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March 20, 2008

Brain Trauma - New Online Chapter of Wellness Piece By Piece

Like Mold, Brain Trauma has become another major piece of the health puzzle for me, as many of you know, and I have written about it extensively here in the past. So, I have organized all the posts and made it a new online chapter of Wellness Piece By Piece. The Brain Trauma chapter...
 

A New Major Puzzle Piece - Background

First Installment:

I have been waiting to post something about a new puzzle piece I have found for my own health. I wanted to be sure that the recommended solution actually worked. The good news is it does! Extremely well. This is a likely one of the biggest underlying issues for me, if not THE underlying issue.

To review, I have considered only two pieces to my health puzzle as major puzzle pieces. It seemed that MOST of the other issues I have had were related to these two issues. The two issues are mercury from 14 mercury amalgams and strong sensitivity to mold. A number of symptoms I had simply vanished, or got better when I had my mercury amalgams removed in 1987. Also, I felt better than I ever had after going to see Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker a few years ago. From Dr. Shoemaker I found out 1.) I was very sensitive to mold. 2. ) I had significant exposure to mold. 3.) When treated for mold I improved dramatically.

In fact, I came to believe that mold WAS the ultimate underlying issue for me. Even bigger than mercury. But this has proven to NOT be true. Mold is a very significant issue for me and I watch my exposure to mold very carefully. I plan to go see Dr. Shoemaker again within the next few months as his techniques and knowledge has grown significantly over the past years. I think he can help me even more.

In my search for health I came to believe that I needed to find "underlying issues", not just various symptoms that were caused by the underlying issue. I spent much time chasing symptoms, trying to deal with each one. But if I could find the underlying cause and deal with that I could then usually get rid of the symptoms. An example of this was a heart arrhythmia. When I would exercise, my heart would keep beating for over an hour at about 110 beats per minute. I could have gone on several meds to try to treat this condition. Instead, when I had my mercury amalgams out, this symptom suddenly and permanently stopped. Several other symptoms either went away or got better with their removal as well.

I am happy to report that I believe I have found my main health issue.

Since uncovering mold as my most significant underlying issue, I thought I was cured. I actually went over 2 full years feeling really good. However, as I said in my book, "how do I know what normal is?" When you feel poorly for many years or decades, you lose the ability to remember what normal feels like.

Well... so here is what happened.

For a variety of reasons which I won't go into, last fall I was under a variety of stressors. Stressors can be anything. From less sleep to mold exposure. Anything that stresses the body or mind. Early December I started to feel "off". My sleep patterns changed and I had nights when I either had trouble falling asleep or I woke up and had a real hard time falling asleep. I have learned over the years that a change in my sleep pattern was usually significant and often foretold a coming "episode."

As December wore on, I could tell that I was getting a little worse every week. The things I begin to feel at the start of any episode were a strange anxiety, or sense of doom that just was there. Nothing real was behind the feelings and eventual thoughts, it was simply there. As it gets worse, it is there all the time. My sleep grows worse and with that I begin to feel depressed for no good reason other than I am not sleeping very well and I feel so anxious.

When these symptoms began to be really noticeable, I theorized that I must be being exposed to mold somewhere. I began to take CSM (cholestyramine) as prescribed by Dr. Shoemaker. A few times in the past when I thought I was feeling the early symptoms of an episode I would take CSM and the symptoms went away. But this time, it was not mold. Even with CSM for a few weeks, the symptoms got stronger. I was totally perplexed. If it is NOT mold, what is it? I was doing everything I knew to do yet I was growing worse everyday. The anxiety grew stronger, my sleep got worse and I felt more depressed and tired. What the heck was going on?

Little did I know I was about to discover a brand new piece to my puzzle. One that actually started 35 years ago!!

I will continue this tomorrow.

A New Major Puzzle Piece - Brain Injury

Second Installment:

34 years ago I was a sophmore in College at Eastern Illinois U. I had just finished my second college soccer season. I was in great shape. I did not know only a few months later I would start a life long pattern of cyclical illness. I was home on Christmas break. I was on my way to go ice skating at Forrest Park in St. Louis with my girlfriend. My little sister and brother were in the back seat. We were in a Ford Torino. We stopped at a red light on Kingshighway. Suddenly, we were rear ended by an Olds 98. Me and my girlfriend ended up in the backseat. The front seats had totally collapsed upon impact. There were no head rests and I doubt we were wearing seatbelts.

