Concussions are traumatic brain injuries that disrupt your brain functioning. They ‘re usually caused by an extreme hit to the head or anything that could cause your brain to shake. This topic interests me because I have recently just fully recovered from a 2-year concussion, having basically all of the possible symptoms you could think of. People like myself, who have had a serious concussion before usually worry about what’s in the future for them and possible problems that could come.
– Depression
There’s a study that showed that yearly, depression affects half of the people with post-concussion syndrome within the first year after injury, and affects two-thirds of people within the 7 years after. Many reasons could cause depression in concussions, one being permanent changes to brain functioning due to injury This causes certain brain chemical level changes, which can cause depression. Another big factor is the emotional response. A concussion is an injury that could easily have a permanent impact on your life, and people could have trouble coping with how much their life has changed.
– Sleep disturbances
Brain injuries can cause many sleep disorders, like sleep apnea or hypersomnia. There are many factors that relate to concussion that can cause sleep disorders like these, like changes in breathing control. Sometimes, after having a concussion, there are changes in the brain’s ability to control breathing while asleep. This results in periods of times throughout the night, where breathing stops for long enough to cause blood oxygen levels to drop. Another factor is chemical changes to the brain. Sometimes the internal clock that the brain uses to help us fall asleep and wake up doesn’t function well. This can cause us to have to take naps during the day or sleep more in order to function normally.
– Memory problems
A study showed that people who had a concussion score about an average of 25% lower on a memory test compared to healthy people. When the test happened a year later, there was still evidence that they sustained a brain injury with clear signs of disruptions to key brain cells. This proves that the recovery of thinking and memory skills can sometimes take a long time. Because there are many structures in the brain that are involved with memory and when a section has an injury it can easily cause damage to the person`s memory performance.
Concussions are very complicated injuries, and the level of symptoms depends on the person. There are still many people who can recover from a concussion fully without having to worry about permanent effects. Most of the time people who have severe concussions will have some long-term effects. Please speak with your doctors to learn how to cope with these problems if you’re suffering from one of them!
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