Common Brain Injury Symptoms After a Motorcycle Accident
Motorcycle accidents can cause many injuries from simple road burns to broken bones or lost limbs. However, among the most feared injuries after a motorcycle accident is brain injury. A brain injury strikes directly at the center of your identity. After a brain injury, you might not be yourself anymore. Your personality might change. You might lose your ability to think or express yourself. You may even enter a living death: your brain is dead, but your body lives on.
Two Types of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
A motorcycle accident can cause traumatic brain injury (TBI): a brain injury caused by trauma, such as a blow or jolt to the brain. Doctors typically divide TBI into two types:
- Penetrating brain injury – Also known as open brain injury, this term describes a brain injury in which the skull is broken open or penetrated. This can cause very severe brain damage to a localized area of the brain.
- Non-penetrating brain injury – Also known as closed head injury or blunt TBI, this term describes a brain injury where the brain gets traumatically jolted inside the skull. This type of injury can cause widespread brain damage. In addition to damage at the site of any initial trauma or contact with the skull, swelling can put destructive pressure on the brain.
Your motorcycle accident may cause one or both types of brain injury. Both types of injury can be severe. Don’t assume that a brain injury is not serious just because you didn’t crack your skull.
Common Symptoms of Mild TBI
You might experience some significant symptoms even if your TBI is relatively mild. These symptoms might occur immediately after your accident, or they may take hours, even days to appear. Watch for symptoms like:
- Headaches
- Dizziness and difficulty maintaining balance
- Nausea and vomiting
- Vision changes
- Uneven pupil size
- Confusion
- Anxiety
- Sleeping more or less than usual
Take any headache seriously after a motorcycle accident. Remember, you don’t have to hit your head to suffer a brain injury. You can take over-the-counter pain medication to address the issue, but make sure to contact a doctor, whether or not you saw a doctor immediately after your motorcycle accident.
You might have difficulty keeping your balance or feel dizzy because of your TBI. This can lead to nausea and dizziness.
Your vision might be impacted, such as getting double vision. Other people might notice your pupils aren’t the same size.
Some people have difficulty thinking even after a mild TBI. They may also experience some short-term memory loss, leading to confusion. You might also feel anxious because of your TBI.
TBI can impact your sleep patterns. You might have a hard time falling asleep, might not be able to stay asleep, or might have a hard time waking up or staying awake.
Common Symptoms of Moderate or Severe TBI
The symptoms of moderate or severe TBI often manifest relatively quickly, but they can also change over time. The symptoms of your brain injury might seem mild at first but can worsen. Moderate or severe TBI symptoms to watch for include:
- All symptoms of mild TBI
- Loss of consciousness
- Loss or changes of sensory perception
- Difficulty communicating
- Personality changes, especially becoming more aggressive
- Depression
- Loss of impulse control
- Memory loss
There isn’t a firm line between the different levels of TBI. You might notice any and all symptoms consistent with mild TBI, even if you have a more serious brain injury.
With more severe TBI, you are likely to lose consciousness, sometimes for a long time. You might enter a coma.
Moderate or severe TBI can damage your sensory equipment or your brain’s ability to interpret sensory information. You might either lose senses or experience sensory artifacts, like a strange taste in your mouth.
Serious TBI can impact your ability to communicate. You might have a hard time remembering words, or you might use words in ways that other people can’t understand. Sometimes people lose the ability to speak entirely.
Your personality might change after TBI. You might become more aggressive, angry, or depressed. Some people lose the ability to control impulses.
In addition to having more severe cognitive problems, you might have significant memory loss.
Get the Compensation You Deserve After a Motorcycle Accident
A serious brain injury is one of the most expensive injuries you might face after a motorcycle accident. With a permanent loss of earning power and a dramatic increase in medical expenses, the economic damages alone are almost incalculable. You need an experienced motorcycle accident attorney to help you understand not just the immediate expenses, but the long-term effects of your injury.
Brian Pushchak knows how complicated brain injuries from motorcycle accidents can be. That’s why he decided to make motorcycle accidents a primary focus of his practice. By turning his attention to motorcycle accidents, Mr. Pushchak is better able to understand the complexity of these cases, which helps him to deliver great results to his clients.
You’ll also benefit from our unique Informed Decisions™ Approach. In this approach to your case, we will start by listening to you so that we understand what matters most to you after you or your loved one suffered a brain injury related to your motorcycle accident. Then we can direct you to the best strategy to achieve your goals. We will give you our personal contact information so you can reach us any time you have a question or concern about your lawsuit. Finally, though we may direct your lawsuit, it remains yours. You are in control, and the ultimate decision about how to proceed will always be yours.
To learn how we can help you get the compensation you deserve after a motorcycle accident, please contact us today for a free initial consultation. Pushchak Law serves clients in Denver and the surrounding areas of Colorado.
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