We were all very shook up but there was no blood or broken bones. A man and a woman were in the other car. She had a broken leg but the Olds had only little damage since it was built like a tank. The Torino was totalled. We did not go to the hospital. The police came and wrote tickets for the other guy and noted that there were no skid marks. They thought the guy was probably going about 30-40 mph and was drunk. Today, he would have been put in jail but this was before MADD.

The next few days we were all very sore but nothing else seemed wrong. Was I wrong!

Jan 2007, I sat talking with a Doctor at the Amen Clinic. I had just gone through 2 days of testing that included doing brain scans. Before showing my brain scans, he looked at me and asked "when were you in a car accident?" I was stunned. The past several years I had wondered about the accident and about the coincidence that it had occured 2 months before my first episode that lasted the rest of my college career. I was amazed that it was so obvious to him.

I went to the Amen Clinic for two reasons. 1.) I was totally perplexed by the return of some of my cyclical symptoms which I had attributed to exposure to mold and felt I needed to take a totally different tack. 2.) I discovered them when I was studying about "bi-polar illness". I was helping a relative who had been diagnosed with this condition. I was very impressed with what they did. In the case of my relative, when I would talk with the psyche doc, I could tell they were mostly guessing about the meds they were prescribing. They would give one and see if it worked. When it didn't, they would try another. I found this very problematic and frustrating. They simply did not know what would work.

My research kept turning the Amen Clinic located in Newport Beach, CA. They used something called SPECT (Single photon emission computed tomography) scans to image the activity of the brain. They could readily diagnose different types of ADD, depression, anxiety, bi-polar and other brain illnesses. They had done over 25,000 scans and could pinpoint what was wrong. I ended up sending my relative to Amen Clinic. They were able to pinpoint exactly what was wrong. They could say with near certainty exactly what meds and supplements would help. They could also say why other meds that had been tried did not work. My relative rapidly stabilized on the program they recommended. It was very impressive!!

The doc then showed me my brain scans. He described how he could tell that it was what he called a "closed head brain trauma." He also asked lots of questions wanting to know if I experienced other symptoms that he felt I "ought" to have. I answered yes to almost all of his questions. He asked if I experienced these other symptoms even when I "thought I was well." I did. They did not seem all that troubling though compared to the really difficult symptoms I had when I was really sick.

He said "when I first looked at your brain scans, I said to myself that you would probably not be functioning very well." He said that he was surprised to see how highly functioning I actually was. He said that obviously I had learned to "white knuckle" my way through my many episodes. I had developed strong "compensatory skills". He felt that other areas of my brain had developed to make up for most of the injury. He also said that it was very possible that playing soccer and football may have contributed to the injury. These two sports cause many brain trauma injuries that they see.

I was sort of in shock. He said that the injury was really pretty serious. He explained how the two main areas (the pre-frontal cortex and the temporal lobes) that were damaged would cause many of my symptoms especially the cyclical nature of my issues. He also pointed out a pattern that they see with "environmental exposures" which he did not know where they came from in my case. Naturally I thought of mercury. I asked him, "So what is the prognosis?" Immediately, he replied "very good." "The meds and supplements today are so very good and specific with very few side effects that I am certain you will do very well", he said.

He then went on to describe the program he wanted to put me on.

I will continue that tomorrow.  

A New Major Puzzle Piece - Supplements

Third Installment:

The doctor said that my prognosis from my brain injury was very good. In fact, he felt the biggest problem I might experience would be feeling a bit weird when I would no longer have to rely on the "compensatory skills" I had developed over the years. He had seen this before where people actually felt like something was wrong because they felt so much better but were not doing all the things they had learned to do to stay balanced. I felt that would be a good trade! I've said over the years, "I wish I could get a new set of problems!"

Actually over the years, I did get rid of many symptoms and others definitely had improved. But the ones that ALWAYS showed up when I cycled into an "episode" always bothered me; really weird feelings of anxiety, insomnia and depression. Those I wanted to trade for sure.

The doc described how the auto accident had basically damaged areas of my brain that were now "under active." We needed to turn these areas back on.

