spent many hours with my on-line friends at tbichat.com trying to remember the names of the seven dwarves. I can laugh and my laughter frees me.
  
  My life is different today. But it is still mine.