A lot of the brain injury cases I handle start the same way. After a crash or a fall, the emergency room does a scan, finds no bleeding, and sends the person home with a concussion diagnosis and a handout. The word "mild" is on the paperwork. Everyone is relieved.
Then, over the next few weeks, things start to go sideways. Headaches that don't quit. Losing words mid-sentence. Snapping at your kids. Lying awake at 3 a.m. Rereading the same email four times at work. The people closest to you notice before you do.
What the CDC says about "mild" brain injuries
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's page on signs and symptoms of mild TBI and concussion groups symptoms into four categories:
- Physical: headaches, dizziness or balance problems, nausea or vomiting early on, feeling tired, sensitivity to light or noise, and vision problems.
- Cognitive: trouble thinking clearly, feeling slowed down or foggy, attention and concentration problems, and short- or long-term memory problems.
- Emotional: irritability, anxiety or nervousness, feeling more emotional, and sadness.
- Sleep: sleeping more or less than usual, and trouble falling asleep.
And the sentence I most want people to hear: according to the CDC, some symptoms may appear right away, while others may not appear for hours or days after the injury.
The CDC also lists danger signs that call for immediate medical care — a headache that gets worse and does not go away, repeated vomiting, slurred speech, weakness or numbness, seizures, one pupil larger than the other, confusion, or being very drowsy or impossible to wake. If you see those, go to the ER now. Don't wait to call a lawyer.
Symptoms can change shape over the first few weeks
Here is a detail that gets missed. The same CDC page explains that symptoms may change during recovery — headaches and an upset stomach may come first, and "a week or two after your injury you may notice you feel more emotional than usual or have trouble sleeping."
That matters for a claim. If the ER note from day one lists a headache and nothing else, and the mood swings and insomnia show up in week two, an adjuster may treat the later problems as unrelated. They aren't automatically unrelated. The CDC itself describes that kind of shift.
The CDC also says most people with a mild TBI or concussion feel better within a couple of weeks. That's good news, and for many people it's exactly how it goes. But the agency's guidance on recovering from a concussion adds that "some people will have symptoms for months or longer." Those are the people who need a careful paper trail.
The two-to-three-week checkpoint
The CDC's recovery page gives a clear marker: talk with your healthcare provider if symptoms "do not go away within 2 to 3 weeks," or if they get worse after you return to your regular activities.
I'd treat that as a calendar reminder. If you're still foggy, still getting headaches, or still not sleeping three weeks out, make the appointment. Don't wait to see if it fades by itself. A follow-up visit at that point does two things: it gets you care, and it creates a dated record that the problem was still there.
The CDC also suggests asking your provider for written instructions about when you can safely return to work, school, or activities like driving. Get that in writing and keep a copy. A doctor's note limiting your hours or screen time is some of the cleanest proof there is that the injury affected your job.
Why "mild" is a medical term, not a verdict on your life
"Mild" describes how the injury looked at the start, not how much it will affect the rest of your life. A construction foreman who can no longer juggle a crew, a nurse who can't keep medication orders straight, a student whose grades collapse — those are real losses, even when the scan was clean.
The insurance company knows the paperwork says "mild," and it will lean on it. Adjusters point to a normal CT scan, a gap before you mentioned memory problems, or a smiling photo online (see my post on how insurers use social media and surveillance). A brain injury that doesn't show up on imaging has to be proven another way.
The arguments insurers make about late symptoms — and how they get answered
Delayed symptoms give the defense a few predictable lines. Knowing them ahead of time lets you shut most of them down before they start.
"You told the officer you were fine." People say that at crash scenes all the time. Adrenaline is running, and nobody is asking you to recall a phone number or follow a work meeting. The answer is a timeline: when each problem first appeared, who noticed it, and when it was reported to a doctor.
"There's a gap in treatment." This is the big one. If you saw nobody between the ER visit and a doctor appointment two months later, the insurer will say something else must have caused the problem. Prompt follow-up — especially at that two-to-three-week mark — closes the gap.
"You had headaches before." Prior migraines or anxiety don't end a claim. The question is what changed. Old records showing an occasional headache, compared with new records showing daily ones, can actually help tell the story.
"You went back to work." Going back to work isn't proof you're fine. Plenty of people return because they have bills. What matters is how the work went — the extra hours to finish the same tasks, the mistakes a supervisor caught, the shifts you had to cut.
Making your symptom journal actually useful
I mentioned a journal above. A good one is short, dated, and boring. That's what makes it believable. A few minutes a day is plenty.
- Write it the same day. Notes reconstructed weeks later are easy to attack.
- Be specific. "Headache 6/10, started at 2 p.m. after screen work, lasted until bed" beats "bad day."
- Record what you couldn't do. Left the grocery store because the lights bothered you. Asked your daughter to drive. Missed a deadline.
- Note what helped and what made it worse. Doctors use that information to guide treatment.
- Don't exaggerate, and don't minimize. Write what happened. Good days belong in it too.
- Bring it to appointments. Hand your doctor a short summary so the symptoms make it into the chart in your provider's own words.
