Estimates are that there have been upwards of 600 000 possible cases of brain injury associated with drug poisoning in Canada since 2016, according to Mauricio Garcia-Barrera, a lead researcher with the BC Consensus on Brain Injury project.
“By definition, any time that a person loses consciousness because they are not breathing, we are talking about a hypoxic event, that is a brain injury,” he said.
For those impacted, there are many possible consequences.
“There are neurological symptoms like constant headaches, dizziness. Fatigue is the number one reported symptom. People feeling really tired,” Garcia-Barrera said. “There are also going to be behavioral changes. So personality changes, mood, people feeling really easily overwhelmed, easily stressed.”
“Also, they’re going to have a lot of cognitive changes…memory is number one being affected. And there’s a whole group of cognitive functions that we call executive functions in our field…it translates into every day life activity being affected, from employment, from keeping up your job, tasks in your job, keeping healthy relationships, communication in your relationships, sustaining your family, and so forth, depending on the severity.”
Barrera said that brain injury can also be a risk factor for addiction.
“We know for sure that the history of brain injury, particularly if there is no care in place, it’s associated with high risk for substance use and addictions and vice versa.”
The impacts on society are manifold, according to Garcia-Barrera.
“The number one thing that comes to mind always is the cost. And this cost is not just the monetary financial burden,” he said.
Garcia-Barrera says the financial cost amounts to billions a year, accounting for expenses on follow up medical services, hospitalizations, unemployment rates, issues with the criminal justice system, and homelessness that can be related to brain injury.
“There’s also a lot of cost in relation to trauma, the trauma that is experienced by the individual, the loss, the grief that it follows, the sense of one changing, losing the identity of what they were before, what they were able to do before, and the families, everyone around anyone that survives a brain injury associated with drug poisoning is going to be impacted, particularly if it’s severe, if there’s a lot of symptoms.”
In the first of a two episode focus on brain injury, People First Radio spoke with Garcia-Barrera and Adele Rogers.
14 years ago, Rogers’ son was involved in a car crash that led to a severe brain injury.
“It was,devastating, of course, for my son. But it was also devastating for the family,” she said.
Rogers said brain injury is sometimes called “the invisible injury”, and that people who’ve experienced one can sometimes run into issues when accessing day to day services in the community.
“For a lot of individuals with brain injury, many of their symptoms look like they’re under the influence and for them, it completely changes the dynamics of their social interactions,” she said.
“For somebody, for example, walking up to do their business at the bank, right? They look fine, but perhaps when they start to ask for service, there may be slurring, they may be a little bit off balance. And then it instantly creates this dynamic because the person that’s supposed to help them isn’t quite sure of what they’re working with.”
Rogers recalled an incident that occurred when she was out with her son
“In the early days before he was walking again, we would go shopping, and we’d grab one of those carts, the Motorized carts, and people would give us the stink eye, basically, because he looked fine, and we even got asked at the checkout once, why is he using that?” Rogers said.
“It’s crushing, right? For someone to have to, if they even choose to, explain why they need a little support or help,” she said.
“And as a result, my son never used it again.”
You can read more about the links between brain injury and the toxic drug crisis in a recent article in The Conversation, co-authored by Mauricio Garcia-Barrera.
Apple Podcasts
Google Podcasts
Spotify