It’s been many years since my car accident, but the search for correct information is always at the forefront of my mind, as minimal information was known about head injuries at the time of my accident. I guess if my brain had been out of my scull, they would have known without a shadow of a doubt that my brain was injured, but that was not the case. There was no blood, no guts. My injuries were “invisible” -- broken bones, a collapsed lung, and a concussion. The broken bones and collapsed lung were treated, they could be seen with diagnostic tools, but concussions can’t be x-rayed or scanned, they are “felt” and only by the patient.
I was sent home after three weeks in the hospital, with authorization from the doctors, that I could go back to work. So I did, only to learn this was a very bad idea. In an article by Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press, new information is being presented about concussions. The recovery time is much longer for a concussion than normally realized. To read the article, follow this link, http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-08-12-athlete-concussions_N.htm#uslPageReturn
Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz is one of the foremost authorities on sports related head injuries and is an athletic trainer who chairs the sports science department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A few years ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Dr. Guskiewicz over breakfast.
Our conversation that day revolved around the effect my head injury had on my ability to function. Dr. Guskiewicz confirmed many of the thoughts and feelings I had learned and experienced about head injuries. The effects, for the most part are” unseen,” unless you know what to look for. These injuries can’t be seen like a broken arm or a gash in the skin, but they are equally harmful if left untreated.
Mine injury had gone untreated and I suffered for it.
New findings suggest there are anywhere from 1.6 million to 3.8 million sports- and recreation-related concussions each year. These numbers don’t even include head injuries from car accidents, roller-coaster rides, war injuries or childhood accidents. With this many people suffering head trauma, we need to be more aware of how we perceive and treat these injuries.
In the past, injuries that couldn’t be seen, were viewed as psychological responses to the event. Thank goodness, there are new approaches and attitudes to fixing these problems. Symptoms are now becoming important tools for diagnosing “invisible injuries,” such as head traumas.
The best treatment for head injuries to date is rest and moderate activity for a longer period of time than normally prescribed. The body is designed to repair itself, if given the opportunity and environment to do so.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Medical True Believer
The True Believer is so wedded to his belief he has no choice but to reject new ideas for fear they might require him to accept them and incorporate them in his treatment.
In politics or religion – members of both the liberal and conservative movements, believe their conclusions are the correct ones. The same attitude is true in the medical field - being so wedded to their beliefs, that to consider a new approach is anathema to their views. Practicing “pigeon-hole” medicine, leaves no room for new or opposing views to fit into these beliefs, or to even evaluate and consider new approaches to the problem.
This restrictive thinking has created pigeon-hole psychiatric syndromes only large enough for their patient’s symptoms to fit into one of them, preventing new views from seeping in. Not considering the cause for these syndromes, makes it easier to reject any new ideas. The fear of having to abandon their “true belief”and force them to evaluate new ones – consciously or unconsciously – becomes stronger than the sworn oath to responsibility to which they agreed when becoming a member of the health care system – their primary responsibility being the welfare of the patient.
Many doctors view general and specialized medical care as if they are different professions, whereas, in many cases both treatments may be required. This attitude has spread through the profession like lava from a volcano with as destructive a result when the patient is denied the proper use of both types of care together.
Unlike lava, it is invisible and only felt by the patient. Many times this has led to women being treated as if they were neurotics, seen as psychologically causing their symptoms. Finally, women have begun to rebel. Many patients are including alternative non-medical treatments with the basic medical care they have been receiving. Some allopathic care physicians are ready to prescribe both types of care since they are finding both are often very productive together.
Some physicians may not be ready for this application, but they are beginning to see this as having more possibilities than they had allowed themselves to consider until now.
Time, patience, open-mindedness, trust, and patient’s improving, will provide the validity of this idea. Meanwhile, the evidence shows that these procedures are not dangerous when practiced with careful by open-minded care providers, and have been extremely helpful to the patient.
Allostasis is the continuous process of adaptation that the host undergoes in the face of potentially stressful challenges. Allostasis begins with the classic stress response, i.e., activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathoadrenal system.
Sterling, P. and J. Eyer. Allostasis: A new paradigm to explain arousal pathology. In Fisher, S. and J. Reason, eds. Handbook of Life Stress, Cognition and Health. New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1988, pp. 629-649.
