Recovery From Traumatic Brain Injury

Recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury Recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury Outline I. Introduction A. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an important public health issue in the United States. B. TBI is caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain C. TBI is generally categorized as mild, moderate or severe. II. Define Terms A. Most TBIs are mild TBI (MTBI) B. Moderate brain injury is often diagnosed well after the injury, as other apparent injuries can mask the symptoms. C.

Severe brain injury is defined as a brain injury resulting in a loss of consciousness of greater than 6 hours. III. Details of the problems and solutions to them. A. The victim with mild traumatic brain injury (concussion) may not need extensive cognitive rehabilitation, though he or she may display problems with memory, emotions, and behavior. Mild traumatic brain injuries usually require no treatment other than rest and over-the-counter pain relievers to treat a headache. However, a person with a mild traumatic brain injury usually needs to be monitored closely at home for any persistent, worsening or new symptoms.

He or she also may have follow-up doctor appointments. B. The symptoms of moderate brain injury are often not as obvious as the symptoms of more severe brain injuries. In many cases, the symptoms are vague yet unsettling. The patient may look and even act fine, but doesn’t feel quite like himself or herself. The prognosis for moderate brain injury is good, with most patients recovering most or all of brain function. Emergency care for moderate traumatic brain injuries focuses on making sure the person has an adequate oxygen and blood supply, maintaining blood pressure, and preventing any further injury to the head or neck.

People may also have other injuries that need to be addressed. Treatments in the emergency room or intensive care unit of a hospital will focus on minimizing secondary damage due to inflammation, bleeding or reduced oxygen supply to the brain C. Severe traumatic brain injuries 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 several minutes to hours. Profound confusion and or agitation, combativeness or other unusual behavior. Slurred speech and inability to awaken from sleep.

Weakness or numbness in fingers and toes and loss of coordination. Persistent headache or headache that worsens. Repeated vomiting or nausea and convulsions or seizures. Dilation of one or both pupils of the eyes and clear fluids draining from the nose or ears. Severe TBI is complex, and focuses on controlling the second phase of injury. This phase involves swelling of damaged tissue as well neurons dying from lack of oxygen. Adequate oxygen supply to the brain will be delivered by ensuring the airway is open and the patient is breathing adequate supplies of oxygen.

The blood pressure must be kept above a certain limit to ensure enough blood reaches the brain. Because patients with severe TBI often also have neck injuries, their neck may be placed in a cervical collar. The victim will be evaluated closely to see if there are signs of brain swelling. If this swelling becomes too severe, it could increase the pressure in the skull (called intracranial pressure or ICP). This can lead to the brain moving through a small opening into a space to which it doesn’t belong, a process called herniation, which has serious and often fatal consequences.

IV. Solutions 1. Hospitalization in MTBI is not required but Doctors visit is recommended. In moderate or severe TBI it is needed for the safety and protection of the victim. The chances of death in the case of moderate and severe TBI have a very high chance of occurring. V. Solution 2. Home Care is highly necessary in all forms of TBI in severe and moderate is after hospitalization. To MTBI is necessary to insure that moderate is really not there and not hidden by MTBI symptoms. VI. Solution 3. Committed to a mental ntuition if the symptom of aggressive and violent behavior toward self or others is then recommended for public and personal safety. VII. Having experienced all of these solutions, the one I believe gave the most recovery was Home Care. All the solutions have merit needing to protect the life and safety of the victims and the public. Recovery from Traumatic Brain Injury Traumatic Brian Injury (TBI) is one of the greatest threats here in America that most people do not know exists. Over One million people are treated annually in the hospitals emergency rooms for TBI.

Out of the more than one million seen every year more then fifty thousand die every year since the year of 2002. According to APS Healthcare TBI is a leading cause of injury, death and disability in the United States. This is seen to occur often in auto accidents and being struck by or against both of these are the second and third of the types of TBI occurrences here . Those two types combined together total less then the simple accident of falling down. Males are more likely to die from TBI then females; in emergency room visits males out number females one to one and one quarter.

Deaths is a whole different ratio, males out number females one to three so three times as many males die yearly of TBI then females. More children from the age of birth till four years old die than any other age group. The next age group is nineteen and twenty following close by is seventy five and above. Seventy five and above die to falling more then any others combined to falling deaths. Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is usually diagnosed as a concussion. This type of TBI occurs often in falls between the ages of four till sixty. Then comes into the areas of ports and work related events. This TBI is less likely to cause permanent damage rest and recuperation with third party observance and a doctor visit is highly recommended. Moderate TBI is sometimes called the silent killer it is often seen as a mild TBI because the symptoms are the same. The differences between mild and moderate TBI are very serious for moderate can if untreated and unrecognized lead to permanent damage and death. Severe TBI is so much above the mild and moderate forms that it is recognized almost every time. In both moderate and severe hospitalization is highly recommended or both can bring serious damages and death to the victim. TBI medications are currently being used and research for these symptoms and solutions. Anti-convulsant medications are used to suppress the rapid and excessive firing of neurons that start a seizure. Anti-convulsants can sometimes prevent the spread of a seizure within the brain and offer protection against possible excitotoxic effects that may result in brain damage. Anti-depressant medications are thought to work by affecting the levels of the brain’s natural chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters, and adjusting he brain’s response to them. Pain management medications are used to control pain stemming from TBI, and the symptoms and effects related to the injury. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately One and one half million people suffer TBI each year in the United States and about 50,000 people die from the injury. Estimates of the number of people who have survived a TBI range from two and one half million to six and one-half million. The range is broad because mild TBI often goes unreported. The cost of traumatic brain injuries in the

United States is estimated at forty eight and one third billion annually: Thirty one and three quarters billion in hospitalization costs and another sixteen and one half billion in costs associated with fatalities. The CDC estimates the total cost of acute care and rehabilitation for TBI victims in the United States is $9 billion to $10 billion per year, not including indirect costs to families and society. It is estimated that over a lifetime, it can cost between six hundred thousands and one million and eight hundred and seventy five thousands to care for a survivor of severe TBI.

Most Americans are not aware of the magnitude of the TBI problem and do not view injury as a preventable public health problem. Due to a lack of awareness about the risk factors and circumstance that lead to traumatic brain injury, blame for TBI tends to be placed on the victim or to be seen as the result of a tragic, unpredictable accidents. Such a view incorrectly perpetuates the idea that injuries are unavoidable and inevitable. The government spends millions every years in advertisements for political and civil actions. If Washington D. C. would spend two to three millions on billboards, television nd computer education to teach the seriousness of Traumatic Brain Injury. It would save Americans more than a hundred times that investment. To spend a little time and money it could possibly save over one thousand lives every year. The lives it saves yearly could pay back more annually in taxes, then the cost to teach the public the serious danger to our children and our elders. One simple falling down of a person one month to four years old could cost the government an entire lifetime of taxes. If the government could consider this that way they would certainly spend the money to save our children’s lives.

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