How a Mild Brain Injury Can Ruin Your Life

Any sufficiently strong blow to a person’s head may result in a brain injury, although not all brain injuries are immediately apparent. In some cases, a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) may occur without a victim realizing it for some time, if ever.

These injuries are especially common in car accidents and contact sports, and may produce a variety of symptoms, some of which may quickly destroy personal, educational, and professional relationships and opportunities before the victim even realizes what is happening.

After any car accident or significant blow to the head, it is essential to obtain a professional medical examination from an experienced physician. With professional care, a victim can identify a mild TBI and receive proper ongoing care, helping speed recovery and giving validity to the victim’s community that an injury occurred.

Personality changes

Part of what makes mild TBIs so destructive is that they often change the personality of the victim in ways that the victim cannot control. Unfortunately, without a professional diagnosis to lend validity to the victim’s circumstances, many people in the victim’s life may simply assume that he or she has suddenly developed serious character flaws and blame the victim for uncontrollable or confusing behavior.

Commonly, mild TBI victims find that tasks or responsibilities they could previously undertake with ease or competence are now very difficult, and they may react drastically when they grow frustrated. For instance, a professional who used to have little trouble producing accurate documents in the office may now find it nearly impossible to do so, and may lash out at coworkers in this frustration.

Cognitive changes

Mild TBIs may also produce a number of changes in a victim’s mental abilities or personal preferences that are surprising and frustrating to both the victim and his or her community. Often, these injuries disconnect the victim’s understanding of vocabulary from an understanding of contextual meaning in conversation or text. While the victim may understand all the words he or she reads or hears in a conversation, the victim’s brain may interpret the larger meaning of sentences or phrases in surprisingly inaccurate ways. This may lead to ongoing frustration and miscommunication between the victim and his or her coworkers, educators, friends and family.

Similarly, a mild TBI may “rewire” a victim’s senses of taste and smell, often in unpleasant or surprising ways. Foods that were once tasty to the victim may taste bland, or certain flavors and odors may suddenly seem unpleasant to the victim, altering how they choose to eat, or the aromas they can stand to be around.

If you believe that you or someone you love suffered a mild traumatic brain injury, make it a priority to understand who may hold liability for this injury. If another party’s error or negligent actions caused the injury, you may have grounds to pursue a personal injury claim to cover the expenses of ongoing medical care and other losses the injury incurs.

 

See our personal injury service page to get help now!

Have you experienced a personal injury? Contact Levine Law.

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