Can life ever return to normal after suffering a catastrophic injury? It’s a question that tens of thousands of Americans ask themselves each year. Catastrophic injuries lead to long-term disability and years of rehabilitation. The good news is that you can get your life back on track. Here’s how.
Catastrophic Rehab
Without rehabilitation, the recovery process is impossible. People with spinal cord injuries, for instance, need to learn how to walk and even stand up again. Finding a skilled rehabilitation clinic allows you take part in a personalized program that meets your needs and understands your injury.
The process takes years, utilizing a team of professionals from multiple disciplines as well as clinicians that work with you every step of the way. These individuals will help restore your skills, meet your goals, and work to help you return to everyday life.
Financial Compensation
When your injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, part of returning to everyday life is ensuring that this injury doesn’t ruin your finances. You’ll need the help of a catastrophic injury lawyer, however.
These legal professionals handle more than just personal injury, extending their expertise into intense medical care surrounding catastrophic injuries. This includes treatments, costs, and helping you obtain compensation for the ways that this injury has impacted your life. That can include time off work, losing your job because you are now unable to perform your duties, and more.
Dealing with Changes
Depending on the extent of your injuries, life may never be quite the same as it was before. During the recovery process and sometimes after, you may experience these major changes to your daily routines:
- Extreme pain at the injury site
- Phantom pain radiating in various parts of the body
- Tingling sensations
- Changes in sensations, like touch and smell
- Gastrointestinal issues
- Difficulty controlling your bladder or bowels
- Difficulty breathing, which may require assistive devices
- Bedsores and similar skin problems
- A loss of sexual function, arousal, and fertility
You might also experience changes in your mental health. This can come from the anger and depression that often surround victims of catastrophic injuries as well as the injury itself. Anxiety is also common. Some medications can also alter your mental states by affecting neurotransmitters.
All of these changes make learning to live with your injury difficult, but that’s part of what rehabilitation is for. With the right combination of physical therapy, psychiatry, and medication, you’ll be feeling like yourself again after a while.
Returning to Everyday Life
It takes a long time to recover from a catastrophic injury, but your life will return to normal again. Allow the healing process to take its time and rely on your support groups for assistance whenever you can. It’s a difficult process, but your care teams and loved ones are here to help you through it.
In the meantime, try not to stress. Focus on making progress in rehabilitation and getting better. Rest when you need to, and rely on any professionals you’ve hired to see things through. The most important thing is that you go through the recovery process and heal your injury.