He said that the first thing we needed to do was feed the brain nutrients and supplements to support the meds I would need. These supplements would not "fix" the problem but they would make everything else work that much better. He handed me a list of supplements. It included a few that were sort of exotic, like phosphatidyl serine and alpha lipoic acid. After scanning the list, I told him I was already taking every single supplement on the list, just not as much as he wanted me to take in most cases. He laughed and said, "why does that not surprise me?" I had pieced my puzzle together as best I could. I knew I had the symptoms the supplements could help but I did not know the reason why I had the symptoms. I did not know my brain had been injured and I needed Rx meds. The message here is that nutritional supplements and Rx meds can work hand in and, one supporting the other.

I say in my book, my website, and often here on this blog that I am not against pharmaceuticals and allopathic medicine. Most sites that sell nutritionals take a very harsh view of pharmaceuticals and mainstream docs. Personally, I think there are really good things in both the Allopathic and Alternative worlds. People who are chronically ill should take advantage of everything available to them, exercising their discretion in the process. Everything an MD says is not automatically correct. I have proven that. Everything an alternative doc says is not automatically correct either. I have met really good and really bad doctors in both worlds.

Basically, he told me to take per day:
  1.) a good multi vitamin
  2.) between 6 and 10 grams of high DHA fish oil
  3.) a broad spectrum B vitamin with good amounts of B6
  4.) a good antioxidant with at least 250-500 mg's of vitamin C
  5.) 100 mg Alpha Lipoic Acid 3 times a day
  6.) 120mg Ginkgo Biloba twice per day
  7.) 100mg Phosphatidyl Serine 3 times per day

The good thing was that Jigsaw Health could supply everything here except the amount of Alpha Lipoic Acid and a little more Vitamin C than is in our Antioxidant product. In fact, I could get everything he recommended to me in only 3 products from Jigsaw Health; Essential Packets, Brain Support, Liver Support.

As I looked more carefully at the formula for our Brain Support product I realized what a great product it really is. It has a Ginkgo Extract that is very pure and is the exact extract ratio that is typically used in all the studies done on Ginkgo. It also has:
  150mg's of Phosphatidyl Serine which is a very expensive ingredient.
  100mg's a Acetyl-L-Carnitine.
  100mg's of pure DHA
  25mgs of choline
  25mgs Inositol

(The links above go to the Natural and Alternative Database for detailed info on each powerful ingredient)

I was taking Brain Support but not even close to the amounts that the Amen Clinic recommended. As I increased the amount I began to experience an number of the benefits listed in the Database above. One of the problems I have had in the past has been thick blood. Sometimes when my blood would be drawn for a test, it would hardly come out. It was a real problem but no longer. Recently, I had to have several vials drawn and the blood came out readily and yet coagulates fine when I get a cut or scrape. Ginkgo dramatically helps to increase blood flow though out the body, especially the brain.

My experience with Ginkgo makes me wonder if studies on nutritionals sometimes fail simply because they don't use enough or the version that they are using is simply poor. I think this may be more common than not.

Next Installment tomorrow will cover the Rx meds  

A New Major Puzzle Piece - Medications

Fourth Installment:

I used to think that psyche meds merely "masked" symptoms. The Amen Clinic, with over 25,000 brain scans have shown that many meds actually cause the brain to function differently and often, much better. Look here and see dozens of before and after pictures.

I was not terribly excited about taking Rx meds to turn on areas of my brain that had been damaged in an automobile accident 34 years ago. However, I was very interested to find out if they could help me feel better. I hoped they could end the cycle of "episodes" of poor health that plagued me at least 25 times in the past 34 years. I am happy to report that they have worked wonders for me.

Normally, when I fall into "the pit" (as I have come to call my episodes) it takes me anywhere from 6-8 months to gradually work my way back out. I usually would then feel pretty well for a year or two. Now I wonder if my coming out of an episode was not merely my brain simply "cycling" on it's own. Seemed to cycle into and out of an episode on a fairly regular schedule. I believe that I have avoided cycles in the past by avoiding enough "stressors". And I think I came out of episodes by learning to stay in a relative stress free situation. When I felt bad I would withdraw, to a large degree, from things that I knew stressed me. That likely helped.

Well this time was entirely different. Within a few weeks of starting the new meds I began to feel much better. And within a month I felt I was entirely out of the pit. Now it has been almost 3 months and I can say I feel better than I remember ever feeling. I sleep soundly. The weird anxiety is totally gone, and I don't feel a bit depressed.

