Traumatic Brain Injury: Symptoms and Treatment

Introduction

Brain is one of the important organs in the body. In the brain, its where most of the body activities are centered. It is the brain which dictates the body what to do by its sensory organs so when affected, this can lead to the whole body been affected. Traumatic brain injury refers to the sudden violent blow or damage to the head. This violent blow can lead the brain to a collision course with the inside of the skull.

Some of the things which lead to the brain injury include something’s like a bullet, that is when a person receives a bullet and hits the brain skull, you find that the skull becomes damaged hence leading to brain damage, a fragment or a rock to the skull or when a person hits a wall damaging the skull to the brain. These projections like the bullet eventually penetrate to the brain leading to its damage.

The severity of the traumatic brain injury depends on the extend to which the brain is damaged. For instance a minor brain injury can lead to minor problems like a severe headache and temporary body confusion but a serious brain injury can lead to fatal problems to the brain. Although some of these minor problems people ignore them, they can eventually lead to future complications to the brain. (Elliot, C. 2003)

Traumatic brain symptoms

The traumatic brain injury has a variety of brain symptoms and disabilities and this may lead to a huge impact on the person affected and the whole family which depends on this person. Some of the symptoms include, mild, severe or even moderate symptoms which depends on the extend of the damage. For the mild cases, a person may remain conscious or even lose conscious but this happens for a very short time and the person immediately recovers his consciousness’, severe headache may also rise and this person looks a bit confused due to the lack of consciousness, the person may also feel dizzy, he also experiences a bad taste in the mouth, the behavior of this person immediately changes and his concentration and attention is affected.

For the moderate brain damage, the person has the following symptoms, the person may experience a severe headache which does not go off immediately, he also experiences repeated vomiting, some nausea, not easily awaken from sleep since when the brain is affected, the person has no control over the body and always feels weak since there is no enough blood reaching the body and this person sleeps all the time, he also has slurred speech, some weakness and eventually increased confusion and becoming restless. (Edwards, 2005).

How to treat traumatic brain damage

It is advisable that people with mild and moderate brain damage should receive treatment immediately these symptoms show up since if not treated, it may lead to further complications to the body. This is because, brain is a delicate organ of the body and when damaged; little can be done to reverse the initial brain damage caused by trauma. Medical attention is also advisable since earlier treatment prevents further injury to the brain and also to some other parts of the body.

When treating this person, it’s advisable that, you give enough oxygen as a way of first aid since when the brain is affected, the breathing system can be affected hence little oxygen get in to the brain. The brain requires a lot of oxygen for it to carry most of its activities and when no enough blood is reaching the brain, then this person may have mental complications. Other treatments include maintaining adequate blood flow to the patient and controlling blood pressure.

This is because the brain can not function well when there is no enough blood reaching the brain, so if the patient lost a lot of blood, then blood transfusion should be initiated. Those patients with mild and moderate brain damage should also receive neck and skull x-ray and this is done in order to know the extend of the damage caused. But for the case of the severe brain damage, then imaging test is a computed tomography scan. Its advisable when these symptoms starts appearing incase of a brain damage, then medical attention should be sought immediately. (Edwards, 2005).

Prognosis treatment

For the severely injured brain, these patients need surgery and this is done to remove or even repair ruptured blood vessels and bruised brain tissue. When the brain has been severely injured, it may lead to certain disabilities depending on the age and the extend of the brain damage. Some of these disabilities may include the loss of brain, lack of recognition, sensory processing, and communication among others. Lot of research is continuing on how to better treat traumatic brain damage, since the brain is one of the most important organs in the body and when affected, most of the body functioning organs are also affected and when not seriously treated, can result to death or even disabilities like the permanent loss of brain.

For instance the national institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has facilitated a lot of research on traumatic brain damage and on how better to treat it. In this research, it involves laboratories and clinical research and this is to better understand traumatic brain damage and some of the biological mechanisms underlying these damages to the brain. It is out of this research that people will be in a position to develop strategies and various interventions to limit the various brain damage which occurs during the days of a head trauma.

Out of research, almost more than 1.5 million Americans usually sustain a traumatic brain injury each year. But lucky enough, some of these brain injuries are usually treated since it’s said that most of these injuries are usually mild. Also, minor brain injuries can cause long term problems and hence should not be assumed. In case your brain skull is affected, it’s advisable to get medical attention immediately since some of these minor injuries can lead to fatal problems hence your brain is affected. (Edwards, 2005).

Conclusion

Brain is a delicate part of the body. There are several brain damages which affect the body. One of them is traumatic brain injury which involves a certain blow or damage to the brain. This occurs when the skull of the brain has been interfered with as a result of projection of objects likes a stone, bullet or when somebody hits the head against a hard object like a wall. Traumatic brain injury can either be mild, moderate and severe. These symptoms when one experiences them should seek medical attention first since when not treated, can lead to fatal problems to the brain and also other parts of the body.

There are several webs which have been established to provide people with information related to the traumatic brain injury and people are advised to make use of these services so as to understand this problem. This web empowers the caregivers and the survivors of the traumatic brain injuries. It also helps to ease the transition from despair and shock at the time of a brain injury to the problem coping and problem solving. Its advisable for people to make use of these services so that we can be in a position to prevent further traumatic head injuries by properly treating them.

Reference

Elliot, C. (2003). A field experiment with a high school student with severe learning disabilities. Working Paper.

Edwards, W. (2005). Cognitive Arousal Using Cognitive Prosthetics. Working paper and Video, Institute for Cognitive Prosthetics.