Any brain injury can be a devastating one. We’ve had many clients who suffered what’s called a “TBI,” which stands for “traumatic brain injuries” while at work. These injuries can be particularly difficult to deal with because the effects can be so pernicious. You may not realize at first just how bad the injury is. That’s just one reason why it’s so important to get help right away. Here at the ODG Law Group, we help clients to get workers compensation for their injuries. Should you suffer traumatic brain injuries in Glendale or the surrounding area while at work, we can help you to get the compensation that you deserve.
Traumatic Brain Injuries in the Glendale Area
To quote the Mayo Clinic, a “traumatic brain injury usually results from a violent blow or jolt to the head or body. An object that penetrates brain tissue, such as a bullet or shattered piece of skull, also can cause dramatic brain injury.” When these injuries occur at work, or in the course of you doing your job, you deserve to receive workers’ compensation for them. It’s important to note that these injuries can occur at any kind of workplace, as well.
When people think “traumatic brain injury at work,” they tend to think of a job that’s a bit more dangerous than average: construction workers, telephone pole repair people, working in a warehouse, and so forth. However, those are by no means the only workplaces that a traumatic brain injury can occur in. Even the safest, most plush workplace can be somewhere a traumatic brain injury occurs. We’ve had clients that are in high-rise offices, with soft carpeting, and then one day, they just happen to trip on one misplaced item, hurt their head, and suffer the injury. As these kinds of injuries can happen in just an instant, they can occur anywhere.
Signs You Have a Traumatic Brain Injury
You might think: “I would know if I suffered a traumatic brain injury.” That’s not always necessarily the case. In fact, many of the symptoms that are associated with some of the worst of these injuries won’t be obvious until well after the incident. That’s why you should receive medical care as quickly as possible, just in case. Should you severely bump your head, or begin to feel any of the symptoms listed below, get medical attention as soon as you can. That way, you can head off any potential problems. Hopefully, you’re perfectly fine and didn’t suffer any kind of injury. However, if you did, you want to get it looked at fast.
Perhaps the most obvious sign of a traumatic brain injury is if you lose consciousness. You don’t have to lose consciousness for long. Sure, if you lost consciousness for more than minute, absolutely get yourself the medical attention you need. However, even if you just lost consciousness for a couple of seconds, you still require medical attention. While you may have only lost a couple of seconds, you don’t know what kind of internal damage has been doing. If you continue to work, you run the risk of exacerbating it and making it worse. We understand that no one likes to take time away from work or let their boss know that they’ve run into some kind of difficult. But, you have to do right by yourself and the people who care about you.
That being said, you don’t have to have lost consciousness to have suffered a traumatic brain injury. Even if you have a severe headache or just a bad one after an incident where you bump your head, you should get medical attention. Sure, maybe you just happened to get a headache after you bumped your head at work, but it’s also entirely possible that you’ve suffered some kind of brain injury that needs to be looked at right away.
Many of our clients who have successfully gotten plenty of workers compensation for a traumatic brain injury didn’t lose consciousness during the incident. Instead, they felt completely disoriented and utterly dazed. From time to time, it’s perfectly understandable to be a bit confused at work, or not get something. But, if you feel that way right after having taken a blow to the head, then it’s entirely possible that you have one of these brain injuries. You’re not supposed to feel dizzy during the workday, nor are you supposed to lose your balance. If that happens to you after a blow to the head, it’s important to get help quickly.
As we mentioned, many of the signs of this kind of injury don’t occur for a period of time. One of the clearest signs of it is if you suddenly find yourself sleeping much more than you usually do. While we all get run down from time to time, working too hard or staying up too late and sometimes we have to sleep in, this is different. If you find yourself sleeping more and more after you’ve been hit in the head, then it’s time to have a professional take a look at you.
Internal Traumatic Brain Injury Signs
The above are some signs that you may have suffered a traumatic brain injury, but there are others that might be apropos to your situation as well. Maybe you listen to loud music at the gym or singing in the car, but if there’s a persistent ringing in your ears after an incident, then something may have happened to your brain. Problems or changes with your senses after you’re hurt can be a sign of a traumatic brain injury.
Many of our clients report having a rotten taste in their mouth, or they find that they suddenly can’t smell as effective as they could before. To be clear, we always want to point out that you want to be sure if your symptoms occurred as a result of the incident you suffered on the job. For example, blurred vision can occur to many people: when they suffer a head injury, or when they sit up too early, or for many other reasons. However, should you have blurred vision after getting hit in the head, then it’s time to get checked out.
Some of the scarier symptoms of a traumatic brain injury are the ones that make you feel more sensitive. A traumatic brain injury can make you more sensitive to light and sound: you may not be able to feel comfortable around certain bright lights or certain loud noises. You may not be able to concentrate as effectively as you could in the past. It’s possible to experience memory loss, been unable to hold onto old memories that you’ve had for a long time. These injuries can even affect your mood: making you anxious and depressed or just giving you wild mood swings, from one extreme to the next.
TBIs at Work
Those are just a few of the symptoms which can show that you have a traumatic brain injury. As you might imagine, each of those can make it more difficult to do your job, or to do your job at the level you (and your boss) are accustomed to. If you have a combination of some of those symptoms, it can make even more difficult. Should you suffer a TBI at work, you deserve to be compensated for it.
These injuries, like so many others, tend to rack up quite a bit in medical bills. You shouldn’t be on the hook for those: you were just doing your job, and it’s not like you wanted a TBI. So, when you’re ready, give us a call at (818) 975-3080. We’ll set up a free consultation with you. There, we’ll go over your story, figuring out exactly what happened as well as what we can do to help you.
