What To Expect Post A Brain Injury?

The very thought of injury to the brain itself is traumatizing. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) refers to destruction or damage of brain tissues because of a car crash, sudden fall, assault, gunshot wound, etc. Brain damage occurs due to a blow to the injured person's head, which whips the head backward and forward or from one side to the other. In a car crash, specific areas like the temporal and frontal lobes of the brain seem to get damaged. Many individuals wish to know about post brain injury effects as they hold a certain misconception about this particular matter.

Be aware of what can be expected post a brain injury

Two kinds of effects are usually observed immediately after a TBI. The tissues of the injured individual's brain might react to trauma as well as lead to tissue damage along with a comprehensive series of physiological and biochemical responses. Certain things that were once safely housed in the cells might flood the brain after injury. Such process results in further destroying and damaging of brain cells and is termed as secondary cell death.

The other type of effect is actually noticed in the injured person's functioning. People with extremely severe injuries may lose consciousness during the period of trauma. The state of unconsciousness might last from a fraction of minutes to many weeks or several months. Lengthy loss of consciousness is better known as coma. Negative respiration changes and motor functions may also be produced just after few days of the trauma. Individuals with severe injuries may never regain consciousness, but others who will come to the conscious state may undergo certain neurologically-based signs like aggression, irritability, etc.

Just after few weeks of a brain injury, the healthy functioning of brain tissues are slightly affected due to bleeding, swelling as well as a change in brain chemistry. The eyes of an injured person might stay closed post injury, and he or she may not exhibit any positive signals of awareness. Slowly, with the decrease of swelling as well as blood flow along with an improvement of brain chemistry, the functioning of the brain tends to improve gradually.

Also, with proper treatment, the injured individual might seem to open his eyes slowly. Besides this, a sleep and wake cycle might also begin, and he or she may start to follow commands,provide a response to the members of the family and speak.

In certain cases, a person may also enter into the minimally conscious state. This means he or she will stay partially conscious and also understand the source of visual and sound stimulation. Such a person can show signs of vocalization at times as well as an outburst of emotions. Later, during recovery stages, an individual can also develop various physical and brain functions, and may regain the ability to respond gradually.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!