Posted on 03/01/2019 2:11:48 AM PST by RoosterRedux
Collins was three months shy of seven years old when surgeons sliced open his skull and removed a third of his brain’s right hemisphere. For two years prior, a benign tumor had been growing in the back of his brain, eventually reaching the size of a golf ball. The tumor caused a series of disruptive seizures that gave him migraines and kept him from school.
...
Surgeons cut out the entire right occipital lobe and half of the temporal lobe of Collins’ brain. Those lobes are important for processing the information that passes through our eyes’ optic nerves, allowing us to see. These regions are also critical for recognizing faces and objects and attaching corresponding names. There was no way of being sure whether Collins would ever see again, recognize his parents, or even develop normally after the surgery.
And then the miraculous happened: Despite the loss of more than 15 percent of his brain, Collins turned out to be fine.
...
“We’re looking at the entire remapping of the function of one hemisphere onto the other,” says Marlene Behrmann, a cognitive neuroscientist at Carnegie Mellon University who has been examining Collins’ brain for more than five years.
What happened to Collins is a remarkable example of neuroplasticity: the ability of the brain to reorganize, create new connections, and even heal itself after injury. Neuroplasticity allows the brain to strengthen or even recreate connections between brain cells—the pathways that help us learn a foreign language, for instance, or how to ride a bike. And then the miraculous happened: Despite the loss of more than 15 percent of his brain, Collins turned out to be fine.
(Excerpt) Read more at onezero.medium.com ...
Severe head injury over 12 years ago now, I think.
Long proven that the 2 year window that doctors give for any healing to happen is utterly and completely wrong.
Did’t start sleeping more than 2 hours at a time until the 5th year. BTW, the sleep-wake cycle is incredibly complex, i didn’t know until i read about it to understand what was wrong. I NEVER thought i would sleep 7 hours again. But the Brain FIGURES OUT A WAY.
Relations with wife weren’t possible until after 4 years (we’re all adults here :) ) Which means some part of the limbic system either rewired or repaired, I’m guessing.
Surreal feeling like left side of head was going to just fall off took 6 years to go away.
Took 4 years to get typing from 19 wpm back to 100wpm.
What is the HARD part about a brain injury is the headaches, and the tremors, and the pain elsewhere, and the night terrors occasionally...all caused by DAMAGED cells and Scientists ARE working now to SHUT THOSE DOWN so the suffering they cause ends.
The money to house and feed and educate illegals could partially go towards finding answers and finding them faster for or 100,000 brain injured vets who are living, along with their families, a lifetime of hell.
and many of their injuries make mine look like a walk in the park.
BTW, I was on SSDI for SIX years and it was All Healing time. The last few years on it towards the end weren’t because I liked living off of 2600 dollars a month (SSDI max) compared to what I was making before that.
I am thankful it was there, but I would guesstimate 30 percent don’t belong on it.
Working, I think, 6 years now. Memory isn’t what it was because before all this i wouldn’t be unsure of how long I was working somewhere!
But I will take what God gave me back!!
It has been known for decades that removal of even large parts of the brain at an early age just redirect the function of what would have mapped to that region to other locations. It’s called “Plasticity”. Which is why they do the surgery. Interesting but not new knowledge.
Once a very young person has aged beyond a certain threshold for “Plasticity” it is gone. I am convinced that a severe concussion can disrupt the hypothalamic pituitary axis and produce all the symptoms you describe. Since many of these functions are not strictly “neuronal” but rather “micro hormonal” there probably is some recovery and even at lower levels receptor supersensitivty may actually result in fairly normal function. Just guessing. But in the sense of “healing” the Central Nervous System is extremely limited in what it can do.
No actually what you said meshes well with what I have read. I just never put it all together.
You are right about the hypothalamus. Damage to it and/or brain stem cause SO MUCH Grief :(
But you seem to have intricate knowledge of the brain and hormones.
Doctor? Scientist? Jut curious.
Since we’re adults here, I take Wellbutrin for several reasons, though it is mainly an antidepressant.
