One of the primary characteristics of a catastrophic injury is that it will alter your life in some way. Depending on the injury, it could be a major shift in how you live, or it might be minor changes that occur.
There are many common ways a catastrophic injury could change your life, but there are a few common things you might expect to happen.
Pain
Many catastrophic injuries come with pain that will never go away completely. You will have to learn to live with constant pain that medications and other treatments may never fully release you from. Dealing with pain can become a focus of your life and prevent you from being able to do anything else. Seeking help and being honest about your pain can help you to learn to move forward and learn to live with it.
Finance
Catastrophic injuries are expensive. They require a lot of ongoing medical care. While you may get a settlement or payout from the responsible party, you may still have financial issues that come up. Beyond the medical care, you may struggle to find and keep employment, require costly home alterations and deal with having to do things in different ways that may cost more than how you used to do them. The costs may be subtle, but they will add up. It is essential to make sure your settlement takes all the consequential costs into consideration.
Relationships
You may notice your injury changes how people relate to you or act around you. Some people get awkward and do not know how to treat you. Despite the fact that, at your core, you are the exact same person as before, it can still alter how others treat you. It can be tough to adjust to this change.
A catastrophic injury will change many facets of your life. It can help to know you are not alone and others have experienced the same thing.