Brain Injury Blogs and Social Networks

Brain injury is the number one cause of death and disability in the world. It is also one of the most difficult medical problems to deal with since everyone’s brain is different prior to such an injury. Brain injury affects different people in different ways.

The three most common issues are memory problems, cognitive problems and behavioral problems. These lead, as you might expect, to other problems such as mental fatigue, confusion, frustration, guilt and depression.

Think about this. Who would know how much of a memory problem you have? Who would know how a memory problem has affected you? Imagine yourself sitting in a doctors office and saying, "I am having problems with my memory." The doctor asks, "What sort of problems?" Your immediate response would probably be, "I don’t know; I can’t remember." People who have sustained a brain injury face this type of situation every moment of every day.

Family members and others who are living successfully with brain injury are, perhaps, the best ones to help. Professional brain injury rehabilitation normally lasts only a few months even though the brain injury lasts a lifetime. It is very probable that a person who was intelligent before sustaining a brain injury is equally intelligent after such an injury. Cognitive problems, though, cause the person to think more slowly because the brain in processing information more slowly. Thus, when taking a timed IQ test, such a person will inevitably score lower.

Many brain injury survivors see themselves on a new mission in life: to help others who are living with brain injury. There are many, many blogs and social sites dedicated to brain injury victims and their families. Below you will find the beginning of an ever-growing list of these sites.

Brain Injury Books at Amazon

Beth’s Brain Injury Blog is maintained weekly by Beth Jameson who sustained an anoxic brain injury in August 1990. After she woke up from her medically-induced coma, Beth did not remember being married or that she had two children. She did not remember how to apply makeup nor did she know how to cook.

Beth and her husband spent months learning about brain injury, memory strategies, cognitive strategies and how to deal with her behavioral changes. She began a life of debilitating migraine headaches that hit every six days just like clockwork and forced her into bed for 48 hours each time. Returning to her job seemed like an impossible dream, and brain injury specialists told her that she might never be able to return. Strategy after strategy was developed about how to perform her job duties. She did return and, eventually, earned a promotion to Strategic Sourcing Analyst at a Fortune 500 company. Her blog receives many visitors every day.

We Are TBI is a social media site for brain injury victims and their family members. The site is similar to Facebook with different communities (groups) and the ability to add friends with whom you can interact. There are Walls to write on and many discussions where people ask questions or simply share information about brain injury legislation, research or daily living strategies.

One person said, "I have met a good bit of folks since I’ve discovered the T.B.I. sites. Everyone I’ve met has different stories; but, one thing definitely in common and that is their amazing strength to overcome adversity and come up on the other side fighting with vengence to get control again. And no matter what obstacle is thrown in their paths they just hike up their skirts or trousers and keep on truckin’!! That is darn inspiring to me."

The Brain Tree is a fairly new social media site for brain injury victims and those who support them. Pam created this site in honor of Dorothy Kay, a brain injury survivor from Kansas who now lives in New York City.

Dorothy was in her first semester of college she was walking home one evening when a drunk driver hit her with his pick-up truck. With a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) she was given a 7% chance of moderate recovery, but that did not stop her.
Since then she has graduated, worked abroad, organized international festivals, and much more. She beat the odds, but she doesn’t just want to beat them; she wants to change them.

Many more brain injury blogs, social networks and websites will be added.