Injury Consequences Can't Wait, Drive Safe Now!

By Amy Price PhD

MTBI survivors and families want to know if and when it is safe to drive again. There is computer software and professional treatment that can help many with driving, processing and memory skills. It is important to know if the treatment is effective before going back on the road. Email for more information on what is available. The AMA has released guidelines for physicians on how to test for safe driving and in addition many universities with memory clinics have road testing clinics where driving skills can be practised and tested before heading back on the road.

Abilities like picking out an object against a contrasting background can diminish in TBI in addition to visual processing speed and acuity as well as balance. Attention is important as many accident are caused by Brain fog and this can often be rehabililitated.  The ability to find your way around or handle the stress of adverse driving conditions such as weather, traffic, headaches or bad drivers is critical for safe driving. Often fear can influence driving skills and it is common for those who have sustained a TBI as a driver or a passenger are justifiably concerned. The AMA and Highway Safety comission have partnered to creat a great guide for physicians to test driving ability. You may want to take this to your doctor. It is also a good barometer for you and your loved ones to assess when you are safe for the road!

Save Your neck and the Necks of others rehabilitate driving skills…see you at the Dashboard!

Brain Training You Can do Together

By Amy Price PhD 

    Do you need to get your life back and restore relationships after trauma? It is not only truama survivors that can benefit from training but also family and caregivers who deal with the unexpected pressure of caring for a critically injured loved one. Brain neurons that fire together wire together, families that play together, stay together! Extensive research indicates our brain needs to overcome the negativity bias ingrained through the fight/flight response produced by trauma or social rejection to operate at maximum potential. It is more than positive thinking as the mind has a specific ratio of positive to negative input it accepts plus the input must be genuine to release the feel good chemicals that promote brain learning and healing.  Many people involved in an auto crash must fight for insurance rights and social acceptance during an era of limited capacity and chronic pain. All these aspects take a critical toll on the brain and promote inflammation cascades that lead to long term functional loss. The great news is that with targeted brain training in small manageable steps you can get back the edge taken from you though trauma, bad relationships, or serious illness. Your brain wants to work for you! 

Clicking on Train Your Brain , Save Your Mind here will take you to a fascinating short video on the power of personal brain optimization and contains a clinically validated assessment tool. This video is presented by Dr Evian Gordon of Brain Resource Company  and speaks about the highly acclaimed wellness program My Brain Solutions. It is well worth investigating, in less than 15 days I showed improvement on several measures of cognition. If you would like to sign-up for MyBrainSolutions please email me ….read on for why training your brain matters. 

Our minds and brains become so starved for approval and acceptance that we accept input and relationships that are harmful and not genuine. Your own brain even when it is damaged can pick up emotional cues in 1/20 of a second  which will determine how we respond to others.  I worked for the medical director of an organization for several years following a TBI…it was not until I was past that situation and had embarked on an adventure training positive emotions that I realised that in four years I had never been given a genuine smile. How can you tell? For a smile ask your self if the eyes crinkle slightly and the pupils enlarge, smiling with only the mouth is not genuine expression. Interestingly this insight has been validated by multiple behavioral, FMRI, GSR and QEEG studies, yet like many insights it is rooted in wisdom passed down from successful individuals who are at peace with themselves. Dr David Whitehouse, an eminent Harvard trained Psychiatrist put is this way  ”PEOPLE NOT ONLY SEEK AN EMPOWERING MIND, BUT ONE THAT IS AT PEACE WITH ITSELF”.  My Brain Solutions can help you learn to discern emotion and train your brain from a negative to a positive bias and offers a clinically validated personal assessment with a presonalized prescription to increase your brain function. Dr Evian Gordon states in his book ‘The Brain Revolution’ that  “THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AND EXPERT AND A NOVICE LEARNER IS A MODEL” One critical component of cognitive skill is one’s ability to speedily reframe or re-appraise the circumstances that surround you. People that successfully reframe have better life satisfaction and long term survival rates than those who are fixated on negative events, this ability can be trained. 

Research on cognition that shows transfer of training and increase in quality of life is dependent on carefully assessing individual differences with  clinically accepted tools which provide personalized training to meet these perimeters[1,2,3,4,] 

Learning and novelty are partners yet many brain fitness programs offer rote repetition of weak areas without variation in task or content in a bid to target learning, However research shows us this is not the way meaningful learning occurs. Tasks must be individually challenging to hold engagement and yet structured enough to be doable. Ideally tasks will adapt to changing learning curves to build neuroplasticity. The best learning capitalizes on emotional and intellectual strengths already present while strengthening areas of weakness in a positive atmosphere. For example, teaching a university student mnemonics and concept mapping may make the memory more efficient however teaching an individual with organic damage or early dementia how to remember names and faces with a mnemonic is an exercise in futility. 

