March Is TBI Awareness Month

March is TBI awareness month, which is something that is very near and dear to me.  In January of 1998, I suffered a TBI, and the repercussions have been trying, to say the least.  But that is a post for later this week.  This post is for awareness, resources, and advocacy.  Enough said.

What is a TBI?

TBI (traumatic brain injury), as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2015), is caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain.  While not all bumps or blows to the head result in a TBI, it is estimated that approximately 2.5 million hospital visits are associated with a TBI which contribute to more than 50,000 deaths per year.

Diagnosis a TBI

TBIs are diagnosed using one of two main systems: The Glasgow Coma Scale or the Ranchos Los Amigos Scale.   The Glasgow Coma Scale is based on a 15-point scale and describes the level of consciousness of a person after a TBI and used to describe the severity of the injury.  It measures the functions of eye opening, verbal response, and motor response.  (To see a more detailed breakdown of these functions, please click here.)  The Ranchos Los Amigos Scale measures the levels of awareness, cognition, behavior, and interaction with the environment.  It uses eight different levels ranging from Level 1: No Response to Level VIII: Purposeful-appropriate.  (To see a more detailed breakdown of these levels, please click here.) 

For simplicity purposes, I am choosing to elaborate using the Glasgow Coma Scale.  Using this scale, the severity can be described as mild, moderate, or severe.

Mild TBI 

• brief loss of consciousness ranging from a usually few second to a few minutes OR no loss of consciousness but some confusion
• post-traumatic anmesia (PTA) for less than 1 hour of the TBI
• normal brain imaging results 

Moderate TBI 

• loss of consciousness for a few minutes to a few hours
• confusion lasts from days to weeks
• PTA for 1-24 hours
• abnormal brain imaging results
• physical, cognitive, and/or behavioral impairments last for months or weeks

Severe TBI

• loss of consciousness for more than 24 hours
• PTA for more than 24 hours
• abnormal brain imaging results
• may affect short or long-term cognition, sensation, language, and emotional impairments 

Causes of TBIs

According to the CDC, TBIs between 2006-2010 were results of the following:

Long-Term Effects

Long-term effects of TBIs are variable and depend on the severity.  Individuals with a mild TBI will most often have no long-term effects.  For those that do, the symptoms may be longer lasting or even permanent including irritability, anxiety, and depression.  Other challenges may also include balance, movement, attention, concentration, judgement, and reaction time.  For many individuals with a moderate to severe TBI, the long-term effects can lead to life-long challenges.  Physical changes can include sleep disorders, changes in appetite, paralysis, seizures, difficulty regulating body temperature, and hormonal challenges.  Cognitive changes can include difficulty with attention, concentration, memory, processing speed, perseveration, confusion, impulsivity, and executive functions.  Speech-language challenges may include understanding spoken words or generating words, slurred speech, reading and writing problems.  Social-emotional challenges may include fluctuating emotions, lack of motivation, irritability, aggression, depression, and and lack of inhibition.  Additional challenges may include sensory, perception, vision, hearing, smell, and taste.  The list is even more extensive, however, these highlight the most common.

Resources

CEMM (Center of Excellence for Medical Multimedia) has great resources for TBI.  Please visit their website to find an interactive brain, videos, and information on caregiver and personal journeys.

The CDC has a four-minute podcast about The Dangers of Brain Injuries that is also a great resource.  You can check it out here. 

References:

BrainLine.org (2015).  Retrieved from http://www.brainline.org/content/2010/10/what-is-the-glasgow-coma-scale.html

Northern University: Traumatic Brain Injury Resource for Survivors and Caregivers (2010).  Retrieved from http://www.northeastern.edu/nutraumaticbraininjury/what-is-tbi/severity-of-tbi/

Brain Injury Alliance (nd.) Retrieved from http://biau.org/types-and-levels-of-brain-injury/

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2015).  Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html

Center of Excellence for Medical Multimedia (nd.) Retrieved from http://www.traumaticbraininjuryatoz.org