The Change in the Person

If a person has changed since suffering trauma, and there is no other explanation for such change, the other elements can probably be reconstructed. In fact, neuropsychological testing is in many ways, just another way to measure the change in a person. It is this area to which the lawyer or other professional must direct their investigative skills to uncover the clues to brain injury.

It is suggested that a checklist of brain injury symptoms be used. All the elements on that checklist provide some piece of the puzzle, but the most disabling symptoms are often not the cognitive things most often associated with brain injury. Fatigue, poor social skills or disinhibition can make a person unemployable despite a normal or unaltered IQ. Don’t underestimate the prevalence of ongoing but undiagnosed neurologic disorders, such as seizures, balance problems and even major systemic diseases such as MS.

The evidence is mounting with respect to the connection between trauma and MS and Alzheimer’s. Research into the brain stem and the central nervous system may some day soon, we hope, explain the correlation between trauma and such poorly understood, and improperly labeled arthritic/soft tissue/chronic fatigue syndrome/fibromyalgia conditions.

 
NEXT: Brain Injury Checklist.

Understanding Subtle Brain Injury

The concussions that disable, are almost always more symptomatic at 24 hours, than at the 2-4 hour time frame when injured persons are evaluated in the emergency room. Brain injury symptoms escalate over the first 24 hours, because brain injury involves a cascade of events. It is critical that if you are still symptomatic the day after your injury, go back to the same Emergency Room, don’t wait for a doctors appointment. It is critical that the Emergency Room personnel see that the symptoms still persist or have gotten worse.

View Our Video Series on Concussions