Desk of contents:
02:05 Eric Thelin
07:08 Traumatic brain injury research
08:53 Concussion diagnosis needs to improve
12:05 Concussion awareness
Concussion Tales podcast introduction
[00:00 Melanie] If I say there may be hope for full restoration for individuals with a concussion, you say…?
[00:07 Professor McCrea] 100%!
[00:08 Professor Maas] And actually, you didn’t solely really feel it] you have been exterior the common medical system, as a result of they weren’t keen on you.
[00:16 Professor Sitskoorn] Neuroplasticity really opens you as much as the world. It makes it attainable to develop; it makes it attainable to rehabilitate.
[00:25 Professor Wilson] Traumatic brain injury has been known as a silent epidemic for that cause, as a result of it consists of modifications and disabilities that aren’t apparent to different individuals.
[00:35 Dr. Zasler] If, as a doctor, you felt you had nothing to supply a affected person, then I feel ethically, it’s good to say] “I don’t suppose there’s something I can give you. Perhaps you must see Dr. M.”
[00:48 Professor Diaz-Arrastia] Traditionally, we’ve known as this stuff delicate traumatic mind accidents, which suggests that, effectively… It might be a brain injury, but it surely’s not going to have nice penalties, proper? And that’s frankly not true.
In regards to the Concussion Tales podcast
[01:05 Melanie] Welcome to Concussion Tales, a Lifeyana podcast collection stuffed with hope. I’m right here to let you realize that you’re not alone in your post-concussion restoration journey. My identify is Melanie and I spent six and a half years studying, experimenting, and coaching with a view to discover a technique to heal myself from post-concussion syndrome.
After making a full restoration by the tip of 2018, I launched into this mission to make the restoration journey simpler for you. For this reason I began this podcast, wrote detailed blog post and downloadable guides, provide coaching and likewise the course that I want I had again once I was recovering — instructing you every little thing that I wanted to know with a view to make my restoration occur.
On Concussion Tales, we dig deep whereas discussing hopeful tales of restoration in addition to the arduous stuff within the messy center. Let’s dive proper in!
Eric Thelin
On this three-part episode collection, you’ll meet Eric Thelin, who focuses on neuro-intensive care after brain injury. He’s a resident doctor and affiliate professor at Karolinska College Hospital in Sweden, and he has a lot to share about his expertise with sufferers who sustained a concussion or skilled post-concussion signs.
On this first episode, Eric will inform somewhat bit about how he himself tries to stability his work and life as a passionate traumatic brain injury researcher. Eric additionally explains his concentrate on particularly diagnosing what is required for any affected person individually. Let’s hear Eric Thelin.
Beginning the podcast dialog
I’m glad that you would be a part of!
[02:50 Eric] Thanks.
[02:51 Melanie] How are you doing?
[02:53 Eric] I’m good. I don’t know if I mentioned that, however I’m doing rotations in medical neurophysiology.
[03:03 Melanie] Sure.
[03:03 Eric] It’s a part of my residency coaching in neurology. So really it’s a superb factor, as a result of there isn’t a demand on me to truly produce something. So it’s mainly like going again to med faculty once more, the place you’re simply operating round and studying quite a lot of new issues. So it’s good.
[03:20 Melanie] That’s good. Yeah, it sounds good.
I usually wish to open my podcast episodes with a extra normal query to ensure that the listeners to get to know you somewhat bit.
[03:31 Eric] All proper.
[03:32 Melanie] And the query I’d wish to ask you is: what exterior of labor offers you pleasure in life?
Enjoying video video games
[03:40 Eric] I feel that traditionally I’d have mentioned video video games. I performed quite a lot of video video games rising up. I used to be a Nintendo particular person. Should you can see the background right here, you possibly can see the Triforce from The Legend of Zelda collection. Right here within the bookcase I’ve a head crab from the Half Life collection.
[04:15 Melanie] Wow!
[04:16 Eric] I do know. So, it’s positively one thing that may be a fairly in depth a part of my life. I imply, after having children, I have to say taking part in video video games is normally one thing I do between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm. In case you have the time and I’m not sleeping.
[04:38 Melanie] Yeah.
[04:40 Eric] However now my oldest daughter is six years outdated. So, I’m introducing her and we’re taking part in somewhat little bit of guitar. Apart from that I like watching motion pictures and reveals. I’ve at all times been rather a lot into in style tradition basically.
Swedish sports activities
And since I’m a Swede, I in fact additionally love snowboarding and cross nation snowboarding. Out of doors actions basically. I’ve performed floorball hockey. It’s not like floorball hockey you might be taking part in within the Netherlands.
[05:16 Melanie] No.
[05:16 Eric] It’s a kind of indoor hockey the place the ball is hole.
[05:20 Melanie] With out ice?
[05:21 Eric] No. Effectively, I performed that once I was little or no. I don’t have a ball or a stick on this room. However it’s a quite common exercise we do in Sweden with a few pals your age. It’s an excellent train.
Truly I used to be out operating simply an hour in the past. In order that’s one thing I used to do to get in form. I ran marathons and stuff like that. However now I train to maintain me match and alive, mainly.
[06:03 Melanie] As a result of in all probability, you’ve realized that additionally at work.
[06:10 Eric] Sure. Cardio exercise is nice. It has quite a lot of advantages. Sure.
[06:15 Melanie] Yeah, I get it.
Work-research stability
what, you don’t even want work, proper? You may have so many actions.
[06:22 Eric] That’s partly true. And the children take up the remainder of the time. However sure, that is maybe an issue that life turns into very intertwined with work, particularly in case you do quite a lot of (traumatic brain injury) analysis. Since you are by no means actually away, are you? College students can at all times attain you, and also you at all times need to be there for them.
