Invisible Wounds Healing After TBI Traumatic Brain Injury

When a car pulled out in front of Kelly Tuttle on a rural road in 2015, the resulting crash didn't just damage her vehicle — it fundamentally altered her brain and identity. The thunderous collision that day transformed this cardiology nurse practitioner into a traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor who would have to relearn how to navigate the world with new cognitive challenges.

Kelly's story is particularly powerful because she experienced the jarring role reversal from healthcare provider to patient. Despite her medical background, she initially fell into the same trap many Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) survivors do — trying to "push through" symptoms like headaches, dizziness, speech difficulties, and extreme fatigue. It wasn't until she nearly crashed again after falling asleep at the wheel that colleagues intervened, helping her access proper diagnosis and treatment. This experience highlights the dangerous gap between TBI research and frontline medical care, where patients often must become their own fiercest advocates.

Through her recovery journey, Kelly discovered transformative coping strategies that she now shares with listeners. She emphasizes how movement prevents the deterioration of balance and coordination, warning against the sedentary lifestyle that can compound TBI symptoms. Perhaps most remarkably, Kelly's traumatic experience ultimately redirected her professional path. She transformed her newfound passion for brain health into a neurology career, becoming exactly the specialist she had needed during her own recovery, creating her "New Normal."

Whether you're a TBI survivor seeking strategies for your new normal, a family member trying to understand a loved one's changed abilities, or a healthcare provider wanting to better serve brain injury patients, Kelly's insights offer a roadmap for compassionate care and sustainable recovery. Her book "After the Crash" and her clinical practice demonstrate that while a brain injury may permanently alter your life, it doesn't have to diminish it. Ready to learn more about creating your new normal after TBI? Visit kellytuttle.org.

Chapters

• 0:00 Kelly's Car Crash and TBI Journey
• 5:42 Becoming Her Own Advocate
• 10:21 From Patient to Neurology NP
• 15:29 Preparedness Tips for Natural Disasters
• 19:08 Workplace Accommodations and Hidden Disabilities
• 26:17 Family Support and Creating Your New Normal

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:05

What happens when a brain injury turns a healer into a patient.

Speaker 2: 0:09

Today, on the New Normal Big Life podcast, kelly Tuttle, neurology nurse practitioner and TBI survivor, shares her journey from treating patients to rebuilding her life after a 2015 car crash. Tuttle, author of After the Crash, reveals how TBI survivors can create their new normal, cope with emotional and physical challenges and fight medical gaslighting and ask for workplace accommodations. She'll share coping tools, strategies and insights for TBI survivors, their families, employers and those providing health care to empower listeners to advocate for themselves post-TBI. Hi friends, welcome to the New Normal Big Life podcast. We bring you natural news and stories about nature that we hope will inspire you to get outside and adventure, along with a step-by-step plan to help you practice what you've learned and create your own new normal and live the biggest life you can dream. I'm your host, antoinette Lee, the wellness warrior.

Speaker 2: 1:07

Meet Kelly Tuttle, author of After the Crash. A neurology nurse practitioner, she can empathize with her patients better than most medical professionals. In 2015, she joined the leagues of patients that she'd helped treat when another car pulled out in front of her, causing a traumatic brain injury, or TBI. She wrote her book After the Crash to provide hope for TBI survivors, while helping to encourage them that they can live a normal life again, without the added stress of emotional, physical and cognitive challenges. Hello Kelly, welcome to the show. So glad you're here.

Speaker 1: 1:44

Thank you for having me, Antoinette. I really appreciate being here.

Speaker 2: 1:49

Well, as a nurse practitioner a neurology nurse practitioner you have a very unique way of empathizing with TBI survivors. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey and how you came to do the work that you do today?

