1. You’ve had a brain injury.
A concussion is a brain injury. A mild TBI is a brain injury. You don’t need to get knocked out. You don’t need to have amnesia. If you get dazed for even a few seconds, your brain can be injured. It’s very simple and very complicated at the same time.
Our brain is “command central”of our bodies and and minds, and an injury to the brain can affect physical systems, as well as mental ones. Vision, balance, hearing, coordination, taste, touch, pain sensations, digestion, sleep/wake cycles… and more… can be screwed up by a brain injury.
So, it’s not just about what’s in your head – it’s about everything that’s connected to your brain… your whole body and whole experience as a living, breathing human being can get messed up after a concussion / brain injury.
Even a “mild” TBI can do some serious damage, if you don’t treat it properly from the start. If you don’t take time to rest and you put extra stress and strain on your system, your body and brain may not have enough time to heal, and you can end up like me – with a lot of personal and professional problems that you have to sort out later.
The connections that help your brain think and messages to the rest of your body may have gotten disconnected and necessary information isn’t getting to the right places. Think of what happens when electrical wires get frayed and don’t let enough electricity through. The toaster starts making funny noises. The vacuum cleaner just stops for no reason. The cable to your smartphone starts making sputtering noises when you’re charging.
Just like the lights get dim when there’s a brown-out, your brain is having its own brown-out.
What to do?
Stop. Just stop. You may feel like you need to keep going at top speed, or you’re driven to go-go-go, but your brain has been injured, and you need to give it a break. This is serious business, and you need to take a pause and take good care of yourself.
People around you may claim you’re “faking it” or you’re just trying to get attention, but that says more about them than you. If you skimp on recovering from your concussion / brain injury now, you may end up paying for it later. I know from experience what it’s like to pay later, and it’s no fun.
Do yourself a favor and take a breather. Just stop. Rest. On the next page you’ll find out why.
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Broken Brain - Brilliant Mind 
Reblogged this on Broken Brain – Brilliant Mind and commented:
I wish they’d told me I had a brain injury! Maybe it was because I grew up in the “dark ages” before they realized how serious concussion can be. Maybe it was because they were too scared to talk about my brain being injured — and they thought it meant I’d be “retarded”. Whatever the reason, I got hit on the head a lot… but nobody ever mentioned that I’d had a brain injury.
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