To begin March, I would like to remind everyone that it’s Brain Injury Awareness Month. I just realized that in the last couple of years I forgot to celebrate or acknowledge it, not posting anything about it in March. However it is important to me to try to make my audience, however small it may be, aware of how important this is, whether you have been directly affected by it, are a family member, friend, caregiver of someone who has suffered a brain injury or neither. This can happen to anyone, whenever.
My Brain Injury, a Traumatic Brain Injury caused by a motor vehicle, is one of 10 different causes for traumatic brain injuries. Every Brain Injury is different, with a different cause, treatments and outcomes. Many things contribute to the results in addition to cause and treatment including the person’s age, size, and sex.
About Brain Injury – Brain Injury Association of America
An injury to the brain that is not hereditary, congenital, degenerative, or induced by birth trauma is called an acquired brain injury (ABI). Essentially, this type of brain injury is one that has occurred after birth. The injury results in a change to the brain’s neuronal activity, which affects the physical integrity, metabolic activity, or functional ability of nerve cells in the brain.
There are two types of acquired brain injury: traumatic and non-traumatic.
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as an alteration in brain function, or other evidence of brain pathology, caused by an external force. Traumatic impact injuries can be defined as closed (or non-penetrating) or open (penetrating).
Often referred to as an acquired brain injury, a non-traumatic brain injury causes damage to the brain by internal factors, such as a lack of oxygen, exposure to toxins, pressure from a tumor, etc.
TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY CAUSES
- Falls
- Assaults
- Motor Vehicle Accidents
- Sports/Recreation Injuries
- Abusive Head Trauma (Shaken Baby Syndrome)
- Gunshot Wounds
- Workplace Injuries
- Child Abuse
- Domestic Violence
- Military Actions (Blast Injury)
NON-TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY CAUSES
- Stroke (Hemorrhage, Blood Clot)
- Infectious Disease
- Meningitis
- Encephalitis
- Seizure
- Electric Shock
- Tumors
- Metabolic Disorders
- Neurotoxic Poisoning (Carbon Monoxide, Lead Exposure)
- Lack of Oxygen (Drowning, Choking, Hypoxic/Anoxic Injury)
- Drug Overdose
- Aneurysm
You can also find more information right here on my blog in the page TBI.
unstoppablemaria.com 