One caution: keep it factual and keep the venting out of it. Write every entry as if a stranger will read it someday.
How a brain injury claim gets proven
- Tell your doctors everything, and keep telling them. New symptoms belong in the medical record as they appear, not months later.
- Ask about specialist care. Neurologists, neuropsychologists, and therapists can measure what a CT scan can't.
- Let the people around you document the change. Spouses, coworkers and supervisors are often the best witnesses to who you were before.
- Keep a simple journal. Headaches, missed tasks, sleep, mood. It helps your doctors, and it helps your case.
- Don't sign a quick release. A fast settlement offered before anyone knows how the injury will develop is designed to close the file cheap.
Our settlement examples show what these cases can look like when they are documented properly. Many start as car crash cases; others come from falls, work injuries, or motorcycle and bicycle crashes.
A hypothetical: what the two-week mark can look like
Picture a bookkeeper rear-ended at a stoplight in Omaha. (This is a made-up example, not a client.) Her head snaps against the headrest. At the ER she has a headache, the CT is normal, and she goes home with a concussion handout.
By day ten the headache is fading, but she's lying awake most nights and crying over small things. At work she transposes numbers on two reports. Her husband notices she keeps asking the same questions.
If she shrugs it off, the record shows one ER visit and then silence. If she sees her doctor at week two or three, describes the sleep and mood changes, mentions the errors at work, and keeps a short daily log, the record now tells a coherent story — one the CDC's own description of shifting symptoms backs up. Same injury, very different claim.
Documenting the impact on work and home
Brain injury losses are often invisible on a pay stub. Build the proof while it's fresh:
- Ask your employer to put schedule changes, reduced duties, or performance concerns in writing. See my guide on proving lost wages after a crash.
- Save the work product. The report you had to redo, emails about missed deadlines.
- Keep school records for students: grades before and after, teacher notes, accommodation plans.
- List the things you stopped doing — coaching, reading, a side job, driving at night.
- Ask a couple of people who see you every day to jot down what they've noticed, with dates.
Mistakes that quietly hurt these cases
- Waiting to see if it goes away. Following up costs little. A three-month gap can cost a lot.
- Giving a recorded statement too early. An adjuster asking "how are you feeling?" on day three will hear "fine," and that answer gets quoted later.
- Taking the first offer. Read whether you should accept a first settlement offer before you sign anything.
- Skipping appointments or therapy. Missed visits get framed as proof you'd recovered.
- Assuming you have unlimited time. The general rule in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-207 is that an action for an injury to the rights of the plaintiff, not arising on contract, "can only be brought within four years." Crashes involving a city or county vehicle are different: under § 13-919, a claim against a political subdivision is barred unless it is "made in writing to the governing body" within one year after the claim accrued. Other exceptions exist — see my page on the Nebraska statute of limitations and talk to a lawyer early.
Before a first meeting, it helps to gather your records; my consultation checklist walks through what to bring.
Why families bring brain injury cases to me
Brain injury cases are won by lawyers who take the time to understand the person, not just the chart. I work with the right medical experts, gather the before-and-after evidence from the people who know you best, and push back hard when an insurer tries to shrink a life-altering injury into a word on a discharge form. My clients have recovered more than $23 million, including a $5.4 million result, and they describe that experience in many five-star reviews. My firm was voted Best of Omaha for personal injury law in 2025 and 2026, and I am ready to try a brain injury case when an insurer won't be fair.
If you or someone you love is struggling after a "mild" head injury, talk to a Nebraska traumatic brain injury lawyer. Call me at (402) 378-9208 or contact me here. The consultation is free, and there is no fee unless I win.
Frequently asked questions
- Can concussion symptoms show up days after an injury?
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention groups the symptoms of mild TBI and concussion into four categories: physical, cognitive, emotional and sleep. According to the CDC, some symptoms may appear right away, while others may not appear for hours or days after the injury.
- When should you see a doctor again after a concussion?
- The CDC's recovery page gives a clear marker: talk with your healthcare provider if symptoms "do not go away within 2 to 3 weeks," or if they get worse after you return to your regular activities. I'd treat that as a calendar reminder. If you're still foggy, still getting headaches, or still not sleeping three weeks out, make the appointment.
- Does a "mild" concussion mean the injury is minor?
- "Mild" describes how the injury looked at the start, not how much it will affect the rest of your life. A construction foreman who can no longer juggle a crew, a nurse who can't keep medication orders straight, a student whose grades collapse — those are real losses, even when the scan was clean.
- How long do you have to file a brain injury claim in Nebraska?
- The general rule in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-207 is that an action for an injury to the rights of the plaintiff, not arising on contract, "can only be brought within four years." Crashes involving a city or county vehicle are different: under § 13-919, a claim against a political subdivision is barred unless it is "made in writing to the governing body" within one year after the claim accrued.
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Frank Younes
Every page on this site is written by Frank Younes, a Nebraska trial attorney with a published record of verdicts and settlements, selection to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100, and a practice that covers every county in Nebraska and Iowa. No case is handed to an associate — the lawyer you read here is the lawyer who works your case.
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