Compensatory Self-Care Strategies
For Recovery from Post -Concussive Syndrome and/or Physical Injuries
Managing Fatigue
It is important to consciously limit demands you make on yourself during recovery. People who strive to achieve or gauge their self-worth by how much they accomplish are particularly vulnerable to exacerbations of depression and anxiety. These emotions tend to make our adjustment to injury worse. Fatigue and inadequate sleep frequently accompany injury, and if not managed well, our functioning can go from bad to worse quickly. The following guidelines will help you manage fatigue more effectively:
- Schedule rest breaks throughout the day.
- Plan to do most of your thinking and decision making in the morning or when most rested.
- Eat a nutritionally balanced diet, take supplements, and avoid caffeine and sugar.
- Exercise daily (even if a mild walk)….and….stretch as often as possible.
- Make it a point to experience a deep relaxation period daily.
- Do whatever is necessary to get enough sleep.
- Set limits to avoid overextending yourself.
- Ask for help.
Managing Memory Problems
When the body or brain is injured or when under extraordinary stress, our cognitive functioning can become impaired. One of the key difficulties we may experience is in the area of memory and recall. These things can be helped to some degree.
- Use a calendar, daytimer, or an organizer notebook to help keep track of activities. (Carry it with you everywhere, and be thoughtful when making commitments.)
- Write down everything important in the organizer, and, ANYTHING you want to remember. (Keep track of questions you want to ask the doctor- and leave room to write their answers.)
- Use an alarm or timer to remind you of things and assess your current abilities. (You can gauge improvement by periodically measuring the time it takes to do something.)
- Help your memory by thinking about things in different ways. (See it, hear it, feel it, say it out loud, write it down, enlist others to help you remember.)
Managing Attention and Concentration Problems
When in pain or dealing with frequent distractions it is common to lose our place, forget where we are going or maybe what we wanted when we get there. These problems are common when injured. Acquiring information can be particularly difficult. Reading and rereading material is predictable, so try the following to help you:
- Organize your environment as much as you are able to. (Label things visibly. Get help sorting things. Keep the things you use the most closest to you.)
- Limit how much you are exposed to. (Wear ear plugs to limit noise, do one thing at a time, turn off the TV or radio, simplify things.)
- Keep your door closed if interruptions get in the way. (Schedule office hours or structure you time with a purpose.)
- If you have difficulty driving minimize your distractions. (Limit the number of passengers you take and keep them quiet. Turn the radio off.)
- Survey readings entirely before you start to read. Then actively ask yourself questions about what you need to learn while reading. Always review the material before you stop a specific study session. (Review material you need to know or work with frequently, and immediately after initial exposure.)
Managing Overwhelm or Difficulties with Motivation
Things often build up and they can have a big effect on our ability to function. Depression can feel like irritation, agitation, or like we are spinning our wheels going nowhere. Limit these kinds of problems by preventing overwhelm as much as possible.
- Make REALISTIC daily schedules and lists of things to do, check them off as you complete them. (Being realistic with your capabilities is more difficult than you think. Don’t be afraid to experiment, your capabilities can be determined through trial and error. Allow more rather than less time to accomplish a task.)
- Break Large tasks down into bite sized pieces. (Ask a friend to help you do this if you have trouble yourself.)
Managing Problems Processing Information
Our perceptions of tasks and their difficulty are frequently inaccurate following injury. Unfortunately, we assume that we can do things as we always have. The gap in what we perceive as our capability and in actuality what we accomplish is a trigger for depression and negative feelings. Glitches most often occur when we least expect them.
- Write down and repeat back verbal information such as directions and phone numbers. (Remember that organizer and sort information by date needed and cross reference in another place if you think you will use it again.)
- Allow more time to complete activities. (The perfect set-up for dejection and failure, accurate estimation of time-on-task is more important than you might think. Estimate accurately, not optimistically.)
- Team up with someone whenever it is practical. Having a friend to help us understand, organize or prioritize can help us function more effectively, and, prevent us from making promises we may not be able to keep.)
Read Dr. Walker’s Bio.