What worked this wonderful magic for me? The doctor at Amen Clinic recommended two meds to me immediately and one possible in the future. Both meds are used for what are called "off label" conditions. That means they are being used for something other than what they are approved by the FDA for. This is actually a very common practice. It takes many million$ to get a drug approved for a specific condition. To add another condition requires many millions more. So many drug companies do not pursue more conditions once they have approval for one. They know that doctors become aware on their own that a med is also good for other conditions.

The first med prescribed for me is called Lamictal. It is approved to treat Bi-polar and Epilepsy. I don't have either of those. However, Amen Clinic has found that Lamictal works very well to stabilize and activate the Temporal Lobes which play a large role in "cyclical" conditions like bi-polar and epilepsy for instance. The temporal lobes were one of the areas damaged in my auto accident.

A typical dosage range for this med is between 100mg's and 400mg's. I started to feel much better at 50 mg's and felt really great once I reached the target dosage for me which is 200 mg's. I have not had any of the possible side effects except it seemed to effect my sleep if I took it at night. So I take 150 mg's in the morning and 50 mg's at night. This works very well for me. I once forgot a dose and about 20 hours later I really felt the difference. Lamictal has a half life of around 15 hours. Once I took my next dose I felt fine again.

The other med is called Seroquel. It was prescribed to me for sleep as well as to help turn on other areas of my brain affected by the accident. Seroquel is normally used to treat Bi-polar and Schizophrenia. Again, neither of which I have. But as a sleep med it is awesome! I have tried all the other sleep meds like Ambien and Lunesta in the past and they did NOTHING for me. With Seroquel, I am out like a light within 20-30 mins. I almost never wake up in the night and if I do, I fall right back to sleep. I do feel a bit groggy in the morning at first, but once I am up that feeling goes away totally.

The typical dosage to treat Bi-Polar or Schizophrenia is 800-1200 mgs per day. I take 200 mg's once when I am ready for bed (which is very soon actually.) :-)This med worked day one and in the 3 months I have used it, it has not failed to work well for me.

The 3rd med that I might use down the road if it seems needed is Wellbutrin XL. It is approved to treat Depression. Amen clinic likes to use it for Depression but they also use it to treat Brain Trauma because it "tends to increase Dopamine in the Prefrontal Cortex." Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that gives us our "get up and go" motivation. The Prefrontal Cortex is another area of the brain that was damaged. The doc said this med may or may not be needed and to wait on it for a few months before determining if it is needed. As it stands right now, it may not be needed.

My intention is to go back to Amen Clinic at about the 9 month time frame. I want them to re-scan to see just how well the meds are working and then adjust my program if needed. After feeling so bad for so many years, I want to feel as good as I can the rest of my life.

Tomorrow I will post the actual scans of my brain. Now that is scary!!  

A New Major Puzzle Piece - Pictures of My Brain

Originally posted on April 7th. Bumped to the top of the blog since I'll be on the Frankie Boyer radio show in Boston, Friday April 20 at 11:30am EST. I'll be talking with Frankie about these SPECTs of my brain.

Fifth Installment: Pictures of My Brain

(Click on the picture to zoom.)

Pat_brain

What exactly are you looking at? It is NOT a physical representation of my brain. Rather it is a picture of the blood flow and activity of the brain. A description from Amen Clinic's website says SPECT scanning "looks directly at cerebral blood flow and indirectly at brain activity (or metabolism). In this study, a radioactive isotope (which, as we will see, is akin to a myriad of beacons of energy or light) is bound to a substance that is readily taken up by the cells in the brain.

A small amount of this compound is injected into the patient's vein where it runs throughout the blood stream and is taken up by certain receptor sites in the brain. The patient then lies on a table for 14-16 minutes while a SPECT "gamma" camera rotates slowly around his head. The camera has special crystals that detect where the compound (signaled by the radioisotope acting like a beacon of light) has gone. A supercomputer then reconstructs 3-D images of brain activity levels. The elegant brain snapshots that result offer a sophisticated blood flow/ metabolism brain map. With these maps, physicians have been able to identify certain patterns of brain activity that correlate with psychiatric and neurological illnesses."

The scans show damage particularly to the temporal lobes and the pre-frontal cortex. Also the "scalloping" is either "environmental toxin exposure" or simply "more brain trauma". It is possible that it shows my exposure to mercury but that is not certain.

