After any blow to the head, it is always wise to consider whether or not you received a mild brain injury. If a mild bring injury remains undiagnosed, it can create surprisingly destructive symptoms that may destroy a victim’s personal and professional life completely before the victim or those around him or her realize what is happening.
In part, this is due to the nature of the injury. A brain injury, especially a mild one, is not visible to the victim or others. Also, brain injuries may not affect victims in predictable ways. Instead, the injuries may cause physical symptoms or personality changes that victims do not recognize. These symptoms often strain the victims’ personal and professional relationships, and in some cases, those relationships may never recover.
Changes in cognitive abilities
Commonly, a victim of mild brain injury sees significant changes in his or her cognitive abilities. This usually means that tasks they completed easily before the injury are now very difficult to undertake, and victims may not be able to complete the tasks at all.
Whether victims can push through the strain of the mental injuries or not, they will probably lose patience and may lash out in surprising ways, both at themselves and at coworkers, family or friends. Even if victims normally are very level-headed and not prone to outbursts, mild brain injuries can cause disruptive behaviors that may be perceived as immaturity.
Unfortunately, these outbursts are often completely beyond the victim’s control, because they are the expression of the brain attempting to work around its damaged parts, often with unpleasant results.
Changes in communication
It is also very common for a brain injury to alter the way that victims understand the things they read or converse with others. Mild brain injuries essentially shake the brain like a cocktail in a shaker. As a result, the brain may face difficulties retaining the learned connections that help it interpret nuance and context in communication. Practically speaking, this may mean that victims hear or read words and understand them, but misinterpret the overall meaning.
This lack of contextual understanding often leads to frustrating miscommunications that can severely impact the victims’ employment. It is is easy to see how poor communication in the workplace can affect not only the victims’ work but also the work of many others around them.
Protect your rights with swift action
After any kind of accident, it is wise to seek medical attention as soon as possible in order to identify and treat any injuries. It’s also vital to begin building a strong personal injury claim. Following up on a personal injury claim is a complicated, time-consuming matter. Be sure that you have the legal resources that you need to focus on your own recovery while ensuring that your rights remain secure in the meantime.