The human brain is a wondrous thing. It is the seat of your soul and home to your personality, not to mention the control center that keeps your heart beating and legs walking. Even slight brain injuries can have a dramatic impact on your life, which is why the Stein & Shulman team urges all our Chicago-area readers to educate themselves about the signs of a brain injury.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “traumatic brain injur[ies] can have wide-ranging physical and psychological effects. Some signs or symptoms may appear immediately after the traumatic event, while others may appear days or weeks later.”
Signs of a Traumatic Brain Injury
The signs and symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury may include:
- Headache
- Loss of consciousness
- Feeling dazed, confused or disoriented
- Nausea or vomiting
- Fatigue or drowsiness
- Problems with speech
- Difficulty sleeping
- Sleeping more than usual
- Dizziness or loss of balance
- Sensory problems, such as blurred vision, ringing in the ears, a bad taste in the mouth or changes in the ability to smell
- Sensitivity to light or sound
- Memory or concentration problems
- Mood changes or mood swings
- Feeling depressed or anxious
Moderate to severe TBIs may also cause:
- Convulsions or seizures
- Dilation of one or both pupils of the eyes
- Clear fluids draining from the nose or ears
- Inability to awaken from sleep
- Weakness or numbness in fingers and toes
- Loss of coordination
- Profound confusion
- Agitation, combativeness or other unusual behavior
- Slurred speech
- Coma and other disorders of consciousness
Infants and young children who are not able to tell you how they are feeling may show their illness in other ways:
- Change in eating or nursing habits
- Unusual or easy irritability
- Persistent crying and inability to be consoled
- Change in ability to pay attention
- Change in sleep habits
- Seizures
- Sad or depressed mood
- Drowsiness
- Loss of interest in favorite toys or activities
Why a Quick Diagnosis Is So Important
If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident, and are now experiencing any of these symptoms, it is critical that you seek medical treatment. Failure to diagnose and treat a traumatic brain injury can worsen your injury, and make it much more difficult to fully recover. This is a serious concern since recovering from a TBI can take years under the best of circumstances.
A quick diagnosis may also prevent you or your loved one from developing illnesses that may never be fully cured like chronic pain, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, depression, IBS, or TMJ dysfunction.
After you seek medical treatment, you should consider reaching out to Stein & Shulman’s experienced team of personal injury attorneys. Illinois residents only have a short window of time following an accident or injury when they are allowed to seek compensation for their injuries. Because brain injuries are sometimes slow to develop and are always slow to heal, some people miss their opportunity to file a lawsuit and are then barred by the courts from holding those responsible for their TBIs accountable. Our team is ready to help Chicago-area residents act quickly to secure the money needed to move forward after a traumatic brain injury.