It interested me that the day before I went to the Amen Clinic, I saw a Scottsdale psychiatrist who was a big fan of Amen Clinics. After listening to my history he said it sounded a lot like "bi-polar" because of the cyclical nature of my history. I saw this doc again the day after getting my diagnosis from the Amen Clinic. Without comment I gave him my brain scans. He looked at them for about 7 seconds. He then looked up at me and asked, "When did you have brain trauma?" It amazed me that it was so clear to him just like the doc at Amen. He was surprised since he had pretty well decided that I likely had bi-polar.

Had I not gone to the Clinic he would have begun treatment for "bi-polar". This is the value of SPECT brain scans. It is very specific and doctors don't have to GUESS!! The pattern I had was not even close to bi-polar. Bi-polar shows lots of unusual activity in the brain. I had just the opposite. My brain showed lower activity due to the damage. The damage to the temporal lobes was the cause of the cycling that had experienced.

I have been thrilled with the results I have had in response to my new regimen of supplements and Rx meds which I have covered at length in the last two installments.  

More thoughts on My Brain Injury

6th Installment:

It is wonderful when you have been sick a long time and you find a major reason why. Usually, chronic conditions are not caused by a single issue. There are usually a number of things at work. Injury, infection, nutritional deficiency, toxins, genetics. In my case, all have been factors.

Clearly, the brain injury I sustained while a sophomore in college was a major piece to my health puzzle. However, all the other things I learned along the way were important pieces as well. Mercury was really bothering me and several major problems I had either disappeared or improved by eliminating my constant exposure to this major neurotoxin. I am very sensitive to mold. Getting rid of the mold toxins in my body and the sources of mold had a dramatic effect on how I felt. I found numerous nutritional deficiencies, like magnesium, and as I corrected those I felt better. I have genetics that make me a bad excreter of heavy metals. I have genetics that mean I am very sensitive to mold. My hormone levels were generally really screwed up and getting these hormone levels balanced made dramatic differences. I had infections and as I dealt with these I felt better.

Had I stopped searching at any point, I would have missed additional pieces. I said in my book that you need to believe that there are answers to your problems. Keep searching! Can be terribly frustrating at times but don't give up!

Now after over 4 months on the full program outlined to me at Amen Clinics, I feel incredible. I said to my brother the other day that I have recently started to have feelings of well being that I remember from HS and early college. One day, suddenly I found myself wanting to play soccer again. It wasn't till I was reminded that this was NOT a good idea for my brain that I dropped the idea. I had already identified the league and team I wanted to play for!

The brain ultimately controls virtually everything in the body. To a large degree it does this without any thought on our part. If those brain areas are damaged, management of various systems of the body can easily go awry. We often then try to find ways to make the symptoms go away when we may well be able to address the problem by helping a damaged area of the brain work better. This is the case with me. I am seeing a variety of things that continually trouble me, begin to work a lot better. I cannot explain why, other than it seems getting my brain working better made symptoms in other areas simply go away. It is tremendous.

Finally, I have been asked often "how much did the Amen Clinic cost?" People are usually pleasantly surprised to learn that 3 days of testing and evaluation only costs $3,100. You have to find a place to stay and you have to travel there. But is it worth it? In my case, absolutely. If you have ever sustained a brain trauma in some way AND you have chronic conditions, especially involving psyche or neurological issues I think it behooves you to take advantage of the technology available to you at the Amen Clinic. In 10 years I believe what they do will be the standard of care and available everywhere. Now you have to seek it out.  

Making Brains Work Better

As you are probably aware, I have written several posts on my discovery that an auto accident 34 years ago was a major health puzzle piece. A few months after having the accident my saga of poor health began though I did not make the connection. I found and fixed a number of other major underlying issues along the way that proved to be problems for me. But I still always had another underlying issue that I just could not put my finger on. Every year or two I would cycle into a really bad funk of fatigue, depression, anxiety and insomnia. It would hang around for several months and then gradually go away.

Last January I went to the Amen Clinic where they used a brain scanning technology to discover a pattern that could only have been caused by serious brain trauma like a car accident. To them it was obvious.

They put me on a regimen of two meds and a bunch of supplements. I was already taking the supplements but not the quantity that they wanted. I have been on this regimen for almost 6 months now and have never felt better.

Over Memorial Day I was out of town and ran out of the main supplement I take for my brain injury. It is a Jigsaw Health product called Brain Support. It has almost everything I was told to take by Amen Clinic. I was off Brain Support for about 4 days. By the 2nd day I felt "off" for some reason and could not figure out why. By the 4th day I felt even worse and suspected it was the lack of Brain Support. When I got back home and restarted Brain Support I felt better within a few hours and normal in a day. I was really impressed since I had attributed most of my improvement to the Rx meds. (I once forgot to take my meds and really felt that as well.)

