Some types of injuries are minor. People fully heal from them with the right medical treatment and adequate rest. Broken bones, lacerations and soft tissue injuries are all examples of injuries that heal with time and treatment.
Other types of injuries can produce permanent symptoms and can forever change the course of someone’s life. Moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) change the structure of the brain. While people can undergo physical or occupational therapy to regain lost function and treatment to prevent their injuries from worsening, medical professionals cannot undo the damage generated by a TBI.
Despite how severe they can be, brain injuries can be easy for people to overlook after they first get hurt. What are some of the early warning signs that someone may have a TBI that could get worse without medical treatment?
A loss of consciousness
In a car crash scenario or similar traumatic incident, one of the first warning signs that someone may have hurt their brain is that they suddenly lose consciousness. In severe cases, people may end up in a coma because of a traumatic brain injury. However, people may lose consciousness for just a few seconds. Passing out during a car crash is not something that typically happens. Anybody who blacks out may need to see a doctor and tell them what happened.
Persistent headaches or nausea
Two of the seemingly minor symptoms that may accompany a TBI can last for days and slowly worsen over time. Some people feel nauseous after they hurt their brains. They might even experience violent vomiting. Others develop low-grade headaches that may become worse as time passes. Even if the headache doesn’t become severe, it can be an indicator of continued pressure inside the skull.
Blurry vision
People who don’t need eyeglasses or contacts may notice that things don’t look quite right after a car crash. The reason why their vision changes is that a significant amount of the brain’s effort goes into analyzing visual information. When the brain sustains an injury, it may struggle to handle visual information the way it typically does. There are a variety of other symptoms of brain injuries that people may experience, ranging from slurred speech to changes in personality. Anyone who hits their head or experiences particularly violent vehicle motions in a car crash may need to see a doctor to diagnose their condition.
Covering brain injury expenses after a car crash or similar incident may require aggressive insurance negotiations or even a lawsuit. The sooner people identify a brain injury, the easier it may be to connect it to the underlying incident and get compensation from the appropriate party.