Many brain injury survivors may have similar outcomes, but the full impact is completely unique for each of us. As I read back through my posts over these last couple of years, I’m reminded just how fortunate I am to continue to see improvement in so many different areas. The most important lesson I’m learning here is, “Never give up. Never lose hope.”
Little Things for Some, Maybe…
Growing accustomed to my new limitations means that recurring behaviors soon begin to feel normal, the great thing about this is that when something changes even a little, I almost always notice it. For example, earlier today I remarked to my wife how nice it is that over these last few months I’ve regained a level of working memory that allows me to hold on to short alpha-numeric sequences for several seconds without losing them. At work, one of our secure access systems uses two-factor authentication – so after I enter my username and password, I get a 6-digit code on my phone that I have to enter to complete my login. It’s only been recently that I’ve been able to hold on to all six digits long enough to enter them without having to go back and reread them first. It may seem like a little thing, but to me this is a huge improvement on how things have been for me.
Another thing that happened recently that both Marcie and I noticed was that I was able to sit down and watch an entire movie with her (the first Hobbit movie is just over three hours!) This is new as well. My patience level and attention span are growing way beyond what they were as little as a year ago, and my tolerance of noise has gotten much better. That’s not to say that I didn’t appreciate my earplugs for some of the action sequences, because I did. But the new part of this is that I actually enjoyed the movie experience. It wasn’t so long ago that I’d have been unable to watch more than 15 or 20 minutes at a time.
I’m much more emotionally stable these days, and I can actually function well on seven to eight hours sleep. As little as a year ago I was still at the point where I needed 9 hours or more to carry enough emotional stability through the day to actually feel somewhere near normal.
My Doctor’s Inputs
When I was seeing my general practitioner about my brain injury symptoms, he told me that what’s going to heal generally heals “on its own” in the first couple of years – and he offered me nothing in the area of suggestions for nutrition and lifestyle changes that might help with the healing process. The surprising thing was that even my neurologist offered no guidance in this area.
But here’s what really happened… at the end of two years after my TBI, I was seeing small improvements, but I was still very much a mess. At this point my doctor finally referred me to a TBI clinic, and that’s when I started learning the things that every brain injury survivor should be told from the very beginning. As my regular readers have seen, this is when I started my own Unexpected Journey and the real healing started.
What I’m Doing
If I were to name what I believe to be the most important contributors to my healing process, they would be knowledge, nutrition, lifestyle, and time.
Knowledge is SO important for brain injury survivors; knowing what to expect, what our options are, and what practices we can follow to aid our healing process is critical. I used the internet to search and study and learn. I learned so much when I discovered, quite by accident, that March is recognized as Brain Injury Awareness Month by the Brain Injury Association of America. Most countries have their own version of this resource, as I discuss in my post on Brain injury Awareness Month.
And then there’s nutrition, which is key to anything and everything to do with our bodies and, of course, our brains. While supplements can help in some areas, eating the right things is so very important. I’ve posted on both foods and supplements that are shown by scientific studies to help brain injury survivors. Expanding this direction of study we see that gut health is directly related to brain health, and that foods contributing to a healthy biome are very beneficial as well. I’ve posted a series discussing an incredibly important topic for all brain injury survivors, Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor. Increasing our BDNF levels can heal broken neural pathways and even create new neural pathways to help heal and recover from the damage we’ve experienced. BDNF levels can be increased by following some very simple nutrition and lifestyle changes. My own experience is discussed in my 30-day, 60-day and 9-month follow up posts. In my estimation some of the changes are nothing short of miraculous.
Next is lifestyle. Lifestyle includes many aspects of how we interact with ourselves, our loved ones, our workplace, and even this world we live in. Lifestyle includes how you approach your life, from basics such as addressing the changes in sleep patterns and requirements that can follow a brain injury to treatments and practices of functional medicine. This can include mindfulness or other meditation practices, Ayurveda, massage, tai chi, yoga, and more. There are simple practices that can make such a difference in making memories last, learning to manage demanding requirements more effectively, and the amazing difference that a meaningful morning routine can make.
Finally, some of the most important healing simply takes time. Although my doctor told me that, generally speaking, what’s going to heal from a brain injury heals within the first two years, my healing is still happening as I approach the five-year mark. I do understand that it’s got plenty to do with nutrition and lifestyle, but the changes that come from these things only happen over time. And the longer you feed your brain and body well, the more you exercise, meditate, and follow a healthy approach to life, the more you will heal. I’ve experienced plenty of healing, but some of the most significant healing has happened recently – well beyond what my doctor told me to expect. I know that everyone’s injury is unique, but I truly believe that neuroplasticity means all of us have the possibility of improving… maybe just a little, or maybe a lot.
My Takeaway after Two Years…
Hold on to hope. Follow a lifestyle and a diet that supports healing. Most importantly: never give up, never lose hope.
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