"You appear to be fine. Your test results are all within normal range. Go home and rest a few days. You should be back to normal then."

This is typical for a doctor to say following a head injury. Particularly a 'closed' head injury. Most testing will show nothing. Most patients will not find any relief for their problems until they see a neuropsychiatrist. They are able to evaluate patients much better for traumatic brain injury than any other doctor. Their testing is more advanced than that of most diagnostics provided today. Although we have sofisticated testing equipment, it does not always find problems with someone who has brain injury.

INITIAL EVALUATION

Any period that the person lost conciousness, at which time is no response that is meaningful or no speech at all.

Any loss of memory regarding things immediately prior to or after the injury.

Any difference in their mental state at the time of injury. This can included confusion, feeling dazed or disoriented.

Most patients are sent home by hospital emergency rooms with pain meds for headaches. The patient usually feels they are going to be okay until the symptoms interfere with their daily life enough for them to seek help. At that time tests are done and they are usually sent to specialists to receive care.

NEUROLOGICAL 

If a patient can walk, talk, seems oriented and answers questions correctly, had a small amount of unconciousness or none at all, they will be sent home with the doctors stating they are well. Most doctors have no experience with brain injury, so they overlook the real need for medical care.

A neurologist will generally take this injury serious. They test your cranial nerves. They ask you to smile, walk on one foot, listen for sounds, follow their finger with your eyes, checking your taste buds and smell senses and more. If they suspect post concusive syndrome, they will ask for other tests. They may refer you to a neuropscholigist. The neuropsychologist can help determine your level of functioning.

Neurological testing involves skull x-rays, electroencephalogram (EEG), computed tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and some others that prove to be only for research and not diagnostic purposes.

Neuropsychological testing involves several tessts for intelligence, academic skills, language skills, non-verbal reasoning, memory, personality, & visual perception skills. This testing is a patients best bet for getting proper care to help them to proceed with learning how to live with their TBI. 

Many studies have proven that testing may be negative, however, a person shows positive hours after their injury with other testing. Some testing continues to be negative, although the patient suffers from TBI. A good doctor will know the patient has a problem regardless of test results. A patient can NOT fake a neuropsych test.

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