Traumatic Brain Injury Theater Episode 2

Take three minutes and learn what are common signs that you might have received a head injury. Had fun making this video.

Learn how to treat people with TBI

Check out my video creation! I’m learning how to make movies!

Brain Injuries Lead to Loss of Innocence

Having a traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as head injury, makes survivors disinhibited, and extremely vulnerable. While most people who haven’t acquired brain damage realize how inappropriate it is for someone to take off her shirt in a particular setting, the survivor doesn’t see anything wrong with pealing away clothing and asking someone to return the affection.

Head Injured Does NOT Mean Idiot

Many times, people who acquire brain injury are treated as if there’s something wrong with them. For example, if someone speaks a little slower than what a person is accustomed to, often they are written off as being below average or stupid. For some time after my brain trauma, I was unable to care for myself, and I grew accustomed to having everything done for me by my family and team of caregivers. During the months after my coma, I didn’t think about anyone but myself, which, as I’m sure you’ll agree, is a very child-like trait to have. Part of maturing is learning to put others’ needs before our own, but the traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor usually is so focused on what she needs to do to get better that she neglects caring for anyone else, not to mention caring for someone else’s feelings.

The TBI survivor may revert to very childlike behavior patterns — even years after the injury. Some of the issues I still struggle with are delaying my gratification and impulse control. Sometimes I say things and then think, “What the hell was I thinking?” And you probably don’t want to leave me in the room alone with an unopened bag of OREOs!

11 Signs You Might Have Received a Traumatic Brain Injury

Did you know that each year, 1.4 Million people sustain a traumatic brain injury? Of that nearly 1½ million, three in four people who suffer head trauma come into the ER, are treated and then are released. That sort of begs the question: If you get hit in the head, how do you know how severe it is? I’ve listed 11 things which indicate you’ve had a serious head injury.

Things to be mindful of after getting your noggin knocked: (And let me admit to you right now that I have borrowed the list from The Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Resource Center in Orlando, Fla.)

1. Headaches and neck pain
2. Difficulty remembering or concentrating
3. Issues with thinking, speaking, acting or reading
4. Fatigue, lack of energy and decreased motivation
5. Changes in sleep patterns
6. Dizziness or lightheadedness
7. Nausea and vomiting
8. Blurred vision
9. Increased sensitivity to noise, lights or distractions
10. Loss of the senses, such as smell or taste
11. Bleeding from ears. I added this trait because when my parents said I was bleeding from my ears when they got to the ER. I have heard of other people bleeding from the ears after receiving a blow to the head, and usually it’s a sign that something more serious is going on below the surface.

Frontal Lobes and Impulse Control

A psychiatrist once told me that the frontal lobes in a person’s brain were like the front brakes on a bicycle when it comes to controlling one’s impulses. Yes, it is possible to stop yourself, he told me, but it’s gonna take much more time and determination than if your frontal lobes were fully intact.

The issue of impulse control affects all aspects of our lives–or at least I look back and see where I could have used more impulse control and better judgment at times over the past 20 years. For instance, when hungry, most people eat until they aren’t hungry anymore. Not so with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor. For me, I know that if I liked the taste of something I was eating, I kept eating. And eating. And eating, until I was on the verge of making myself sick.

When it came to control urges, like thirst or sexual, I tended to cross the line where most people would realize the actions were becoming inappropriate. I remember one of my female physical therapists tying my shoe while I was sitting in the wheelchair–unable to walk or talk yet. As she patiently tightened my high-tops, I glimpsed a bit of cleavage. Without a second though, I reached down with my right hand–since I didn’t have good control of my left–and grabbed her breast.

When she objected I removed my hand from her blouse, and she said, “You can only do that with your girlfriend, but don’t tell your mom I said that.” So when “Alicia” and her family talk about how she was not able to control many of her urges, I can relate.

This lack of inhibition caused by acquired brain injury causes many of the people who used to be friends to stay away from the survivor. The sense of isolation caused by the loss of friends causes many survivors to engage in self-destructive behavior like drinking, drug-use, tobacco use, and a variety of other addictions.

Why Brain Injury Makes Survivors Like Toddlers

I don’t remember anything about my “accident” or the four weeks of April 1989 that I spent in a coma. This, researchers say, is Post-Traumatic Amnesia (PTA). PTA makes the head injury survivors like toddlers. As “Alicia’s” brother (I think) says in this video, traumatic brain injury survivors tend to satisfy their needs immediately. When he described her mealtimes, I’m reminded of my first few meals. I was strapped into a wheelchair with a clear glass tabletop attached, and when I ate, I ate as if I hadn’t eaten in a month! (Which is, in fact, the case.) There were a few other instances which cause minor embarrassment for both me (now) and my family (at the time they occurred). If you are interested in Post-Traumatic Amnesia or any other issues related to brain injury, I suggest you look here.

Seems like they’re talking about me…

As I watched this video, I realized that for most of the problems they list in the PowerPoint presentation, I have either experienced them earlier in my recovery or am experiencing them on a daily basis. This presentation is the first time I have really felt that someone other than a traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor understands what it’s like to live with acquired brain injury. If you or a loved-one has suffered head trauma, you need to know one thing: YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

The Long Road to Recovery

As this video shows, the recovery from head injury requires an extremely long time. While the brain is learning new ways to compensate for the brain damage incurred, the survivor is typically in a coma for a time. However, as my experience shows, the length of the coma does not necessarily correlate to the traumatic brain injury (TBI) victim’s ability to return to school, college or lead a productive life.

You Cannot Give Up!

Very often, when people see a head injury survivor early on in her recovery, the first question they ask is “What’s wrong with you?” But just because you–we–are not like the people who are around us doesn’t mean that something’s wrong with us. After brain trauma, we should have one thing on our minds: How do I get better?

Did you get that? I said better, not back to what we had known as “normal.” As the Alicia videos have shown, we all change after acquiring a head injury.

The video I’m showing you is of a very brave and tenacious woman who has sustained a traumatic brain injury. The theme of this video is never to give up. As a head injury survivor, I can tell you that this is the mantra we all must have. Never Give Up! It may be difficult–downright hard at times–but rather than thinking about how you were or how you could be, you should think, “Well, that’s better than yesterday, and I wonder how well I’ll do tomorrow!”