The 7 Myths Of Head Injury Recovery
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"Sustaining a head injury can be life changing and the road to recovery can be a long and draining one. Here 7 myths of recovery"
The actual head injury recovery process
There are many self-help sites and books about brain injury (BI) recovery, but the simple fact is you will get better when your body feels well enough and begins to heal. That is not to say you should just sit and wait, but the process of recovery from brain injury is as unique to you as your BI itself. Treat it as special rather than a nuisance – recovery from any surgery or injury can be frustrating, but also rewarding when you start to see real progress which is sustained. Recovery can be a stop-start-going backwards process – and is as much an adventure of self-rediscovery and new self-discovery as recovery.
Head injury recovery takes place in the first year
This is not always true – the first year can give doctors and therapists a good idea of how you have been affected by your brain injury and perhaps how long it might take to recover. However, patients with brain injury progress towards normal life at a pace which is suitable for them and the injury – and continue progressing in most cases, especially as therapies and treatment advance. There is also nothing quite as satisfying as proving doctors wrong, so keep working steadily towards recovery and don’t get despondent if you feel you are not making as much progress as you would like – a breakthrough can happen at any time.
The head injury recovery “plateau”
The general feeling about head injury is that it gets underway and you improve noticeably, before improvement tails off and you hit a recovery plateau. Head injury patients can make progress at any time – and learn new skills or make new memories. UK neuroscientist Professor Adrian Owen has discovered even people supposedly in a persistent vegetative state are aware of their surroundings, are aware of new relationships in their lives (eg nieces or nephews born after their head injury) – and their brain reacts to instructions even if they are unable to communicate verbally or physically.
Making friends with Medication
After brain injury you may be presented with a medicine chest to help treat a wide array of problems. All medications have side effects and interact with each other – and even herbal or complementary medicines from a health food shop can cause adverse reactions or interact with pharmaceuticals. Some drugs can also result in the opposite of their intended effect after brain injury, or if you take them and do not need them – for example, people without schizophrenia who take drugs to treat the condition may develop it because the drugs alter the way the neurotransmitters in the brain work. Discuss with your doctor the medications which will suit you and will help with any symptoms of your brain injury, such as drugs to treat seizures or pain – but don’t rely on drugs as the solution to recovery, or go to the extreme and try and cope without drugs if they do help you.
The IQ Test
Some patients with head injury may be subjected to IQ tests to measure their progress – a normal IQ (ie over 100) may indicate a return to normalcy, some health specialists think. However, IQ is nothing to with a return to normalcy after head injury – even if you can be bothered to apply yourself to the test in the first place. IQ tests usually measure logic and reasoning – but a certain type of logic and reasoning and some experts believe that with practice, people can learn how to score well on IQ tests. After head injury, you need to be able to function as well as possible in daily life – and enjoy as much of your life as possible (and even your therapies and treatments). Professor Stephen Hawking has an IQ of 160 – less than 1% of the population scores this highly, but he is probably more enthusiastic and focused about his work and daily life than his IQ and so should you be.
Rehabilitation
Cognitive therapies are now being used to treat a wide range of different conditions, from depression to lack of self-esteem. However, reprogramming the brain might seem like a cure for all ills, but therapies can sometimes be in the form of repetitive or tick-box solutions – or work by replacing negative attitudes with positive ones. In the case of neurolinguistic programming, experts say self-esteem and how well you interact with others can be changed by simply replacing words which convey negative thoughts with positive ones. Head injury and recovery from it can make you angry, however – and sometimes feel defeated. This is human nature and is perfectly normal and acceptable. These low periods are often necessary on the road to recovery as reflection helps you come to terms with what has happened and go forward from it. Retraining by repetition can help you on your way to recovery – and many therapies use this – but the warm support of family and friends you can feel at ease with can be the best rehab.
The Miracle Cure
Any patient with a serious condition or disease will be tempted to scour the world – or the World Wide Web – looking or a definitive cure for their condition to restore them to their previous health. This can be disappointing – but it is only human nature. Doctors generally are resistant to this type of over-optimism in patients, especially if alternative medicines or therapies are involved and these are untested. Faith is a great healer sometimes, though: one experiment found that patients who were prayed for during surgery – whether religious or not and whether they knew they were being prayed for or not – made a better recovery than other patients. Never give up – but be realistic and develop at your own pace, stick to your treatment plan and medication, and try as many new positive experiences in life as you can, as you never know which one may signal a new breakthrough in your progress.
Leo Wyatt is a freelance writer & journalist who graduated from Birmingham University and has particular interests in cars, sports, parenting, safety, politics, law and health. Leo has worked for several newspapers in the midlands but now spends most of his time writing articles for companies, websites and businesses on a freelance basis, primarily the brain injury experts who offer support and rehabilitation for individuals that require brain injury compensation services.
Category: Surgery
An injury to spinal cord or brain may lead to many health related issues, because these parts of body have complete control over the entire body systems. Therefore, one must not take brain injury so lightly.
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