But without it, I feel nothing during the end result of sex. Nothing. With Wellbutrin, it feels like it did before the injury.
It is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor which is why it has that effect, the doctor says.
So I guess I am lacking in dopamine production? Any ideas there?
It is also called the poor man’s cocaine for the same reason. Though I’ve never known anyone to abuse it.
I’ve read somewhere that Pasteur lost a third of his brain function from stroke, but did some of his most useful work after that (not quite the same as losing it, but still, the brain is capable of a lot more than we think).
As well, the brain functions may not be entirely restricted to the gray matter, but use the fluids between the cells, as well (almost another brain).
I know when I quit drinking, I had a lot of headaches and foggy-headedness. I read somewhere that the headaches, etc. were the result of the brain's getting used to being normal and healthy again...neurotransmitters getting used to releasing serotonin and other good chemicals when THEY thought the time was right, instead of me forcing their release with alcohol.
As the headaches went away, my mood just got better and better...all on its own. And my thinking got clearer and memory better.
Funny how the brain has all these healing powers.
I did a residency in Neurosurgery. 12 months in two different Pediatric Hospitals.
Dopamine is involved intimately with certain functions of the hypothalamic pituitary axis. In fact Dopamine is the release agent for regulating Oxytocin. Which could very well be involved in what you describe.
Leftards are living proof that a functioning brain is not as important as everyone says it is...
Neuroplasticity - is actually not just the “remapping” of neural connections in the brain, it is the way the brain works. The brain’s functions are “plastic” - able to change.
From the beginning, the brain is “programmed” by the tasks we demand of it. Yes, it’s chemistry writes the code in the brains own “language”, but our tasks - what we ask the brain to do for us - are the assignments the brain is given.
That makes the brain in some ways like a muscle - it as good as the exercise you give it. Almost any concerted exercise directed towards or using a muscle can improve it. Almost any “thinking” skill the brain is tasked with can improve by demanding it keep trying to do that skill better.
Education is one fourth the teachers and three fourths the student.
A brain is a horrible thing to waste, because it has much more skill than most people ask of it.
Current theory is we use 10% of our brain. Those with higher IQ’s probably use more.
Just wish there was a way we could shut down the Intractable Pain cycle.
I’ve been on 16 Neuropathy meds, 14 had bad side effects 15th just didn’t work over the last 30 yrs. Valium at 10 mg twice a day for 11 yrs now has been the only thing that has worked. Takes care of the Fibromyalgia, P. Neuropathy, Gastropresis, Meniere’s and PAIN Seizures when the GP goes into spasm. It should be used as the individual patient needs it, FDA limiting to 20 mg a day doesn’t cover a full 24 hrs.
The theory we only use 10% of our brains is wrong. At least a third of the cortex is used for vision alone.
This doesn't always work. Idiot Joe Biden had a chunk of his brain cut out back in 1988 after an aneurysm and Doctors told him he had "less than a 50% chance of being completely normal", and guess what? They were right!
I seriously doubt that under Nuclear Weapons System Safety Rules that he would be allowed to handle nuclear weapons under any circumstances, yet he was Hussein 0bama's VP and now wants to be Commander in Chief.
Prayers for continued healing.
Thank you for your service.
Thank you and though I am a YUGE supporter of our vets because i know what the injury is like, I am NOT a vet.
Would NEVER let that go unanswered and take away from the real heroes.
Honest, until I got sick I had a “well you signed up for the military, so of course there was a chance you could get hurt” attitude.
What a jerk I was!
Brain injury SUCKS an I will do WHATEVER I can to help our injured vets while I am breathing.
They deserve no less.
“Current theory is we use 10% of our brain. Those with higher IQ’s probably use more.”
I think with the right kind of education, everyone could score higher on IQ tests. Most people don’t use all of their brain power that they could use, because they don’t demand enough from the brain, because they don’t like the learning process that helps the brain get “stronger”??, “better”??, “more agile???, “smarter”??.
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