Speaker 1: 2:05

Sure. So my story begins with a thunderous clap of metal, the shattering of glass and people coming out of their homes to see what has happened. I was driving down a rural road and another car pulled out in front of me and unfortunately I was unable to stop in time to avoid a collision. It was a pretty bad car accident. There were airbags deployed, I had several injuries and I thought, oh, I'll just shake this off and I'll get back to life. And I even went to work the next day day and my colleagues who are registered nurses and nurse practitioners were noting that I wasn't speaking right and that I had some changes in my personality and really impressed upon me to go in and see my general practitioner the next day, which I did. And I was diagnosed at the time with a concussion and taken off work for a couple of weeks and I thought I would be better after two weeks. So I go back to work, try to go back to life. Push, push, push, push. Do everything I can, despite having headaches, dizziness, I can. Despite having headaches, dizziness, difficulty with speech, unusual fatigue. And then one day I fell asleep at the wheel and the car bouncing off the road woke me up just in time to slow down my brakes to avoid striking a tree. But this is how well I was thinking. My concussed brain was working. I thought, oh, I won't tell my doctor. I don't recommend this for your listeners. I will sleep on the side of the road on the way from home, from work to home. I do not recommend that either, but this is how I was thinking. I was just trying to get back to life, keep going to work.

Speaker 1: 4:04

I was a single income earner for my family and, fortunately, shortly after, I had lunch with a colleague who, at the time, was a neurology nurse practitioner I was a cardiology nurse practitioner and she was curious about my recovery and I went symptom, symptom, symptom and I fell asleep at the wheel. That's okay. Now I'm just taking a nap in between work and home. And she's like what? Uh, no, that is not okay. Uh, you need to see a physical medicine and rehab doctor PMR, also known as a cytrus. They take care of brain injuries and spinal injuries and you need to have a brain scan.

Speaker 1: 4:50

So I hadn't seen any specialist or had a brain scan prior to this and I said okay. And then, with a lot of hoop, jumping and push, I finally got my general practitioner to refer me to the physical medicine rehab doctor. I got my brain scan. It was a head CT and it was normal and that's in quotes, if anybody's just listening to the podcast. And once I saw the physical medicine rehab doctor, she recognized right away that I had a mild to moderate concussion and she took me off work for three months. And when it was time for me to go back to work I was freaking out. I was like what does my brain need to support its performance while I'm at work? I was still having difficulty with reading comprehension and memory.

Speaker 1: 5:48

And I had no clue. I read all my brain injury books. I collected, I went to the websites, went to my therapist notes. There weren't anything specific for using at work lots of home stuff and things like that. And so when I decided to write my book, I decided that my book would specifically provide strategies and compensatory tools for people who wanted to work.

Speaker 1: 6:21

And that's kind of how I had become, come to be where I am today, and I had a friend who also called and checked on me and said hey, how are you doing? I said, oh, I'm doing good. I read all this stuff about the brain. I love it. I'm really becoming passionate about everything related to the brain and she goes. Well, you should be, you should go and be a neurology nurse practitioner, and I was like what? And so I was super excited and I worked really hard educating myself regarding what I would need to know to qualify for a position in neurology, and two years later I qualified for a training position and was able to work in the neurology department and help others like me.

Speaker 2: 7:12

Wow, that is really incredible and Kelly's book is After the Crash how to Keep your Job, stay in School and Live Life After a Brain Injury. And I know tons of veterans who listen to this show who have had brain injuries are going to want to know how you did it, kelly. How did you go from not being able to drive home after work and challenges with focus and memory and speech what a lot of us struggle with to someone who went back to school and training and change your career field?

Speaker 1: 7:49

It was all baby steps and it's getting to know your brain and its abilities. It's you know it's strength, where it needs to be supported, and just being kind to yourself and patient with your recovery. And one of the key things that was very helpful for me in my recovery and getting to know my brain and what my brain needed was journaling, and journaling helped me with so many things. It helped me get to know my symptoms, what made them worse, what helped support them, mindfulness, getting out of my head, getting away from the negative Nancy and the Bobby bully and getting into the present moment, getting scary thoughts out onto paper. And it also was a companion that I was able to, on the bad days when I was frustrated with my progress, to look back and see how far I had come.

