BRAIN INJURY INFORMATION
BRAIN INJURY – CAUSES
There are many ways a person can receive a brain injury: abuse, aneurysm, assault, blasts, combat injury, drug use, explosive blast, exposure to chemicals, falling items, falls, fights, gunshot wounds, heart attack, infection, near drowning, physical abuse, shaken baby syndrome, sports related injuries, stroke, tumor, violence, vehicle-related injuries, etc.
TBI - SYMPTOMS
Immediate signs of TBI may include dizziness, blurred vision and nausea. Over time, other symptoms can develop, such as headaches, fatigue, lack of concentration and memory loss. Extreme cases may result in death.
Although there are many different causes of brain injury, it is my experience from reading and from talking with others that many of the symptoms are the same. These are many of the symptoms and areas affected through brain injury: amnesia, anxiety, appetite, attention, balance, blackouts of time, body image distortion, breathing, concentration, confusion, coordination, depression, dizziness, distraction, emotions, exaggerated startle response (jumping out of your skin), fatigue, fear, grief over loss of good health, guilt, head pain, headaches, hearing problems, heart rate, impaired logic, impatience, lack of concentration, lack of control of body movements, judgment, memory loss (short-term and long-term), nervousness, nightmares, personality changes, post traumatic stress disorder, preoccupation with death, problem solving skills, reduced thinking speed, resistance to change, ringing in your ears, sequencing difficulties, sleep disruption, speech, suicidal thoughts, survivor’s guilt, tremors, vertigo, visual problems, and word finding problems.
TBI – INFORMATION
Traumatic Brain Injury is caused by an external force to the brain (such as a severe blow or jolt). The force causes the brain to suddenly and violently bounce back and forth in the skull, slamming into the interior of the cranium. It disrupts the normal function of the brain; it can cause damage to multiple areas in the brain. When the jolt occurs, the neurons and nerve tracts are affected and can’t carry messages to tell the brain what to do. It changes the way a person thinks, acts, feels, and moves. Brain injury can also change the internal functions of the body such as regulating body temperature and blood pressure. These changes can be temporary or permanent.
TBI can result in many changes: physical, emotional, behavioral and cognitive. The damage can be short term or permanent.
TBI – INFORMATION AND FACTS
According to the Center for Disease Control, approximately 1.7 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury annually. Of those 1.7 million people, there are approximately: 52,000 deaths, 275,000 hospitalizations, and 1,365,000 emergency department visits. It is unknown how many people with TBI never receive medical care.
Physical damage to the brain is the leading cause of seizures and epilepsy.
TBI is a contributing factor to a almost a third of all injury-related deaths in the United States.