So it’s good to set up some kind of work life stability. And I feel everybody has to seek out their very own work life stability that matches them. I feel that I’m fairly content material the way in which issues are actually.
[07:03 Melanie] Effectively, I’m blissful for you.
[07:04 Eric] Thanks.
[07:05 Melanie] It sounds actually good.
Traumatic brain injury analysis
How is it for you at work, what are you specializing in principally?
[07:12 Eric] We’re doing a fairly in depth examine on delicate traumatic brain injury (mTBI) within the Stockholm area. (Bear in mind: a concussion is known as a ‘mild’ traumatic brain injury for the time being, however that is being modified as a result of it misleads about the severity of the brain injury.)
CT scan for concussion
A few of you might need had a gentle traumatic brain injury and have been despatched to an emergency room, the place you met an emergency room doctor. They’d then determine in case you wanted a computerized tomography (CT scan), of your head or not, to see in case you had a hemorrhage that might require both monitoring within the native hospital or a switch to a neurosurgical unit – relying on the severity of the hemorrhage.
[07:49 Melanie] Yeah.
[07:50 Eric] There are presently quite a lot of traumatic brain injury pointers to display screen and detect all these sufferers and all these hemorrhages. The issue is that these pointers are oversensitive. They’re constructed that approach, so you’ll not miss any hemorrhage. Nevertheless, this ends in quite a lot of pointless CT scans being carried out.
[08:10 Melanie] Yeah.
CT scans typically fail to notice concussion
[08:11 Eric] Just one in 10 of all CT scans, utilizing the present pointers, will possible present a brain injury. This implies there are quite a lot of pointless prices, there may be quite a lot of pointless radiation, and quite a lot of pointless ready time within the emergency room for lots of people.
So, in our traumatic brain injury analysis challenge, we try to tweak the rules with a view to create a calculator for emergency room physicians. They’ll enter some knowledge in regards to the affected person after which via machine studying magic, they’ll know the chance of this affected person having a hemorrhage.
That is additionally good for low and center earnings nations, the place there is perhaps 20 sufferers that must have a CT scan, and docs must triage between them: who ought to have it first?
[08:52 Melanie] Sure.
Concussion analysis wants to enhance
I’m very glad that you’re engaged on this as a result of, in fact, the diagnostic stage on the ER wants to enhance. Additionally, the instruments that docs have at their disposal with a view to precisely – or in any respect – diagnose mild traumatic brain injury wants to enhance.
Concussion signs 1 yr after harm
[09:27 Eric] Precisely. The opposite vital side of this, which I feel your listeners is perhaps keen on, is that we plan to do a secondary evaluation of this TBI analysis challenge sooner or later, the place we analysis all these sufferers who’ve had a go to to the ER one yr after.
Did they in any approach search medical consideration for circumstances comparable to headache, ache, vertigo, nausea, sleeping issues, or any kind of pathology that might be associated to post-concussion syndrome? In different phrases, pathologies that might happen both early on or persist for some time after a extra delicate traumatic brain injury.
However that is presently in its infancy. That is one thing that we are going to do when we’ve completed step one of the examine.
[10:21 Melanie] What do you need to do with this knowledge?
Higher post-concussion care
[10:24 Eric] We need to create the Stockholm post-concussion syndrome rating. If a affected person comes into the ER, the physician will know what the dangers are of this specific affected person in search of medical consideration for some kind of post-concussion syndrome inside a yr. It might be simple for the emergency room doctor to catch these sufferers early on on account of our traumatic brain injury analysis. It will positively enhance post-concussion care.
Dangers for post-concussion signs
There are a number of research on the market that present that sufferers who sustained a concussion are individuals with pre-existing circumstances, like depression and different psychiatric illnesses. Feminine gender really can be a threat issue for lots of the self-reported post-concussion syndromes. We predict there’s a 30% threat.
Concussion clinic referral
So let’s say there’s a 30% threat that this affected person will want medical consideration for post-concussive signs inside a yr. Then you possibly can present higher post-concussion care by writing a referral to a rehab clinic within the emergency room, which in the present day will probably be inconceivable.
We solely have a number of rehab clinics which might be actually good in Stockholm. So, we are able to’t write this referral for everybody. Nevertheless, if we are able to catch these sufferers early on, it might save society and these sufferers quite a lot of ache, struggling and cash.
[12:03 Melanie] This sounds actually good.
Concussion consciousness
Additionally, if physicians put in all the information, there’s a step of consciousness added in between. These docs now know that sufferers might have lingering concussion signs. I feel no physician who ever handled me was conscious of the truth that I might be having signs for over six years. That could be a change that you’re going to make with this as effectively.
[12:41 Eric] I hope so.
Higher administration of concussion sufferers
Like I shared with you in Antwerp: a affected person that is available in and has a negative CT scan however does have signs, is the worst affected person we’ve. That’s as a result of we predict that there’s nothing that we are able to do. There is no such thing as a tablet; there isn’t a good golden bullet that may resolve all of their issues.
Like you might be saying, I feel that if these scores can carry consideration to those sufferers in any approach, I feel that will probably be a really small however useful step towards higher administration of those sufferers.
Physician and affected person consciousness
[13:23 Melanie] Sure. It’s going to certainly create consciousness with the docs, but additionally with sufferers themselves. Nobody ever instructed me that I might have lingering signs for thus a few years. And had I identified it, I’d have finished different issues to start with with a view to guarantee that my restoration would have been sooner.
Share your suggestions?
Now, I’d love to listen to from you. What do you’re taking away from this episode? Is there one thing you could apply to your life immediately? Head on over to lifeyana.com and go away your remark now.
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Help the podcast
If you wish to assist this podcast, head on over to patreon.com/concussionstories. Thanks for listening to this concussion tales episode by Lifeyana. Could you be effectively, and will you be blissful.
