When a family member has suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury, you’ll no doubt have hundreds of questions and concerns. While this experience can feel isolating, it’s important to remember that you’re not alone.
What is a Traumatic Brain Injury?
A Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is damage to the head that causes destruction or deterioration of the brain cells. Every brain injury is unique and the effects will be different for each person. A TBI can be caused by a number of different incidents, including:
- Road Traffic Collisions
- Trips, slips and falls
- Violent assaults
- Accident at work or around the home
- Sporting accidents
Brain injury classifications
Traumatic Brain Injuries are usually classified in three different categories: mild, moderate and severe. While these categories are not an exact science (as people recover differently), they help provide guidance to you and your family on what to expect.
The severity of a brain injury can often be indicated by the length of time a person is unconscious after sustaining the injury. Medical professionals will also use a metric called the Glasgow Coma Scale to help their diagnosis, which we will explain later on in this guide. Here are the three brain injury classifications:
- Mild: Injuries are usually classified as ‘mild’ if the person either loses consciousness or is disoriented for up to 30 minutes.
- Moderate: If the injured person experiences a loss of consciousness between 30 minutes and six hours and scores between 9 and 12 on the Glasgow Coma Scale, they will be classed as having a ‘moderate’ brain injury.
- Severe: A ‘severe’ brain injury is diagnosed when a person loses consciousness for more than 6 hours and receives a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 3-8.
Usually, these classifications are used immediately after someone has suffered a head injury. Although they help doctors assess how serious the injury is at the beginning, these classifications do not always indicate the long-term outcomes of the injured person.
Someone who is initially diagnosed as having a mild brain injury can sometimes go on to experience complex long-term symptoms and problems, while a person who is classified as severe can go on to make a complete recovery. Each brain injury is different, so a person’s recovery will depend on what parts of the brain have been injured and the extent of these injuries.
For more Important information after a family member has sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury, follow the link below:
CFG
