Car accidents can leave Indiana and Illinois residents with serious injuries. If you have been left with a traumatic brain injury, it can impact you for the rest of your life.
What is a traumatic brain injury?
A traumatic brain injury can develop after a person has suffered a sharp blow to the head or from blunt force trauma. Many people suffer these injuries after being involved in serious car crashes. When a person experiences a TBI, their head is often jolted forward due to the impact, which causes their brain to shift inside the skull and come into quick contact with the interior of the skull. This can damage lobes in the brain or even the entire brain itself.
There are various symptoms that occur with a TBI, which include the following:
- Confusion
- Headache
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Memory loss
- Difficulty concentrating
- Irritability
- Seizures, nausea, and vomiting
- Loss of consciousness
A person who is experiencing any combination of those symptoms after a catastrophic car crash should seek immediate medical attention. It’s important to have a proper diagnosis to get the appropriate treatment for a TBI.
How severe is a TBI?
After a person has been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, the doctor has to determine the injury’s severity. Many injuries are serious and may even be permanent. Doctors use the Glasgow Coma Scale, which determines the injury’s severity. They determine this based on whether the patient can open their eyes, reply appropriately to questions and properly follow commands.
Once the doctor has determined the severity of the patient’s TBI, they will be assigned a number. Mild TBIs are ranked 13 to 15, moderate 9 to 12 and severe are considered 8 and lower.
A traumatic brain injury can be devastating and change your life forever. The more severe your TBI, the more likely you are to require continuous treatment, which can be very expensive.