Head & Brain Injury Advice and Resources

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Allegation of Faking Depression in Litigation can be Disproven

Research published in October 2012 by a team at Mt. Sinai Medical Center led by Georgia Hodes Phd shows that real depression is related to and co-occurs with a measurable spike in the protein IL-6 produced by the immune system. In litigation over TBI claims the plaintiff is frequently depressed and the defense

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Zolpidem Wakes Some Patients From Persistent Coma

TBI and other conditions can put a person in a deep coma for years on end. This condition is called PVS which is short for “persistent vegetative state.” In a number of highly publicized incidents use of the drug Zolpidem (sold under the names Ambien, Ambien CR and Stilknox) has woken people up

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Relationship of Sleep and Memory Disorders From TBI

Consequent to TBI some people suffer damage to an area of the brain called the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus or SCN. The SCN is about the size of a grain of rice and sits above the spot in the brain where the two sides of the optic nerve cross. It controls the 24 hour biological

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Manage Pathological Laughing and Crying From TBI

One consquence of TBI known as the “psuedobulbar affect” or PBA is uncontrollable, inappropriate fits of laughter, crying or both. Jonathan Fellus, MD of Seacaucus, New Jersey, is an expert on the treatment of PBA. He recommends trying behavioral strategies first. For example, when you feel an episode coming you can try to

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Human Growth Hormone Deficiency May Play a Role in Mild TBI Problems

Dr. Adriana G. Ioachimescu of Emory University, Atlanta presented a paper in September 2012 at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society concerning the possible role of human growth hormone (HGH) deficiency in causing some problems for TBI suvivors. The subjects of her pilot study were 20 men (mean age, 34 years) with

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Adult Stem Cell Therapy for TBI Still on the Horizon

In the Jan.-Feb 2009 issue of Disease Models & Mechanisms Dr. Peter A. Walker and colleagues summarized what we know so far about the use of progenitor cell therapies for traumatic brain injury. Due to evidence in rats that transplanation of embryonic stem cells grow tumors in the post-TBI brain and strict limits

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One Cortisone Shot May Prevent PTSD

PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) can co-occur with TBI from the same event or occur on its own. Either way PTSD can cause serious emotional suffering and disability from work. A recent study on PTSD prevention by Joseph Zohar, M.D., of Tel Aviv University and Hagit Cohen, Ph.D., from Ben-Gurion University showed that traumatized

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Statin Drug use before TBI Improves Survival and Outcome

In the October 2011 issue of the journal Trauma epidemiologist Eric B. Schneider, Ph.D., of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine reported that older patients who happened to have been taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs when admitted to the hospital with serious head injuries were 76% more likely to survive than those not

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Can A New Blood Test Diagnose TBI In The Field?

A study published by Dr. Linda Papa of Orlando, Florida, on November 10, 2011 in the Annals of Emergency Medicine found that patients with TBI had a significantly higher amount of an acidic protein in their blood than those without TBI. The protein at issue is called glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Dr.

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The Concussion Crisis

Science writers Linda Carroll and David Rosner have just published an important book called “The Concussion Crisis: Anatomy of a Silent Epidemic” to dispel the myth that a concussion is not really serious and does not involve actual damage to the human brain that can produce long term symptoms with subjective misery and

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