Head & Brain Injury Advice and Resources

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Dangers of Insomnia and Drinking for Females with TBI

Women who drink alcohol excessively and who suffer from chronic insomnia are at high risk of suicide according to a study by Michael Nadorff, PhD and colleagues at Mississippi State University which was published in the December 2014 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. One possible reason is that feeling hopeless

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Eye Tracking Technology Diagnoses Traumatic Brain Injury

Uzma Samadani, MD, PhD, chief of neurosurgery, and colleagues at NYU Langone Hospital in New York have published a study showing the usefulness of eye tracking technology in diagnosing TBI. They used two groups of test subjects drawn from 169 veterans, some with abnormal eye movements and others with normal ones. They had

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Keeping Brain Stem Cells Healthy While Aging

Stem cells in the subventricular area and hippocampus of the human brain can repair or replace brain cells damaged by traumatic brain injury. Unfortunately, as people age the amount and activity of their brain stem cells can dwindle. Can anything be done to keep a robust supply of neural stem cells while we

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Stopping Extra Brain Damage From Immune Cells After Head Injury

In October 2014 Dr Richard Tobin (a surgeon at Texas A&M University Health Center) and colleagues published their research in Acta Neuropathologica Communications on how to stop secondary brain damage from head trauma. They theorized that head trauma can disrupt the blood-brain barrier, activate immune cells known as T-cells, and allow T-cells into

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New Non-Invasive Device Measures Brain Health After TBI

On December 11, 2014 Tufts University announced the development and licensing of a new fiber-optic technology called CHS (coherent hemodynamics spectroscopy) to measure brain health after TBI, stroke or other brain trauma. The technology measures blood flow, blood volume, and oxygen consumption in the brain in real time in a non-invasive manner. It

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Help with PTSD after Brain Injury

Some people who sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) also suffer PTSD. Although it used to be believed that only conscious memory of trauma could cause PTSD, it is now clear that unremembered trauma can cause it. For example many war veterans who remember riding in a Humvee and then being rescued after

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Making Exercise Easier After TBI

People who sustain a TBI often experience a period of hospitalization, muscle disuse, and/or depressed mood that can be helped by exercise.  Physicians and physical therapists typically recommend daily walking at ever increasing distances, but this can pose challenges which include physical disability and lack of motivation. A new study in the journal

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Consequences of Insomnia After TBI

One of the most common effects of a traumatic brain injury is insomnia. Insomnia is not your friend. It has been linked with obesity, depression, memory loss, stroke, and other adverse conditions. How does insomnia affect the brain? Christian Benedict at the Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University, Sweden, did a study involving a

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Effective Treatment for Pill Resistant Depression

After TBI many people experience persistent depression even after trying anti-depressant medication. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a modality that can help relieve pill resistant depression without causing the tiny seizures or memory dysfunction associated with electroconvulsant therapy. TMS treatments are administered by placing a small device on the patient’s scalp while she

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Loss of Empathy After Severe TBI

Families, employers, and physicians of people with a severe TBI often notice dramatic personality changes. One of the most common changes they see is that the person becomes egocentric, self-centred, and insensitive to the needs of others. Why does this occur? Neuroscientists have traced it to a loss of responsiveness to the emotions

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