The hardest brain injury cases are not the ones with bleeding on the CT. They are the ones where the imaging looks normal and the client is telling everyone they "feel fine" while their spouse is watching them turn into a different person. Concussions and mild traumatic brain injuries can be invisible on standard imaging and devastating in daily life.
Here is what to watch for in yourself or a family member after any incident involving a head impact, sudden deceleration, or violent shaking of the head.
You do not have to lose consciousness
The first thing to know is that you can have a concussion or a mild traumatic brain injury without ever losing consciousness. The CDC has been clear about this for years, and yet emergency rooms still occasionally tell patients "you didn't black out, so you're fine." That is not the standard. Any blow to the head, whiplash mechanism, or sudden deceleration can cause concussion, and symptoms can emerge hours or days later.
Physical symptoms
Headache is the most common. Not the kind you have once a week, but persistent, daily, often pressure or band like, sometimes worsening with screen use or noise. Dizziness and balance problems are nearly as common. Sensitivity to light and sound. Visual disturbance: blurry vision, double vision, trouble tracking moving objects. Fatigue that does not respond to sleep. Nausea, particularly early on.
Sleep changes go both ways. Some people cannot stay asleep. Others sleep twelve hours and wake up exhausted. The pattern is part of the diagnostic picture.
Cognitive symptoms
Trouble finding words. Trouble holding a thought. Slower processing of conversation. Difficulty multitasking, which for many adults is the most disruptive symptom because work involves constant task switching. Difficulty learning new information. Reading takes longer than it used to. Mental fatigue after activities that used to feel easy.
These symptoms are real, and they are documentable through neuropsychological testing. A neuropsychologist can administer a battery of standardized tests that measures attention, processing speed, working memory, verbal and visual memory, and executive function. Comparing those results to normative data for your age and education provides objective evidence of cognitive impairment.
Emotional and behavioral symptoms
This is the category that often catches family members off guard. Irritability that did not exist before. Short fuse. Crying easily. Anxiety, especially in busy or noisy environments. Depression, sometimes weeks or months after the incident. Personality changes that other people notice before the patient does.
If your spouse says you have not been yourself since the crash, take that seriously. They are often right, and they are often the most reliable historian of how you are actually functioning.
When symptoms appear
Some symptoms show up at the scene. Many do not appear until hours or days later, after the adrenaline has worn off and you have tried to return to normal life. The delay is one of the reasons brain injuries are missed.
If you had any head impact or whiplash mechanism, watch yourself for at least two weeks. Tell someone close to you to watch you. Keep a log of symptoms. The medical documentation built in those first weeks becomes the spine of any future claim, as we discuss in the importance of medical documentation.
Getting evaluated
If you have not seen a doctor yet, do so. If you have, and you are still having symptoms after a week, ask for a referral to a specialist. Neurology, sports medicine, and concussion clinics in Los Angeles handle this work routinely. Tell the provider everything, not just the worst thing. Symptoms that seem unrelated often are related.
The immediate steps to take after any accident are covered in what to do after a car accident in Los Angeles, and the broader question of when to bring in a lawyer is in signs you need a personal injury lawyer.
The legal side
Brain injury cases are routinely undervalued by insurers because the injury is invisible on imaging and easy to dispute. The defense hires experts who suggest that whatever the patient is experiencing must be due to depression, malingering, or pre existing conditions. Building a brain injury case requires the right specialists from the start: treating neurologist, neuropsychologist, vestibular therapist, sometimes a life care planner. The damages categories that apply are in what compensation injury victims can recover.
If you or someone you love is dealing with brain injury symptoms after a California accident, reach Jennie Levin through our contact page, or learn more about our brain injury practice.