How do you know if you have brain damage?

Question

If you've taken a severe blow or two to the head in the past, been knocked out, etc. Would you know if you weren't the same? Would you realise you're now a bit mental? Or think you're still the same?
What if you are so slightly brain damaged that no-one notices, is this possible??! Could part of your brain be gone forever?!

Answer 1

if you were brain damaged and it affected your motor skills (movement)you would know if it affected your cognitive ability you might not know so there you go

Answer 2

Theres something called Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

If you suffer from MTBI there are a few symptoms that stay with you and may disappear over time. MTBI is the type of brain damage that occurs inbetween a major concussion and massive brain damage hence the name.

Your sight may be off blurry difficult to focus, you may have a hard time completeing simple math problems, nausea, forgetfullness, mood swings, the feeling that you may be going crazy or losing your mind are common.

Reading may become difficult as the words jump all over the page. you may be sensitive to light or become dizzy. lethargy and a tired feeling may overcome you quite often and tasks that were previously simple may seem difficult

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury is just what the name says Mild yet Traumatic. Meaning there was actually damage to the brain but it was not severe enough to cause a coma or brain matter to exit the nose or ears.

It is the middle ground between concusion and massive brain damage and often times is not detectable on MRI or cat scan because the damage is difficult to detect as compared to others. However it still effects your life big time.

Ive suffered from it myself and the odds of a recovery are very good. it may take up to ten years to recover from MTBI. And often times doctors miss it sending you home with a form of brain damage. where your life is turned upside down not a fun experience. there is a book out on the subject and im sure its not the only one

Hope that helps

Answer 3

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result from a closed head injury (i.e. a severe blow that doesn't penetrate the skull).

If it's mild, you can lose consciousness for a few seconds/minutes, and feel dazed and strange for a few weeks after the injury. If it's severe, it can be followed by weeks of vomiting/nausea, personality change, weakness, confusion and loss of coordination amongst other things.

Depending on the severity and location of the blows, as well as your age and general health at the time of the blows, disabilities can result from TBI. These could include anything from cognition problems (thinking, memory, reasoning) and communication problems to behavioural and mental health issues (depression, personality changes, aggression, social inappropriateness).

So yes, it's possible that you could be brain damaged. It's possible that you wouldn't notice the difference, although if the difference is significant you probably would. As for whether other people notice - that depends on how well they knew you before and how subtle the change is.

As always, see a doctor (maybe neurologist).

Answer 4

Have you been voted MP? Do you spend time on Yahoo attempting to get feedback on the best stand to take in policy making?
Do you forget the difference between your wife or boyfriend and primates at the zoo?
If so you may have a bit of brain damage.
Seriously, if no one else thinks damage have occurred, they probably have not.
Various tests can be administered to detect impairments.
I hope this, with the humour, helps.

Answer 5

Yes.

However, it is possible to not know that you have 'brain damage.' Just as it is possible to know the alphabet, or to count to one hundred but to miss out a letter (eg) 'A' or a number, (eg) '50' because you have been hypnotised, and not see anything strange in it.

The Brain / Mind is vastly complex, and although you can realise that some thing (neurological) is wrong, the opposite is true ~ and be unable to do anything about it.

Sash.

Answer 6

The point is you don't. Just as people who have had strokes do not at first realise that they have lost some of their brain function.

And that word mental...use it with caution as it can offend. People who suffer brain damage are not mental, but their brain function is impaired and not connecting like it used to.

And yes the brain though never completely restored with usage and daily exercise in some instances it can recover. The research into this is ongoing.

It has been pr oven that with stroke victims the sooner you started using the brain again there is a greater chance of a full recovery.
But if you don't use it you lose it.

MY husband and I have a pact that if either one of us has a stroke that we will ensure that the one who has had the stroke will get treatment almost straight away and not wait for the doctors 3 or 4 weeks down to line to decide what they are going to do about rehabilitation.

Definitely a case for sooner rather than later.

Answer 7

i got hit in the head by a discus when i was 12 and got a compound depressed fracture (left side of my head caved in!). All scans came up fine but i now have an awfull memory, have to read/write things 2 or three times so i understand and have a short temper when i dont understand things or am not understood. I would say i was brain damaged dont you?! So i think you would know!

Answer 8

Check the "The Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury on Brain Function " area on the Headway - Brain Injury Association.

Answer 9

I think you could be brain damage and not know it.
I dont think mentally ill people know that they are ill, so its all possible. Read this article the other day
Most people who have been used in prostitution have been beaten up, knocked out or choked out repeatedly. They accumulate brain injuries which are not extremely severe or life threatening.

Answer 10

You would recognise it because according to which part of the brain that is affected there would be certain area's in which you would no longer function normally. If you have had an injury and a CAT scan as a result, it would show up on that., xx

Answer 11

you might not know until you loose conciousness one day in the future. It does happen, peopple have accidents that they can't really remember having and it is because on an old brain injury - a CT scan will show more ask you GP if you are worried. We actually loose brain cells every day that won't be replaced too!