If you’ve suffered a head injury in Washington, you may benefit from learning more about the cognitive effects associated with traumatic brain injuries. The nature and extent of the cognitive impairment after a traumatic brain injury can range widely depending on the positioning and severity of the damage. The resulting cognitive impairment caused by a focal brain injury could be comparable to the medical issues caused by a stroke.
Cognitive impairment from TBI
A brain injury can result in aphasia, impacting your ability to communicate by writing, speaking or both. TBI can also lead to apraxia, which is losing the ability of your motor skills. Unilateral neglect is also a risk of TBI, resulting in the over-attention of sensory ability on one side of the body and the inattention of sensory ability on the other. You may also experience visuospatial dysfunction, which is losing your sense of “whereness” or the ability to identify spatial relationships between objects.
Understanding cognition after TBI
The cognitive decline resulting from TBI can progress for years following the initial incident. There is no pharmacological cure for the chronic inflammatory response causing this cognitive decline. For all levels of severity, the most common neurocognitive issues caused by TBI involve disturbances in executive functioning, memory and attention. The primary clinical manifestations for cognitive impairment following traumatic brain injuries are memory loss and attention deficit.
Living with cognition affected by TBI
Mild traumatic brain injury, or a concussion, is one of the most common types of brain injuries in the U.S. Medical studies have already linked TBI with dementia and early onset dementia. Researchers found that military veterans who suffered mild TBI and TBI patients are more than twice as likely to develop dementia than the non-injured. Post-concussion symptoms like cognitive impairment, headaches, neuropsychiatric issues and dizziness can hinder the quality of life and daily functioning.
Brain injuries are often associated with a traumatic incident like a car accident or physical assault. Individuals who have suffered from TBI may want to pursue compensation from the party that caused the traumatic incident.