Traumatic brain injury may or may not be permanent depending on the nature of the injury. A traumatic brain injury may cause a wide range of either short- or long-term changes that may affect the ability to think, function, sense, show emotion, or communicate. What makes a traumatic brain injury permanent will largely depend on the original injury’s severity.
What Happens If a Person Has a Brain Injury?
Depending on if a person experienced a mild or severe brain injury, their symptoms, treatments, and outcomes will differ. If a person has a mild brain injury, they will likely need rest and some over-the-counter pain medicines for a few weeks or months and will ultimately feel better and face no long-term effects. However, if someone has a severe brain injury, they may have serious symptoms, need hospitalization or surgery, and suffer permanent brain damage.
If you or a loved one suffered a brain injury in an accident that was another party’s fault, you have a legal case against the other party. A Florida brain injury lawyer from our firm can assist you with your case.
What Are the Different Types of Brain Injuries?
Generally, brain injuries are classified as either traumatic or non-traumatic. Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are caused by an external force, but non-traumatic brain injuries aren’t. TBIs can be further classified as mild, moderate, severe, and catastrophic.
Some examples of brain injuries are concussions, contusions, diffuse axonal injuries, traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhages, and hematomas. Often, after an accident, a victim will suffer many of these different types of brain injuries at once, with different degrees of severity.
Mild TBIs
If you suffered a mild traumatic brain injury, there may be no permanent damage. According to Mayo Clinic, some symptoms of a minor or mild traumatic brain injury include:
- A short loss of consciousness
- No loss of consciousness but a dazed or confused state
- Headache
- Speech issues
- Fatigue
- Drowsiness
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Ringing in the ears
- Blurred vision
- Changes in taste or smell
- Sensitivity to light
- Memory issues
- Mood changes
- Depression and anxiety
- Difficulty sleeping or sleeping more than normal
- Dizziness
- A loss of balance
In many cases, mild traumatic brain injuries resolve within a few days, weeks, or months. Rest, hydration, healthy food, and a hiatus on any tasks requiring difficult thinking (such as video games or reading) can help the brain regenerate enough to become healthy again.
Moderate to Severe Brain Injuries
The symptoms of moderate to severe brain injuries may include some of the same symptoms as mild brain injuries. Some of the other symptoms of moderate to severe brain injuries can be:
- Loss of consciousness for a longer period of time
- Persistent headache
- Convulsions
- Seizures
- Repeated vomiting or nausea
- Differing dilation in the pupils
- Clear fluids coming from the ears or nose
- An inability to wake up
- Weak or numb toes or fingers
- Serious confusion
- Incoherent speech
- Agitation
- Coma
Complications can occur after a moderate or severe brain injury. These complications can be prolonged or permanent damage to a person’s responsiveness, awareness, or even consciousness. Comas, vegetative states, minimally conscious states, and brain death are all possible after a severe brain injury.
Other physical complications could include hydrocephalus (fluid buildup in the brain), infections, blood vessel damage, seizures, headaches, and/or vertigo. These complications from brain injuries can be temporary or permanent.
Traumatic Brain Injuries With Long-Term Effects
There are three types of traumatic brain injuries that may result in long-term side effects.
Closed Head Injuries
Closed head injuries are injuries in which no bleeding or open wounds are visible, but the brain either twists or collides against the skull in some way, causing damage to nerve fibers or some sort of internal bleeding.
Open Wound Injuries
These brain injuries have open wounds associated with them that may expose the brain to external conditions. These brain injuries can be very serious but may be less severe than closed head injuries if the damage exists in only one location.
Crushing Head Injuries
If the head is between and compressed by two objects, this is called a crushing head injury. This type of injury can result in not only brain damage but also damage to the skull and neck.
It is important to note that any of the three types of traumatic brain injuries may cause both permanent and non-permanent damage. Ultimately, what will make a traumatic brain injury permanent will depend on the severity of the causal injury and how soon medical treatment is provided to the person.
Common Causes of Brain Injuries
The common causes of brain injuries include jolts to the body, blows to the head, and piercing of the head. Common incidents include falls, car accidents, violence, sports injuries, explosive blasts, or combat-related incidents.
Diagnosing a Traumatic Brain Injury
To diagnose a TBI, one of the diagnostic tests a doctor will rely upon is the Glasgow Coma Scale. This diagnostic scale measures a victim’s ability to speak, open their eyes, and move. Once this test is performed, the doctor will determine if any further diagnostic testing or procedures are needed for the patient.
If the doctor determines that additional testing is necessary, they may order a computerized tomography (CT scan) or a magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI). The doctor may order intracranial pressure monitoring (ICP monitoring) for a patient that exhibits symptoms of swelling in the brain.
Brain Injury Treatment
Many victims suffering from a brain injury will simply need time to heal. Often, anti-inflammatory medicine, pain medicine, diuretics, and rest will help a brain injury patient. However, if a patient has a more severe brain injury, then the patient may need to stay in the hospital in the intensive care unit so medical professionals can monitor any potential swelling in the brain.
Other brain injury patients may need to have a ventilator or a feeding tube, or be monitored through an electroencephalogram (EEG). In some severe cases, surgery will be necessary to reduce swelling or damage to the brain or to remove hematomas in the brain.
Legal Options After a Brain Injury
If you or a loved one suffered a brain injury because of someone else’s negligence (such as in a car crash, a slip and fall accident, or another kind of personal injury incident), financial recovery might be possible. You may be able to obtain compensation through a lawsuit or an insurance claim.
A Florida brain injury attorney from our firm can evaluate your case, explain your rights and legal options to you, and help you fight for compensation to cover your medical bills, therapies, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other economic and non-economic damages.
Contact The Law Offices Of Anidjar & Levine Today
If you were involved in an accident due to someone else’s negligence and suffered a traumatic brain injury, contact the Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine today for a free consultation and case review.
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