If you suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI), you may be interested in seeking financial compensation if someone else was responsible for that injury. Perhaps a doctor made a mistake during surgery, for instance, making it a case of medical malpractice. You needed emergency treatment in the hospital and missed weeks of work, so you are interested in compensation for medical bills and lost wages.
But one thing that can happen with brain injuries in particular is that the healing process can plateau. In the first few weeks or even months after the injury, you may begin seeing your symptoms fade. You will start healing. You may go through physical therapy or other dedicated types of treatment, depending on the type of brain injury that you suffered.
But, eventually, that healing process slows and then stops, even if you still have remaining symptoms. Why does this happen? Why haven’t you experienced full healing?
Searching for neural pathways
The thing to remember is that your brain is typically looking for new neural pathways or connections so that it can continue sending electrical impulses. As it makes these connections, your symptoms begin to fade or you regain lost skills and abilities.
But with a serious TBI, some brain cells may have been lost entirely. When this happens, your brain often does not have the ability to create any new brain cells to replace them. They are simply lost forever. You may experience limited healing while the brain finds new neural pathways, but you can reach a plateau if there are no viable pathways and no new cells can be created.
This may mean that you have long-term symptoms or even a life-changing disability, and it is very important to know how to seek compensation for all related costs.