Those involved in serious car accidents may lose consciousness after a blow to the head. While someone who is out for a few minutes and then wakes up after the emergency crews have removed them from the car may understand that they’ve been injured, someone who just blacks out for a second may assume they’re relatively fine. They’ll wait a few minutes and shake it off, counting themselves lucky.
This is a dangerous approach to take. Medical professionals warn that if you lose consciousness for any amount of time, up to 30 minutes, this is considered to be a brain injury. It could be severe, and you might quite simply not know it yet. You definitely do not want to gamble with your body’s most fragile organ, so it’s important to go to the hospital and get medical treatment.
The ramifications of a brain injury
Brain injuries are a bit strange because they can impact people in such different ways. Everyone with a broken arm knows roughly what to expect. Someone with a brain injury could have mobility issues but remember everything, while someone else could have no memory of the event at all but feel physically just like they did before. One person could have symptoms that heal after a week, and another could have symptoms that last for life. This varies depending on the severity of the injury and what part of the brain it affected.
The key is to remember that traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are nothing to take lightly. They can change your life, and you need to know what options you have.
