Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Brain Injury Survival Kit: 365 Tips, Tools & Tricks to Deal with Cognitive Function Loss

Top positive review

Helpful. Encouraging. Validating. A Supportive Book That Gives The TBI Survivor And Supporters Tools To Increase Function!

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2015

I am the husband of a traumatic brain injury survivor. I bought this book for my wife to read to help her become more functional and also for me so I could understand her and help her better. This review is going to be a combination of opinions from both my wife and myself after reading the book. My wife felt that the beginning of the book wasted time going over things that are common sense. Things like eat well. Get adequate sleep. Take breaks. Know your limits and stick to them. Say no. She felt that these were things a higher functioning person with a TBI pretty much already knows and stated that it would have been better if the first third of the book were utilized to give more tips and clues that maybe weren't common sense. Despite the slow start the remaining 2/3 of the book was full of information that the higher functioning TBI patient can use to increase functionality! She said that it was a perspective changing experience to read it. She also felt that it validated her concerns and feelings regarding her injury. That in itself is an invaluable benefit of the book. To read something that tells you what you are going through is what others are going through too and that there are things that can be done to help decrease the stress and the frustration of everyday life! It was reassuring to her. Neuro typical individuals take these every day tasks for grated. They come naturally. We don't expend extra energy trying to complete them. My wife read the book in chunks due to her visual disturbances and the book is set up in such a way that she could do that. I read the book in one sitting. Regardless of who is reading it you get something great out of it. After I read the book I felt like I finally began to understand what my wife goes through on a daily basis. It helped me see life through her eyes better and this is what helped me discover new ways to be helpful to her. This has strengthened our bond as a couple and made things easier on her. Family members and partners of those that are injured often feel helpless to change anything. It's an emotionally awful feeling. I now have some tools to help me get past that feeling and try to be helpful (but not so much that it prevents her from doing for herself where she can). It isn't often that you can read a book and say "that changed my life". That's what it did for both of us. And most of all, it gave both of us hope that with time and some hard work that things can improve. It's helped my wife accept her limitations. Increased her self esteem. Taught me how to help her the way she needs help. Thank you Cheryle Sullivan for sharing your experience with the world. This book is helping so many people as a result.

This product was not obtained through a promotion. I paid full price for this item.

22 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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No Dough

If my functioning was nearly vegative then I may have found it useful. And perhaps the best part was reference resources ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2016

I wish I would have read this before I purchased it. While the author means well, it was really not at all what I expected especially from a doctor. I too do not need help micro managing,organizing common sense things. If my functioning was nearly vegative then I may have found it useful. And perhaps the best part was reference resources in the back. Sorry it was to elementary and redundantly repeating things of just basic common sense information, basic dietary habits and simplistic things that anyone who has raised a kid knows how to do i.e. leave with snacks ect.. Even after my accident I would have not found it useful and when I did get to a part that I was really looking for a pearl of wisdom she scantly addressed that issue which ? I cannot even remember what it was now. Disappointed.

9 people found this helpful

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From the United States

TeittoJaqsun

Helpful. Encouraging. Validating. A Supportive Book That Gives The TBI Survivor And Supporters Tools To Increase Function!

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2015

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22 people found this helpful

Helpful

Morgan Derby

The first book you should read after your TBI

Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2016

Verified Purchase

This was the firm book I read after/to help me understand by TBI.

In part because, unlike two of the other books I ordered, this one was printed - in just the right font size, with just enough white space, and just the right level of difficulty/ease - to be accessible to people with brain injuries.

I could say more, but I'll stop at: not only is this the most accessible book on TBI out there, it's also the most practical (i.e. oriented towards navigating the world/life post-TBI), which makes it a must-have for anyone in recovery.

(PS The second book you should read after this one is The Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Workbook, which I consider another must-have)

7 people found this helpful

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Trin

A great resource!

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2021

Verified Purchase

This was required for my Acquired Cognitive Disorders class. It's directed at the person with the brain injury. It's easy to read. It covers the practical, day-to-day stuff you need to function after a brain injury. I've used it as a grad school clinician and a person with a concussion. I've also lent it to friends, who found it very helpful.

