Traumatic Brain Injury- Different Kinds & Treatment

by Samaira Rocks Digital Marketing Expert

Summary: A traumatic brain injury can bring a lot of complications, both immediate and long-term. The brain is so complex, it may be difficult to know the careful prognosis for how the patient's disorder and life will change.

A traumatic brain injury comes in two forms. Either a violent blow to the head causes the brain to strike the inside of the skull, or an object penetrates the brain. This kind of injury can be very serious. It may cause bleeding or swelling of the brain and damage its nerve cells. The brain is at the center of human functioning, and an injury to it can affect the messages that it issues to the body. In turn, these kinds of injuries can affect behavior, speech, sensation, and movement.

How Is Cognition Affected?

People with traumatic brain injury can experience problems with basic cognitive skills. They may have issues with attention, concentration, and memory. Their behavioral speed may slow down. This can include thinking and speech. Also, their speech may be generally impaired. They may have problems recalling the correct word and understanding what other people are saying.

The executive functions of a person's brain may be affected by TBI. Executive functions are a group of processes that include attention control, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. They also include reasoning, problem solving, and planning. All of these processes are necessary for the cognitive control of behavior.

With some training, people who have cognitive deficits from TBI may come to compensate for them. For more information on the cognitive deficits that may accompany TBI, go to Bbraininjurysvcs.org.

Effects on Mood and Behavior

When a person suffers a traumatic brain injury, the centers in the brain that regulate a person's social-emotional life may be affected. These changes may be so significant that the person becomes a totally different person to their friends and family. Their personality may radically change. This may change an optimist into a negative person or make a person who is conservative in their behavior into one that lacks behavioral control.

The victim of TBI may not notice the changes in their abilities and behavior. This may be because either those changes are too painful to recognize, or the neurological damage may affect their ability to evaluate things properly.

Psychiatric illness, particularly depression, can occur as a result of TBI. This seems to be because the parts of the brain most subject to trauma are the frontal and parietal lobes. These two locations in the brain are often associated with mental illness.

The changes in thinking and behavior that accompany a TBI can affect the relationships that the victim has with others. As a result of the inability to relate to others, the patient may end up feeling very lonely.

TBI can also have a severe impact on marriages. The spouse of a person with a TBI many times must assume a lot of the responsibilities that the patient used to take care of. This can be with respect to employment or any other major responsibility. Also, as mentioned before, the personality of someone with a TBI can dramatically change after their injury. This may drive a wedge between the couple.

 

Changes in Consciousness

Moderate and severe TBI can cause changes in a person's consciousness and awareness.

Sensory Problems after a TBI

Sensory and perceptual problems can occur in the TBI patient when there is damage to the right side of the brain or the parietal and occipital lobes. TBI can disrupt the senses and affect how stimuli are perceived. This may affect any of the sensory systems. This includes the auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory (taste) systems.

Face Blindness

This occurs where the patient can no longer recognize faces appropriately. People with this uncommon problem need to use other features of people to identify them, such as their voice or clothing.

Visual Problems

People with a traumatic brain injury have a very high incidence of visual problems. This can occur with respect to vision itself or the perceptual system. More than 50% of neurologically impaired patients have visual and visual-cognitive disorders.

Visual Balance Disorders

These can be caused by disruptions of central and peripheral visual processing and other issues. Vision can also be affected in many other ways. These include: Loss of vision, blurred images, and reduced depth perception.

Seizures

A small percentage of victims of TBI experience seizures. In most cases, the seizures will occur soon after the injury. In a few cases, the seizures may happen even many years after the injury. There are two types of seizures that may happen. Major motor seizures involve loss of consciousness and the uncontrolled movement of the major muscle systems. Local motor seizures do not involve a loss of consciousness and have less muscular movement. There are medications that can be used to control the seizures.

Paralysis

In addition to the altered states of consciousness mentioned above, a traumatic brain injury can result in paralysis. This depends on the location of the brain that is affected. Spasticity is also a possible outcome of the injury.

 

The Process of Recovery from Traumatic Brain Injuries

The beginning of treatment for a TBI begins in the hospital. At the hospital, the team of medical professionals will generally be led by a trauma surgeon. The trauma staff will make sure that the patient's vital signs are stable and resuscitate them if need be. The patient may need surgery for their injuries.

Every day, the patient will undergo therapy. This may be difficult at first because of the lack of certain skills. The care of the patient is directed by aneurysm support group Northern VA. A neuropsychologist will also make an assessment of any changes in the patient's thinking and behavior. Other members of the team, such as a physical therapist and an occupational therapist, will help the patient with their pain and the skills that they need to adapt to their new life situation.

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Created on Nov 7th 2022 00:30. Viewed 156 times.

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