HOW MODERATE TO SEVERE BRAIN INJURIES IMPACT AN INDIVIDUAL’S LIFE

When a loved one suffers a traumatic brain injury, it’s to be expected that you’ll want to understand what the long-term implications may be. Unfortunately, though, the impact a brain injury will have on an individual’s life is not predictable. Instead, it is influenced by a number of factors.

How severe the initial trauma was and the degree of healing your loved one is able to achieve immediately following the injury are enormously important. At the same time, the location of the injury and that area’s respective functionality will also greatly impact how much an injury impairs an individual. In the long term, a person’s outlook on life and continued access to rehabilitative resources will also be important.

People who suffer moderate to severe brain injuries can expect to have difficulties in sustaining attention, concentrating or retaining new information over time. They may also experience delays in their thinking or speaking, or struggle with being able to reason through alternative solutions. They may react impulsively instead.

This type of injury may also cause mood swings in the affected individuals or them to undergo a complete behavioral shift. For example, individuals may become a lot less inhibited than they once were, may become dependent on others, feel restless or show aggression.

Individuals who have suffered this type of brain injury may also lose significant acuity of their senses. Some can become hyper-sensitized and others can become completely desensitized. Although each of the five senses can be affected by a brain injury, vision is most apt to be impacted.

Visual impairments that those with brain injuries may face include blurred vision, an inability to track objects with their eyes, loss of certain portions of their visual field and a reduction in their depth perception. Hearing-related concerns including ringing in the ears, vertigo or difficulties in balancing can emerge as well.

Depending on what portion of the brain is damaged, some patients will experience increased risk of seizures. This type of injury can result in hormonal imbalances and loss of bodily function, too.

While many effects of the brain injury can be mitigated through therapy, others cannot. The cost involved in getting your loved one necessary care is not cheap. A Bowling Green brain injury attorney can advise you of the different options for recovering some of those treatment costs.

Source: brainline.org, “What impact will moderate or severe TBI have on a person’s life?,” accessed May 19, 2017