There are two common ways to suffer a traumatic brain injury, which involves a disruption of brain functionality. First, you may hit your head against an object. Alternatively, your brain may smash into your skull, even if your head does not make contact with anything else.
A TBI is often a medical emergency, so you should go to the doctor immediately if you think you may have suffered one. Unfortunately, though, the symptoms of a TBI may not appear immediately. Here are three symptoms you may develop hours, days, or weeks after an accident.
1. Fatigue
TBI is the common name for many types of head injury, ranging from a bruise to a skull fracture. If you have a minor TBI, your symptoms may be imperceptible. After a day or two, though, you may experience abnormal fatigue. Because sleeping with a TBI can be dangerous, you should not try to resolve your fatigue without medical assistance.
2. Mood changes
Minor and moderate TBIs can contribute to mood changes. Detecting differences in your mood, of course, may take some time. Still, if you feel irritable, angry or sad in the days after an accident, you may have a TBI. Because these mood changes may interfere with your everyday life, you may need to seek financial compensation from the person who caused the accident.
3. Amnesia
With a moderate or severe TBI, you may develop amnesia eventually. While some memory loss around a traumatic event is common, you should be able to recall other memories. If you cannot remember events from earlier in your life or even small tasks you must accomplish, you may have a serious brain injury.
Doctors have a variety of ways to treat TBIs. Ultimately, though, if you do not know when to seek medical care for delayed TBI symptoms, you may not receive the care you need to recover completely.