BI symptoms flare

The last several weeks I have been feeling incredible amounts of fatigue, extreme issues with motivation, and a flaring of BI symptoms like nausea, dizziness, unsteadiness, terrible setback with short-term memory (who could forget the arrival of the mystery package), and of course, the brain stem headaches. For those of you suffering from migraines, the neurologist told me these brain stem (or concussion) headaches are worse than migraines. I was feeling really down on an emotional level because it’s really hard to combat these symptoms on a daily basis and still keep a positive attitude and drive forward in my recovery let alone attempt to make money.

This apparent setback was confusing me as I had no true cause for this to be happening again. Usually it is brought on by extreme stress either to my physical or emotional state but nothing came to mind. My sleep which averages 3-4 hours a night with little REM sleep hadn’t changed either. I was at a complete loss but did my best to get myself moving. Even when I had a tennis match on the calendar, I wasn’t enthusiastic to go and my athleticism was definitely affected.

Battle with bacteria

I went in for my annual physical and my nurse practitioner (NP) ran some blood work and the usual tests. As it turns out, I’ve been engaged in a little battle with some unwanted bacteria in my body. My NP prescribed an antibiotic which led to a second infection which required a second and much higher dose prescription (reminds me about what happens “If you give a pig a pancake“…). All the while my BI symptoms continued to plague me in addition to the side effects of the prescription.

Now, after nearly a month, I’m starting to feel more like myself—more energy and the usual drive and determination, not to mention the positive attitude. Interestingly, today I came across an article that addresses how bacteria affects the brain. So apropos!

How bacteria affects the brain

The article addresses how bacteria in the gut impacts brain function. One of the highlights in the article that resonates with me is this: “One route is the vagus nerve, it’s an information superhighway connecting the brain and the gut.” The vagus nerve runs from the brain to the bowels and is instrumental in the body’s autonomic processes. From this original article addressing how bacteria affects the brain, I expanded my research to focus on the vagus nerve since I still have inflammation in my brain stem. This research led me to even more information on neuroinflammation and how one doctor is reversing the affects of traumatic brain injury. You can bet I will be reading more about this and supplementing it with my ever-growing knowledge of the brain and neuroplasticity.

Not my first time on this not-so-merry-go-round

This is not the first time a medical condition adversely affected my brain injury. In fact, it’s not the first time the vagus nerve connected unhealthy cells to my brain injury. I’m approaching the one-year mark of that surgery which caused a severe relapse and setback. More to come on this in another article.

Since the original article addresses bacteria and the gut and how important nutrition is to healthy living, I thought I’d take a minute to let you all know I’ve been eating healthy long before my TBI. In fact, I’ve been “Eating for my blood type” since early 2000s. Since my brain injury, I’ve been even more diligent on eating brain-healthy food. But sometimes, even with healthy diets bacteria enters the body. I haven’t been on antibiotics in AGES but sometimes even people like me who firmly and proactively seek alternative and holistic treatment have to swallow that pharmaceutical pill.

I’m doing everything I can to #ReclaimMyLife.