3 Symptoms You May Experience After a Traumatic Brain Injury

A traumatic brain injury (or TBI) is a life-altering event. Traumatic brain injury is brain dysfunction caused by an outside force, usually a violent blow to the head. Common causes of TBIs include car or motorcycle accidents, sports injuries, falls, and assaults. When trauma happens to the brain, many kinds of symptoms can show up out of nowhere, including emotional, behavioral, and cognitive issues.

The most common symptoms you may experience following a TBI include headaches, seizures, and vision problems. When representing someone with a traumatic brain injury, we believe it is important to have an understanding of what you may go through on a daily basis.

Everything you need to know about these three symptoms and how they may manifest in your day-to-day life:

1. Headaches

It is not uncommon to have a normal CT scan of the head following a concussion. Oftentimes in traumatic brain injury case, the defense lawyers a point to a normal diagnostic test and argue that there is no permanent brain injury.

However, some TBI-related headaches are present without an abnormal CT scan or tests. These headaches include tension headaches, migraines, occipital neuralgia, and cervicogenic headaches. All of these are painful and can become chronic. Most of them are diagnosed, despite a “normal” CT scan. Overcoming the “normal” CT scan is our job as traumatic brain injury lawyers.

Overcoming any daily stressors may become more difficult for you after a TBI as well, such as your work life, family, and doctor’s appointments.  

Chronic headaches can be treated with medications; however, it can take some time before finding the most effective drug. Stress management, talk therapy, and physical therapy are all other forms of treatment you can use to reduce chronic headaches.

As a traumatic brain injury lawyer, our goal is to convey the extent of your brain injury to a jury. For the most part, a jury will understand the immediate effects of your head trauma. We will go the extra mile to make sure the jury feels and understands the pain you go through on a daily basis, such as constant pressure inside the skull, throbbing pain, piercing pain, neck pain, sensitivities to light and sound, nausea, etc.

2. Seizures

Seizures are another symptom that you may experience after a traumatic brain injury. They can occur immediately after a TBI, within a week, or even long than that. During a seizure, brain cells send disorganized messages to one another, causing muscle contractions and, in some cases, loss of consciousness.

There are two different types of seizures: grand mal seizures and partial seizures. Grand mal seizures are very dangerous. Typically, your body will convulses. The longer the seizure lasts, the more likely the chance for further brain damage. A partial seizure, on the other hand, affects only one part of the brain.. Symptoms range from a feeling of fear (temporal lobe seizure) to visual hallucinations (occipital lobe seizure).

If you’re experiencing any type of seizure, it is important to seek medical treatment immediately. Your doctor will likely refer you to a neurologist who you can help.

3. Vision Loss

Traumatic brain injuries can also lead to vision problems, including sensitivity to light, blurred vision, and double vision. These problems can originate in the eye itself, the optic nerve, or in the brain. The brain controls the images that we see through our eyes. If there is a disruption in any point of the pathway from the retinas to the inferior and middle temporal lobes, our vision is negatively impacted. Damage to the optic nerve or occipital lobes can result in blindness.

Fibers also connect the optic nerve to the brainstem. Damage to this area can lead to blurry vision or double vision. Blurry vision is not uncommon even in mild TBIs. Persons with visual problems following a TBI are often prescribed vision therapy or rehabilitation.

Suffering from a traumatic brain injury? Contact us for a free case review

If you or someone you love has a traumatic brain injury caused by the negligence of another, you can contact us at (312) 578-9501 for a free case review. You can also fill out our contact form here. We understand these complex cases, and we would be happy to speak with you about your options moving forward.