What will happen if the brain is damaged?

What will happen if the brain is damaged?

Mild traumatic brain injury may affect your brain cells temporarily. More-serious traumatic brain injury can result in bruising, torn tissues, bleeding and other physical damage to the brain. These injuries can result in long-term complications or death.

What to do if you think you have brain damage?

In case of a suspected brain injury, do not hesitate to seek medical attention. For emergencies call 911, or visit the Emergency Department. For non-emergency care, learn more about Augusta Health Neurology and other specialized care such as the Stroke Center.

Can a person recover from brain damage?

The prognosis for mild TBI is usually better than for a moderate TBI, and the prognosis for moderate TBI is usually better than for a severe TBI. With a concussion (mild TBI), most people recover most or all of their brain function within 3 months following injury, with most recovering sooner.

How long can a person live with severe brain damage?

Despite initial hospitalization and inpatient rehabilitation services, about 50% of people with TBI will experience further decline in their daily lives or die within 5 years of their injury.

Can you live with severe brain damage?

Brain injury can cause disorders of consciousness (DOC). Some injuries are mild; they may cause minor changes in consciousness such as brief confusion. Severe injuries can cause permanent unconsciousness. Of people with severe injuries, 60% to 80% survive.

What is considered severe brain damage?

Severe brain injury is usually defined as being a condition where the patient has been in an unconscious state for 6 hours or more, or a post-traumatic amnesia of 24 hours or more. These patients are likely to be hospitalised and receive rehabilitation once the acute phase has passed.

What are the chances of surviving brain damage?

Approximately 60 percent will make a positive recovery and an estimated 25 percent left with a moderate degree of disability. Death or a persistent vegetative state will be the outcome in about 7 to 10 percent of cases. The remainder of patients will have a severe degree of disability.

Does brain damage get worse over time?

The short answer is yes. Some brain injuries do get worse over time. Secondary brain injuries are complications that arise after the initial injury, such as hematomas or infections. Sometimes these injuries cut off blood circulation to certain portions of the brain, killing neurons.

Why do coma patients cry?

A comatose patient may open his eyes, move and even cry while still remaining unconscious. His brain-stem reflexes are attached to a nonfunctioning cortex. Reflex without reflection. Many professionals speak of this condition as a ”persistent vegetative state.

What is the longest coma that someone woke up from?

A woman from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who was seriously injured in a traffic accident in 1991 has made a seemingly miraculous recovery after emerging from a 27-year-long coma.

What percentage of coma patients wake up?

They found that those who showed less than 42 percent of normal brain activity didn’t regain consciousness after a year, while those who had activity above that woke up within a year. Overall, the test was able to accurately predict 94 percent of patients who would wake up from a vegetative state.

What does being in a coma feel like?

Usually, comas are more like twilight states — hazy, dreamlike things where you don’t have fully formed thoughts or experiences, but you still feel pain and form memories that your brain invents to try to make sense of what’s happening to you.

What are signs of coma patient waking up?

The signs and symptoms of a coma commonly include:

• Closed eyes.
• Depressed brainstem reflexes, such as pupils not responding to light.
• No responses of limbs, except for reflex movements.
• No response to painful stimuli, except for reflex movements.
• Irregular breathing.

Can people in a coma hear you?

They cannot speak and their eyes are closed. They look as if they are asleep. However, the brain of a coma patient may continue to work. It might “hear” the sounds in the environment, like the footsteps of someone approaching or the voice of a person speaking.

Is a coma like death?

Coma is different from sleep because the person is unable to wake up. It is not the same as brain death. The person is alive, but they cannot respond in the normal way to their environment.

Do coma patients remember anything?

The experience of being in a coma differs from person to person. Some people feel they can remember events that happened around them while they were in a coma, while others don’t. Some people have reported feeling enormous reassurance from the presence of a loved one when coming out of a coma.

What are the stages of a coma?

Recovery may be grouped into the following four stages:

• Stage 1: Unresponsiveness. During this stage the patient does not respond consistently or appropriately.
• Stage 2: Early responses.
• Stage 3: Agitated and confused.
• Stage 4: Higher level responses.