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MAY 2012 the magazine


Healthline


(Continued from page 11) Brain swelling and symptoms from


ET EVERYONE in your community know about the fine work the BPO Elks does! After you have finished read- ing your copy of The Elks Magazine, just remove your name and address, and do- nate the magazine to your local


library, your doctor’s office, your dentist’s office, your car repair shop waiting room, or any other public place where people sit and read for a while. By doing this, you allow other people to enjoy the successes of the BPOE, and perhaps they will want to join, or have their children participate in some of the Elks youth programs. The BPO Elks can help many people in your commu- nity, and you also can use The Elks Magazine to inform them about the Elks and let them know what is available for their charitable and civic needs. Donate your copy of the magazine and show that Elks Care—Elks Share.


brain contusions, including bleeding into the brain or underneath the dura mater (subdural hemorrhages), can also produce delayed symptoms following a period of seeming normal- ity. In 1989, President Ronald Reagan suffered the slow development of a subdural hemorrhage over a period of a week following a fall from a horse. Subdural hemorrhages occupy space bound on one side by the firm dura mater and on the other by the soft brain, and they do not grow as rapidly as epidural hemorrhages. Surgical draining of the blood returned Presi- dent Reagan to normal. After a head injury, it is very important for someone who knows the victim to stay with him. Medical personnel may not recognize subtle changes in the injured person’s personality or cognitive abilities that a friend or family member might notice. Those watching a concussed person should not hesitate to point out any such changes. The procedure for determining a diagnosis for most people who suffer a loss of conscious- ness due to a concussion usually includes computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging scans, though these scans are probably unnecessary in cases of mild concus- sion in which the victim has returned to normality quickly. But even if a scan shows no abnormalities, observa- tion, including waking and checking the victim every few hours at night for the first twenty-four hours, is prudent.


If confusion persists after a concus- sion, the victim should be hospitalized until it clears. He or she also should be carefully observed for the next twenty- four to forty-eight hours. Most post- concussive symptoms, like headache, insomnia, irritability, and light- headedness, resolve over a few months, requiring only simple medica- tions like ibuprofen and sensible habits such as avoiding alcohol, eating well, sleeping enough, exercising, and managing stress. In recent years, much news about the long-term consequences of repeti- tive head injuries has focused atten- tion on sports-related head injuries and protection against them. Helmets have cut down on the rates of some types of head injuries, such as skull fractures, but they cannot prevent injuries that are caused when the head suddenly stops moving, as often happens in football. If an athlete suffers a concussion and has persis- tent symptoms, the brain has not returned to normal and a second concussion in this state might produce even more injury. Repetitive concus- sions over a lifetime, such as those suffered in a sport like boxing, clearly damage the brain, producing a decline in memory and cognitive abilities, as well as slurred speech and motor symptoms resembling Parkinson’s disease. Recent research suggests that brain injuries may induce progressive changes in some brain proteins, producing, over a long period, an Alzheimer’s like deterioration in function. We are now moving from understanding the physics of brain injury into exploring its biochemistry and biophysics. ■


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