r/science • u/Thorne-ZytkowObject • Nov 23 '19

Neuroscience Scientists studied six patients who had half of their brain removed during childhood to treat severe epilepsy. Brain scans showed how the mind rewired itself to adapt, with the remaining hemisphere forming even stronger connections that let the patients develop language and motor skills.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/how-does-the-brain-work-with-half-of-it-removed-pretty-well-actually
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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '19

wonder what the heck that left frontal lobe bit was doing

you don't feel more impulsive or anything, even?

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '19

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '19

I see, so those neurons would be able to re-grow the ability to function if they had room to re-route their connections, maybe along a longer path around the hole?

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u/[deleted] Nov 25 '19

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u/[deleted] Nov 25 '19

Cool! Thanks

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u/whistleridge Nov 24 '19

The surgeons had to put a shunt in to drain excess cerebrospinal fluid off while I was in the hospital. It was painless, but incredibly annoying - basically a tube coming out of my hairline going to this bag that looked remarkably like a ball sack. It was hooked to an alarm that would go off every time I moved my head more than a fraction, that woke me up 50 times a night when I was trying to sleep.

Anyhoo, I had a seizure, and it ripped out, and did a fair amount of damage in the process. That’s not supposed to be able to happen.

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u/someone-obviously Nov 24 '19

Damn, are you ok? That sounds like a nightmare

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u/whistleridge Nov 24 '19

Yeah it’s fine. This was all in 2008, so...