Are the long-term impacts real or are they just in my head ?!

By: Breisha George

Here is me the night of my accident at the hospital. I was miserable and in pain. I hit the left side of my head.

If you have followed me on by blog or just on many of my different social media mediums you know that a few years ago I was in a motor vehicle accident that impacted my life in several ways. Not only did it change my career goals, but it changed my overall mental and physical well-being. So, I thought to myself when asked to choose a topic for my Perception class -y’all know that I’m chipping away at my bachelors and hope to carry on in graduate school next fall. I thought what better topic then one that has so many impacts on all our senses and daily lives. I had gotten a bad concussion from the accident and still suffer from some of the impacts of it. Even with so much focus on concussions especially within sports there is so much more we don’t know about the actual long-term impacts of concussions and much more research that needs to be done.

Post-concussion syndrome occurs from a mild traumatic brain injury and is accompanied by a slue of symptoms that can range from impacting a person physically to emotionally. Typically like me someone is diagnosed when symptoms linger for longer than three months. (1) Additionally, some studies have pointed out that they believe the reason symptoms hang around permanently for some is because the neurotransmitters sustain damage. For me post-concussion syndrome has altered some of my senses not just temporality but for the long haul. I have hearing loss in one of my ears, which I had an audiogram test to confirm. Hearing loss is common amongst those who experience a concussion many people only have temporary loss for a few months.( 2) For those whose hearing loss lasts longer typically end up having damage to their auditory pathway . The auditory pathway is what consist of many parts that basically take sound from point a to z.(3) I still struggle with migraines mostly stemming from the concussion. I even had to advocate for myself that my migraines were legitimate and not just “ in my head “ and thanks to trust a trusty brain MRI that showed my flaring migraines I was able to show it was in fact there and had suffered an injury.

Here is what my actual audiogram results looked like!

So, I did some more digging on the topic. I wanted to know am I the only one out there who struggles from the reminisce of post-concussion syndrome after a few months? Turns out I am not alone in fact in this and that there are people out there who have presented with a similar pattern of symptoms forming and oddly enough the study I read more on highlighted that if after three years someone had not recovered the impacts were indeed permanent. (4)Wow ! Even more interesting in this was that the more symptoms someone had the less chance of recovery was indicated. It also pointed out that those pesky headaches were the most common of the symptoms . It should be noted as well that no one’s journey after a concussion looked the same and that everyone’s recovery differed.

Another interesting thing the study mentioned was about recovery and treatment . I know early on I tried doing physical therapy to elevate my neck and back pain and it ended up helping some of my Post Concussion Syndrome symptoms. Vestibular positioning therapy was used mainly because it tackled so many issues like dizziness, nausea , inner ear issues, and other things that were occurring. The study showed that the different therapies worked for the different types of people they were studying. It also mentioned other forms that I had/ still do now like yoga, mediation , and exercise. The study also highlighted the fact that there is need for treatment early on for patients to have a better chance at recovery.

I will note that my primary care physician and the first neurologist I saw did not take my concussion seriously. I ended up getting a second opinion due to the fact my MRI did show my migraines and that I still had symptoms after six months that were impacting me. I also want to note some things to do after a concussion which helped me( I am not a medical professional ).

Get Quality Sleep and Listen to your body within the first few days .
Avoid noise and light . No screentime !
Water is your friend as is a balanced diet .
Give it a good week before trying your normal routine . If you notice things don’t feel right then seek out more medical help.

So , I guess I reaffirmed what I always knew. Post-Concussion Syndrome and the long-term impacts are REAL and not just in one’s “head”. I hope in the future maybe even I could research into concussions and the impacts on mental health.

References:

(1)Smaakjær, P., Wachner, L. G., & Rasmussen, R. S. (2021). Vision therapy improves binocular visual dysfunction in patients with mild traumatic brain injury. Neurological research, 1-7.

(2)Chen, J. X., Lindeborg, M., Herman, S. D., Ishai, R., Knoll, R. M., Remenschneider, A., … & Kozin, E. D. (2018). Systematic review of hearing loss after traumatic brain injury without associated temporal bone fracture. American journal of otolaryngology, 39(3), 338-344.

