These symptoms suggest traumatic brain injury

Do you have a high tolerance for pain? Maybe you’re the type of person who may not be feeling well but plows through your usual daily duties as best you can, as long as you’re not running a fever. There are definitely benefits to being able to withstand discomfort; however, in certain circumstances, there may be a downside as well. For instance, if you are involved in a motor vehicle collision or Florida workplace accident, your injuries may not be immediately apparent.

This is why it’s so important to seek medical attention, even if you simply feel sore or a bit shaken up but think you’re okay. In fact, it’s equally important to closely monitor your condition in the hours and days that follow your accident because symptoms of traumatic brain injury or other problems might not surface right away.

Symptoms you should not experience after an accident

If you’re involved in a workplace accident or vehicular collision, you might not feel so well for a while. Especially if you have bruises, lacerations or experience emotionally trauma by what happened, you might experience ill-health feelings for quite some time. The following list includes symptoms that warrant medical attention, meaning they often accompany traumatic brain injury: 

• You might be one of many people in Florida and beyond who get circles under your eyes when you’re tired. If you were recently in a collision or workplace accident, circles under the eyes, which doctors often refer to as “raccoon eyes,” might signify internal bleeding, which can be a life-threatening condition.
• Fatigue is a common after-effect of a car accident or on-the-job accident. If you feel weak or numb in any way, however, it’s a good reason to return to the hospital or your primary care physician to seek further medical examination. Lethargy, weakness and numbness in the limbs are common symptoms of brain injury.
• If you’re having trouble forming coherent thoughts or speaking clearly, you’ll want to immediately report such symptoms to a physician, making sure that he or she knows you were recently in a collision or workplace accident.
• It’s not uncommon to feel upset or irritable after you’ve been through a traumatic experience. Traumatic brain injury often presents symptoms of sudden mood swings, irritability, uncontrollable emotions and other issues, which is why it’s best to tell your medical team you’re feeling this way in the aftermath of an accident.

In addition to these symptoms, trouble sleeping, lack of appetite, unsteady gait when walking, pupil dilation, dizziness, nausea, and head or facial pain and discomfort are also warning signs that you might have a brain injury. The bottom line is this: If you don’t feel well, and you were recently in a collision or workplace accident, it’s best to seek medical examination because doctors know what types of tests to do to rule out brain injury.

What if you receive a TBI diagnosis?

Brain injury is a term that covers a spectrum of medical issues. It might mean you have a mild concussion that will resolve itself with ample rest and quiet time. Then again, you might need a much longer time to recover if your condition is more severe. In fact, some brain injuries have life-long consequences.

Care and treatment for TBI is expensive, which is why Florida law allows victims of collision caused by another driver’s negligence to seek restitution for damages. If you received an injury on the job, your employer has likely purchased workers’ compensation insurance to make benefits available for injured employees who file claims. Sometimes, however, an insurance company will try to deny a claim, which is why many injured workers seek legal support to help them get the benefits they need.