Speaker 2: 8:55

Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah, I really like that a lot. And another thing that I think TBI survivors take for granted is they know they have a memory problem, but they don't generally don't write things down, they don't journal and keep a record of symptoms and improvements and what makes it better and worse. And it's so great that you did that. I did it as well and I think it helped speed up my recovery too.

Speaker 1: 9:22

Oh yeah, and then just handwriting, writing in the journal, and helps with neuroplasticity, so it encourages rewiring the brain to go around the areas that have been lost and reconnect new connections.

Speaker 2: 9:37

When someone is journaling about their symptoms after the traumatic brain injury, are there any recommendations that you have for specific things they should write about beyond the symptoms? What makes it worse and better in terms of what they might want to write down to tell their doctor at the next visit?

Speaker 1: 10:01

Well, definitely if things are persisting or getting worse, and then definitely write down what you think you could use to help yourself get better, whether that's speech therapy, physical therapy, neurotherapy, a thorough eye exam, hearing evaluation. So I would definitely write those things down. You really do have to be an advocate for yourself. Unfortunately, tbi care is kind of it's not keeping up with the research, and that's kind of the case with most things. I think it's 17 years before a new research finding makes it to the front line of healthcare. So you really have to be your own advocate as a provider. You have to realize that once you see one traumatic brain injury, you've seen one traumatic brain injury. So everyone's experience and the symptoms they have is going to be different for it, just as different as their personality. And the same goes for your recovery. You know some people recover within a couple weeks or a month and others, like me, are 10 years out and still working on recovery.

Speaker 2: 11:25

What would you say to someone and I'm glad you brought up the extended recovery time what would you say to someone who has gone through recovery, has maybe gone through occupational therapy, speech therapy, physical therapy and also recreational therapy? So, for example, I was introduced to archery to retrain my brain for focus. I was introduced to whitewater kayaking to one, become social, become more active and to work on hand-eye coordination regeneration. So what can a person who's maybe they are 10 years out especially our Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom veterans might be experiencing some ongoing traumatic brain injury challenges that they're not even aware is related to their brain injury. What can you tell them?

Speaker 1: 12:24

Well, that is definitely something I have come across in my practice in the past. Is people not being not making the connection of their symptoms with a past?

Speaker 2: 12:34

head injury.

Speaker 1: 12:36

And I've also seen in my professional colleagues a reluctance to connect a previous head injury to current symptoms. So I would recommend that they become very familiar with the symptoms of a brain injury. Everybody's recovery is different and every symptom for that person is different. So it's very important to know your symptom. Let's say it's balance difficulty with balance and if that is your persistent symptom, then you're going to work on improving your balance through your lifetime, because as we get older our balance gets worse. So your goal is really to kind of improve as much as you can or maintain a steady state, so then when age comes along, it doesn't amplify your balance issues even more than you would want.

Speaker 1: 13:45

So if you have balance issues, you need to move, you need to walk, you need to do your neurotherapy exercises every day. You would want to consider doing yoga. You could start off doing chair yoga and then slowly move between chair yoga and standing yoga poses and then, as you progress, of course, uh, full yoga, but maybe holding on to something, uh, for your balance, and it's just this kind of slow progression and um, walking in every day, walking outside, is great. The last thing you want to do if you have balance issues is to be very sedentary, because once you're sedentary and you're not active, then you're not making those connections between your feet and your brain.

Speaker 2: 14:35

You want people to avoid being very sedentary.

Speaker 1: 14:39

Exactly, movement is great and it doesn't have to be a marathon. You don't have to hike in the woods, it could be just walking down the street, be walking in your yard If you are someone who works at your computer a lot, getting up, taking breaks, stretching, walking around but really try to slowly incorporate back into your lifestyle and active lifestyle.

