Recovery Michigan

Different brain functions can be affected by brain fog, including:

• memory, which allows information to be stored and recalled
• the ability to use and understand language
• information processing, which aids understanding and focus
• visual and spatial skills used in drawing, recognizing shapes, and navigating space
• calculation abilities
• executive functioning abilities used for organization, problem-solving, and planning

If one or more of these functions is impaired, someone may have difficulty understanding, find it hard to focus or concentrate, forget things, and experience mental fatigue.

Using data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, researchers from the CDC examined emergency room visits for 43,000 kids and young adults from ages 10-24 which included a report of self-inflicted injury.

I want to get right to the results.

Doug Scott doesn’t remember. 

When he opened his eyes, he saw his Humvee was on the side of the road. The hood was crushed. His gunner was slumped over in the back. It took a few moments before it made sense. 

Roadside bomb.   

His memory trickled back. His Humvee was third in a convoy of six vehicles headed to the site of a downed helicopter. He must have been knocked unconscious by the blast and drove into the ditch.

It was the spring of 2004—a little more than a year into Operation Iraqi Freedom. Baghdad’s Sadr City was the epicenter of violent attacks by insurgent militias. Scott’s recon unit, Charlie Troop, 10th Cavalry, maintained security on a tenuous supply route through the city.

It was the first of nine improvised explosive device (IED) blasts that Scott survived before his third and last deployment to Iraq in 2009. “It shakes your guts and vibrates right through you,” he says. “Everything went black and white a couple times. It just shakes you to your core.” 

When he returned home to Pittsburgh, it soon became clear that though he had made it out alive, he wasn’t unscathed. 

Concentration was difficult. He began to have severe migraines and suffered short-term memory loss. He slept only a few hours a night. Worst of all, he frequently “zoned out,” moments when he just stood and stared, but could not remember later. 

Though certain he suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) from repeated exposure to IEDs, Scott had to fight to obtain an accurate diagnosis and health care in military and veterans health systems. 

His predicament is not uncommon among veterans who, like him, served on the frontlines in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars before 2007 when the Army began routine screening for TBIs. With no record of trauma, it’s likely that thousands had no outward physical injuries but incurred brain injuries—one of the “invisible” wounds of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. 

Just like the musical group “The Eagles” we (This Blog Community) didn’t break up.  We were just on a long vacation.

I know that I need more communication with other people with mood disorders and I suspect some of you do too.  Now that I live further away from town, it is easy to slack off on support.   Let’s support each other even more than usual.  It is the “silly” season after all.

*** This past comment from a very successful and local therapist needs to be posted again.

“This sounds like a great idea!  (Bipolar Benefit Blog)  As a therapist who works with individuals who have bipolar disorder, I know how important it is to remind these folks that there ARE benefits to having a bipolar brain – just ask the many brilliantly creative and talented people in the world who have been diagnosed – some of our greatest novelists, artists, journalists, musicians, physicians, entrepreneurs, actors/actresses, etc. The list is extensive and impressive. Managing the bipolar brain involves focusing on the many strengths and minimizing the impact of the weaknesses. Medications are a very important tool in this process, but insight, self awareness and understanding of the individual’s unique strengths and weaknesses are vital to both the bipolar individual and his/her support system of friends, family and professionals. Thanks for starting this blog – a great way to share experiences and learn from one another! AD”

Sophie is not good at guessing what people are thinking, but she understands from the way the man is staring at her that he believes she is lying. Overwhelmed, she feels weaker by the minute. She watches his lips move but does not understand what he’s saying. Ten minutes later she’s in the street, with no memory of how the interview ended. She is shaking and holding back tears. She curses herself, wondering how anyone could be so stupid and pathetic.

