Category: Brain injuries/ABI

  What is neurogenic bowel dysfunction? Neurogenic bowel dysfunction is when the bowel fails to function properly due to disruption or damage to the nervous system, such as from a spinal cord injury, brain injury, or neurological condition (e.g. Parkinson’s disease). Constipation and faecal incontinence tend to be the main symptoms.  Severe neurogenic bowel dysfunction […]

When supporting major trauma clients after their discharge into the community, how often do you request funding for private dietetic input? How often are these requests approved? Many clients after a major trauma require physiotherapy, occupational therapy and psychology as standard.  This means that solicitors and insurance companies are used to seeing these types of […]

  About 50% of women and 14% of men will experience a urinary tract infection (UTI) at some point in their life.1   UTI’s are considered “recurrent” if someone has: At least TWO UTI’s within a 6 month period; OR At least THREE UTI’s within a 12 month period. 2   If a catheterised person […]

Antiseizure medication (sometimes also called antiepileptic or anticonvulsant medication) is commonly prescribed to people after a traumatic injury.  This medication is sometimes used to manage seizures/ epilepsy, but can also be prescribed for other conditions, such as neuropathic pain and/or mood disorders. Commonly prescribed varieties include carbamazepine, lamotrigine, levetiracetam, sodium valproate, pregabalin and gabapentin. Antiseizure […]

Memory issues, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, difficulty sleeping…these are common complaints after a brain injury which are often attributed to the brain injury itself.  However, these identical symptoms can also be associated with reduced oestrogen, progesterone and/or testosterone levels in women, from either naturally-occurring menopause, or changes to the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis following a traumatic brain injury.1, […]

Blood tests are a fundamental part of dietetic input because it is the only way to know for certain what is going on inside someone’s body.  After any type of traumatic injury and/or major surgery, malnutrition affects about 59% of clients.1  This is partly due to the inflammation and catabolism induced by the trauma or […]

Do you have an underweight client struggling to eat more due to chronic nausea, vomiting, reflux, bloating or abdominal pain?  Do they feel full after consuming only a small amount of food or report constantly feeling full?  If yes to any of the above, you should have them tested for delayed gastric (stomach) emptying. Delayed […]

    Imagine a life without being able to smell your favourite food or “taste” the delicious flavours in your favourite dish.  How would that affect the quality of your life? Sadly, smell loss (and to a lesser extent, taste loss) is quite common after any type of brain injury.  The more serious the brain […]

When trying to lose weight, most people are looking for a quick and easy way to achieve this goal.  While the foundation of every weight loss program includes eating fewer calories and doing more physical activity (to burn more calories), sometimes people struggle to lose weight even when they are already doing both of these […]

  The fatigue that affects 20-80% of people after a brain injury (often called neuro-fatigue), is different from “ordinary” fatigue because it is often unrelated to levels of exertion and doesn’t improve even when someone rests.1, 2  The persistent nature of post-injury fatigue means it can negatively affect quality of life and pose a barrier […]