Maybe divorce ISN’T so probable after a brain injury

Posted on May 20, 2015 by peterwick

Brainline.org just seems to be on fire lately (May 2015) and this article caught my eye. Two things: I am posting it with little comment AND I must admit that I was wrong when I referred to dismal stats on the stability of marriages after a TBI. I was well enough to look up other stats at the beginning of this blog but I didn’t make any effort to check this out. In 2008 researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University published the findings from marriage stability data across America and the truth isn’t what I was sure it was.

The Truth About Divorce After Traumatic Brain Injury

As you can tell if you’ve read a few posts here, I’m someone who leaves most of the happy stuff for others to talk about. That doesn’t mean I’m not able to be happy, myself, but I don’t mind getting into some disheartening topics and discussing them. Well this whole relationships will fall apart and people will leave mantra was heavy in my mind all summer & fall and reading that more than 3/4 marriages fall apart becaue of this just fit so comfortably into my own internal narrative.brainlineDivorcestory

I mean heck, the article mentions that close to half of ALL marriages end in divorce. Why was I making it seem like it was so much worse for brain injury survivors? Read the article and decide for yourself but the data don’t indicate as much doom and gloom as I suggested.

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Killing your sleep to stay connected

Posted on May 20, 2015 by peterwick

You might benefit from changing your screen’s color temperature after sundown. Make it like twilight when it actually is twilight out. There. That’s the bottom line here. But first, let me give you some context to show how import this actually is for everyone.

How to Deal with Friends Falling Away After a Brain Injury

BrainlineStayConnectedVideoStay connected. I can’t emphasize that enough to a survivor. If you are able to make the effort I have to say it is worth it, especially for younger survivors. This video from Brainline.org focuses on that population and discusses how they can wind up isolated and lonely to the point of seri0us depression, even thoughts of suicide. It’s worth watching and just about 2 minutes long. But wait until after you read my post, okay? I’m talking about this from both sides of the fence here. I managed to remain in frequent contact with a core group of people, some of whom did a hell of a lot for me in those months following my release. Continue reading →

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A coffee extract (EHT) may help brain injury recovery

Posted on May 18, 2015 by peterwick

Whether coffee is good or bad for you is a topic with many opinions to be had. Too much caffeine and all its baggage or benefits – you could spend days debating that. Most of the scientific inquiry into coffee’s effect has focused on caffeine’s pharmacology. However, it turns out a completely different compound found in coffee may actually be helpful in suppressing, and possibly reversing, neurodegeneration. Continue reading →

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The opposite of losing your life connections

Posted on May 7, 2015 by peterwick

Here’s a blog post from Brainline.org about what we do naturally when our social network in real life falls apart. If your brain injury hasn’t caused too much debilitation you find that your world just isn’t what it used to be. The previous post about how being stuck with an image of yourself or the survivor contributes to your isolation was pretty depressing, I know. This post by David A. Grant is better than the one I was working on about how I’ve reacted to that this past year. It turns out that I’ve been building my own personal network of survivors of all different types. We get along. We understand each other’s struggles and just seem to know how to send supportive messages. It’s like a different kind of family.

Building a “Survivor Family” After Traumatic Brain Injury

DavidBrainline

A great thought here: …Perspectives I have in year five were not possible early on after my brain injury. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, I now see that my family was not fractured. It was slowly being rebuilt as a new kind of family — a survivor family.

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Can’t Unsee That

Posted on May 5, 2015 by peterwick
Sleep Study Sensors

…and sweet dreams. I’ll be watching from the control room. Yick. Yick. Yick.

Arrrrrgh!!! I can’t unsee that!

I’ve picked up this recent wise crack and used it with a wry chuckle in my throat many times. I’ll give you a little chuckle of your own here.  This was me last weekend just before trying to go to sleep for a sleep test. Since the crash my sleep has deteriorated and my wife pushed me to get it examined. Talk about uncomfortable and silly looking with all those sensors attached to you. Lasting images are what this post is all about. So instead of displaying some shocking picture of a TBI survivor in their hospital bed I took pity on you, gentle reader, and chose this embarrassing one of me. As you can see I was so looking forward to the experience. I also really don’t have any pride left.
Continue reading →

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Is it Available to You?

Posted on April 2, 2015 by peterwick

You might be wondering just what I’m talking about with such a vague title. Heck, I know I was when I came up with it. Anyway, I’ll get to that towards the end of this post but it has something to do with what you see in that photo. Continue reading →

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Making Your TBI Mix Tape

Posted on March 16, 2015 by peterwick

I’ve already told you how old I am so I guess dating myself with that title is no big deal. One nice thing about seeing the door swing shut on the 80’s is now I don’t have to rewind the tape to listen to the same song. Not just 8 or 9 times. I mean over and over again. Continue reading →

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If You’ve Seen One Brain Injury

Posted on March 12, 2015 by peterwick

Yeah, I’ll bet I know what most of you were thinking the next words would be. When a fellow survivor said that and paused I must have given away what I was thinking based on the twinkle in her eye. That sarcastic saying is like a different kind of knock-knock joke. When she told me the second half of that saying I thought it was both funny and worth writing about here. Continue reading →

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