People with serious mental illness face many barriers over their lifetime, including stigma and discrimination, which may prevent them from securing adequate education and employment. Experiencing a mental illness can seriously interrupt a person’s education or career path and result in diminished opportunities for employment. A lack of secure employment, in turn, affects one’s ability to earn an adequate income. As a result, people may eventually drift into poverty.5

People experience economic hardship as a result of a variety of difficult life situations, such as divorce, a death in the family, loss of job, etc. The resulting loss of income may lead to poverty in other essential resources, such as housing, education, and employment. Evidence indicates that “poverty-and the material and social deprivation associated with it-is a primary cause of poor health among Canadians.”14 As a result, one’s quality of life is compromised, which has an impact on mental health. Depression and anxiety (in particular) often follow this route of stress and strain.15

A good night’s rest isn’t guaranteed for anyone, but it is downright elusive for many people with autism. Individuals on the spectrum often have trouble falling and staying asleep.

And that may worsen certain features of their condition, such as repetitive behaviors, which can, in turn, make sleeping even more difficult.

Given this disruptive feedback loop, sleep problems are among the most urgent concerns for families grappling with autism. But so far, this also happens to be among the least-studied aspects of autism.

Here’s what researchers know so far about the causes and consequences of — and treatments for — sleep problems in autism.

How common are sleep problems in children with autism?

Between 44 and 86 percent of children with autism have a serious problem with sleep1. By comparison, between 10 and 16 percent of children in the general population have difficulty sleeping. This range among people with autism may be wide because studies use different measures to study sleep.

What types of sleep problems are common in autism?

People with autism tend to have insomnia: It takes them an average of 11 minutes longer than typical people to fall asleep, and many wake up frequently during the night. Some people with the condition have sleep apnea, a condition that causes them to stop breathing several times during the night.

Take this with a grain of salt until there is more research....

https://goo.gl/WuvS59

The study — which followed more than 2,800 older adults for a decade — reveals how the brain-training intervention known as "speed-of-processing training" reduced participants' risk of dementiaby 29 percent.

The intervention was developed by Dr. Karlene Ball, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Dr. Dan Roenker, of Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, and the study results were recently published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions.

Dementia is an umbrella term for a decline in cognitive functions — such as learning, memory, and reasoning — that impairs a person's ability to perform day-to-day tasks.

The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer's disease, which accounts for around 60–80 percent of all cases.

It is estimated that dementia affects around 47 million people worldwide. By 2030, this number is projected to soar to 75 million.

A wealth of research has indicated that people may protect themselves against cognitive decline and dementia through brain training.

Scientists now know that the brain can adapt to change at any age, and that such adjustments can be either beneficial or harmful. This process is known as "neuroplasticity." Brain training aims to strengthen neural connections in a way that maintains or increases cognitive functioning.

To investigate this association further, Drs. Ball, Roenker, and colleagues launched The Advanced Cognitive Training in Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) Study, which is the largest study of cognitive training to date.

The speed-of-processing training involves a computer game called "Double Decision," wherein the user is asked to spot an object, such as a car, in the center of their gaze, while also identifying an object in their peripheral vision, such as a road sign. As the game goes on, the user is given less time to spot each object, and distractors are added to the screen to make it more challenging.

The researchers found that the incidence of dementia was highest among the control group, at 10.8 percent.

Among participants who completed at least 15 sessions of the memory and reasoning training, dementia incidence was 9.7 percent and 10.1 percent, respectively.

But subjects who completed the speed-of-processing training were found to have a significantly lower incidence of dementia, at 5.9 percent.

The team calculated that the speed-of-processing training resulted in a 29 percent reduced risk of dementia over 10 years, and that each additional training session was associated with a 10 percent lower dementia risk.

"When we examined the dose-response," notes lead study author Jerri Edwards, Ph.D., of the University of South Florida in Tampa, "we found that those who trained more received more protective benefit."

The researchers explain that speed-of-processing training has demonstrated significant benefits for cognitive function in 18 clinical trials to date. Combined with their latest results, the researchers are confident that this form of brain training can reduce the risk of dementia.