The People’s Lawyer

Traumatic brain injuries and car accidents

On Behalf of | Nov 15, 2022 | Personal Injury Claims

As readers of this blog know, we speak about the effects of personal injuries on those who suffer their ill consequences. In a recent post, we posted about the mental health effects of car accidents, and in this blog post, we will focus on another hidden injury, traumatic brain injuries.

Traumatic brain injuries

TBIs refer to injuries to your brain. These are physical injuries that result from violent jolts and blows to your head and body. While they can be invisible, like mental health injuries, TBIs are physical injuries. TBIs also occur when your brain is physically pierced, but these injuries are obvious.

Spectrum injury

Like all car accident injuries, TBIs fall on a spectrum. Mild TBIs affect the brain temporarily, and they may not need to be treated. However, more serious TBIs do require treatment and can have long-term consequences (even death). These TBIs are usually from tissue punctures and tears, bleeding, bruising and any other brain damage.

Common symptoms after car crashes

TBIs are common after car crashes because, even if your head is not impacted, your body is jolted. These violent jolts can, and often do, cause TBIs. If you lost consciousness during or after the crash, you likely have a TBI. However, you may not remember this.

One of the most common symptoms is a headache, which, if the TBI is serious, does not go away, comes back or progressively gets worse. You may find it hard to sleep, stay asleep, feel fatigued or feel nauseous.

Sensory problems

For more severe TBIs, you may experience sensory problems. These include blurred vision, issues focusing and light sensitivity. You could also experience odd smells and bad tastes. You could have auditory issues as well, like ringing in your ears and sensitivity to sound.

Behavioral symptoms

Even minor TBIs can have behavioral or cognitive symptoms. Most common are being dazed, disoriented or confused immediately after the vehicle’s impact. For more severe TBIs, this is followed by memory problems and concentration issues. You could experience mood swings, sometimes, violent. Depression and anxiety are common too.

Get help quickly

The key here is that, after a Charles Town, West Virginia, car accident, you should seek medical attention immediately. You never know what you do not know, and often, you could have a TBI and not know it.