Clearly, it was a study of one person so not scientifically valid. Was pretty convincing to me though. The moral of the story is often meds will work better in conjunction with very targeted supplements. Amen Clinic said to me the supplements were a foundation to help the meds work really well. It was nice to discover my brain worked much better on both!

Brain Trauma

My Google Alert on Brain Health keeps bringing me articles regarding TBI's (Traumatic Brain Injury). Many soldiers experience TBI's. I am glad to see a growing recognition of this problem. According to the NIH over 1.4 million (reported) people experience some sort of TBI every year. Symptoms related to the TBI can last a lifetime. Cumulatively there are tens of millions of people walking around who have chronic conditions related to the TBI. I am one of them.

In 1972 I was in a pretty serious accident. As is pretty typical, within a few months I started to experience symptoms related to the accident. Weird anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, mild confusion, inability to concentrate began to be my daily battle. I gradually seemed to recover from most of these symptoms. For the next 30+ years, the symptoms would recur every couple of years. Finally, during my last recurrence, the Amen Clinic made a clear diagnosis. A couple of medications were prescribed along with dramatically increased quantities of nutritional supplements. I have never felt better since.

The thing that strikes me as I look back on my 34 years of struggle is that I went to many doctors seeking help with my many symptoms. Not one of those docs ever considered a TBI. No one ever asked questions regarding an accident. I did manage to piece together significant puzzle pieces along the way that gave me much help. But the main problem was never uncovered until my own research led me to the Amen Clinic.

If you have been sick for many years and you have had a serious fall or car accident sometime in your past, I would highly recommend that you go to the Amen Clinic. (I receive no compensation from the clinic.) I simply want to help people who are "walking wounded."

The NIH says,  

Within days to weeks of the head injury approximately 40 percent of TBI patients develop a host of troubling symptoms collectively called postconcussion syndrome (PCS). A patient need not have suffered a concussion or loss of consciousness to develop the syndrome and many patients with mild TBI suffer from PCS. Symptoms include headache, dizziness, vertigo (a sensation of spinning around or of objects spinning around the patient), memory problems, trouble concentrating, sleeping problems, restlessness, irritability, apathy, depression, and anxiety. These symptoms may last for a few weeks after the head injury.

...Hormonal problems can result from dysfunction of the pituitary, the thyroid, and other glands throughout the body. Two common hormonal complications of TBI are syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone (SIADH) and hypothyroidism.  

When your hormonal system dysfunctions, you can experience wide ranging, systemic symptoms. I talk with many people where this is the case.  Doctors tend to then focus on all the various symptoms but fail to recognize the actual source. Uncovering the source can be the key that unlocks the systemic problems.

Of interest to me in the article, the NIH says that the use of Magnesium in the early treatment of head injury can help dramatically. Over the years, I found that Magnesium helped me with many symptoms. When I started Jigsaw Health we developed what has become our star product. A sustained release form of Magnesium. Sustained release allows me to take large amounts of magnesium without getting the common laxative effect.

Brain Injury: What You Probably Don't Know

This is from a newsletter that Jigsaw Health just published. I thought the article was very well written and useful to go along with my other posts regarding the brain...
Have you ever had a concussion? Been in a bad car accident? Suffered a sports-related head injury? Many of us have experienced some kind of brain injury in our lives. What you should know is that a head injury may have contributed to your chronic illness. Chronic conditions can be a direct result of brain trauma.

It is not uncommon for someone who experiences a concussion,  auto accident or other type of head trauma to begin to experience additional illness within a short period of time. Fatigue, depression, anxiety, insomnia, irritability, personality changes and other symptoms may begin to appear after a head injury [1], but much of the time these are not recognized as a result of the trauma, which can be frustrating for someone trying to find the “how” or “why” of the way they feel. However, all degrees of brain trauma can have the potential to affect our health and well-being for years or even decades.