(3) https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/auditory-pathway

(4)Hiploylee, C., Dufort, P. A., Davis, H. S., Wennberg, R. A., Tartaglia, M. C., Mikulis, D., Hazrati, L. N., & Tator, C. H. (2017). Longitudinal Study of Postconcussion Syndrome: Not Everyone Recovers. Journal of neurotrauma, 34(8), 1511–1523. https://doi.org/10.1089/neu.2016.4677

November 22, 2020November 22, 2020

Weight Loss Surgery

Wellness is not a one size fits all method or way of life. Nor is how someone manages weight. Of course, we all know the basics of living a healthy lifestyle has to do with nutrition, movement, sleep, water, stress, and various other factors. However, we all do not have the same journey when it comes to health especially if you struggle with heavier weight or weight gain. I know for me I have always straddled the fence of wanting to give up and just indulge in ice cream and pasta every day and night and not care about my health. However, several years ago my whole mindset shifted on health and wellness. I knew I did not want to be m unhealthy in any facet and that I needed to come to terms with my condition (PCOS) and just stop muddling along and take action.

I for one will say I love fitness and its never a struggle to get some type of movement in daily. I have a love hate relationship with kitchen. I have however found a way to love it more by planting a garden and loving what I eat daily because I put effort into it. For me though all the effort I was putting in was just not calculating into results – I did not even see many non-scale victories. So I made a choice to look more into weight loss surgery and how it could potentially help reverse some of my PCOS ( there is no cure no matter how much a DR wants to hand out metformin ) .

What is PCOS?! – it is a disorder that can be confirmed by having a lack of period, hair growth everywhere but your head, and sometimes cysts on the ovaries, and various other markers. For me it has always been a tell tall sign with lack of periods, weight gain and hard to shed the pounds, hair (hello, stock in a razor company, and thinning hair. It also hosts other difficult things lime migraines and low energy and things that mirror a chronic illness. Many women do not even know they have it and most doctors have certain go to things to help treat – Ill touch more on that a different day.

For me I knew that I needed to do something – that losing a larger percentage of body fat would help it. But what had I not done already that would be different this time? For me I made the step to investigate weight loss surgery. I want to say this is NOT THE EASY METHOD it is only a TOOL. There is a process for it and varies with insurance. For me I had to have six nutrition visits, a psychological evaluation, endoscopy, blood work, and chats with my support system. Hopefully, the beginning of 2021 I will be going in for Gastric Bypass.

Online you will see tons of information on different surgeries (please note I am not a DR yet or a nurse). The most common are Rouxen-Y Gastric Bypass and the Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy. Gastric Bypass rearranges your GI tract and allows for food or majority of it to bypass the stomach and small intestine. A pouch is created, and the top of the stomach and the new lower section of the small intestine is connected in. It allows now for food to bypass the tract that absorbs calories and nutrients. The other most common and newer procedure is Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy it essentially removes most of the stomach and closes the remaining part and creates a vertical sleeve like shape. Of course, there are side effects and much to learn after the procedures are done – which I will be covering.

Overall, I decided on this path because I owe it to myself to want to be the healthiest version. So, I hope you stay tuned into my journey and with all that is to come.

February 11, 2020February 15, 2020

Staying On Track : Workout Focus on Vacation

While it may seem super easy to slake on your routine while going on vacation it can sometimes create a downhill track to the progress you have been making if on a wellness journey. I for one know what it is like to restart on wellness journeys as before I was a wellness coach myself! While vacationing should be all about fun and you definitely should not limit yourself to some excellent food I say carve out that time to still get your work out in! Here are my got to steps to making sure that happens.

Pre Plan

Make sure before you even head on vacation to express to whomever your traveling with that a part of your line up is working out. If you’re like me and sometimes used to travel for work, try and look at what meetings you have and plan for before or after you day gets started. Also check out where your staying and see if they have gym that works for you! If not, there are tons of on demand work out services that offer work outs you can do in a limited space and time.

Have Fun and Change it Up

Groupon is a great way to save money and maybe a even better way to try something new with your fitness routine. A lot of times Groupon has walk in deals for different classes. Sometimes you might even find at your hotel activities that can substitute for a workout like playing football or other sports. That’s also a way to get the whole gang involved if you’re in a family setting.

Set a Goal and Track It

Try and plan the time that your going to work out and how many times while on vacation. Then make sure your checking it off even if its on a phone reminder list or good old fashion crossing it off a day planner. Also, I seriously promote work out selkies and staying accountable with social media.

When All else Fails Walk

I am a big fan of walking and frankly sometimes if walking to locations is reasonable it can save a ton of money. Make a goal to walk an extra 1-4 miles a day and trust me you will still get a quality work out in. It also could serve as a way to see parks and other historic places at your destination.

Those are the best tips we use while on vacation. Have any more we would love to hear from you in the comments or on our social media feeds! Let’s face it the better we feel the more fun we can have.