Working in the field, it’s hard to imagine a day where there isn’t a hazard around you. Normally, it’s safe, but today was different. You attempted to drive machinery down the usual track, but the recent dry weather resulted in the earth crumbling beneath the weight of the machine. You hit your head, but nothing has been right ever since.
Traumatic brain injuries are a kind of catastrophic injury. They have the potential to affect you for the rest of your life. Even if they don’t, the therapy, medical care and other needs must be addressed before you can ever get back your sense of normalcy.
How does a brain injury affect a person?
Since no two brains are exactly identical, no two brain injuries are the same. When you go to treatment, a medical provider has to treat you as a person first, without preconceptions. Since no two brain injuries are the same, the complexity of your injuries may vary significantly from what a medical provider saw in the past. The location of the injury, cause and severity all affect your symptoms.
What types of symptoms will someone with a brain injury have?
It depends on the part of the brain that was injured. For someone who suffered an injury to the cerebellum, the person’s balance, coordination and vision may be affected. Comparatively, if a person injures his or her frontal love, there are a dozen or more functions that could be affected, from the person’s personality to the ability to speak clearly. It’s a little less likely to injure the pons or medulla oblongata, but both are on the brain stem. They control actions such as heart rate, consciousness and breathing, so a person’s life could be in danger if that part of the brain is affected.
No two injuries are the same, so your doctor has a plan for you to follow. With therapy and other treatments, it’s possible to recover at least somewhat.