An unusual path to brain damage:

In the news these last few days have been versions of a story about a woman who suffered brain damage from a detox diet she was on. The British woman, Dawn Page, was taking a nutritionist’s advice and ingesting large amounts of water while cutting back on salt intake.

The resulting sodium deficiency caused an epileptic fit that lead to permanent brain damage. Page was given a settlement by the nutritionist’s insurance company, but that didn’t exactly make up for the memory damage, speech difficulties and loss of concentration that Page now lives with.

This story is a good example of how important it is to make sure you are taking advice from a registered and thoroughly trained professional. Not only that, but following up someone’s advice with research of your own to make sure that there is some validity to the information is equally important.

It’s easy for people to assume that because someone lables themselves a nutritionist or doctor or herbalist, etc., that they are automatically trustworthy. In our culture we tend to take “professionals” on faith, figuring that they wouldn’t lie to us as they are in the health profession.

One thing to remember is that sometimes they aren’t lying, such as seemed to be the case with Page’s nutritionist, Barbara Nash. From all accounts, Nash believed what she was selling and most likely it was ignorance on her part that caused her to prescribe a detox program that was so dangerous. This is why doing your own research to back up what you have been told is so important.

Shaken Baby Syndrome has been prevalent in the news lately, not from an increase in incidents, but from a larger push for awareness of this painful topic. The Woman’s Hospital of Greensboro has created an “evidence-based shaken baby prevention program” that will begin educating parents after they have given birth but before they are discharged.

The goal of the program is to significantly reduce Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) in North Carolina by 50 percent in the next five years. Standing out, this intervention program is the largest and most comprehensive in the nation. By sharing this information with all new parents, the hospital will benefit an estimated 125,000 babies a year.

SBS affects between 1,200 to 1,400 babies a year, and one out of four don’t survive. The brain injury resulting from this type of brain trauma includes seizures, mental retardation, delayed development, paralysis, impaired cognitive function, broken bones and more. When the child is shaken, the brain is knocked against the sides of the skull, causing extensive damage to the soft tissue.

Close to 80 percent of the perpetrators are male and more than 60 percent of the victims are also male. With these statistics, it makes sense that programs are developed that educate both of the parents or caregivers involved. SBS usually occurs when adults become angry or frustrated, often due to the period of excessive crying that dontshake.org calls “PURPLE Crying”. The purple period is from about two weeks old until four to five months after the child’s birth.

Various programs such as the one at the Woman’s Hospital of Greensboro and the PURPLE program offer booklets and videos that are designed to prepare new parents for their child’s crying. They provide details on how to deal with the situation in a healthy manner and how to find relief for themselves before they lose control and shake the baby.

Image credit here.

ScienceDaily published a recent article discussing a nutritional study from Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Brain foods: the effects of nutrients on brain function. This study was focused on how food and exercise affects the brain, going so far as to say they can stave off mental disorders.

According to the study, UCLA professor of neurosurgery and physiological science Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, has spent years studying the affects that food, exercise and sleep have on the brain. Considering how we tend to feel after eating too much, sleeping too little or falling out of shape, Gomez-Pinilla’s interest in this makes sense.

He found that omega-3 fatty acids helped to improve memory, learning and protected against depression, mood disorders and even dementia. While you can find omega-3 in pill form, the scientists state that you will receive more benefits from actual food that contains this valuable nutrient. Some of these foods include flax seed, salmon, walnuts and squash.

Omega-3 fatty acids help with the plasticity of your synapses - and considering the damage that is done to these vital parts of the brain by a TBI, this study may be worth paying attention to. We’ve already discussed how a brain injury often worsens with time and can lead to dementia, but with active preventative measures such as an improved diet and increased exercise, you may be able to help prevent or stall this deterioration.

Gomex-Pinilla said that “The brain and the body are deficient in the machinery to make DHA; it has to come through our diet.” The DHA is a type of omega-3 fatty acid, and is in foods such as salmon.

An interesting addition to this is the suggestion that a lower calorie diet may also help with the brain’s overall health. Too many calories can increase cell vulnerability to free radical damage and also decrease the flexibility of your synapses, leading to memory and learning problems.

Another especially beneficial supplement is folic acid. It has been proven to help with the effects of antidepressants and to prevent the mental decline that comes with aging. If it helps with aging…perhaps it will benefit a damaged brain?

Our lesson from this study seems to be smaller portions with higher nutrient values. Not always the easiest shift to make in our fast food oriented society, but one worth making if you value your mental health!

If you’ve visited our site before, then you know by now that we are big fans of helmets, so when effective and inspirational techniques are created to promote their use, we applaud!

Richard Degener writes about a new Cape May program designed to increase both helmet use by kids and foster positive reactions to police officers. This clever idea has police giving out “positive tickets” to children who are wearing helmets while riding their bikes.

Cape May is one of 75 towns in New Jersey that are participating in this program, which is trying to reach children under 16 years old as that is the legal limit on required helmet use. The organization recognizes that the preteen to teen age group tends to be more likely to rebel against this regulation, so they had to come up with a creative solution that will hopefully help reach these youth.

