Leuty Parker

Blog

  • Seizure

    A common result of a traumatic brain injury is one form of epilepsy. In half of those with epilepsy post TBI, a seizure will present itself within a year after their TBI.

    Continuing enjoying the results of the TBI, it seems I’ve acquired epilepsy; discovered in me having a tonic-clonic seizure, previously known as a “grand mal”. This hat most people think of as a typical epileptic fit. The stages are

    1. tonic stage – you lose consciousness, your body goes stiff, and you may fall to the floor
    2. clonic stage – your limbs jerk about, you may lose control of your bladder or bowel, you may bite your tongue or the inside of your cheek, and you might have difficulty breathing

    There are several forms of epilepsy, each with different symptoms. In my case, in lost a tooth, bit my tongue in HALF (causing me not to eat without being excruciating), was covered in bruises and grazes. But mine is described above & resulted in:

    Tongue in half, lost tooth, front incisor browned by prescription mouth wash.
    Tooth back! Front tooth white again
    Tongue still freaky. ….TIRED

    A little happier…. Riding the results. Surprised how resting repairs nicely.

  • Picking Scabs

    I know you’ve done it.

    Everyone does it. With full knowledge that it’ll result in more pain. Or even a scar.

    But why is it sooooo tempting to do so?

    Even though it’s mild, the pain is combined with the release of endorphins. Effectively, it feels like a reward.

    Come to think of it, it’s actually a grooming activity, with a strange combination of a form of displacement, which is, too, a good distraction.

  • Future Directions

    If you’ve been following my blog (or even seen some posts) you might have understood that I HATE being out of work.

    Aside from lack of income, the main issue was lack of direction. Lack of objective. Most mornings, I’d wake, and think “there’s no reason for me to get out of bed”.

    So, both wishing to make others’ who are in my position’s life’s easier (grammar?), along with something to actually do, I started this blog.

    As well, it has clarified where my priorities are. What I find important. What makes me, me.

    The amount of tumult in spells of posting frequently, to nothing for weeks, helped me realise that this is perhaps, more of a recreation activity.

    BUT…..

  • Monoterpenes

    More regarding on SMELLS….

    This is the “smell” of rain…. The process of how the rain affects how we perceive other odours.

    A form of terpene, with a molecular formula C₁₀H₁₆. M. And are otherwise known as monoterpenoids is the scientifically term, it’s when they have oxygen functionality or are missing a methyl group.

    This method is utilised, heavily, in other industries like pharmaceutical, cosmetic, agricultural, and food industries. A beautiful example of how design reflects how nature works.

  • Space vs the brain

    “Space is big. Really big. You just won’t believer how vastly, hugely, mindbogly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the street to the chemist, but that’s just peanuts to space, to space …..”

    If space is big in area, the brain is equally as big in terms of function. “I mean, you may think it’s a long”…. A good comparison to the brains function would be; if you think that juggling 5 penknives, during saying the alphabet backwards, in French.

    In both thinking, conscious thoughts, the subconscious “house cleaning” (think; blinking).

    But, when you break your brain, you have to start from the bugging, leaving these things one by one.

    Like learning how to master juggling, how to choose the ideal weight of penknife to juggle with, as well as starting how to say the alphabet in French and how to do this backwards.

    One by one… simples.

    In theory.

  • Para/sympathetic Nervous System

    Both reflect each other’s roles;

    Sympathetic:

    The “fight or flight” response must sound familiar… a LARGE burst of energy.

    Gets you “pumped up”. Very much a motivation inspirer. it controls your body’s response during times of stress.

    ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!

    Para-:

    Totally opposite.

    This makes you relaxed. “Chilled out”. But as it is the opposite of “sympathetic”, it can restores the body. Returning it back to a state of calm.

  • Acetylcholine?!?

    I’m on a mission….

    I wish to know exactly what role this plays in your body. So I turned to Google:


    “Acetylcholine is an organic compound that functions in the brain and body of many types of animals as a neurotransmitter. Its name is derived from its chemical structure: it is an ester of acetic acid and choline. Parts in the body that use or are affected by acetylcholine are referred to as cholinergic.”

    “I knew it was a neurotransmitter before…
    “Acetylcholine is an organic compound that functions in the brain and body of many types of animals as a neurotransmitter. Its name is derived from its chemical structure: it is an ester of acetic acid and choline. Parts in the body that use or are affected by acetylcholine are referred to as cholinergic.”

    All of this means zilch to me though. The best way I’d describe it is “medical jargon”.

    So, if anyone who reads this, please put me out of my misery….

  • The Scran and Scallie

    The diabetic restaurant reviews return!

    This is in Edinburgh, in Stockbridge. Address :

    The Scran & Scallie
    1 Comely Bank Road
    Stockbridge
    Edinburgh EH4 1DR

    Tom Kitchin’s Edinburgh restaurant may not deserve its Michelin star…

    To see the menu is in the pictures. The staff were very polite, the venue was lovely, too.

    Sadly 2 downsides, though;

    1: the dish I chose was a special, so not on the menu, albeit I did get some vegetable crisps to carb compensate What I did choose was probably a poor choice; pickled herring. It came with some rye bread which had a beautiful gingerbread flavour, and the added salad was nice. The main objective of a restaurant, should be good food. I’m not reviewing it to be poorly cooked, but probably poorly researched what the market would like?

    2: the menu is stupid. Totally confusing, to fool you into paying more than what you expected, after you ate it.

    See if you can initially understand what is going on:

    Poor menu design, particularly for the target market. Beautiful presentation though:

    Again, NOTHING(like most high end restaurants) about the nutrition.

  • My best medicine…

    It’s clear I have a vested interest in the medical friend, due to my tumultuous relationship with chronic health conditions; 1. T1 diabetes and 2. Surviving a brain injury.

    However, crossing this with commercial entèrtainment, I got interested in this podcast;

    Which revolves around medicine, in a very subjective way. Less “formal” medicine, like paracetamol, more an example of something that makes the donator feel better, but always medicine related.

    This episode up there, I’ll use as an example;

    “Gardening”, believe it or not, is where transplant surgery evolved from. They were initially skin grafts. For those who aren’t in the know what that is, some skin is removed from the forehead, it makes a kind of flap, and that skin is used to cover injuries elsewhere.

    Even further, it has advanced so much that new body parts can be made by mounting it around wax (only for aesthetic reasons, not functional one).

    This was inspired by plant grafting. In a literal way, when wounded (say a branch is cut off) the plant will die regrow it.

    “The agriculture of the body”

  • Rebuilt

    A common symptom of a brain injury, is loss of memory. With this, you loose your identity. So, to find my baseline identity, I call it my “essence”, I have a method to alleviate this:

    If you (or I) were to choose ONE item to signify/resemble my identity, what would it be?

    This can be something you already own, or something you could buy.

    It does take some effort to know yourself that well…

    I’ll give you an example:

    Mine would be the high heel shooe

    Objectively, it oozes fermenting (whether a man or a woman wearing it). It looks good on any outfit.

    Subjectivity, it makes me feel more confident, sexy, powerful, committed to achieve this wanted skill, attention grabbing (sadly, I’m learning at present, so bad attention in fear I’ll fall).

    So after much training, I’m actually rather good at walking (gym treadmill = 1km L3) so now for the next “step”….

    The heels