Brain injuries are a major cause of disability, dependency, and death throughout the world. They can affect people of any age, but they are more common in men than women.
The severity of brain injuries can range from mild to severe, and they can cause both short-term and long-term effects. Since these are so common, it is important to know the 4 most important things about brain injuries.
1. Traumatic Brain Injuries
Injuries that involve head trauma are called traumatic or acquired brain injuries. These occur when an external force causes damage to the brain. Examples include car accidents (where the head hits the window or steering wheel), falling, and other events that cause an impact on the head.
As if getting hurt isn’t bad enough, medical assistance is always needed when it comes to brain injuries, which makes the medical bills pile up. If you were in an accident and suffered consequences due to someone else’s negligence, you can click here to learn more about what options you have available to claim compensation for what you’ve been through. It’s important to note that there are two categories of brain injuries: primary and secondary.
The primary injury happens at the moment of impact when a disruption in brain structure occurs due to the external force from the accident. After this, there is typically a period where nothing seems to be happening as the brain tissue is injured. Then, secondary injuries start to occur over the next few hours or days. During this time, there are chemical changes in the brain that can result in bruising, swelling, and more damage to the cells.
2. Symptoms
Depending on what happened, there can be some obvious indicators that a brain injury has occurred, such as loss of consciousness and seizures. However, sometimes it can seem like there’s nothing really wrong – which can lead to complications if the injury is not treated appropriately, which is why it’s really important to pay special attention to the person’s symptoms. All brain injuries should be taken seriously and looked into, even if it seems like nothing serious is happening. Some of the more common symptoms include headaches, dizziness, nausea which people tend to contribute to other things like stress.
Mood swings, like sudden bouts of anger as well as the inability to remember certain things all of the sudden are all signs that something is wrong. As a general rule, if you hit your head, and don’t think there’s anything wrong, it’s best to avoid sleeping for the next eight hours and monitor how you feel. If you notice any of these symptoms, or really anything out of the ordinary, you should seek medical attention as soon as possible.
3. Second Impact Syndrome
You need to be aware that if you do suffer a brain injury, there’s a chance of experiencing second impact syndrome (SIS). SIS is an extremely serious condition, and it can lead to death or severe disability. It happens when there’s another traumatic injury before the symptoms from the first brain injury have stopped. Basically, the symptoms from the first injury are still affecting your brain, so when you get hit again, even slightly, you can experience what’s known as diffuse cerebral edema or swelling of the brain that leads to increased pressure inside of it.
This leads to further issues like unconsciousness and paralysis that could be permanent in some cases. It’s always important to take time to recover from any injury, but it’s even more so when it comes to any type of head injury.
4. Recovery Process
The most important thing to remember is that recovery from a brain injury is different for everyone. There are some factors that usually impact the process of recovery though, like age, medical history, mental health issues, or substance abuse. More than anything else though, it’s important to go visit the doctor regularly if there are any problems because the sooner you catch something like this, the better chance that you will have of making a full recovery.
As a general rule, you should avoid taking any medications that haven’t been prescribed to you by a doctor or nurse, because whatever might help someone else doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you. For example, some pain medications we might typically use for headaches are known to have an impact on your blood pressure or heart rate, so if you have a pre-existing medical condition, they might not be the best thing to take.
Brains are quite complex, and injuries to the brain can be even more complicated. The sooner something like this is caught, the better chance that you will have of making a full recovery, which means talking to your doctor if anything seems out of the ordinary. Even a minor bump can sometimes lead to serious complications, so it’s always best to pay attention to how you feel and how you’re doing after any injury.