Wendy Berk, the prevention coordinator for this association, says that statewide use is only around 20 percent, with 230,000 children treated for bicycle injuries last year alone. This same program has been in use for ten years in Cranberry, Middlesex county and according to Berk, helmet usage is up to 94 percent there. These numbers seem to prove the plan’s usefulness over time.

With its high rate of effectiveness, perhaps other states and even countries will consider implementing similar programs. If you have heard of any, please share.

We hear all sorts of reasons why you shouldn’t be required to wear a helmet - why it should remain a choice. With this new report from Vietnam, perhaps some of the die-hard, bare-headed bike and motorcycle riders will start to see the error of their ways.

Ninety percent of the vehicles in Vietnam are motorcycles, and until last year, only ten percent of these riders wore helmets. Add that statistic to the one the government cites, that there are an estimated 30 traffic related deaths a day, and you have a scary situation that obviously called for a helmet law.

In the year since the enforced helmet legislation was passed, official reports note a thirty percent decrease in traumatic head injuries and related deaths. Contrast that report to the one from Pennsylvania that found head injuries and deaths have risen 42 and 32 percent respectively since they reppealed their mandatory helmet law in 2003.

Interestingly enough, even with the obvious negative fall-out from repealing this law, the governor of Pennsylvania is said to encourage people to wear helmets, but still firmly believes it’s a choice. When this “choice” costs taxpayers thousands upon thousands of dollars, costs families missing wages and overwhelming medical costs not to mention the loss of loved ones - at what point should we decide to make the “choice” of mandatory helmet use? What do you think?

What would happen if you were declared brain-dead after only four hours under doctor supervision, only - your brain was still ticking? Lori Ross knows just what it is like to be mis-diagnosed and not just due to lack of fore site but because of a lack of knowledge on the doctor’s part.

Ross suffered from polio and was taken to the hospital when she stopped breathing. Shortly thereafter she was declared brain dead. Luckily her parents refused to accept that diagnosis and she is now recovered and doing well. Because of what happened to her, she is trying to spread awareness about how doctors “underestimate the quality of life of people with disabilities.”

Story thanks to the Winnipeg Free Press.

Image from here.

Mike Heikes, a five-time cross-country bicyclist and brain injury survivor, raises money for charity, provides safety education and has given away more than 5,000 helmets to kids.

Heikes has created “Helmets for Kids” to educate others and hopefully prevent some of them from experiencing the difficulties he has encountered with his brain injury. For more on this generous program, click here.

Chris Dufficy, Jon Gocer, Christ Tutin - do you recognize any of these names? Dufficy is a pro-snowboarder, Gocer a popular skateboarder and Tutin is a dirt bike rider, and all of them have sustained traumatic brain injuries while participating in extreme sports.

Profiled in Lionel Goddard’s documentary film Wipe Out, these young men represent a growing percentage of youth who are pushing their physical limits with ever faster and increasingly maneuverable high-tech gadgets.

According to a Center for Disease Control and Prevention study, close to 213,000 people were treated in U.S. emergency departments from 2004 to 2005 due to recreational outdoor activities. More than 50% of those injured were aged 10-24 and close to 24% of those injuries were to the head and neck. A total of 6.5% were diagnosed as traumatic brain injury.

While not all of the injured failed to wear protective gear, a significant amount can link the lack of a helmet with concussions and brain injuries. A decrease in snowboarders or skateboarders is unlikely, but the proper education of those participating in potentially dangerous activities will help to slow down the incidents and resulting damage.

Click here for some CDC TBI statistics.

Image credit here.

Domestic violence - an area often overlooked as a cause of traumatic brain injury, warrants consideration. An estimated 50-90% of assaults are to the face or the head of the victim which often results in cognitive and emotional impairments that are not recognized until long past the original incident occurred.

According to BrainInjury.org long-term effects of traumatic brain injury include an inability to concentrate, difficulty accessing memory, low motivation, poor follow through, depression and anxiety, rapid changes in mood and a reduced ability to control behavior in social situations. All of these effects vary depending on the severity of the injury and the person injured, but with early diagnosis, the potential for a complete recovery increases.

The initial repercussions of assault - confusion, headache, neck pain, fatigue, slowed thinking, short term memory loss, loss of balance, blurred vision, ringing in the ears and trouble paying attention among others - can diminish in time and leave the sufferer with the perception that there are no long-term effects. It’s important for anyone experiencing these symptoms to consult a physician.

While domestic assault is one of the least reported causes of traumatic brain injury, it is vitally important that the injury is assessed early and steps are taken to prevent further damage. If you have experienced domestic violence or know someone who has, please know that there is help available and systems in place to protect your anonymity.

For more information, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.

A recent research article published by the PloS Medicine journal has some interesting findings linking lead exposure and permanent brain damage.

Children exposed to lead were found to have reduced gray matter in areas of the brain associated with important functions such as mood regulation and decision making. With the high potential for accidental brain damage through everything from falling to drowning, it’s refreshing to discover causal factors that we can both control and prevent.

For more information, you can read the article here.