What is Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)?
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is an injury to the brain that can result from any bump or blow to the head and/or other parts of the body.
Common Events
The most common events that can lead to TBI are falls, motor-vehicle accidents, firearm and physical violence, sports injuries, explosives, and bodily collisions.
Individuals that are at a higher risk of obtaining TBI include children (0-4 years), adolescents, older adults, and males.
Symptoms
TBI can result in physical, cognitive, mood, communication, behavioral, and sensory complications. These symptoms can appear immediately after the TBI inducing event or after a prolonged period of time.
Untreated symptoms and/or multiple TBIs can lead to chronic compilations and increase risk of neurodegenerative brain diseases, such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and dementia.
Common Symptoms of TBI: What can you look for.
Physical Symptoms
- Abnormal headaches
- Vertigo (dizziness)
- Paralysis of face or loss of sensation
- Changes in vision: loss of vision, double vision, or blind spots
- Ringing in ears
- Hearing loss
- Fatigue
- Skin tingling, pain, or abnormal itching
Cognitive Symptoms
Changes in:
Memory: lagging memory or lapses in memory
Learning: brain fog
Reasoning
Judgement and decision-making
Attention or concentration
Personality: increased aggressiveness, more impulsive, quick to anger
Behavioral Symptoms
Lack or difficulty with self-control
Lack of awareness
Risky or impulsive behavior
Verbal or physical outbursts
Communication Symptoms
- Trouble understanding speech or writing
- Difficulty speaking or writing
- Broken or slurred speech
- Difficulty organizing thoughts
- Difficulties conversing with others
- Interrupts others
- Nonsensical sentences and ideas
- Trouble starting or stopping conversations
• Mood/Emotion Symptoms
- Depression, anxiety, sudden changes in mood, irritability, anger, insomnia