Urinary Difficulties After a Brain Injury Brian D. Greenwald, MD, BrainLine

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  Transcript of this video. Pain while eating after a TBI is uncommon, but issues with taste and smell are not. Produced by Victoria Tilney McDonough and Brian King.
• Does it Hurt to Eat After Traumatic Brain Injury?
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  I'm a case manager and have gotten questions from patients and their families about TBI and spasticity — like how often is spasticity a problem and how is it best to treat spasticity that follows a TBI? I haven't been able to find any definitive research. Any ideas?

   

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• Increased Muscle Spasticity After Traumatic Brain Injury

Seven months ago, I suffered a traumatic brain injury and haven't been able to pee normally by myself since the accident. I was just curious if there is any medication I could take or exercises to do to help this. Or, does it just take time?

Urinary difficulties after traumatic brain injury require a comprehensive evaluation. There are a number of common medications that can cause urinary retention including Benadryl and opiate pain medications. Depending on your age or gender, your risk for this could be higher or lower.

Consult your doctor; he should consider the implications of direct trauma to the bladder or urethra from your injury when giving you a full evaluation. Catheters are commonly placed in the bladder when people are admitted to the hospital and this can cause trauma to the urethra and lead to urethral strictures (narrowing of the tube leading out of bladder).

If your symptoms continue, get an evaluation by a urologist. From there, you will know if you can consider any medication or exercises.

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Brian D. Greenwald, MD, Dr. Greenwald is currently an assistant professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, he is the medical director of Brain Injury Rehabilitation at the Mount Sinai Hospital's Rehabilitation Center in New York City. He is the medical director for Rehabilitation Specialists, a day and residential program for people with brain injury, in Fair Lawn, NJ (www.rehab-specialists.com). He is also a consultant for brain injury program at Park Terrace Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Rego Park, Queens, and the co-project director for the New York Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems. Dr. Greenwald has been serving on the Board of Trustees for the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey since 2002. Dr. Greenwald has published multiple articles in the areas of brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Currently, he is involved in several research studies to improve the care of people with brain injury.

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