Brain Injury Blog

Billy Mays found dead the next morning. The day before, Billy Mays had sustained what appeared to be a bang on the head during a plane flight he flew in on. Furthermore, after landing Billy even joked with reporters about his bang on the head experience that flight. According to his wife he told her he wasn’t feeling well when he went to bed later on that same night. Next morning, Billy was in bed and deceased, he was only 50 years old. What happened to Billy is the question. According to speculations, he most likely suffered a epidural hemorrhage; meaning he suffered a

What is an Epidural Hemorrhage; As per WebMD, A Epidural hemorrhage (EDH) is an easily treated form of head injury that is often associated with a good prognosis. In rare instances, such hemorrhages can be spontaneous. Advances in contemporary CT imaging have made confirmation of an EDH diagnosis rapid and accurate. When someone has bleeding between the skull and the brain, it basically presses on the brain, and if it presses enough… it can cause substantial damage and even death,” Dr. Flanagan said. “And presumably that’s what probably happened to Natasha Richardson, but again, he was speculating.”

People shouldn’t panic over the simplest bump on the head; however it should serve to inform people of the potential outcome and to use caution when suffering a painful head injury.

Symptoms of an epidural hemorrhage include:

Headache, Loss of consciousness, Weakness on one side of the body, A change in mental status.

Problem

EDH occurs in the potential space between the dura and the cranium. Epi is Greek for over or upon. An EDH can also be referred to as extradural (outside of the dura). EDH results from interruption of dural vessels, including branches of the middle meningeal arteries, veins, dural venous sinuses, and skull vessels. Continued bleeding and growth can result in intracranial hypertension.

Etiology

Trauma is the typical cause of EDH. The trauma frequently is a blunt impact to the head from an assault, fall, or other accident. Dystocia, forceps delivery, and excessive skull moulding through the birth canal have been implicated in EDH in newborns.

Presentation

Most epidural hematomas are traumatic in origin, often involving a blunt impact to the head. Patients may have external evidence of head injuries such as scalp lacerations, cephalohematoma, or contusions. Systemic injuries may also be present. Depending on the force of impact, patients may present with no loss of consciousness, brief loss of consciousness, or prolonged loss of consciousness.

As per Dr. Steven Flanagan, Director of Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University Hospital, he called it the “talk and die syndrome” when he previously spoke on Natasha Richardson’s death. What this implies is that someone hits their head and they are seemingly ok initially he previously stated. But then they get a rapid collection of blood – usually called epidural hemorrhage scenario.

Welcome too “The Living Series”

Life after a Brain Injury for family and caregivers! This series will introduce a close look at real life concerns and scenarios faced by families. We acknowledge that each family’s scenario and circumstances are unique.

Part 1 - General Info

Life after Brain Injury

Part 2 – Family & the Individual

The person we once knew

Part 3 – The Impact on Family

The Changes & Challenges

Part 4 – A Deeper Look Inside

The Many Thoughts of Loved Ones

Part 5 – The Experiences

Considerations & Understanding

Part 6 – These Realities Exists

Imagine Living with Someone…

Part 7 – Coping With Family

Imagine Living with;

Part 8 – Helpful Tips

Some helpful information

To read more, click on the link provided below;

http://www.braininjuryforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=91&sid=982a1d132fb5ed77b5b09eefaf28d074

Life after Brain Injury

A Brain Injury is life altering.

Brain Injuries manifest themselves in individualized ways.

A significant impact of a brain injury is to the person who is injured and there family and friends.

A Brain Injury can alter a person’s life, and have far reaching and life-long consequences.

A Brain Injury has dramatically varied effects and no two people can expect the same outcome or resulting difficulties.

When the brain sustains injury and becomes damaged, some other parts of a person’s life will also be adversely affected.

As published in today’s healthzone.ca

Kim Johnson was driving on the wide roads of Mississauga with her 14-year-old daughter when a sports car coming from the opposite direction drove over the median, hit her Honda Civic, and spun it off the road and into a nearby parking lot.

