Nearly 1.5 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury every year. Life is typically never the same following a traumatic brain injury. To help you better navigate life with a loved one with TBI, we’ve compiled the top 5 essential facts you should know about traumatic brain injuries.
What is TBI?
Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, occurs when a sudden injury causes damage to the brain. Traumatic brain injuries can result in impaired physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral functioning. Car accidents, assault, jarring movements, sports-related injuries, and explosive blasts are common causes of TBI.
5 Things No One Tells You About Traumatic Brain Injuries
1. Coming Home Isn’t Always a Happy Occasion
Returning home following brain injury, regardless of severity, can be complicated. Traumatic brain injuries involving the frontal or temporal lobes can dramatically alter an individual’s personality and are often challenging for others to understand these changes. While in a rehabilitation or hospital setting, one is likely to have a rather busy, regimented day. Once home, this regimentation may quickly cease. It is often emotional, exciting, overwhelming, and exhausting for both the individual and their family. The TBI victim may find themselves slipping into a place of isolation, depression, and loneliness. People with invisible injuries are likely enduring emotional distress because no one seems to understand their pain.
2. Relationships Will Be Tested After Suffering from a TBI
Brain injury can and likely will impact every relationship held by a person who has sustained a brain injury. Calls, texts, and emails may be left unanswered. The changes that may take place can make even the strongest of relationships strain at the seams. It is crucial to remember that the impact of traumatic brain injury is felt not only by the injured party but also by their loved ones.
3. Patience is Key. Treatments Take Awhile
Research on treatment for TBI has not come up with a treatment that is effective for all patients. However, rehabilitation programs address cognitive retraining, psychosocial adjustment, communication and leisure skills, and vocational issues. With appropriate support and therapy, individuals with difficulties related to TBI can learn to overcome and compensate for their deficits, resulting in successful reintegration into their home and work environments. Rehabilitation after a TBI is usually measured in years and continues long after formal rehabilitation has ended.
4. Social Situations Can Often Be Overwhelming
TBI victims may seem like they’re being difficult if they resist social situations. Crowds, confusion, and loud sounds quickly overload an injured brain. It doesn’t filter sounds as well as it used to. Limiting exposure is a coping strategy, not a behavioral problem.
5. Managing Finances Becomes More Difficult
Victims of a traumatic brain injury often suffer from cognitive-behavioral difficulties that affect their ability to manage finances. The required assistance can range from providing help to pay bills to complete management of the person’s financial affairs. It is essential to utilize the least restrictive solutions to protect the injured person from their inability to manage finances, while allowing them to have as much freedom and personal control as possible.
Having an Experienced Arizona Brain Injury Attorney Is Important
A traumatic brain injury can be devastating for both the victim and their family. Unfortunately, those who have sustained brain damage in preventable accidents are often not compensated for medical costs, both past and future. If your loved one suffered a brain injury, a brain injury attorney at Zanes Law can help you determine if you have a lawsuit. To learn more, call us at 833-214-0917 today. All brain injury cases are handled on a contingency basis, meaning there will be no cost to you unless we win your case.
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