Common Types of Brain Injuries

Common types of brain injuries can include:

• concussions,
• swelling of the brain,
• internal bleeding,
• torn tissues,
• damage to the brain cells,
• blood clots,
• internal bruising and,
• skull fractures.

Symptoms of Brain Injuries

Brain injuries can be temporary or permanent. Some brain injuries are obvious and can affect a person’s behavior and debilitate them from talking, walking, thinking, or speaking. Some symptoms may not be evident until days or weeks after the initial trauma. If you or your loved one has suffered a head injury, it is important to speak to a doctor and a serious injury attorney as soon as possible. General symptoms of a brain injury could include:

• Short-term memory loss and disorientation
• Loss of concentration
• Nausea and dizziness
• Headaches
• Loss of balance
• Vision impairment
• Sensitivity to light

Brain injuries can also put a person in a coma or a vegetative state, a minimally conscious state or in “locked-in syndrome” or even cause death. Oftentimes brain injuries require long-term rehabilitation and around-the-clock care from nurses.

After a head trauma some people may suffer from the following:

• Seizures
• Build up of cerebrospinal fluid, causing brain swelling
• Blood vessel damage
• Nerve damage causing facial paralysis or loss of vision
• Infections such as meningitis
• Intellectual problems, like learning, memory and problem solving
• Communication problems, like speaking, writing or organizing thoughts
• Emotional changes such as insomnia, depression or anger
• Behavioral changes
• Sensory problems – dizziness, inability to smell, ear ringing
• Early onset of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s

In other instances, brain injuries may not be evident or the symptoms may not be immediate, especially with what may have seemed like a “mild” concussion.

Symptoms could include changes in personality and memory loss or other emotional changes. If a medical professional or neurologist overlooks the symptoms, a more serious injury could occur.

3 Main Causes of Brain Injuries

There are three main causes of brain injuries:

1. traumatic,
2. hypoxic and;
3. as the result of a medical condition.

Brain injuries are often the result of a physical accident resulting in a concussion, skull fracture, contusion or internal bleeding. These can stem from slips and falls, an explosion or blast, workplace accidents, car accidents, sports injuries, combat injuries, falling equipment or debris, or an object penetrating the head, such as a bullet.

Hypoxic Head Injuries

Hypoxic head injuries simply means an insufficient amount of oxygen to the brain, for example when anesthesia is improperly administered during surgery.

If you or a loved one has suffered from a brain injury, contact the personal injury lawyers at SMT legal today and schedule a free consultation.