To read more about Kim Johnson’s personal story, click on the link provided below;

http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/653020

Source: Healthzone.ca – June 18, 2009 by Kyle G. Brown, A Toronto freelance journalist. 

.

June 6, 2009

According to an article published in The Hindu News, India recently conducted their first stem cell transplant on a 27 year old woman who suffered a severe disability….

To read more, click on the link below;

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/099200906062021.htm

.

June 3, 2009 

UPDATE as we follow Ian’s journey….

VIA Rail Train Trip – Ian’s scheduled to arrive in Saskatoon Thursday June 4^th 2009 at 7:30AM

 To quickly connect and follow Ian’s progress, click on the link below; http://twitter.com/IanW_Young

Under the Helmet ….

According to a recent article posted on the Brain Injury Association of Canada website, A new helmet has been designed to better protect football players from a variety of head injuries.

To learn more, click on the following links below;

http://biac-aclc.ca/en/2009/06/03/under-the-helmet-a-new-helmet-has-been-designed-to-better-protect-football-players-from-a-variety-of-head-injuries/

 Watch the recent Video Announcement at;   http://www.atv.ca/ottawa/news_66275.aspx

U.S. Military studies shed light on brain injuries from blasts

Scientists also found that brain damage from an improvised explosive device (IED) can be made worse for those riding inside an armored Humvee because materials in the vehicle magnify the blast wave effect, Ling says.

Up to 360,000 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may have suffered brain injuries, the Pentagon announced last month. Many of those injuries are from IED blasts, and about 90% are so-called mild cases where recovery is expected.

An estimated 45,000 to 90,000 victims, however, suffer persistent symptoms such as memory loss, lack of balance and problem-solving difficulties.

“This really sheds light where there was none,” says Army Col. Mike Jaffee, director of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center. “I think it’s extraordinarily important. It’s some of the first research and findings that help to illustrate … the evolution of” traumatic brain injury (TBI).

During an 11-month period of research ending in December, scientists wrapped pigs in body armor and placed them in a Humvee simulator, in open fields and in a closed room and subjected them to varying degrees of explosions at a research laboratory in a location researchers declined to disclose. Pigs were used because their brains are structured much like the human brain, Ling says. Rats were also part of the study that has cost about $10 million so far.

Some key preliminary findings from the studies:

•A blast can injure the brain even without shrapnel or a victim being knocked down. The power of the explosion in the first fraction of a second — known as the primary blast effect — can damage or destroy brain cells in ways conventional imaging devices cannot see.

•The brain can tolerate low levels of blast, measured in pounds-per-square-inch. At a certain pressure level Ling would not disclose, brain cells become inflamed. At higher levels, cell death begins, Ling says.

•Brain cell inflammation occurs in mild TBI cases, he says. It caused balance and coordination problems in pigs, but healed in hours or weeks depending on the blast severity, Ling says. “It’s probably what a lot of the guys (in combat) are getting,” Ling says. “Shaken up a little bit, but they recover quickly. No surprise. That’s the natural order of the disease.”

•In the most severe of these mild cases, the inflammation can damage areas of the brain that have been associated with the later onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, Ling says. No connection between the blasts and these later diseases has been proved, he cautions.

•Research will continue to determine whether basic off-the-counter drugs such as Motrin can help reduce the inflammation, Ling says, which could help treat troops suffering mild TBI on the battlefield. “That would be awesome,” he says.

•As scientists learn more about how much blast can cause brain cell inflammation or worse, they may use helmet sensors to alert medics when a soldier needs a break from combat to heal a mild brain injury, Ling says. That would help scientists diagnose or identify the soldiers who are most at risk, he says.

•Unlike a blow to the head, where damage occurs at the point of impact, blast damage radiates across the brain, although it’s heaviest on the side facing the explosion, Ling says.