Brain Injury
I have recently read Dr. Kabran Chapeks book “Concussion Rescue”. It describes in detail what is being called a silent epidemic of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). A concussion is a form of mild brain injury, however, it doesn’t have to involve a concussion or even what would be considered a significant head injury. It may be as simple as falling off a fence or the whiplash of a motor vehicle accident.
The most common symptoms of TBI’s are headache, ringing in the ears, nausea, dizziness, confusion, light sensitivity, visual disturbance, etc. The diagnosis given after a head injury with the symptoms is post-concussive syndrome. Is that the symptoms will slowly dissipate over the course of a few months, however, that is not always the case. Statistics show that 10 to 80% of these symptoms can become chronic and there is nothing offered in conventional medicine for either the acute or chronic symptoms that come from a TBI aside from pharmaceutical “band-aid” fixes.
Dr. Chapek is a doctor at an AMEN clinic. AMEN clinics are dedicated to identifying and assisting in the recovery of traumatic brain injuries. AMEN clinics are located all across the United States and there is one just south of us in Bellevue Washington. At the AMEN clinic they focus on re-establishing proper blood flow in the brain, modulating and reducing brain inflammation, and targeted nutrients to help heal injured brain tissue.
There are many therapies recommended in, “Concussion Rescue” for the recovery of brain injury, however, mentioning them all would be beyond the scope of this article, however, I would like to mention a few just so that you can get an idea of some of the research that has been done with TBI’s.
- N-acetylcysteine (NAC) – research done on artillery blast injuries that resulted in mild traumatic brain injury with the symptoms of headache, confusion, memory loss, and insomnia found that 86% of those receiving NAC had complete resolution of their symptoms, where only 42% of the placebo group had resolution of their symptoms. NAC is a precursor to glutathione which is a potent antioxidant.
- Curcumin – is extracted from the Indian spice Turmeric and has powerful anti-inflammatory effects. Research has shown that curcumin reduces interleukin-1 an aquaporin-4 which are responsible for brain swelling after injury. When formulated with phytosomes curcumin is able to get into the brain faster.
- Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAA’s) – help to restore the balance of neurotransmitters and speed the recovery of injured brain cells. In a study researching mild and severe TBI it was observed that BCAA’s were at low levels on blood tests and when supplemented with additional BCAA’s neurotransmitters normalized.
I would encourage anyone who has personally or has a loved one who has suffered a mild traumatic brain injury to purchase this book and even consider going to one of the AMEN clinics. I know that mild traumatic brain injuries will be something that I am going to screen for in all of my patients as it is never too late to encourage proper brain healing.