Speaker 2: 15:06

That's so important. We really do focus on that here at New Normal Big Life. Every episode of the podcast encourages people to get outside and adventure, so we will continue to reinforce that. Before we cover the next topic in this episode, I want to introduce you to the adventure sports Lifestyle with what I call a micro story about an adventure that I've had. The Adventure Sports Lifestyle and my deep connection to nature is essential to my good health. So here's the story. If you've listened to the last few podcasts, you've heard me talk about preparedness, and although FEMA recommends that you prepare for 10 days, I'm recommending that you prepare for 14 days, like my family and me. So we've talked about food. We've talked about first aid. We've talked about preparing to have an escape route safely, especially in a water survival situation, like a flood, for example. Now let's talk about water.

Speaker 2: 16:05

You might be surrounded by water in a flood or a hurricane, but chances are you won't be able to drink any of it unless you've prepared in advance One of the things that we do whenever we hear that there's a natural disaster of any kind potentially in our area, like a wildfire, excessive rainfall, a blizzard, excessive snowfall Anytime we suspect the power may go out and our well pump won't work, or your city water might get contaminated by flood water, or you just may not have power, so the water that comes out of your faucet may not be drinkable, and you'll need to have water on hand for both yourself and your pets and a lot of people forget about their pets. We'll have an entire podcast episode on basic preparedness, but I wanted to drop a few nuggets to get you started thinking about and preparing for natural disasters, because there's been a number of 100-year floods all over the country, so I wanted to drop some food for thought that you can start thinking about and acting on now, because you never know when disaster may strike. World events are constantly teaching everyone some very painful lessons. Without warning, everything we take for granted can suddenly fail, and if you're not prepared in advance, you really don't have a chance. The fact is, the modern world runs on a just-in-time supply schedule. Even the biggest grocery stores can carry only enough food for a few days' worth of normal shopping. So when disaster strikes and chaos ensues at your local stores, the odds are simply against you. If you don't have emergency food and gear stockpiled in advance, you will probably suffer.

Speaker 2: 17:53

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Speaker 2: 18:42

Ready to shop? Use my affiliate link in the show description. Ready to shop? Use my affiliate link in the show description. Now back to Kelly Tuttle with more on surviving a TBI and thriving despite the challenge as a TBI survivor, have you come across situations where I don't know if you have any visible signs that you survived a traumatic brain injury? I know many TBI survivors don't have scars or other signs that show they might have a disability what I like to call a differing ability, because I'm not disabled. I just maybe have to do things a little different, but I still have abilities. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:23

I like that? Have you experienced people not believing that you need some kind of accommodation, whether it be a workplace accommodation or an accommodation in a public setting, like, for example, if I'm going to a class it could be a dance class I will tell the instructor up front. I've had a traumatic brain injury. I may need to privately ask you to repeat something. I won't stop the class to do it if you are talking too fast and that's just kind of asking for an accommodation in a polite way, instead of them getting annoyed with you because you're constantly interrupting the flow. But how have you handled those kinds of challenges where, because people can't see your disability, it's hidden they either don't believe you or they're not patient?

Speaker 1: 20:16

Yes, so with work accommodations. I had one manager who was super supportive and I provided her with the work accommodations and she got them done and she supplied them to me. And then there was a change in management and the new management and HR people didn't want to accommodate me. They didn't they. I was basically told I have to be able to do my job without accommodations. Yeah, so it's um, it can be really hard and um and it. You know, people just they just don't get it. They think, oh well, after so much time, you should be better, your accommodations should just be temporary. And yeah, it's very, very frustrating and I just, you know, I'll tell you what. I don't really have any recommendations for addressing people who are jerks, but I will tell you what I did. I just smiled and said OK, thank you, and I documented it, I reported it.

Speaker 2: 21:41

Yeah, you know, when you leave the military or when you even leave the hospital, they'll tell you. You can ask for workplace accommodations. Make sure you get them in writing, negotiate them in your contract, and I did all of those things. I had them in writing. Companies always agreed to them and within about three months they would say that they're no longer going to agree to your workplace accommodations. And sometimes it was something as little as and although it's more acceptable now. In the early 2000s, when I was in technology, I needed a workplace accommodation because I worked in an open kind of Bay area with lots of people and telephones ringing, conversations happening and I couldn't focus. So I just asked to wear headphones. I didn't want to have any music playing in the headphones, just they were noise canceling headphones so that I could focus better. And I was told that I couldn't wear them, even though it was in my workplace written workplace accommodations, because then everybody would want them. And I explained well, you can just explain to them, it's a, it's a disability accommodation.

