This is a problem we confront all the time at The Poole Law Group. The answer is that at the start, you need to worry about this enough to make sure that there hasn’t been an oversight about your injuries. On the other hand, you don’t want to panic when you showed no signs of concussion or TBI symptoms.
Looking Beyond the Obvious Signs
Just because a healthcare provider at the ER or urgent care didn’t diagnose you with a concussion or TBI symptoms (traumatic brain injury) doesn’t mean you don’t have one. Keep in mind that both onsite emergency rescue personnel and ER docs and nurses are trained to look for obvious trauma after a crash and treat it (e.g., broken bones, gashes, heavy bleeding, severe back injuries, etc.). Studies show that concussions and TBI symptoms are frequently overlooked or misdiagnosed in these settings. Some studies indicate the misdiagnosis rate exceeds 50%. Oftentimes, too, concussion / TBI symptoms do not fully become apparent because of the body's adrenaline response to an accident. Once the adrenaline rush wears off, the symptoms become more apparent. Furthermore, the majority of current medical criteria now recognize that a mild TBI can be sustained with NO loss of consciousness.
Second, the type of radiology exam you have is crucial for a proper diagnosis. Neuroimaging has greatly improved over the last decade. Conventional imaging such as CT scans will not pick up a TBI, however, a MRI may demonstrate the neural damage in the brain's white matter.
Common TBI Symptoms to Look Out For
What symptoms are indicative of a TBI? Forgetfulness, gaps in your memory as to how the crash occurred or what happened immediately afterward, dizziness, ringing in your ears, any problems or sudden changes to your vision, queasiness in your stomach, difficulty sleeping or wanting to sleep abnormally (e.g., too long or too little) are indicators that you may have a more serious problem. Also, get a family member or someone living with you to keep an eye on you as, frankly, you might not be in shape to properly assess yourself.
The Importance of Keeping an Active Log
The Mayo Clinic's website has an excellent section on TBI’s. It can be found here.
If you find that you do have some of the symptoms and you think that they were not diagnosed properly, you need to write them down ASAP and tell your doctor or healthcare provider immediately. Also tell your Frederick personal injury lawyer promptly. Hopefully your symptoms will heal quickly. Every year, however, we’ve had a significant number of clients who didn’t have attention paid to early TBI symptoms and they later found that those symptoms were the most difficult to overcome in the long-term. It's also one the defendant's insurance company will try to discredit. It’s really important to get the proper diagnosis and care early on and also to make sure that your Frederick personal injury lawyer knows that you’ve got this problem so that it can be a component of the claim made with the defendant's insurance company.
