Neurological Disorders
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Brain injuries often go undiagnosed after a wreck or accident because doctors don’t have a clear picture of who you were before the injury. A lot of the time, it’s your observations — or your family’s — that make the difference. This series is meant to show you what to look for so you get the care you need.
There are a number of neurological symptoms of brain injuries that, though sometimes rare, can be extremely traumatic for the injured person. The most common neurological injuries are as follows:
Fatigue is a very common symptom of people with brain injuries. Some studies have found that up to 73% of persons with head injuries suffer from fatigue after the injury. Unfortunately, many of the other symptoms of brain injuries, such as depression, also have a component of fatigue, and fatigue is also a side effect of many medications used to treat other brain injury symptoms. Thus, treatment of fatigue remains difficult.
Seizures and epilepsy are fairly common symptoms of brain injuries. Traumatic brain injury accounts for about 5% of all epilepsy cases and is the leading cause of epilepsy in young adults. The development of seizure or epilepsy symptoms is very dependent on the type of injury sustained. Many brain injury victims will undergo EEG testing to determine whether or not the patient is having seizures. It’s important to note that a normal EEG does not mean that you don’t have a brain injury; it only means that you’re not having seizures at the time of the test.
Many brain injury victims will develop tremors following their injury. The most common cause of brain injury tremors is car wrecks, where the brain has a history of quick deceleration injuries.
Dystonia is a fairly rare but significant symptom of brain injuries.
Many brain-injured patients have injuries to the optic nerve, so the patients experience blurry vision or other changes to their eyesight. There are other potential causes of sight issues associated with brain injuries that are discussed elsewhere in this series.
Many brain injuries end up damaging the olfactory nerve, so the victim will have an impaired sense of smell. It is obviously difficult to test for smell issues, and smell is not something you might normally be concerned with after you’re injured, but if you or a loved one mentions smell problems, be alert that it could be related to a brain injury.
This nerve works on both hearing and balance. Thus, when it is damaged as part of a brain injury, it can cause problems with hearing and also vertigo symptoms. Vertigo is very common following a brain injury and a number of our clients have had to undergo vestibular therapy as part of their treatment.
Sleep-wake disorders and alterations in sleep patterns are very common following brain injuries. The variety of sleep disorders include insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea. Sleep issues need to be addressed because poor sleep can lead to other health concerns.