Last week, I went on retreat. I left my writing setup, with familiar desk and computer, to go to a hushed place to be fed and to walk and to think and to write on my iPad. I wasn’t sure how novel writing would go on the iPad. I am rather particular about where I…
Tag: Brain injury
Reading a Sign While tDCS Stimulating Wernicke’s
ShireenJ (@ShireenJ) 2014-10-22, 8:59 AM @ADDCentre -> MT @mattgallowaycbc: great sign about distracted driving. RT @BrentToderian: Clever. Spread the word. pic.twitter.com/OKVyYrxWf7 When that tweet I MT’d came into view on my Twitter feed, it caught my attention, not for its rather obvious message, I mean who’s dumb enough to think texting and driving is a…
We Humans are Social; We are Not Meant to Abandon our Sick and Injured
This is not an easy post to write — I don’t even know if I want to write it. Deep breath. Here goes (assuming autocorrect doesn’t stop me in my tracks!). Personality re-creation (shifting) is a neurophysiological process that is shaped by psychology, as I see it. Emotionally, it gets a little hairy. Think adolescence…
Write, No, Don’t Write, the War of Personalities
My brain biofeedback sessions always end with SMIRB — stop my irritating ruminations book. This week, I didn’t want to write during SMIRB. Or rather, a personality within me didn’t want me to write. For a few interminable seconds there, I thought I wouldn’t be able to start at all. For someone like me, this…
Brain Injury, Brain Healing, and Emerging Personality
I wrote on the back cover of my book Concussion Is Brain Injury that I had died when I suffered a closed head injury, not literally physically died, but the person that I was died that day. Since then, my health care professionals and I have talked on and off about who I am. This…
Trauma Therapy is Hard on Therapist and Client Alike
Things I’ve been told: “A therapist is closer to you than a husband.” “Tell your therapist EVERYTHING. Don’t hold back.” “A 24/7 number is not about calling it but knowing you can reach someone when you’re in crisis.” “AA sponsor/sponsee is about knowing you can call any time even though maybe only have to once.”…
Exhaustion Remains a Reality After Improvement from Brain Injury
Last week, I treated myself to a couple of hours at the hairdresser’s, getting my hair primped while we gossiped and laughed. No Rob Ford talk though this time! To compensate for the extra energy use, I cut my usual walking distance when out and about in half, thinking I was being smart in balancing…
Reality is a Bad Dream
Now that the ADD Centre is training a second person with gamma brainwave biofeedback, they have begun asking me questions based on her feedback. Do you have vivid dreams, I was asked this week. Oh, I suddenly remembered, I did have a bad dream last week. Since my injury, I have not had nightmares or…
More Mines in the PTSD Minefield Courtesy of Brain Injury
In the spirit of my intention to write about my emotions since healing my traumatic memories, recovering the ability to feel is the part of my brain injury recovery I’ve barely touched, I write today’s post on new mines in my PTSD minefield. Deep breath. Before my brain injury I had this empathic ability to…