According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year approximately 2.87 million Americans suffer some form of brain injury, leading on average to 52,000 deaths. Some of the more common causes of TBI include vehicle accidents, falls, assaults, medical malpractice, and unintentional blunt trauma, such as being hit by a falling object.
TBI Symptoms
Some of the more common symptoms of TBI include:
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Headaches
- Memory loss
- Sleep problems
- Changes in hearing or vision
- Slurred speech
- Emotional issues such as depression
The Effects of TBI
The effects of a brain injury can be either temporary or permanent, and they can vary from person to person. Two people could suffer almost identical injuries and have totally different symptoms and effects.
- Temporary effects – Individuals who’ve suffered a brain injury may suffer only short term effects that may include headaches, severe fatigue, and temporary behavioral changes. In many cases, these effects will go away on their own.
- Permanent effects – Unfortunately, there is no cure for these, and they include symptoms such as memory loss and cognitive difficulties, speech problems, loss of motor function, mood swings, and behavioral changes, among others.
- Unconsciousness, coma, and possibly death – The loss of consciousness from brain trauma can be temporary, such as being knocked out in a bicycle accident, or a prolonged coma which is the sign of a far more serious brain injury. Sadly, some never wake up from these brain injury related comas.
