06/29/2019

 

 

 

Brain Injuries are the worst sort of injuries. Why? Because unlike broken bones, there is no full medical test you can do to actually be diagnosed with one. Basically symptoms and ruling things out become crucial to understand if you are suffering from a brain injury.

Not only that, when you think you are healed. Anything can trigger and cause the symptoms to come back. Some symptoms can take days while other symptoms never go away.

According to Brain Injury Canada– Brain Injuries are the leading cause of death and disability for Canadians under the age of 40.

Yet, there is very minimal awareness.

There are Non-Traumatic Brain Injuries. This is based on somethings that happen within the body that can cause damage to the brain and brain tissue.

Some of the triggers can be;

• Stroke (Ischemic/Hemorrhagic)
• Aneurysm
• Seizure Disorders (epileptic/non epileptic)
• Brain Tumor
• Poisoning
• Substance abuse/Overdose
• Meningitis

and so many more.

Now there are also the Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI). These usually happen from an external force. It can be short or longterm and one of the more known types of brain injuries.

Long Term Effects from concussions will also be considered a TBI.

Some of the triggers can be;

• Motor Vehicle Accidents
• Falls
• Assaults
• Gunshots
• Domestic Violence
• Strangulation/Suffocation
• Shaken baby syndrome
• Sports Injuries
• Combat Injuries

and so many more.

Symptoms go under 4 main categories including; Physical, Cognitive, Emotional and Behavioral.

Physical:

• Fatigue
• Insomnia
• Sleep Challenges
• Challenges walking, sitting, moving and simple everyday tasks.
• Slurred Speech
• Chronic Pain
• Headaches
• Seizures
• Vertigo

 

Cognitive:

• Needing more time to process information
• Difficulty with organization and decisions.
• Difficulties writing
• Communication Challenges
• Easily Distracted
• Memory issues/judgement issues.

Many more for cognitive as well.

Emotional:

• Feeling irritable (Short fuse)
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Anger
• Extreme emotions with no clear reason
• Showing limited emotions in certain situations (also known as delayed reactions).
• Loss of identity

 

Behavioral:

• Engaging in risky behavior and being impulsive.
• Lack of filter (saying/doing inappropriate things).
• Isolating oneself
• Difficulty with all sorts of relationships
• independent to relying on others.

 

For a full list you can click here. 

There are a lot of athletes especially in contact sports who end up with a concussion and then end up with lifelong effects. Many of which like Daniel Carcillo (Former NHL Player) say the sport is not worth the long after effects.