Living With Brain Trauma: Managing Your Invisible Injury
Even though you can’t see the damage of a brain injury on the outside, brain trauma can have serious, sometimes fatal, effects on your body and mind.
Every year, there are at least 165,000 reported brain injuries in Canada, making it more common than HIV/AIDS, spinal cord injury, and breast cancer combined.
Luckily, with the medicinal and technological advancements of today’s world, the chances of making a full recovery from brain trauma and damage are much higher than they used to be.
However, no matter how serious your injuries are, managing brain trauma is extremely hard. It’s hard for everyone involved- not just the victim. Watching your loved one cope with brain damage is heartbreaking, and it’s not fair.
It’s definitely not easy. But with the right information, you or your loved one can manage brain trauma and pick up the pieces after a brain injury.
The Reality of Brain Trauma
Brain trauma and damage affects millions of people in North America, and in the United States, 52,000 people die from it annually.
If the brain damage is serious enough, there’s a chance that the brain might not make a full recovery, and the results could even turn fatal. However, this is the less common outcome and the majority of people do recover.
Some types of brain damage are more localized, where there is one specific spot that contains all the damage. This could happen from an assault with a weapon or a pole hitting your head after a car accident.
In other cases, brain damage can be an overall problem where nerve tissues are affected throughout the brain. When you have a traumatic brain injury after a slip and fall, sports injury, or car accident, this is usually the type of brain damage you suffer because your brain has been jolted around inside your skull.
Head Injury vs Brain Injury
Head injury and brain injury are not necessarily the same thing. While a brain injury is a type of head injury, head injury is not always a brain injury.
Yes, both of these injuries affect your head and organs within your head, but they can be completely different.
When you suffer a head injury, it’s not always about your brain. Sometimes it could be something more minor, like bruising on the outside of your skull or an external bump on the head.
Brain injuries are head injuries that have direct damage caused on the brain itself. This happens when the inside of your brain is bruised or has internal bleeding.
There are also many different types of brain injury, such as anoxic brain injury or concussions, that you should look out for.
Traumatic Brain Injury and the Aftermath
Living with brain trauma is something no one should ever have to do alone. It’s hard to watch your loved one suffer from something that they can’t control. Coping with brain injury as the victim is even worse.
You’re going to notice a change in behaviour, personality, or mental health. This is tough when you’re a caregiver because you’re used to the person you know and love already.
However, it’s important to accept whatever brain injury symptoms your loved one is going through to help them get through this hard time.
If you are the one coping with brain damage, it’s important that you understand it is not your fault and that you aren’t alone. Follow the treatment process outlined by your doctor and you will stay on the right path to recovery.
The Causes of Brain Damage
Traumatic brain injury isn’t the only cause of brain damage, but it’s one of the most common factors. Anytime your brain receives a significant injury caused by a blow to the head or a sudden jolt of the skull, you could be at risk for long term consequences.
Here are some of the other common causes of brain damage you should be on the lookout for:
- Stroke
- Brain tumor
- Anoxic brain injury
- Aneurism
- Neurological illness
In some cases, genetic birth defects can cause brain damage when one is born. This is different from acquired brain injuries or conditions.
Brain damage itself is caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain, or damage to the nerves within the brain that control your body’s functions.
Brain Damage Recovery
Medical attention and communication with your doctor is the absolute most important thing you can do, and the earlier you get that attention the better your chances of brain damage recovery will be.
Even if you think you just have a mild concussion that will go away on its own, you’re still at risk for permanent brain damage.
Just one concussion can be enough to cause brain trauma.
A doctor will be able to give you certain tests, such as an MRI or CT Scan, that can help determine if your brain is functioning the way it normally does, or if there are some issues that need attention.
Once the severity and extent of your condition has been determined, you can begin the treatment process. Depending on your individual needs, this could be counselling, rest, pain medication, therapy, or a combination of many different services.
Suing Someone For Brain Trauma
Brain trauma and damage is hard enough as it is. So when it happens because someone else was negligent, it’s even more heart wrenching.
It’s not fair that someone else’s mistake made you suffer potentially permanent brain damage. That’s why, under Canadian Tort Law, you are entitled to seek compensation for the damage that person has caused.
If it’s your loved one that’s suffering from brain injury, and they cannot represent themselves in court, you can make a claim on their behalf.
Always make sure you pay attention to the Ontario Statute of Limitations. Under this law, you have 2 years from the date of the accident to file your claim. Otherwise, you could be denied.
Contact Conte Jaswal to Make a Brain Injury Claim And Change The Outcome of Your Life
It makes us really upset to see people suffering because someone else decided to do something reckless or neglectful. That’s what makes us so passionate about representing our clients and getting victims the compensation they deserve in court.
We work as your advocate, representing you and you only. You should never have to go up against the big insurance companies on your own. Everyone deserves a fair settlement.
Sit down with us to go over your options, whether it’s for you or your loved one, and we’ll get you on the right track. You will get through this, and we will be there for you.
Accidents happen. We can change the outcome. Contact us now for a free, no-obligation consultation to get started.