Speaker 1: 22:56

And they still told me no, even though it was already in my contract that's really sad because the there is some hostility when it comes to asking for accommodations, and what these people, these managers, don't realize is that accommodations don't just help the disabled employee.

Speaker 1: 23:20

It helps all employees, all employees and um. And then it improves all employees environment, uh, so that they could be more efficient, more productive um like, for example, uh, wearing your noise counseling headphones is great for anybody suffering from sound sensitivity or difficulty with focus and attention in an open working space. And if everyone could wear headphones, then maybe the person who has a history of migraines will have less headaches at the end of the day because they're not using their brain energy or they're not having muscle tension in their shoulders and neck from having to constantly block out that noise to focus. The other thing about headphones in the workplace is that it also keeps you out of inane conversations, because people see you with your headphones and assume you're working and you're focused and they're less likely to walk up to you and just start a casual conversation unless it's work related, and that's the other thing too. I mean that helps support, focus, efficiency and productivity. So when I hear about and see managers not support these accommodations, they're just basically shooting themselves in the foot.

Speaker 2: 24:44

I agree, when you have friends and family, people who are close to you, they spend a lot of time with you and you're able to function, you hold a job, you have a relationship, you run errands. They look at you and and I think a little bit is maybe wishful thinking that everything's great, you're all healed and they don't have to help you, they don't have to accommodate your needs for your differing ability or disability and they just want to put the whole injury behind them. But for us it's a lifelong challenge or challenges. But for us it's a lifelong challenge or challenges. How do you talk with your family so that they don't also become one of those people who are just kind of like you look in air quotes, normal, just get over it and get on with your life? I'm tired of dealing with this, and sometimes they don't say that directly, but their behavior communicates that to you.

Speaker 1: 25:53

Yeah, I was really fortunate that my family was super supportive, so thank goodness I didn't have to deal with that. But I have had patients and caregivers kind of report those type of issues and as a provider I've had to do education. And when I take care of a patient I take not only care of them but I take care of their family too, and so I would do a lot of education. That this, you know, for some people the change is permanent. They'll learn to adapt and move on, but they're not going to be their old selves, and for some traumatic brain injury survivors, the day of their head injury was a day they died but their body survived, and so you may find yourself in a relationship with a total stranger.

Speaker 1: 26:46

Personally me, after my car accident, things started settling down. I would look in the mirror and I did not know the person that was looking back. I saw my face but I didn't know who I was anymore. There really isn't a getting over. It's moving forward and adapting and embracing the new, and that's kind of what I try to recommend for families and being a provider, it's kind of nice to say the things that the patient needs to be said, but the family can't get mad at me, you know, because I'm saying it. So it helps reinforce that. So, definitely, having a inner intervention done by a provider and that could be like your counselor, a psychologist, it could be your general practitioner, it could be the physical medicine, rehab, your pt person, have them speak up for you and educate your caregiver and now they have this podcast and your wonderful words and insights to educate their families.

Speaker 2: 27:51

So you're really helping, kelly. Is there anything else you want to leave the listeners with?

Speaker 1: 27:57

Yes, if you want to know more information about me and my work and um the uh content I create to help educate TBI survivors and their loved ones, please go to kellytuttleorg. That's kellytuttle, t-u-t-t-l-e dot O-R-G.

Speaker 2: 28:19

Perfect. Thank you so much for being here, kelly. I'd love to have you back next time, some other time, and talk about more conversations we need to have with care providers and family members and also empowering the TBI survivor to know that they can create their new normal and live a big life after brain injury.

Speaker 1: 28:42

I would love to be back, thank you.

Speaker 2: 28:44

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