How can I tell how severe my traumatic brain injury is?

I'm a brain injury lawyer, and I would like to tell you that traumatic is not a word used to describe only a severe brain injury. An extremely severe brain injury is known as a severe traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic is the word used to describe any brain injury, whether it is mild, moderate or severe. You could liken traumatic to describing a traumatic experience. It covers many accidents or experiences that make you physically traumatised, or make you feel traumatised. You've been hurt in one way or another, and in the case of requiring the assistance of a traumatic brain injury lawyer, somebody else has hurt you, or is to blame for your accident.

What are the differences between a mild traumatic brain injury, a moderate traumatic brain injury, and a severe traumatic brain injury?

Before moving onto the main differences between the three main types of TBI, I would like to point out a similarity between the three degrees of traumatic brain injury: they can all be "severe", or traumatizing to different individuals, even mild TBI. What is also traumatic for people suffering from any kind of brain injury is trying to get compensation for their injury, from the person who caused it. This is where experienced and established brain injury attorneys may be of assistance to you. I'm a brain injury attorney, I am Board certified, I am highly experienced in civil trial, and as your legal representative I can help make the process easier for you.

Mild TBI

Mild TBI is when you haven't lost consciousness for very long, or even at all, and is also mostly called concussion.

You've slipped or fallen, hitting your head, been involved in a car accident, or something flying through the air has hit you hard on the head, but there's no blood gushing from your head or signs of a cracked or crushed skull. You merely felt a little dazed at the time of the accident.

Often, there are hardly any or no physical signs showing that you hurt your head at all, including sometimes no signs in the results of tests and scans.

Diagnosing a mild traumatic brain injury is based mostly on how you felt at the time of the accident and shortly after it, and on how others like family members notice a change in your usual behaviour.

Moderate TBI

Moderate TBI is when you've been knocked unconscious for longer than just a few seconds and rather refers to a few minutes or hours.

Concussion symptoms and changes in behaviour persist for weeks or months, or even longer or new changes become noticeable. This is also similar to post-concussion syndrome.

Severe TBI

Severe TBI is when it can be days or weeks or months before a person can be woken from a state of unconsciousness. The person is in a coma, and may even never properly recover and wake up.

The severity of all degrees of brain injury is usually determined by medical staff assessing the initial damage to a brain's normal activity using the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), as soon as possible after an accident. The Glasgow Coma Scale score may not, however, relate to how long a person may take to properly recover from a brain injury accident.

Glasgow Coma Scale

A Glasgow Coma Scale score for a mild traumatic brain injury is usually between 13 and 15 (normal brain activity and functioning is quite good, or almost normal.). The score for a moderate traumatic brain injury is usually between 9 and 12, and for a severe traumatic brain injury it is less than 8.

Various scores are allocated to different sections of three areas related to how well a patient responds to stimuli with his or her eyes opening, with his voice and clarity of answers, and his motor movement related to pain or command.

You're not unconscious now, and you're awake, but you may have many problems associated with traumatic brain injury that simply aren't clearing up, including the problems related to trying to receive compensation from the person who caused you to have these problems in the first place. Let me lift the fog a little for you. Please feel free to contact me to discuss your case. Your first consultation with me will be free, and if I am able to take your case, my services will cost nothing unless I am to secure a financial settlement for you.

The purpose of this web article is not to make comment about an individual's personal choices, but is intended to educate you about brain injury.

This website is provided as a public service regarding the topic of Brain Injury and is not to be relied upon as medical or legal advice. The information supplied is of a general nature only, and is not intended to be relied upon. This information is not represented to be the most up to date or to cover your particular circumstances.

Before deciding to obtain care, treatment, or to determine a diagnosis, please consult with a licensed physician, and concerning your legal rights please consult with a lawyer. Warning: Do not let any medical or legal concerns wait because of any information you have read on this website.