Brain damage feels different for everyone, ranging from immediate disorientation, severe headaches, nausea, and confusion (like a dazed feeling) to long-term issues like fatigue, memory/concentration problems, mood swings (anxiety, depression, irritability), sleep changes, sensitivity to light/sound, dizziness, and speech difficulties, affecting how you think, feel, and move.
Moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries
Loss of consciousness from several minutes to hours. Persistent headache or headache that worsens. Repeated vomiting or nausea. Convulsions or seizures.
Initial reactions to trauma can include exhaustion, confusion, sadness, anxiety, agitation, numbness, dissociation, confusion, physical arousal, and blunted affect.
Five significant signs your brain might be in trouble include memory loss (especially recent events), difficulty with familiar tasks or language, confusion about time/place, significant personality/behavior changes, and problems with judgment, focus, or coordinating movement, often indicating conditions like dementia, brain injury, or other neurological issues, requiring a doctor's visit.
It won't rid you of PTSD and your fears, but let your tears flow and you'll maybe feel a little better afterwards. 'Crying for long periods of time releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, otherwise known as endorphins. These feel-good chemicals can help ease both physical and emotional pain.
7 Clear Signs Your Body Is Releasing Stored Trauma
THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTIONS FOR TRAUMA
How Our Brains Recover After Injury
Cognitive Test. Cognitive tests are short, quick tests to check how well your brain is functioning. These tests don't diagnose specific diseases. Instead, they identify a problem with cognition and the need for more in-depth testing.
In a healthy brain, it reacts appropriately to threats, but in a trauma brain, the amygdala becomes hyperactive, leading to constant vigilance and an exaggerated fear response. This heightened sensitivity can result in anxiety, emotional reactivity, and difficulty calming down, even in safe environments.
Symptoms of Unhealed Trauma
Psychodynamic trauma therapy is a highly effective treatment that focuses on identifying and addressing the underlying psychological causes of trauma. It works by exploring a patient's past experiences and their impact on their current behaviors and emotions.
Symptoms of trauma include avoidance of the stimuli associated with the trauma, increased reactivity, and re-experiencing the fear of the trauma at different points in a day.
The past decade has seen an explosion of research using brain imaging to assess the effects of traumatic stress on the brain [10]. These studies have implicated the amygdala, hippocampus, and medial prefrontal cortex (including anterior cingulate) in PTSD and other stress related psychiatric disorders.
Stage 1 (No response)
The child or young person appears to be in a deep sleep and doesn't respond to sounds or stimulation. This is referred to as 'coma'. While in coma, the brain is not functioning at the normal level. There is a limited ability to take in information or respond to light, sound or touch.
Brain problem symptoms vary widely but often involve sudden headaches, confusion, memory/concentration issues, vision changes (like double vision), balance/coordination problems, weakness, speech difficulties, numbness, seizures, or significant mood/personality shifts, indicating neurological dysfunction from causes like injury, infection, or disease. Seek immediate medical help for sudden, severe symptoms like a thunderclap headache, weakness on one side, or loss of consciousness, as these can signal emergencies like stroke or severe TBI.
A brain tumor doesn't cause pain directly, but it can lead to a variety of symptoms as it presses on nerves or disrupts brain tissue. Common signs include persistent headaches (often worse in the morning), nausea, vomiting, seizures, weakness or numbness in parts of the body and difficulty with balance or coordination.
About 75% of your brain is water, making hydration crucial for cognitive functions like memory, focus, and reaction time, as even mild dehydration can impair these abilities; the rest is primarily fat and other tissues, with water essential for creating hormones and neurotransmitters.
Brain fog is characterized by confusion, forgetfulness, and a lack of focus and mental clarity. This can be caused by overworking, lack of sleep, stress, and spending too much time on the computer.
Many habits contribute to poor brain health, but four areas can have the most influence. They are too much sitting, lack of socializing, inadequate sleep, and chronic stress.
Researchers and medical providers have learned that after injury the brain can change and “rewire” itself at a cellular level over the life span – a process called neuroplasticity.
Long after the injury, MRI as well as CT may demonstrate brain atrophy, which results when dead or injured brain tissue is reabsorbed following TBI. Because injured brain tissue may not completely recover following TBI, changes due to TBI may be detectable many years after an injury.
Most studies suggest that once brain cells are destroyed or damaged, for the most part, they do not regenerate. However, recovery after brain injury can take place, especially in younger people, as, in some cases, other areas of the brain make up for the injured tissue.
You may also experience more physical reactions such as: Stomach upset and trouble eating. Trouble sleeping and feeling very tired. Pounding heart, rapid breathing, feeling shaky.
Grief and loss affect the brain and body in many different ways. They can cause changes in memory, behavior, sleep, and body function, affecting the immune system as well as the heart. It can also lead to cognitive effects, such as brain fog.