Some of us have thicker skulls than others, both literally and figuratively. So it's not likely you have spent much time thinking about how fragile the brain really is. For instance, we understand that extreme traumatic brain injury (TBI) is serious because it obviously results in visible physical impairment. However, in mild or moderate injury, the trauma is not so obvious. For this reason, most people (including some medical practitioners) consider non-extreme or mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) as inconsequential in the long run because they see no symptoms proportional to those in TBI. [2]

Some of the more common and immediate symptoms of MTBI include: loss of consciousness, headaches, dizziness, irritability, difficulty in concentration, confusion, nausea, vomiting, vision disturbance and retrograde or anterograde amnesia. [1] In most cases these symptoms don’t last for very long though so it is assumed there is then no lasting damage. And for most brain injuries this is true. But in some cases, these minor brain injuries result in years of ongoing chronic health issues.To understand why, we need to introduce you two areas of the brain, the hypothalamus and the pituitary glands. [3]

The Hypothalamus

The hypothalamus is part of the HPA axis, which consists of the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands. These glands all work together and rely on one another. When one is malfunctioning, all are compromised and our health pays the price.
   
  According to Medline Plus, the hypothalamus is an area of the brain that produces hormones that control thirst, hunger, body temperature, sleep, moods, sex drive, and the release of hormones from various glands, primarily the pituitary gland. [4] The hypothalamus regulates homeostasis in the human body. In other words, it is in charge of making sure that everything in our bodies is always in balance, no matter what state we are in. It plays the key role in numerous functions and is a major link to the endocrine (hormone) and nervous systems. Damage to this structure results in disturbances in the production and regulation of our hormones, and can have a negative yet, initially, subtle effect on our health.

One of the primary results of damage to the hypothalamus is sleep disturbance. A majority of sleep disorders have been associated with all degrees of brain injury, including trouble falling/staying asleep, non-restorative sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness. [5] All of these can be symptomatic of chronic conditions as well, and the correlation should not be overlooked. With this in mind, one example of a head injury possibly leading to a chronic condition would be Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

The Pituitary

Since the hypothalamus secretes hormones to stimulate hormone release from the pituitary gland, it is not surprising that functions related to this gland are negatively affected by a brain injury as well. The full impact of brain trauma on the pituitary gland has been under-identified and under-researched until rather recently, but it has now been fairly well established. [2,6]

The reason that the pituitary gland can adversely affect health is that it controls growth hormones and thyroid hormones and can lead to deficiencies in both. These kinds of deficiencies are indicative of what is called hypopituitarism. Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) can result in significant alterations in body composition, decreased muscular strength, low exercise capacity, and diminished bone mineral content, as well as impairments in the sense of well-being and quality of life. Thyroid hormone deficiencies are referred to as hypothyroidism [2] and can drain a sufferer of energy and well-being, as well as cause more serious chronic conditions.

The Adrenals

Since the hypothalamus and pituitary glands control the adrenal glands, it is also important to look at how insufficiencies in these can contribute to chronic illness. The adrenal glands sit atop the kidneys and are chiefly responsible for regulating the body’s stress response. They do this by secreting cortisol and adrenaline, or in other words, by stimulating ourfight or flight response. When these glands are malfunctioning there are many things that can be negatively affected. [3]

One of the chronic conditions associated with adrenal insufficiency is Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome, which is characterized by the decreased ability of the adrenals to secrete the hormones that they usually do. Cortisol and adrenaline are critical to maintaining optimal health, because they respond to our bodies’ stress levels. When they are not functioning properly it can lead to immune deficiencies and more serious chronic conditions as well.

SPECT and the Amen Clinic

Probably the best way to determine whether you have experienced brain trauma is be evaluated by the Amen Clinic. The Amen Clinic uses SPECT scans (single photon emission computed tomography) to image the metabolism of the brain. Brain trauma and other brain conditions can be readily diagnosed using SPECT scans. SPECT is one of the best tools for evaluating functional deficits from head trauma that are often not seen by other studies, leading to more understanding and more effective treatments for patients. [7] While it is still somewhat expensive, your results may serve as an excellent, tangible resource.

So what can I do now?

Since the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenals control your hormone levels, it is important to get checked for hormone imbalances and to perhaps work with a specialized doctor on getting them in correct balance again. It is important to have your hormones in balance so that all the functions that your body needs to carry out are actually executed. Without every function, response or secretion, your optimal health is compromised, so don’t ignore hormonal imbalances. However, it is also very important to not self-medicate hormone imbalances, as hormones are very complicated and delicately balanced elements of your health. Having said this, there are supplements in the natural realm that can improve symptoms and aid brain recovery such as Brain Support, 5-HTP, L-Tyrosine, Activated B, and Omega-3 Fish Oil.

