Practices to Avoid After Brain Trauma
Whether it is a simple concussion or a more complicated traumatic brain injury, one thing is sure, you have rattled and banged up your brain. No one wants to suffer from brain trauma, but life happens, and accidents are inevitable. Just do your best to recover by taking your medications and the necessary health supplements to speed up your healing. Equally important, you have to avoid certain practices to ensure you don’t exacerbate your condition. Here’s what you need to steer clear from:
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Prevent another Head Injury
This tip seems like a piece of pretty obvious advice, but it is one worth repeating. The last thing you want after a brain injury is to get another one. Dr Timothy Steel, a well-known brain and spine surgeon, shared that stacking multiple head traumas in a small span of time can escalate things. He noted that another head accident would cause a monumental inflammatory load that is toxic to the neurons in the brain, making everything more susceptible to further injury and damage.
To put it more vividly, you won’t keep running on a broken leg. Thus, follow the doctor’s orders and give your initial trauma a chance to heal so that you won’t develop plaques in your brain. These are markers of the dreaded Alzheimer’s Disease. Getting into another accident will have exponentially nasty consequences to an already grave situation.
Limit the Sugar Rush
Apart from getting diabetes and being more predisposed to cancer, sugar slows down the body’s immune system, which includes the essential cellular repair mechanisms. Dr. Timothy Steel also noted that sugar also makes you more prone to inflammation. After a head injury, the area within is inflamed. If you want to heal fast, he recommends avoiding sugar to prevent more inflammation. It would be best if you also cut it out to jump-start your body’s cellular processes to speed up your recovery. Of course, not all sugars are created equal. Stay away from the highly processed ones, but do keep healthy fruits in your diet but consume in moderation.
Avoid Excessive Noises and Bright Lights
Your neurological system is highly inflamed and extra sensitive after an injury, so it is for the best to limit stimulation. Avoid excessive EMF (electro-magnetic fields coming from your phone/tablets), loud noises, and bright lights because you are hyper-aware, and these will bother you. They can lead to massive headaches, nausea, and vomiting. Do not overload on these stimuli to give yourself a peaceful environment for a faster recovery.
Stay Away From Stress
Rest is part of a good recovery program. If you want to heal, do not add more stress to your already overloaded body. All kinds of stress are magnified after brain trauma. Since brain trauma is not visible to the naked eye, most people tend to underestimate its overreaching effects. Ask for support and delegate tasks to give you time to recover completely.
Lay Off Excessive Pain Medication
Last but not least, find the right balance between your pain and comfort. Most patients are prescribed higher doses of painkillers and anti-inflammatories after a head injury. However, some pain medications contain opiates that make you feel instantaneously good. These can be habit-forming when not used properly. For best results, follow your doctor’s prescription and only take pain meds when necessary.
Bottom Line
You need a lot of patience when recovering from a head injury because it is not something you can rush no matter how much you want instant results. The best thing to do is to follow your treatment plan and listen to your body’s cues. If you feel a light headache or you feel exhausted, take a break and rest. You will regret it if you force yourself before your body is ready. The state of your health can take one step forward, but three steps backward. Healing takes time, so do it slowly to ensure you get back in tip-top shape.