Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): What is TBI?
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): What is TBI?
Any injury that causes the deterioration or destruction of brain cells is considered a Brain Injury. The lack of oxygen in the brain caused by the injury is what is considered “brain damage,” creating the symptoms. This can be caused by a myriad of injuries, conditions or illnesses.
Traumatic Brain Injury: Click here for Case Study
Approximately 20% of the blood from the heart is directed to the brain and any type of failure, even temporary, in the oxygen supply can lead to brain damage. Any longer can be fatal. The brain, as vulnerable as it is, is also highly adaptable. Even though those areas of the brain which have been destroyed are gone forever, other regions can be taught to take over those lost functions.
Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury:
Symptoms of Brain Injury are not always immediate. So care must be taken within 24-72 hours of an occurrence of a blow to the head or other brain event.
Mild traumatic brain injury:
The signs and symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury (concussion) may include:
- Loss of consciousness for a few seconds to a few minutes
- Difficulty sleeping
- No loss of consciousness, but a state of being dazed, confused or disoriented
- Memory or concentration problems
- Headache
- Fatigue or drowsiness
- Dizziness or loss of balance
- Nausea or vomiting
- Mood changes or mood swings
- Sensory problems, such as blurred vision, ringing in the ears or a bad taste in the mouth
- Sensitivity to light or sound
- Feeling depressed or anxious
Moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries:
Moderate to severe traumatic brain injury can include any of the signs and symptoms of mild injury, as well as the following symptoms that may appear within the first hours to days after a head injury:
- Loss of consciousness from a few minutes to hours
- Profound confusion
- Dilation of one or both pupils of the eyes
- Clear fluids draining from the nose or ears
- Agitation, combativeness or other unusual behavior
- Slurred speech
- Inability to awaken from sleep
- Repeated vomiting or nausea
- Weakness or numbness in the extremities
- Loss of coordination
- Loss of bladder control or bowel control
- Persistent headache or headache that worsens
- Convulsions or seizures
Brain Function and Traumatic Brain Injury:
What we observe in the person with any type of Brain Injury can be compared to the part of the iceberg that sticks out of the water. Just as more than 90% of the iceberg is invisible, the neurological reasons for these symptoms and behaviors are not visible without a qEEG or Brain Map. The symptoms associated with Brain Injury lie more broadly in the issue of how the brain has been disorganized in electrical functioning and how its attentional and regulatory areas have been effected.
Traumatic Brain Injury and Treatment Options:
For Brain Injury, the best term is not “treatment”, but rather “rehabilitation”. There are a variety of rehabilitation options for Brain Injury. They include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, medication, nutritional, counseling, and neurofeedback interventions.
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Dr. Stephanie Golder, MA, ThD, Stephen Minister, Hemispheric Life Coach
Mindy Fritz, MS, LCDC, BCN Associate Fellow
