Whether it is you that has received a traumatic brain injury, or someone in your family, the results can be the same - lives devastated by the head injury, and not just physically or emotionally either.
Traumatic brain injury affects the wallet too, and eats up time like a starved teenage boy. Here we shall look at some of the symptoms, as well as possible treatments, and outcomes too.
Any damage to the head, accidental or otherwise, can cause traumatic brain injury. The sudden stopping of a car can shake the brain inside the skull causing damage. Falling while skate boarding and then hitting the head on a curb or the ground can cause the damage too, or falling from a bike, or skiing, or..., the list goes on. To reduce the chances of head injury, it is essential that we protect our heads as much as possible, which means that while snow boarding, wear a helmet, ditto biking, skiing, and skate boarding. It may look a little weird, but it is better to look weird through wearing a helmet, than to look weird because of the damage it has done to your brain!
Head injuries can cause various injuries with differing symptoms. Depending on the area of the brain which is damaged, there can be headaches, speaking difficulties like slurred speech, visual disturbances, problems with walking, problems thinking and following through with something, vertigo, dizziness, weakness of the muscles, perhaps just on one side of the body, seizures, and the list goes on.
This means that the treatments are different too depending on the symptoms. This in turn can mean many different appointments to many different specialists. If this is necessary, make sure that all the specialists know the treatment others have suggested, and that they all get the test results from all tests.
As a result of the brain injury, sometimes the patient has to be taught the very basics that they learned years before. Therapy is used to reteach for example how to walk, something which is both expensive and time consuming. Or it may be that occupational therapy is needed to retrain the patient for a new career, or even their old one.
The time needed to take the patient to these therapy sessions if they are now living at home can take up a great deal, and cut into work time significantly. This often means a double hit on the pocketbook. Wages are often reduced as the helper isn't able to work as many hours, plus the therapy costs money that you haven't earned, which hits the wallet again.
Now, the time used on patient therapy and other appointments, can mean reduced time spent on your own life, and this can lead to resentment and bitterness, frustration and in many cases debt because of the medical costs involved. This in turn can lead to feelings of guilt, for perhaps wishing the patient wasn't around any more. It is a terrible situation to find yourself in, and you should realize just how much energy something like this takes from you. It is very natural to find yourself resenting the intrusion into your time, which is perhaps stopping you from having your own life, or at least the life you used to have. It is a terrible thing to happen, and it takes a very understanding and patient person to deal with it.
One of the ways you must help the patient who is recovering from the traumatic brain injury, is to never give up hope or encouragement. Without hope the life for you and the injured can be very depressing, and yet most of us know that the body can and does heal itself in time for some people. Even doctors can be wrong, and often are when it comes to the permanence of injuries. The body sometimes recovers even though not expected to do so. Severe depression is possible for the tbi patient and also the care givers, so try to keep the hope of recovery as an option that can be attained with work. Try to continue giving encouragement and hope, even though it can be difficult for you. The chance of recovering from traumatic brain injury, even if it is slim, is better than no hope at all. On the other hand, you don't want to have your expectations too high. Somehow you need to find a suitable level of optimism - difficult I know.
For all traumatic brain injuries, you need somehow to be optimistic, patient, loving, kind, supportive, and to give hope, a very tall order to ask. But really, what other choice do you have? Traumatic brain injury is a terrible thing to have to deal with, but there are plenty out there that have had to, and are stronger people and families as a result. Hopefully your family can be strong and supportive too.
By: Steve Jackson
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