Traumatic Brain Injury

How do I talk about it?

Brain injury can be an isolating and disorienting experience. It can be very hard to express what you are going through, even to your doctor. Brain injury can rearrange the neurons that collectively create your sense of self and your experience of life.

Sometimes an image can help others understand the effects of brain injury. Here are two examples other people with Brain Injuries have used:

“It is like a freeway after an earthquake. Bridges are down and there are traffic jams all over. Brain signals take longer to get where they belong and sometimes they just can’t get there.”

The “networking system” of your brain has been affected. Much like a road system after an earthquake, connections have been disrupted. Some will be gone altogether and your brain will have to find “alternate routes”. Others will take time and energy to repair. Like trying to drive across town when roads are blocked, your trip will take longer and use more gas. This is what the brain goes through after an injury. Your ability to take in information, process it and express yourself may have been changed. Like life immediately after an earthquake, things are in disarray, frustration is high, tolerance is low and fatigue colors every experience.

“It is like having a slow internet connection or a computer that loses one of its memory chips. Some complex programs just aren’t going to work well. Others will take a long time to load. You probably won’t be able to run two programs at once. And sometimes you just have to step away from the keyboard and try again another time.”

When it is injured, the brain has to work harder. It needs more fuel, more rest and needs to have less demand put on it. You can’t upgrade it, so you have to ask less of it.

For the brain this means:

• Do one task at a time
• Avoid distractions
• Be well rested and well fed
• Write things down
• Do things step-by-step
• Review what you do as you do it
• Know when you have done enough

Others who have had brain injuries have said:

“I’m not the same person I was. People tell me I have changed.”

“The world is a totally new place for me. I don’t get jokes anymore. I know that I knew certain words, but I can’t find them anymore. I had a great vocabulary, but it’s gone. ”

“I just can’t get organized anymore. I forget appointments. Thank God the dog tells me when he needs to be fed or I’d forget!”

“It’s like one day I woke up to someone else’s life. I want my old life back.”

It is good to know that, as your brain heals, things do get better. There are a lot of people that understand what you are going through. With support and understanding it can be much easier to navigate life’s journey and find your place in the world again.

Next: Tips for living well with a brain injury >

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