One person found this helpful

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J. M. F. Campbell

Helped my client with TBI and furthered my education!

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2009

Verified Purchase

I very much appreciated this book. I began to read it to see if it might have some ideas for a client of mine who has brain injury impairments. I was hooked when I found that it was written by an MD who both has and treats folks with TBI (traumatic brain injury). But my client and I continued to be launched into it's organized, clearly expressed ideas: it is so easy to read (early high school and up) and yet idea-provoking and empowering, propelling folks with TBI toward self-care actions and awareness. This might just be a 'must' for those of us working with folks with TBI, whether you're a professional - doctor, nurse, visiting aide, counselor, therapist, or family or friend. I am proud to have it on my shelf.

I would have liked to have seen more on coping with the emotional impact and changes of TBI on both the patient and those around them, as well as the medical tools and medications now being developed. Maybe the next book the author writes?

In sum, I strongly recommend the pennies for the book, and still turn to it again and again to get the concrete, practical and compassionate ideas it offers.

4 people found this helpful

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Jenna W.

Great Read

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2013

Verified Purchase

My husband suffered multiple traumatic brain injuries while deployed in both Iraq & Afghanistan. This last deployment was the worse and he is being medically retired. I read this book to him and he said that it put his condition into words tgat he could not because he can never find the words. I passed it on to his OT and neurologist at the Camp LeJeune TBI Clinic and I left a few copies in the waiting (they quickly disappeared). The clinic now uses the book as a reference and it is recommended that the staff read it to better understand the patients. This book also helped me to understand what my husband is dealing with and made me more patients. It is a wonderful book if you really want to understand TBI.

8 people found this helpful

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Orphia

TBI RN from ICU finds handbook for hope

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2018

Verified Purchase

Before I had to quit work and ICU was my specialty. As a nurse with a head injury, I am finding comfort and hope with this book. It isn’t written as a text book but the information is profoundly educational with lots of great ideas

6 people found this helpful

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IMA

From One Who Knows...

Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2008

Verified Purchase

Many people do not understand the wide spectrum of results from brain injury...from the severe and most obvious to those who live day to day with moderate disabilities and their consequences. Many of the survival techniques in this book are directed to those who suffer from the subtle changes that are a disaster to the sufferer but hardly noticed by those surrounding them. Dr. Sullivan speaks to those of us who can function--just not as well as most of the population. She extends a helping hand to those of us who need her--those of us who keep our moderate symptoms a secret but still need help. It would also be a great tool kit for those suffering "normal" memory loss in the aging process. My sincere thanks for this survival kit.

41 people found this helpful

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Sophie

Helpful

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2021

Verified Purchase

I was surprised by how wonderfully and effectively this book was written. Definitely a purchase you'll not regret. I loved how practical it was.

Helpful

Garry Prowe & Jessica Whitmore

Every Day Help at your Fingertips

Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2010

Verified Purchase

Don't think of this book--written by a medical doctor who ultimately learned to live well with her brain injury--as a guide to read once and set aside. Rather, Brain Injury Survival Kit is a resource brain injury survivors will turn to over and over again as they strive to cope with the cognitive deficits caused by their brain trauma. Written in a sparse easy-to-read manner, this book is ideal for teaching survivors (and their caregivers) how to use specific and concrete strategies and assistive devices to address their impaired attention, memory, organization, communication, and other executive functioning skills. Survivors of both minor and severe brain injuries will find this book to be an invaluable guide to overcoming the challenges they face every day. This book will be particularly helpful to survivors who did not benefit from formal rehabilitation.

24 people found this helpful

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unvarnishedtruth

Excellent Resource!

Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2011

Verified Purchase

Brain Injury Survival Kit by Cheryle Sullivan, MD is fantastic guide to creating order out of chaos. I have seen a number of books and tools for organizing oneself, geared toward the brain injury survivor as well as those marketed toward the general reader. This is by far the most user-friendly and well-written of the lot. Whether you are living with significant cognitive function loss, or simply need to find ways to make the most of your time and reduce unnecessary stress caused by poor organization and planning, this little book will help you on your way.

12 people found this helpful

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