In politics or religion – members of both the liberal and conservative movements, believe their conclusions are the correct ones. The same attitude is true in the medical field - being so wedded to their beliefs, that to consider a new approach is anathema to their views. Practicing “pigeon-hole” medicine, leaves no room for new or opposing views to fit into these beliefs, or to even evaluate and consider new approaches to the problem.
This restrictive thinking has created pigeon-hole psychiatric syndromes only large enough for their patient’s symptoms to fit into one of them, preventing new views from seeping in. Not considering the cause for these syndromes, makes it easier to reject any new ideas. The fear of having to abandon their “true belief”and force them to evaluate new ones – consciously or unconsciously – becomes stronger than the sworn oath to responsibility to which they agreed when becoming a member of the health care system – their primary responsibility being the welfare of the patient.
Many doctors view general and specialized medical care as if they are different professions, whereas, in many cases both treatments may be required. This attitude has spread through the profession like lava from a volcano with as destructive a result when the patient is denied the proper use of both types of care together.
Unlike lava, it is invisible and only felt by the patient. Many times this has led to women being treated as if they were neurotics, seen as psychologically causing their symptoms. Finally, women have begun to rebel. Many patients are including alternative non-medical treatments with the basic medical care they have been receiving. Some allopathic care physicians are ready to prescribe both types of care since they are finding both are often very productive together.
Some physicians may not be ready for this application, but they are beginning to see this as having more possibilities than they had allowed themselves to consider until now.
Time, patience, open-mindedness, trust, and patient’s improving, will provide the validity of this idea. Meanwhile, the evidence shows that these procedures are not dangerous when practiced with careful by open-minded care providers, and have been extremely helpful to the patient.
Allostasis is the continuous process of adaptation that the host undergoes in the face of potentially stressful challenges. Allostasis begins with the classic stress response, i.e., activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathoadrenal system.
Sterling, P. and J. Eyer. Allostasis: A new paradigm to explain arousal pathology. In Fisher, S. and J. Reason, eds. Handbook of Life Stress, Cognition and Health. New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1988, pp. 629-649.
Friday, October 3, 2008
If you have ever had a "bump on the head" you should watch this video!
Dr. Rolland S. Parker, Dept. of Neurology, New York University School of Medicine, has provided us with a down to earth, easy to understand video containing difficult to find information that could change your way of looking at a head or brain injury.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Where do you put the band-aid on an invisible injury?
Raison d’etra
(The Reason For)
(The Reason For)
Malpractice might have been the theme of my book had I been more interested in money than my health. After an automobile accident, and serious injuries, the misdiagnoses of three physicians were perfect examples of the never acknowledged errors that resulted in permanent health, economic, and human relationship problems.
My personal experience is an example of a situation endemic in society today that can and must be corrected. THE HIDDEN INJURY explains why it took three years before I was diagnosed with a head injury, and the long years I kept trying, unsuccessfully, to regain my health. After much study I found that I had seventeen of thirty possible symptoms that could develop, making it impossible to return to normal , or what I felt was the "old me."
Resorting to filing a malpractice suit never occurred to me. I put all my energy and thoughts toward searching for the answers on how to return to normal. This proved to be a difficult, if not an impossible task, without a proper understanding of the problem and the pertinent medical information which at the time was not available. Years later, it turned out that I had been following inaccurate medical advice.
There is no alternative to getting the proper explanations from physicians.
The only alternative is doing your own research, but too often, is beyond the capability of most people suffering from this kind of injury. Without a correct diagnosis and proper medical instructions, the symptoms will continue to develop and become chronic.
When proper help is not available from the medical profession, and the patient continues to deteriorate, this may lead to a malpractice suit. Blaming attorneys will not correct the cause of the problem Proper medical information and help are a must.
Answering this question might help: “Why is the “bottom line” of the three professions … medical, legal, and insurance … more important for them than the “bottom line” of patients, clients, and insured individuals whose financial, and even more important, health lifetime “bottom-line deficit,” is to them? This is a lifetime effort if it even can be corrected. There is no medical Wall Street for the patient to make up their financial losses and overcoming their health problems, when this happens, it requires constant effort, faith and luck.
And so, THE HIDDEN INJURY is an effort to give readers the information that can help them try to avoid these negative results.
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