Mild Traumatic Brain Injury or to use its shortened form MTBI can be characterized by any one of four symptoms: a loss of consciousness for a short time, a loss of memory either immediately before or after the injury, an alteration in the mental state of the person at the time of the accident, or a problem in nerve, spinal cord, or brain function that affects a specific location.
There are some people who suffer from post concussion syndrome, PCS for a long time – this is one of the mild traumatic brain injury symptoms. These people can experience a significant change in their cognitive functions and their personality as a result of a traumatic brain injury, and these changes should be reported to the attending physician.
The diagnosis of mild traumatic brain injury can be difficult since the symptoms often occur days or weeks or even months after the actual injury, and the symptoms do occur in other illnesses too. When a child is the patient it can be even more challenging as children’s brains develop at different rates, so there is no definite stage each child’s brain should be at for a certain age.
Physicians have no standard treatment for MTBI as yet, because the effects of it can be so wide a range. Physicians generally treat the particular symptoms. One important aspect of MTBI is the education of both the family and the patient, since the patient themselves may not be aware of changes in their personality for example. This means the family need to know what to look for as possible signs of mild traumatic brain injury, without worrying the patient! We all get irritable at times, and when recovering from any illness there is a good chance we will get irritable and frustrated perhaps, so it can be difficult to tell whether there is in fact a personality change going on, or whether the patient is just anxious about their recovery.
It should be noted that mild traumatic brain injury is associated with diminished reaction time and this can be the cause of secondary injury in the patient if they are not made aware of this. Physicians are now more cautious when treating sports injuries that involve concussion, and it is good to see that players are taking longer time off to recover before returning to the game, and that coaches are not pushing them back into play too soon.
Mild traumatic brain injury is not to be taken lightly, so if you suspect its presence in someone who has had a blow to the head, or some kind of head injury, encourage them to see a qualified medical professional as soon as possible.
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