Coping with Traumatic Brain Injury

We don’t normally have to think about the brain and how it functions- it just does!  But what happens when that very critical part of your being gets injured and doesn’t work the same as it used to?  It can make life a bit more challenging.  After all, the brain is THE organ responsible for all of our experiences, emotions, expressions- EVERYTHING related to what makes us who we are.

Our brain is essentially our identity and to lose any part of it’s functioning due to an injury, disease, stroke, etc. can be devastating!   It can change our personality, alter our consciousness, and, if the brain is injured just right, render us unable to work or live unassisted.  But there is hope and there are many amazing people who have found ways to cope with their injury.  With the help of non-profits, support groups, and memory specialists as well as the TBI Guide, mentioned in an earlier post, people with TBI are learning that there are more options than ever before!

Sports, remastered =)

Hahaha! I just had to post this. Courtesy of frogandpenguin.com

SCI and Body Temperature Regulation

Did you know that many quadriplegics cannot regulate their body temperature?  Not only that but their bodies do not sweat to cool down or shiver to warm up.  It can be a pain in the butt for a person just wanting to get out of the house.  For caregivers, why this happens, how to avoid hypo-  and hyperthermia is extremely important (pretty much as important as how to manage autonomic dysreflexia).  Even more important than that is how to treat someone who has become overheated or under heated.  The excerpt below from Apparelyzed explains what is know as poikilothermia, or variable body temperature.