BLOG by Mike Hanika: Long Term Effects of Concussions, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Frontotemporal Dimentia

I am creating this blog to help people understand the long term effects of concussions also known as 1000 different names or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD). They are very complicated diseases and come in many flavors. The dementia part is one of the last symptoms to hit, but until then there are many other cognitive, physical, and unknown symptoms that are relevant to the diagnosis. Stress is a major contributor to the progression of these diseases, so every doctor I have seen has emphasized to reduce it to manage it. As there is no cure for either or all of these, but the key is to slow it down. There are breakthroughs for positive diagnosis for live patients in stead of the brain donor and study post death.


I am part of a Support Group that is on facebook and is administered by Howard G. He is quite a guy that works diligently on many support groups and blogs for awareness of Frontotemporal Degeneration. He has inspired me to start this in hopes I can reach the people he doesn't or a different perspective than he gives. There are millions of people suffering the same symptoms and are going from doctor to doctor to try and figure it out. there are also very few doctors that know what the hell it even is. That is why awareness is so critical in this journey. I think Howard quoted a doctor that said, "If you've seen one case of FTD.....You've seen one case of FTD". Meaning not one case is the same as any other.

 

 

One of the key findings is that people cannot fake neurological damage!!! It shows up on the battery of tests that we go through. However, as much as people that have loved ones that suffer from it, think everything is OK, because the doctor couldn't find anything, think again!!! Concussions will not show up on brain scans unless there is significant damage that swells the brain or brain bleeds. Also, the protein (TAU) that builds up in the brain and causes the damage in the later years, is undetectable as well. This is also true in FTD. These are very similar.

Nothing will be consistent on this blog other than I will be writing it. Your comments are welcome and I will probably take you through a day in my life and how I perceive the world around me. There are good days and bad days and days in between, but one thing you can be sure of is there will not be any bullshit. It will be straight shooting and I will change the names of any examples I may use, GOOD or BAD. I think this is a fun way of venting, educating and most of all occupy some of my time.

As this is my first time blogging I will probably have changes or screw ups. Enjoy the read!!! I know I did not do much of anything on here today, but experiment how it works and think out loud. I will post many links for awareness that I find interesting.

Life is good!