I am a member of the Brain Tumor Listserve and have known the Director, Samantha Scolamiero, for over 15 years. In fact, many years ago, I was the keynote speaker at one of the Brain Tumor conferences. While reading one of the many correspondences on the Brain Tumor Listserve, I read the following written by Samantha that I believe is true and wanted to share it with you.
FEAR – False, Evidence, Appearing Real
~ Dr. Diane ~
I recently received an E-mail asking about a possible relationship and marriage from someone with a TBI and its affect upon the relationship.
What I wrote back was the following: How TBI affects someone is determined, in most cases, by gender, age of injury, family background and coping ability. Women, who tend to be self-reliant, handle TBI better than men, who look to someone to nurture them. I can state this from all the various support groups I have interviewed and discussed this issue. Women seem have a better support system. We are mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts and tend to be in social networks. Women tend to share their feelings with other women, while most men talk about the subject or activity, such as golf, baseball, work and rarely share their feelings with each other. The exception to this is ethnic or blue collar workers who may hang out at social clubs or pubs. If the injury is early in life, he may not feel the loss of his self as much as in later life. The worst time to have a TBI is during the teen period, when your identity has not been developed. Does he have a supportive family and how does he cope with stress and daily living also is a major factor.
The good news is he can recover, even after all these years. The work and the integrative program we have put together that involves, nutrition, exercise, cognitive, audio, visual, emotional, trauma and brain training has brought people back from the extreme of having no memory and locked-in syndrome to going back to college. What is great about the program is that the man you’re dating can speak with the patients who have improved and hear it from them. The key to recovery is that he wants to recover and is willing to follow the program, which at times is very restrictive, especially the diet.
This means doing daily neurofeedback, watching your diet, exercise, daily planners, etc., yet, he can return to a normal life. I have and recently had another concussion and back working. This is # 4 TBI plus a stroke, plus Lyme disease.
~ Dr. Diane~
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (6 to 8 oz. each)
1 ½ tsp salt, divided
1 tsp lemon juice
1 ½ cups plain yogurt
1 TBLS Dijon mustard
2 cups pecans, finely chopped
1 cup bread crumbs
Olive oil for sautéing
PREPARATION
Use a mallet to pound chicken breasts into uniform ½ inch thickness.
Cut each breast into 2 or 3 pieces for manageability.
Combine lemon juice, yogurt, mustard, and ½ tsp salt in a bowl and set aside.
Put chicken pieces in mixture and let sit for about 10 minutes.
Combine pecans, crumbs, and 1 tsp salt in a bowl and set aside.
Heat about 1 TBLS olive oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Wipe excess yogurt off chicken and dredge in pecan mixture. When oil is hot, add chicken pieces to pan and cook about 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown on the outside and cooked through. You may need to do it in batches, in which case you should wipe the pan out between batches and add a bit more oil.
Serve immediately.
Brain Healthy:
Lean Protein: Eating protein prompts the brain to manufacture norepinephrine and dopamine, neurochemicals that promote brain alertness and keep you energized.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Omega-3s have been shown to stave off dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. These essential nutrients are found in coldwater fish like salmon, tuna, trout, anchovies, and halibut, as well as other foods like walnuts, pecans, almonds, flaxseed, kiwi fruits and eggs.
The chicken and yogurt provide lean protein, while the pecans give you a crisp, tasty crust with an Omega-3 boost.
As you know, since Feb 28th when there was a major power outage, I’ve had just a “Tad”–30 hours of dealing with the consequences of the impact to my “Internet Router” and Computer system. Meanwhile, the main office computer has been shutting down for no apparent reason.
I never thought it had anything to do with the power outage. Well, last Thursday, once again the computer just shut down in the middle of a document. When I heard the cry for help!! I realized it was time to find a NEW person to fix my computer. Now it is interesting that very day I was looking through my mail to find an advertisement from “The Computer Shrinks,” I thought from one shrink to another. I needed help and hoped for the best. I called for help and Jim, from The Computer Shrinks, was at my door within hours only to diagnose that the Brain Injury doctor’s computer had “Memory Problems.” What is the irony about this? Now I knew I had at least 2 gig of memory in the computer, however, the power outage had corrupted the memory chips. I couldn’t believe it! My computer had a trauma that caused it to have a memory problem. So, Jim went to the computer store and bought new memory chips and the computer is working fine. Wouldn’t be great if we could go to a brain store and get new memory chips? I could dream!! Well, the neurofeedback we do is almost like getting new memory chips. Thank goodness for the plasticity of the brain. With the correct diet, exercise, restorative sleep and some neurofeedback, it is like getting new memory chips….just not as quick!
~ Dr. Diane ~
Each valley of life has great mountains around
with sharp peaks and deep chasms throughout
And it takes much thought and strength and time
to sort them carefully out.
For some require a long tough climb
with brave guides and special gear;
And some aren’t even worth a look,
We build them ourselves – with fear…
We start with molehills….more little things –
Those tough bumps in life we find
Frustrations, failures, anger,
Create the Mt. Everests of our mind.
There’s always one that looked too high
It’s walls too sheer to scale;
Which caused us backward painful falls…
So may tries that failed.
