Brain Injury

What is a brain injury?

A blow to your head could cause a traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBIs can also occur when your head moves back and forth violently, exceeding the force your brain can absorb. The result may be a mild brain injury (concussion) or more severe brain damage.

Brain injuries can also result from a brain hemorrhage, stroke, or pressure from a growing tumor.

What symptoms indicate I have a brain injury?

Common brain injury symptoms include:

• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Difficulty reading
• Poor balance
• Visual memory problems
• Difficulty concentrating
• Confusion
• Problems driving
• Anxiety
• Depressed mood
• Insomnia

Eye problems are also common with brain injuries. This is because a high percentage of your brain’s function involves vision-related processing.

You might experience eye strain, especially when reading or using electronic devices. Other problems include double or blurred vision, a low blink rate, and poor depth perception. You might develop photophobia (sensitivity to light) and have difficulty with eye-tracking.

How is a brain injury assessed?

A neurological brain injury assessment might include:

• Optical coherence tomography (OCT)
• Fundus photography
• Visual field testing
• Neuroendocrine evaluation
• Neuro-optometric evaluation
• Videonystagmography (VNG)
• Rotary chair testing
• Vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (VEMP)
• Posturography
• Quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG)

These tests examine brain functions an injury might affect, including vision, eye movement, balance, and cognition (thinking skills).

What treatment might my brain injury require?

Concussion treatment usually involves mental and physical rest, provided there’s no evidence of significant brain damage. This enables the affected neurons (nerve cells in your brain) to heal.

A moderate to severe brain injury might require surgery to repair a fracture, stop bleeding, remove blood clots, or reduce the pressure inside your skull. You might also need medications to reduce the risk of further damage.

Other potential brain injury treatments include:

Vision rehabilitation

Vision treatments could include corrective lenses, lens tints, or coatings. Vision therapy using eye exercises, prisms, or partially covering the eye can also be beneficial.

Neuropsychiatric treatment

Brain injuries can cause depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which benefit from psychiatric treatment.

Speech and language therapy

Communication is often impacted after a brain injury. However, people improve significantly by working with a speech and language therapist.

Call Advanced Neurology of Katy today or book an appointment online to receive first-class brain injury care.