Basics of Brain Injury
Articles on neurological conditions, brain imaging techniques, and much more.
A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of your brain is interrupted or reduced, preventing brain tissue from getting oxygen and nutrients. Brain cells begin to die in minutes.
Did you know that there is a type of brain injury that is diagnosed at autopsy? This type of brain injury is chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). It is a very rare disorder that experts are still trying to understand - including how many head injuries and the severity of those injuries - and other factors that might contribute to the changes in the brain that result in CTE.
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases and is characterized by two or more unprovoked seizures due to excessive electrical discharges in brain cells. The main treatments for epilepsy are antiepileptic drugs, surgery, and ketogenic diet. The latter two are particularly for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Despite numerous studies and clinical trials done to investigate these therapies, the effectiveness, safety, and mechanisms of many therapies remain controversial and unclear. This review focuses on the effectiveness, adverse effects, and proposed mechanisms of some most commonly used treatments for epilepsy.
This week (Sep. 27, 2021 – Oct. 1, 2021) announced the Truth and Reconciliation week of indigenous communities in Canada. Voices of Brain Injury would like to shed more light on the topic of TBI in Aboriginal people and advocate for better resources in the assessment and treatment of TBI in indigenous communities.
Post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) is the time after a period of unconsciousness when the injured person is conscious and awake but is behaving or talking in a bizarre or uncharacteristic manner.
People who experienced traumatic brain injuries are in higher risk of Alzheimer’s Disease. In the study by University of Southern California, the correlation between cognitive impairment after mild TBI and patterns of Alzheimer’s was established quantitatively. Medical professionals can identify people with higher risk of Alzheimer’s and prevent it earlier.
Bipolar disorder, formerly called manic depression, is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (mania or hypomania) and lows (depression). When your mood shifts to mania or hypomania (less extreme than mania), you may feel euphoric, full of energy or unusually irritable. These mood swings can affect sleep, energy, activity, judgment, behavior and the ability to think clearly.
From Mayo Clinic
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a nervous system disease that affects neurons in the brain and spinal cord, causing loss of muscle control because the motor neurons cannot send impulses to the muscles. ALS is commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease, named after one of the greatest baseball players who was diagnosed with it. Currently, there is no cure for ALS, and the cause of it is unknown. It occurs rarely and spontaneously.