When dealing with TBI, finding the best medical care is vital. Delmarva, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the nation's health care system, has released an article on a consumer website used to compare and rate hospital performance.

Access to this type of information can help us all decide which hospitals to go to. It also empowers us to participate more fully in our own healthcare. Let's use this opportunity to change the system. Rate your hospital today - did you or your loved one receive the best care?

Visit Delmarva Foundation. and click on the first news story. It will provide you with a link to the consumer website. It additionally links you to the Joint Commission's (a federal hospital auditing board) report on Hospitals.

other websites with patient ratings :

The Health Pages.
Health Grades.

After my accident, my pain was at 200%. I could not function, let alone direct or monitor my own treatment. The accident left me with a broken jaw, broken foot and ankle,whiplash, seat belt injuries, head aches and migraines. This pain took away my livelihood, my ability to sustain relationships, my good humor - basically my normal life. It was not until I received intensive (7 hrs./day) treatmentin crainial sacrail treatment at the Upledger Clinic that I was able to control mypain and cope with it at 50%.

So the very first step in treatment planning for TBI must be pain management.

The leading pain management centers use a broad array of therapies individually tailored to an individual patient. The four main components to these multidisciplinary approaches are:
* drugs
*injection therapies (nerve blocks)
*physical therapy & exercise
* behavioral techniques like biofeedback, relaxation training and counseling

If you are not able to travel to some of the world's leading pain management center's; Stanford, UCSF, Wasser Pain Management Center in Toronto, UC Davis, be sure to pursue Holistic Healing of the pain. Make lifestyle changes, environmental changes, get a relaxation tape, look into alternative therapies and complimentary medicine.

For a detailed list of links to holistic methods of treating pain be sure to visit the American Pain Foundation site American pain foundation.

More people are effected by TBI than breast cancer -
or AIDS, only you wouldn't know it. The Silent Epidemic
needs exposure - a face.

Who suffers from TBI? Who would advocate & promote
awareness of this epidemic?
Someone that we all know -
someone famous.

We know of a few famous people -

James Brady (Former white house press secretary to Ronald Regan)
Gary Bucci (Film Star)
Barbra Mandrell (country western singer)
Steve Young, Dan Merino, Troy Aikman & Mike Webster (NFL players) (to name just a few)
Ernie Irvan (NASCAR driver)

who else? Let us know -

A popular neuropsych test is the Tower of Hanoi. Our resident Web wizard just built one for our site. Try it out. You can find it right here.

Film Title: 50 First Dates (2004)

Rating: PG - 13 (crude humor & drug refrences)

Type of Film: Romantic Comedy

Story line: Lucy is a beautiful young woman who suffers
Retrograde amnesia from a car accident. For Lucy every date
is a first date, as she is unable to formulate new memories
after her accident. A young bachelor falls in love with her and
is determined to help her remember their first date, first kiss… and much more.

Accuracy:

This movie gets it wrong as far as TBI is concerned, but it also gets
it right. Extensive damage to the temporal lobe would probably result
in difficulty with processing information from vision, touch and hearing,
yet Lucy’s only symptom is retrograde amnesia. Another unlikely part to
the movie is the family reaction to TBI. Lucy’s family and friends are so
vested in keeping her from the real world, that would only confuse her,
that they’ve been pretending it’s the same day for an entire year.

What this movie accurately portrays is the terror and confusion Lucy awakes
with each day when she rediscovers she has been head injured and has lost
the past year of her life. As soon as her family give up the bit, we see a head
injured person stuck in the past, a past that no longer exists. The movie does
justice to this type of heart rendering suffering.

The movie also introduces audiences to severe memory a problem such as the
one Ten Second Tom portrays. It seems implausible someone could forget within
seconds anything said or done with another person – yet this is in fact Korsakov’s
syndrome.

Please add your own review /comments.
How would you rate this film?

Dr. Amen is a clinical nueroscientist and director of
the Amen Clinic for Behavioral Medicine in Fairfield
California.

In his book Change your Brain Change Your Life - He
relates how specific structures in your brain work - an outlines
various ways to heal your brain via behavioral
methods. It's well worth the read.

Check out his website (by clicking above title)
for quick tips and seminars.

USA Today.
reports TBI is the signature wound of the Iraq war.
In previous wars, soldiers did not survive to suffer TBI's as frequently.
Today - with advancements in body armor - soldiers live. It is estimated
that nearly two- thirds of injured soldiers sent home from Iraq have been
diagnosed with TBI.

As the community of TBI sufferers and their families well know - TBI is
difficult to identify right away. Those soldiers obviously suffering TBI,
will have to learn to walk and talk again - start life anew. Yet there are
many more who suffered brain damage from explosions and shock
waves damaging their brain tissue. As many TBI sufferers, they may
not realize or attribute the range of cognitive and emotional problems
may be due to brain damage.

If there is any hope of treating TBI it can no longer be a silent epidemic.
Our men and women of the armed services deserve to know what's in
store for them after a TBI. They can expect irritability - they may yell
at their loved ones and not know why. They can expect to be confused,
and unable to comprehend simple things - like the time of day, or how
to schedule an appointment. They may become incontinent - and have to
learn how to use the lue again. Whatever the afflictions - these soldiers
may be changed for ...(ever) and we all need this epidemic out of the
closet so we can know the truth, know what to expect so they can prepair,
repair...

hell if TBI strikes every 15 seconds we all need to know about it.

Tell us your story now that you or your loved one is home. How were you
(they) injured - what's changed? What's been most helpful?