Reading?
 

I just celebrated the nine-month anniversary of my concussion.

I am definitely feeling better than my worst days, which were in June and July.

I feel like my short-term memory is serviceable--I do not often forget things I just did or said, or lists of things I want to do; when I do, I can usually recover them, which was not the case over the Summer. One of the parts of my therapy over the Summer was to try to take words whose letters had been "jumbled" and to figure out what words they were. I had a lot of trouble then, but almost no trouble now.

One of the things I've noticed is that I do not read with the same engagement as I did before the injury; it's not that I don't understand what I read, or even don't remember it (I read an op-ed piece in today's paper this morning and not only do I remember what it was about; I remember the thesis). It's that it takes a while to make connections with my other knowledge; something which happened a lot quicker before. Though I read for a living (I am a medical editor), my personal reading is the problem.

I am a reader, and I do not want to give that up. That, more than residual neck or head pain or anything else, would make me very sad. One of my doctors said that I should read intensively every day, which I try to do, even if on some days it kind of washes over me.

I've been reading mainly poetry—my strong suit has never been plot and most poetry you don't have to remember from line to line anyway.

My medium-term goal is to be able to read Shakespeare again with some understanding.

My questions:

1. What kind of things have people been doing to increase their reading comprehension other than just reading what they can and when they can?

2. What kind of cognitive training/ regimens have people found to be successful? (I'm not asking so much about products as I am about what kinds of exercises do people use and with what frequency and results (there are two that I use which I like and in which I feel I have shown real progress).)

Thank you for your continued support.

I think online scrabble helped enormously. It is a game that doesn't move (good for dizzyness, vision problems), helps you scan, and slowly builds up connections.
I read a novel two years post injury. Believe me...I lived to read and this part of the injury has broken my heart.
Mending.....slowly but surely.
I also got an ereader...changes the font, spacing etc. which made it easier to retain and read.
I am slowly able to retain and make links with other things.
I think anything you do that adds in multitasking (i listen to radio while playing scrabble, fo example) is a good thing.
Hang in there. Glad you see improvement!

Have you tried going to a neuro-optometrist, someone who is a member of the Nuero-optometric rehabilation association (NORA)? The prismatic glasses they prescribe are not for eyesight but for vision; so they can aid in reading comprehension. They have for me. I also take frequent breaks.

Ah yes... reading. I have been an avid fiction and essay and non-fiction reader for all my life, but after my fall in 2004, I lost all interest in it. The loss if interest followed my loss of ability. I literally could not make it through a book. Or even a chapter. I was given "Life of Pi" for Christmas one year, and I could not follow it. Granted, it's a challenging book to begin with, but I would forget what had happened on the last page, whenever I turned to a new one.

After several years of this, I decided enough is enough. I had to do something. This is what I did to "reboot" my reading (which has worked).

I found a book that really held my attention -- one of the Bourne novels, which one of my favorite movies was based on. Because I knew the movie so well, I could follow the book - like training wheels. The places where the book was different from the movie made it a little challenging, but it also got me thinking things through more completely.

I'm not sure I ever actually finished that book, but it got me started. I worked on different books at different times, with plenty of time in between to rest my brain. Reading intensively every day was not an option for me, because my brain couldn't deal.

It probably took me at least 6 months, before I could read through an entire book. But it's been several years since I "rebooted" my reading, and now I'm reading regularly. I find that I need to really care about what I'm reading. I can't tolerate plot lines about people I think are idiots... so, that tends to limit my choices ;)

I get irritated quickly, and that sets me back, so I need to pick and choose my material carefully.

Fortunately, there are plenty of books in the world, and I have plenty of interests, so I'm happy to report ... I'm back.

With time, you can be too, I am sure.