I have been listening to my readers and know ABUSE is rampant among people with brain injuries, chronic illnesses and the aging population.  It begins with a form of manipulation on these easily targeted vulnerable people. People not present in their lives, reappear following injury creating havoc and destruction.  Most of these people have a tendency to be manipulative and exhibit borderline and personality disorders.

brains (Photo credit: gillianchicago)

If you have someone diagnosed with Alzheimer’s they will not be believed either, but they will believe the spouse!  This diagnosis could be incorrect.  Most overly diagnosed and possibly misdiagnosed problem in healthcare, simply because there is NO confirmation until death if a biopsy is not performed.  Otherwise, there is NO proof of a correct diagnoses or problem. Alzheimer’s can only be confirmed as a diagnoses upon death with biopsy.  If there is no justification to prevent a brain biopsy, I will personally advocate that the families need proper answers.

Alzheimer’s unit is typically a locked unit specific for Alzheimer’s and other patients displaying similar behaviors, all related to some form of brain dysfunction. These locked units are to keep the patients with these problems safe.

I suggest everyone with a loved one diagnosed with Alzheimer’s have a brain biopsy upon death.  It’s a condition that needs immense amount of research, and that can’t be done without the proper tools.  Autopsy and brain biopsy is the only thing that clearly determines the cause of death.  In some states autopsy is mandatory, others not.

That brings me to mention some facts and something to think about when it comes to your loved one and treatment they receive, especially traumatic brain injury, aging population and chronic illness.

First, anyone off work with a brain injury would rather be working.  So, it does no good to feel as though they have all the time and energy in the world to accomplish tasks and be used by others.

It’s easier to hold a daily job work overtime hours, volunteer with community work, research projects, go to college for graduate studies, married, raising children all simultaneously then to deal with brain injury.  Brain injury simply sucks!  I’m not going to sugarcoat this because there are millions dealing with traumatic brain injury!

If it weren’t for my personal inner strength, perseverance, life experiences, determination, power of prayer, support, humor and laughter, I don’t know how I would have survived.  It’s not an easy journey.  It’s more then just brain dysfunction.  It’s dealing with the conflicts in healthcare, insurance, financial, politics, society, family, friends, along with daily challenges of daily living and learning who you are after injury.  There’s no easy road out.

As fortunate as I’ve been because of my strengths in life, I realize others don’t have all that.  It’s been a horrendous fight.  I’d be doing a disservice to millions by acting as though this is easy.  It’s not … there is always hope.  Hope is difficult when the clarity of thought is clouded by injury.  Please help those dealing with brain injury, chronicillness, aging.  They need your help, not your critical comments.  Help not war!  

Brain injuries don’t end with Afghan drawdown (Photo credit: Army Medicine)

I know these are common issues with those who deal with brain injury, chronic illness, aging and other problems.  Traumatic brain injury is a “life sentence” for the survivor and those who support and love the individual.  In most cases, friends and family distant themselves as time goes on.

In many cases, there is NO support from the start for diversified reasons including ignorance and lack of knowledge. I’m not implying these are not intelligent people.  In my case I am surrounded by extremely intelligent people who just don’t get it because they don’t have to live with it!

Since they don’t see it, feel it, live it, that keeps them in a constant state of denial and lack the ability to help others.  If you can’t see the problem, you can’t help the problem.  They simply can’t reach outside of themselves.   Helping others is an innate ability, and many do not naturally possess this ability many take for granted.

An invisible injury is devastating and there are always people that manipulate the vulnerable. Step outside your own problems and help those dealing with this life-sentence of traumatic brain injury.  These people need your help.

They are everywhere you go.  They are NOT stupid.  They are NOT lazy.  They are NOT crazy.  They are NOT criminals (some are in jail because the system has failed them).  They have damaged brains. They can live good lives with help. 

Healing can take a few days to years to an entire lifetime.  We don’t know enough about the brain, but want to give HOPE for those that follow in the footsteps.  This was not something we enlisted for, it’s something that happens.  

If we could speed recovery we would.  That’s why we are desperately continuing to look for treatment and search for resolution.  It has nothing to do with “doctor-shopping”, “malingering”, “milking-it”, “hypochondria”, “faking-it”, “conversion-reaction” or any other negative terms used.

It’s the desperation we are feeling to improve, and the former self pushing us in that direction to find answers, and cause and effect.  If we don’t do that, no one else will.  We need to reach out, so others hear and learn from our experiences.  Collectively, our symptoms and solutions to problems will someday help others with brain dysfunction.

If you know someone with any type of health issue ask “How can I help you?”  You might find the simplest things in life are big things to others.  You might perceive them as meaningless. You will find these big things to survivors are really easy ways to help those dealing with problems.  Your help will be graciously received.

I’ve written this post to better understand some background.  It will never justify what happened in 2007 that specifically interfered with my healthcare and would normally be considered a criminal act.  I will be posting in the future.

Related articles

• Drug blocks damage that follows brain injury (futurity.org)
• Resources for those with traumatic brain injuries (dvidshub.net)
• Brain injury timeout (utsandiego.com)