Then think back again and remember well
What exuberant joy! What pride!
As you stopped and turned and thumbed your nose-
Climbing down the OTHER side!!!
But, there comes a time as we sort our gear,
And know though we’re out on our own…
That it takes more courage to ask for help
Than admit when we can’t climb alone.
Perhaps keeping score of mountains gone
Those conquered, dissolved with no trace…
Would help us prepare for those times we know
There’ll be tougher times we must face.
A hand reached out to hold the rope
So that someone else won’t fall…
You see you’ve scaled another one…
Without ever climbing at all!!
Then add a list of mountains still there
“equipment at fault we could say”
Who says we have to climb each one
Just because their in our way???
Perhaps just knowing when to wait,
Or finding another range,
Or settling in a new valley instead,
And waiting for weather to change.
How boring and plain all our valleys would be
If God hadn’t put into His plan
To place a few mountains – so tall, in our path
To challenge the courage of man.
~ Linda Whitney, 1984 ~
1 cup milk
1 TBLS honey (adjust to taste)
½ tsp cinnamon
½ cup dry quinoa, rinsed and drained
¾ cup unsweetened dried blueberries
(or 1 cup fresh blueberries)
¼ cup chopped nuts like almonds, hazelnuts
or pecans
In a small saucepan, stir milk, honey, and cinnamon together. Add quinoa and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Reduce heat to low, cover the saucepan, and let the mixture simmer for 12-15 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat.
Gently stir in dried blueberries and cover the pan again. Let stand 5 minutes, covered.
Stir quinoa, then remove to bowls and sprinkle with nuts.
SERVES 2
Cinnamon has been shown to boost brain power. Studies indicate that even the smell of cinnamon can help people perform better on attention and memory tasks.
Good sources of flavanols include citrus fruits, grapes, dark chocolate, blueberries and green tea. MRI studies have demonstrated that flavanol consumption improves blood and oxygen flow to the brain.
Good sources of lean protein include low fat milk and yogurt. Eating protein prompts the brain to manufacture norepinephrine and dopamine, neurochemicals that promote brain alertness and keep you energized.
Omega-3s have been shown to stave off dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. These essential nutrients are found in coldwater fish like salmon, tuna, trout, as well as other foods such as walnuts, pecans, almonds, flaxseed, kiwi fruits, and eggs.
If you recall, on March 19th, I spent 8 hours working on my NEW internet router only to find that the direct connect was working, not the wireless. Hence, on Monday March 22nd, I phoned Verizon and informed them that they were going to fix this problem. They did call back the same day to let me know that the firmware in the router I received and installed with Jason on the 19th was an older version and thus, they would be sending a service person out on Wednesday, March 24th with a newer version.
Did I mention how much down time we had in my office between the router, dropped mappings, the 2 Trojan Virus’s and now another new router? Well, last Wednesday, the Verizon service man came and installed the new router, which took from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., only to find out that all the mappings had been dropped again. To fix the mapping….I’m now becoming an expert at this…it took another 2 hours. I just can’t imagine all the new brain connections I’ve must have made since the power went out on February 28th!!
~ Dr. Diane ~
A delicious way to serve Strawberries in just 10 Minutes!
3 TBS low-fat vanilla or soy yogurt
3 TBS organic cocoa
3 TBS maple syrup
1 Pint Strawberries
1. Whisk yogurt, cocoa and maple syrup in a small bowl. If your cocoa has lumps, sift it through a strainer before mixing with the other ingredients.
2. Place mixture in 2 small sauce cups on a plate and arrange the Strawberries around the cups.
3. Dip Strawberries into the chocolate creme and enjoy!
PREPARATION HINT: The taste of this recipe will vary depending upon the brand of yogurt used. A creamy, custard-type yogurt works best.
Serves 2
PROMOTE BRAIN HEALTH
Researchers have found that Strawberries help protect the brain from oxidative stress and may reduce the effects of age-related declines in brain function. Researchers found that feeding aging laboratory animals Strawberry-rich diets significantly improved both their learning capacity and motor skills.
One of the biggest complaints all of my patients report in regards to their diagnosis is how doctors never communicate with one another. I have a patient who has a primary care physician (PCP) and also sees a neurologist, oncologist, endocrinologist, psychiatrist and me. Depending on the symptoms, she is referred by her PCP to any one of these doctors. She reported that whenever she goes to her PCP, or any one of her specialists, no one knows what the other doctor is doing or what medications she has been prescribed.
Feeling her frustration because this was the life I lived for over 7 years during my initial recovery, I am extremely sensitive to this dilemma. Thus, part of my work with all of my patients, is to get on the phone and obtain all the patients’ medical records along with speaking with all of the various doctors.
In my practice, we have one set of records for all the various specialists. What I can’t understand is, with all the new technology available, why there can’t be a set of records for each person, somewhere in cyberspace, where each doctor can enter their own information and progress notes, where all the other clinicians could obtain and read (with the patients permission of course), thus eliminating the sending of records or possible miscommunication. This info would be in a typed format so everyone, including the patient, could read it clearly. Thus, the patient would always have access to the files as would her treating doctors.
Let me know what you think.
~ Dr. Diane ~