Also, as shown by a SPECT scan, brain trauma can lead to psychological problems as well. It is wise then to seek answers in the psychiatric arena. There are many doctors in this field that recognize the impact brain injuries can have on mental health and well-being. There are certain psychotropic drugs which are used very effectively in treating conditions like depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances and can provide more immediate relief to these unpleasant symptoms.

In Conclusion

While the occurrence of chronic conditions as a result of brain injury is not yet well recognized, the connection exists. Armed with this information we encourage to talk with your doctor or health care professional in hopes of discovering if a minor brain injury might be the cause of any ongoing chronic conditions you may be experiencing.

Cited Sources:

  1. Gilley V: Concussions serious injury, must be treated with care.
  2. Croft A: Pituitary Dysfunction After Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Dynamic Chiropractic; March 26, 2005.
  3. Bernard F, Outtrim J, Menon D, Matta B: Incidence of adrenal insufficiency after severe traumatic brain injury varies according to definition used: clinical implications. British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2006 96(1):72-76.
  4. Hurd R: Hypothalamus. Medlin Plus Medical Encyclopedia, last updated April 26, 2007.
  5. Drake A, Bradshaw D: Sleep Disturbances Following Traumatic Brain Injury. Defense and Veterans Head Injury Program, 1999 3(4).
  6. Acerini C, Tasker R, Bellone S, et al: Hypopituitarism in childhood and adolescence following traumatic brain injury: the case for prospective endocrine investigation. European Journal of Endocrinology, 2006; 155(5):663-669.
  7. Abdel-Dayem HM et al: SPECT Brain Perfusion Findings in Mild or Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury. Alasbimn Journal, 2000 2(6):Article Nº AJ06-3.

Related Information:

Military Brain Trauma is Big Problem

This article in the Toronto Star uncovers the problem of mild brain trauma in the military. Because of better body armor, soldiers are surviving explosions that might have killed them before. Even soldiers a fair distance away from an explosion can experience brain trauma. This brain injury and the symptoms caused by it often don't show up till sometime after the injury. The connection is then often missed when the soldier later experiences neurological or psychological problems.  

Those who are worst hit may lose consciousness, or suffer seizures and convulsions. Moderately affected troops may experience vomiting, numbness in the arms and legs, and nausea.

But mild brain injuries can cause memory loss, sleep disturbances, confusion, dizziness and blurred vision – symptoms that zealous soldiers or their superiors might shrug off as unimportant. They may also be classified as psychological.

"Events that cause head injury are the same ones that cause post-traumatic stress disorder. And some people have components of both," says Jaffin. In moderate as well as severe cases, the brain's attempts to heal itself can cause epilepsy, as it "miswires" neural circuits. In other cases, victims suffer personality changes that make them unable to lead a normal life."

"The challenge is to find out about those who are further from the centre of the explosion," he says. "A blast wave hits and a soldier may be knocked unconscious for two seconds. Then he gets up and says `I feel great.' Even a CAT scan may be negative. But the question is, will he develop a problem in the future?"

 
 

If this is true in the military, think about the number of people involved in a car accident. Or those who have played football and received a mild concussion? Since writing about my own discovery regarding a brain injury from a car accident 34 years ago, I have found myself asking people who have been chronically ill, "have you ever been in a car accident?" It astounds me the number who say yes. This is not proof and requires better research but it sure makes a lot of sense for people who have been "sick" for a long period of time to ask themselves, "Did my symptoms start sometime shortly after a car accident?" Or sports injury?

Brain Injury is Common

I have written often here about my own injury due to brain trauma from an automobile accident 34 years ago.

Here is an article regarding brain injury in Ireland. The article states that in Ireland it is believed that as many as 10,000 people every year sustain injury to the brain. Usually the injuries are due to cycling falls without having a helmet.

If that many people are being injured in Ireland, imagine how many are injured in the US. Cycling, car accidents, serious falls, sports injuries can all cause trauma to the brain. Symptoms can show up as late as a few months after the accident. This makes diagnosis hard since doctors often don't tie the symptoms back to the accident. Symptoms can be wide since the brain controls virtually everything going on in the body. Depression, anxiety, insomnia, confusion are just a few of the symptoms that can occur in even mild brain trauma.

I find that people you are chronically ill, often report that their troubles began after an accident of some sort.

March 20, 2008 at 02:07 PM in Brain Health |

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