Brain Injury Awareness Month Highlights Risks, Dangers of TBIs

March was Brain Injury Awareness Month, and brain injury awareness is an exceedingly important topic. The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) has been raising public awareness about brain injuries and for victims of brain injuries for more than 30 years, and their significant work continues. If you’ve suffered a brain injury in an accident that was caused by someone else’s negligence, consult with an experienced Redding, California, personal injury attorney today.

Change Your Mind

The BIAA’s theme for its 2018 to 2020 brain injury awareness campaign is Change Your Mind, and it serves as a platform for disseminating information about brain injuries and the specific needs of victims of brain injuries, their families, and their extended support systems. The goals of the BIAA’s campaign are threefold and include:

• Using their outreach within the brain-injury community to help destigmatize brain injuries
• Helping to empower brain-injury survivors and those who help care for them
• Further promoting the varied support available to those living with brain injuries

Brain injuries are especially complicated injuries that can upend a survivor’s life in the blink of an eye. Further education on this important topic can help mitigate the lack of support that many survivors face.

Brain Injuries

Brain injuries are as serious as they are unpredictable, which makes these injuries exceedingly complicated to live with. Brain injuries are often referred to as traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), and they include concussions, which have received a lot of recent press for the overarching negative effects these injuries have on athletes who tend to endure repeated incidences (including young athletes). 

Causes of TBIs

The Mayo Clinic shares that TBIs are often caused by a jolt or violent blow to the head or body, such as is common in traffic accidents of all kinds, slip and fall accidents, sports injuries, and accidents on the job (especially falls from elevations on construction sites). While mild TBIs can temporarily affect one’s brain cells, more serious injuries can lead to bruising, bleeding, torn tissues, and other damage to the brain, which can lead to lifelong complications or can even be deadly.

Symptoms of TBIs

Receiving the treatment you need for a Traumatic brain injury can be quite tricky because the associated signs and symptoms can present almost immediately, or they can take up to several days to appear. This makes receiving necessary care in a timely manner less certain. The physical signs and symptoms associated with moderate to severe TBIs include:

• A loss of consciousness that can last from several minutes to several hours
• Inability to rouse from sleep
• Nausea and/or persistent vomiting
• A worsening or persistent headache
• Seizures or convulsions
• Dilation of one or both pupils
• Weak or numb fingers and toes
• Loss of physical coordination
• Clear drainage from the ears or nose

The cognitive or mental symptoms associated with TBIs can include:

• Severe confusion
• Speech that is slurred
• Exhibition of unusual, agitated, or combative behavior
• A coma or another form of disordered consciousness

Seek Medical Attention

TBIs are classified as mild, moderate, and severe in order to designate the effect of the injury on the victim’s brain function, but even a mild injury to the brain is a serious injury that necessitates prompt medical attention. If you have suffered a blow to the head or body that is concerning, you owe it to your health and well-being to seek medical attention immediately. The complications associated with TBIs are considerable and can include states of altered consciousness that range from coma to brain death; physical complications such as seizures, infections, severe headaches, nerve damage, and more; and intellectual difficulties. These intellectual issues can lead to changes in one’s ability to think. For example, you may have a hard time focusing and processing your thoughts could take longer than you are used to. In fact, many victims of TBIs share that they suffer an altered sense of self, which is obviously an extraordinary difficult consequence to overcome.

Don’t Delay Consulting with an Experienced Redding, California, Personal Injury Attorney

If you or someone you love has suffered a traumatic brain injury in an accident that was caused by someone else’s negligence, the dedicated personal injury attorneys at Maire & Deedon are here to help. We have extensive experience helping clients like you obtain the compensation they need to make their fullest recoveries. Your case is important to us, and our experienced legal team is on your side. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact or call us at 530-246-6050 today.