One of the most frustrating things about a brain injury is the energy loss. The words “tired,” “exhausted,” “fatigued” don’t really convey the experience and frustration of this state, for it isn’t anything like one feels after a long day at the office, a hard-drinking night at the frat, an all-night study session for one [...]

I had 24-hour blood pressure monitoring done twice this past week, sort of. The first monitor went kaput after a couple of hours. So the next day, back on the highway I went to the clinic and was hooked up to a 2-week-old one. Brand new is better than well used, except when it comes [...]

It’s HPN Awareness Week this week: 7 August to 13 August. Parenteral nutrition, or “IV feeding,” isn’t just for patients in the hospital. We know that. And it isn’t as uncommon as it once was. The Oley Foundation has set aside August 7–13 for HPN Awareness Week to help spread the word that people can [...]

I was watching ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss  Edition (link has annoying video with audio ad) last night and heard the medical specialist inform the 456-lb woman that she was malnourished. I wondered: how did they assess malnutrition? How do we know if we’re malnourished, even when fat? So I asked my resident nutrition guru. [...]

The heat dome rose up out of the US and expanded itself north to smother Toronto in record-breaking heat for July 21st, only 0.1 degrees Celsius off the all-time record for the entire month of July. On the news, reporters warned us to drink lots, to watch for signs of heat stress, and to watch [...]

I was at a wedding. Like many weddings, the marriage part was the shortest and quietest, the heart of the day, but only the beginning. Then came the photos, and then came the reception. The reception was appetizers and chit-chat; finding seats and wedding party intro; dinner and speeches; and dancing till two. What struck [...]

Fatigue is such an inadequate word to describe the unutterable weariness that comes on to a person with fibromyalgia or brain injury just because one got up in the morning. When someone who has a chronic illness or injury, particularly brain injury, fibromyalgia, or chronic fatigue syndrome, say they’re tired, they don’t mean what you [...]

Allergies suck. Having a cold sucks. Laryngitis has not paid me a visit in years, and it sucked too. I always think people with chronic illnesses or injuries like traumatic brain injury ought to have a get-out-of-being-sick card. Having a stuffed nose, being sneezy, feeling the postnasal drip drip drip, coughing from the throat and [...]

A reader asked me recently about where I’m at with the GI Diet, if I’m still on it, and if it’s working for me. Back in 2009, my GP had recommended I go on it when I was diagnosed with diabetes. I had written a couple of followups, but my last one was over a [...]