Specific training alone can lead to plastic changes in the brain as demonstrated by expert Braille readers who show an enlarged hand area and smearing of finger representations in the somatosensory cortex. This result was observed in expert, but not in novice Braille readers suggesting that the training and not the blindness which leads to the changes in cortical representation [5]Similar domain specific results were noted in London taxi drivers and expert violinists. Kramer et al [6] states recruitment of additional brain regions helps performance only if the recruited area complements processing of the task in question. This is likely why rote memorization fails to increase working memory whereas training that targets attentional networks and processing speed increases working memory limits. We are incapable of processing in depth what we have not attended to and our capacity for material attended to is limited by the speed at which we process stimuli. 

References: 

1. Posner, M., & Rothbart M. Educating the human brain. Washington, DC US: American Psychological Association.; 2007:189-208. doi:10.1037/11519-009 

2. Jaeggi SM, Buschkuehl M, Jonides J, Perrig WJ. Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2008;105(19):6829-33. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18443283 

3. Willis SL, Tennstedt SL, Marsiske M, et al. Long-term effects of cognitive training on everyday functional outcomes in older adults. JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association. 2006;296(23):2805-14. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17179457 

4. Gordon E, Arns M, Paul RH. Research Report THE INTEGRATE MODEL OF EMOTION, THINKING AND SELF REGULATION: AN APPLICATION TO THE “PARADOX OF AGING”. Thinking. 2008;7(3):367-404. 

5. Greenwood PM. Functional plasticity in cognitive aging: review and hypothesis. Neuropsychology. 2007;21(6):657-73. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17983277 

6. Kramer AF, Bherer L, Colcombe SJ, Dong W, Greenough WT. Environmental influences on cognitive and brain plasticity during aging. The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences. 2004;59(9):M940-57.: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15472160

Thyroid problems may make you fat and moody

People who have sustained head or serious neck injuries can also damage the thyroid as well. Sometimes people who are diagnosed with whiplash later develop thyroid issues. Many of the symptoms of hypothyroid are the same as those as those for people who have dealt with a brain injury so they tend to be ignored. This is tragic because low thyroid levels can eventually lead to cognitive damage and even dementia. The thyroid can be damaged even if you are thin. It is not always true that people gain massive amounts of weight with this kind of condition just as it is not true that people with a past brain injury need to be constantly exhausted or depressed. The video above will tell you about symptoms and what you can do about this disorder

Your thyroid gland weighs less than an ounce and is located in the front of your neck just below the Adam’s apple. The thyroid acts as a feedback mechanism for your metabolism so when it is too slow or too fast this can upset a lot of body functions The thyroid gland takes iodine and converts it into thyroid hormones. Thyroid cells are the only cells in the body which can absorb iodine. These cells combine iodine and the amino acid tyrosine to make T3 and T4. T3 and T4 are then released into the blood stream and are transported throughout the body where they control metabolism (conversion of oxygen and calories to energy). Every cell in the body depends upon thyroid hormones for regulation of their metabolism.

Get this checked by your doctor. It takes a simple blood test and oral medication. This disorder can show up years after an injury so be aware.

Symptoms of a slow thryroid include

•Fatigue, Depression

•Weight gain or increased difficulty losing weight, or loss of appetite

•Coarse, dry hair, thinning hair or outer portion of eybrows thinning out

•Dry, rough pale skin,

•Cold and heat intolerance  (you can’t tolerate cold temperatures like those around you)

•Muscle cramps and frequent muscle aches, weakness

•Constipation

•Depression, Irritability

•Memory loss, lack of focus, reduced coordination

•Abnormal menstrual cycles, decreased interest in sex

There have been multiple articles featuring brain and serious neck injury stating how people have overcome cognitive obstacles despite adversity. I celebrate these articles as I know from personal experience the tolls that this road takes and the cost to family members and supporters. One mother was explaining how one minute her brain injured son could do complex algebra and the next he could not tell a red diamond from a black spade in a deck of cards. I too remember those days.

The cognitive inconsistencies are joined by emotional areas. Sometimes the brain will forget what we want it to remember and play over and over like a broken tape those areas we only want to put behind us. The other day I found some practical help in the way of videos and research on how to navigate the initial trauma. These outline what to expect in the emergency room, how to protect yourself in the event of a crash and ways you can help yourself get the best medical care. I thought I would share them here. If you go to the web site you can download the material as MP3 or as PDF files. This is a brilliant solution as watching a video makes it tough to pick up the references which are the key to deeper study…Enjoy!

In the next few posts there will be strategies for overcoming brain fog and getting the sharp mental edge back