Mild brain injuries may disrupt work and personal life

Many people take their personality and ability to focus and communicate for granted, assuming that no matter what happens, they will still be themselves. However, the behaviors and traits that make each person themselves can change significantly after a blow to the head.

Minor brain injuries are much more common than we often realize, especially in auto accidents and slip-and-fall injuries. In reality, any significant blow to the head can cause a brain injury, although the victim may not realize it at the time, or may not even remember the event at all. If you recently received a blow to the head or experienced a high-impact event such as a car accident, it is wise to seek a medical examination from your doctor. You may have injuries that are quite serious.

Common symptoms of mild traumatic brain injuries

A mild traumatic brain injury is a serious matter, even if the circumstances could be worse. Mild TBIs are not easy to identify for many victims, often causing significant disruption in a victim’s life before they realize the seriousness of their injury.

Mild TBIs often scramble the connections in a victim’s brain, essentially deleting learned behaviors and common pathways the victim built up over their lifetime. In some cases, this is simply inconvenient and may lead to humorous, if annoying, misunderstandings. In others, these symptoms may make it impossible for a victim to complete simple tasks, even tasks that they performed easily before the injury.

Mild TBIs also commonly cause volatile overreactions in victims, especially when the victim feels frustrated by their confusion. A victim may work in an office or factory, and find that they suddenly cannot perform their job, even though they don’t understand why.

Victims may also find that they misinterpret many of the things they hear in conversation or read. While they may recognize individual words and understand them as vocabulary, mild TBI victims often misread context clues in conversation and text. This frustrates victims as well as those around the victim.

Without proper diagnosis and treatment, a TBI victim may appear to undergo a sudden personality change, which may frighten or anger their colleagues and personal friends and family. Helping the victim understand their injury makes it easier for others around them to understand that they are not suddenly a volatile, dangerous person, but are actually suffering from a physical injury that needs time to heal.

Protecting your rights during recovery

If you believe that you recently suffered a mild brain injury, please seek professional medical attention from a qualified medical care provider. Your recovery may take time, and it is important to surround yourself with proper support and treatment along the way.

If your injury occurred because of someone else’s action or negligence, then you may need to file a personal injury claim. Building a claim also takes time and attention, so make sure to use legal resources and guidance to protect your rights and ensure that you have the tools you need to recover fully.