A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most devastating on-the-job injuries people can experience. It is also one of the most challenging to diagnose. A TBI victim may have to deal with long-term cognitive, communicative, physical and behavioral impairments — even though their head injury appeared to be mild.
Some of the signs of a TBI might appear right away while others may take much longer to appear. Depending on the severity of the injury, some of the TBI signs and symptoms will generally improve over time while other signs may linger on for years. Here are some signs of a TBI injury you should be on the lookout for following a head injury.
Loss of consciousness
A blow to the head usually jolts the brain to result in a concussion. Regardless of the intensity, a concussion requires immediate medical attention. An employee can also suffer a TBI if the impact disrupts oxygen supply into the brain. As a result, the injury victim may slide into a state of unconsciousness. A head injury that causes any loss of consciousness should be viewed as a potential TBI.
State of confusion
Most brain injury victims often exhibit symptoms of confusion, sluggishness, amnesia and/or delayed response time following their injury. These victims tend to repeat themselves, make incoherent utterances, take unusually long to respond and can be forgetful (a condition known as retrograde amnesia). Again, any of these symptoms should be cause for alarm.
Latent signs
It is important to understand that some TBI signs may not show immediately. For instance, an impact that results in damage to the neurons may take a while to become apparent. One of the common impacts of brain injury is that the affected brain cells tend to degrade over time following the trauma. As a result, the injury victim may experience headaches, blurred vision and poor coordination.
A traumatic brain injury can have a long-term impact on your life. If you have suffered TBI at work, you have a right to expect workers’ compensation benefits. If you’re having trouble with your claim, find out more about your legal rights.