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Brain Fog & TBI

What do you do once you start experiencing brain fog?

in Brain Fog, Brain Function, Legal
October 1, 2021
0
Brain Fog & TBI

by James Heuer, PA

In the age of COVID-19, a symptom that comes along with having contracted the virus is brain fog. This symptom of COVID-19 is comparable to the cognitive issues that traumatic brain survivors experience after their initial concussion. Brain fog, which is not a medical term but a description, can have a dramatic effect on brain injury survivors, no matter how sharp or quick-witted the person was prior.

Symptoms of brain fog occur within the first seven to ten days and will usually dissipate within three months. Sometimes brain fog can persist for a year or more. To achieve a quicker recovery from brain fog, doctors recommend immediate treatment after your concussion in order to manage it. Like TBI survivors, people recovering from COVID-19 struggle with brain fog on a daily basis with symptoms lasting weeks, or even years.

Brain fog is one of the most common symptoms examined in TBI patients. Signs to look for include slowness in thinking, trouble concentrating, or even difficulty remembering and learning new information. Short term memory loss and inability to concentrate, multitasking, and the ability to organize and plan coincide with brain fog.

Patients with a TBI typically experience brain fog either immediately post-concussion or possibly days, weeks, or months later. The common triggers for brain fog can vary from using a computer, reading a book, or seeing bright lights. Patients have described brain fog as “I feel like I’m seeing the world through a haze,” “I feel like I’m running in sand,” “I just can’t keep up,” or “I can’t process everything.”

The brain fog stems from the impact that causes the brain to smash into the skull which leads to inflammation and disruption of communication within the brain. Two main sources of brain fog are hypoactivation (inefficiency in the brain) and hyperactivation (overload). Oxygen and other resources are needed for the brain to complete a task. When inflammation or axonal shearing (tearing of the brain’s connecting nerve fibers) after a concussion occurs, regions of the brain may be blocked from getting their needed resources. This is the hypoactivation happening. Hyperactivation is what’s considered an overload, when an area of the brain is on too much or working too hard. In short, if there are areas of your brain working inefficiently or overworking, a lot of energy is being used, causing the brain to simply give up – resulting in what is called brain fog.

Healing and eliminating brain fog to live a normal day-to-day life is possible. One recommendation is to give your digestive system a rest. Intermittent fasting can stimulate brain regeneration. Exercise is good for sharper mental acuity as it promotes the release of helpful chemical messengers, as well as releasing endorphins to rejuvenate the brain. Also, sleep is important to heal. Sleep is essential to recovering from brain fog, especially with the persistent fatigue and exhaustion. Overall, TBI survivors need to have patience with themselves to lower their stress. Eventually, brain fog will subside.

James A. Heuer, PA, is a personal injury attorney helping individuals with TBI after suffering one himself. He is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

 

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  • Neuro fatigue is beyond tired, it’s when you’re brain says “I’ve had enough” and shuts down everything. It often a sneaks up on you when you least expect it, making it hard to manage. 

If you’ve never experienced it, it’s truly hard to understand. But please believe us when we tell you we’re done and need to rest. And that rest may look different for everyone. Some may need a nap. Some may just need a quiet space. There’s no right or wrong way to rest. 

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  • A traumatic brain injury is the ultimate “invisible injury” as no one can see what’s happening inside your brain. Even imaging doesn’t show a TBI (unless you have bleeding or severe trauma). It’s impossible to explain to others, and even doctors don’t take us seriously or know how to help us. 

It is incredibly frustrating to go through life being told “there’s nothing we can do. You’ll just have to give it more time and see what happens” and even more frustrating when you find out that there are doctors out there who truly DO know how to help us!  Like @integratedbraincenters 

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These are normal, every day things we take for granted before brain injury, and afterwards they require soooo much energy and effort. It’s truly hard for someone who hasn’t experienced a brain injury to understand. 💚

#braininjury #tbi #concussion #pcs #braininjuryawareness #TBIsurvivor
  • You totally got this!! 
Is it gonna be easy? Nope. 
Is it gonna be worth it? Absolutely! 

#tbi #braininjury #concussion #pcs #TBIrecovery #TBIsurvivor
  • The Chair Yoga Pocket Guide is trending on Kickstarter! We’re over half-way to our goal! Can you help us get there by pre-ordering an autographed copy of the book?? 

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  • I remember folks would talk to me and my brain would take forever to process what they were saying. They would be into the next subject and I’d still be trying to decipher their first sentence. It was frustrating and exhausting. 

Friends would tell me to “try harder” and concentrate. But that’s not how it works with brain injury. 

It’s like if you drop your laptop and scramble it’s processor. 

#braininjury #concussion #tbi #pcs #braininjuryawareness #braininjuryawarenessmonth #TBIsurvivor
  • #Repost @integratedbraincenters
Recovery as defined in the dictionary is a return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength. 

Missing from this definition is that recovery is a continuum. We often hear in recovery post surgery that a patient is a percent recovered (Sue is 80% recovered post hip replacement) demonstrating that recovery is not an all or nothing situation but is rather a spectrum. 

Not everyone will make a 100% recovery but most people can move forward in their recovery in some way, even if it is only 10% or 70%. 

To say that recovery is not possible in any capacity is probably untrue. The more severe the injury the more likely you will never be the same person you were prior, but that does not mean that you can’t get back to doing the things you love and contribute to your family and community.

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  • No two brain injuries are the same, therefore, no two recoveries are the same. Don’t compare yours against someone else’s, as you never know what they’ve already gone through. 

Focus on YOU and your recovery. What could you try differently? What should you maybe give up? I personally gave up alcohol and gluten and that was huge for me and my inflammation. 

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  • I know one of the biggest lessons I had to learn from my TBI was asking for help. 

It wasn’t something I was used to, and the first few friends I asked laughed at me, which made it even harder to try again. 

But it was a beautiful lesson for me — as someone who is fiercely independent it is important to ask for help when I need it it — in allll areas of my life. 

What was your biggest lesson from TBI? 

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