Traumatic brain injury is one of the most insidious and damaging types of injury. For people who have suffered a TBI in Washington, the side effects can persist for months or years. Understanding where these side effects come from is the first step in learning how to prevent or cure them in the future.
Where do TBI long-term effects come from?
The brain is not fully understood. How it works and how it experiences damage have been the subject of medical studies for hundreds of years, and we still do not have a complete picture of the brain’s systems. However, we are getting closer to understanding the long-term effects of TBI.
For example, some recent research on brain injuries has made progress in uncovering how TBI can affect sleep. Some patients experience symptoms related to sleep and to sensory processing a long time after their brain injuries. This is due to damage to the thalamus. In many cases, the thalamus is not initially damaged from a TBI, but inflammation and other problems can build up later. This can lead to sleeplessness and sensitivity to bright lights and sound.
There is still much to learn about TBI and what it can do in the long term, but there is more research coming out every year about what these effects are. Understanding them is the first step to treating them for people who have TBI. There are no cures on the immediate horizon, but more data and information brings us closer to working out evidence-based therapies and solutions to TBI than we have ever been before.