Medical Conditions Can Change Your Brain

March 01, 2022, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

We wrote about COVID and its impact on brains last week. Other conditions cause changes to your brain too. Changes can be triggered by chemical or physical trauma and can be short or long-lasting.

What conditions cause changes to your brain?

PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

PTSD can be caused when something traumatic happens to you. Whether that is a car accident, a physical assault, or other accident that triggers a ‘flight or fight’ response. PTSD causes your amygdala brain region to be overactive. The amygdala is responsible for your emotions and it controls the decision-making area of your brain. PTSD can also cause shrinkage of the hippocampus which is the area of your brain that forms and stores memories.

Depression

Depression is a disorder that changes your brain along with your mood. In some individuals suffering from clinical depression, there is less activity in the prefrontal lobes. These lobes are the areas that control reasoning, personality and judgement. For individuals with depression lasting over a decade, there can be up to 30% more inflammation in their brains than in those who aren’t depressed.

Inflammation at this scale can lead to brain cell loss which then can trigger memory and dementia.

Substance Abuse Disorders

Drug and alcohol use as self-medication can kill brain cells leading to blurry vision, slurred speech and memory loss. The abuse will damage the brain over time and can cause shrinkage of your hippocampus which controls memory and learning.

Stroke

Stroke is characterized by a stoppage of blood flow to the brain. It can cause permanent brain damage, disability and death. Damage can be reversed in some individuals if the stroke is caught extremely early

Migraine

Migraines are a result of overreaction in the brain to certain stressors setting off a cascade of chemicals that narrow blood vessels in the brain bringing on the symptoms. Over time chronic sufferers can lose grey and white brain matter.

Concussions

Concussion or mTBI can be caused by car accidents, blows to the head from sports or assaults, slip and falls, or any other sudden jarring force to the brain. They cause the brain to jiggle in the skull bruising and tearing nerve tissue and changing the chemical balance in the brain. This triggers inflammation, harmful nerve function and can result in long-lasting brain damage.

Non-Medical Ways your brain can change

Exercise

Exercise which delivers oxygen and nutrients to the brain can also stimulate the production of new brain cells, and some research suggests that it can grow areas of your brain that control memory and thinking.

Meditation

Meditation can ease stress and boost mental health. There is some research suggesting the longer terms (two months or more) of regular meditation can increase grey matter and help protect against inflammation of brain cells and protect against Alzheimer’s disease.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.