Traumatic Brain Injury – Common Symptoms

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) can result in a variety of symptoms and disabilities. Some of these injuries will be short-term and temporary while others will remain with the person permanently. In this post, we break down the most common disabilities that TBI patients are often left to manage after their injury.

Post-concussion syndrome

This syndrome is a somewhat common disability experienced by many TBI patients. It is important to know that a person doesn’t have to lose consciousness to have post-concussion syndrome. Symptoms of post-concussion syndrome often start a few days after the injury and can last for weeks or months depending on the severity of the injury. There can be a variety of associated symptoms which can include headaches, dizziness, insomnia, irritability, memory problems, and anxiety. As you can imagine, such symptoms make it very difficult (if not impossible) for the patient to work or go about their daily activities until the symptoms are managed or resolved.

Emotional changes

Emotional changes can be some of the hardest issues to manage. Patients can experience a wide variety of emotional and personality changes that they did not have before their injury. These problems often have a rippling effect on the patient’s friends and loved ones. The person may experience unexpected emotional outbursts, depression, anxiety, aggression, and other emotional deficits. Therapy, medication, and time can help patients recover from these difficulties.

Cognitive disabilities

Cognitive challenges are associated with TBIs because the patient has suffered an injury to their head. Often patients have memory problems; both short-term and long-term. Cognitive disabilities make it difficult for patients to plan, pay attention, organize, problem-solve, and make judgements in their daily lives. Different treatment options are available to work with patients on improving their cognitive abilities, but it can be a lengthy and challenging process.

Communication challenges

Similar to cognitive disabilities, TBI patients can struggle to communicate with others through both speech and writing. They may be unable to correctly interpret body language or nonverbal cues as well as being limited in their abilities to write to, and speak with, other people. As seen with other disabilities discussed in this post, the type and severity of communication problems can vary from patient to patient.

Sensory problems

Sensory problems affect (as you can guess) our five senses. A patient can experience changes or difficulties with their sight, smell, touch, taste, or hearing as a result of their TBI. Patients can end up smelling bad odours, tasting bitterness, having ringing in their ears, or struggle to recognize objects and people. Since our five senses play such a significant role in our activities and relationships, these problems can make a recovery very difficult for TBI patients until they resolve.

Do you have more questions about the effects of a brain injury? Jeff Mitchell is an experienced personal injury lawyer dedicated to representing brain injury victims after an accident. He incorporates patience and understanding into each step of the claim and recovery process.

With free consultation and no win, no legal fee agreements, there is no downside to speaking with us about your claim!

Questions about a brain injury claim?

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