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Brain injuries occur when trauma to the head forces the brain to move inside the skull, causing swelling, bleeding, cell damage, contusions, lesions, blood clots and hemorrhages. The rate and amount of recovery experienced by a brain injury sufferer depends on the severity of the brain injury sustained.
Some brain injuries are not noticeable on brain scans; these are known as mild traumatic brain injuries, which can even occur without a forceful blow to the head. Roughly 80 percent of all traumatic brain injuries can be classified as mild.
Other, more severe brain injuries produce visible signs. These may require a longer, more arduous recovery time. Brain injuries that result from a high-speed impact to the skull produce highly recognizable brain changes.
Aside from making appearance changes to the brain, brain injuries can also produce other symptoms that are physical, cognitive and psychological or emotional. Even mild traumatic brain injuries can produce serious symptoms, although the cause may be harder to detect.
Brain injury sufferers can experience physical symptoms, such as nausea, dizziness, fatigue and vision problems; cognitive symptoms, such as memory loss, speech impediments and attention deficits; and psychological symptoms, such as depression, anxiousness, irritability and confusion. Symptoms can take weeks, months or even years to heal. Some may persist forever.
Recovery from a brain injury depends on a number of things in addition to severity of the injury. Age, gender, personality and temperament, extraordinary conditions, such as chronic pain or post-traumatic stress disorder, type and quality of treatment, and support network all play a role in how well and how soon a person will recover from a brain injury.
Because each person''s brain chemistry is different, every person will respond to treatment and recover at a different rate. It is often difficult for doctors to generalize about the recovery time for individual brain injury sufferers. However, most people with mild traumatic brain injuries, given they get enough rest, see improvement in their symptoms within three months. Roughly 85 percent are symptom free within six months to a year after the accident.
The remaining 15 percent of brain injury victims, however, can show permanent signs of brain injury. This is often due to genetics, lifestyle before and after the accident, recovery expectations, and medical and psychological treatment after the accident.
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