Head Injury: Concussions

It’s amazing how many people will fall down and smack their heads, or kids running across the living room, fall and knock themselves silly on the coffee table.  Severe internal head injury is always a cause for concern as consequences can be serious.  Most of time when there is a serious head injury, loss of consciousness will occur.  If this happens, or if the person is on a medication that affects coagulation or blood clotting such as lovenox, aspirin or warfarin, it’s good idea to go to the ER and be seen by a doctor.   Here are some of the things you should know about concussions.

A concussion is in simple terms, a blow to the head that causes some level of interuption of normal brain function.  This can be mild or severe, short or long term.  Many people assume that concussions involve a loss of consciousness, but that is not true. In most cases, a person with a concussion never loses consciousness.  Concussion symptoms range from a mild headache, all the way to falling down dizziness and slurred speech, most of which improve in time, from hours to days to weeks.

Mild injuries to the brain like concussions may not evident or detectable in routine neurological examinations. Diagnostic tests an imaging will typically not show any changes. Therefore, diagnosis is usually based on the circumferences surrounding the injury, along with the symptoms exhibited by the patient.

• Flight of thought
• Ease of distraction
• Inability to carry out a sequence of goal-directed movements

The following are concussion symptoms:

• Prolonged headache
• Vision disturbances
• Dizziness
• Nausea or vomiting
• Impaired balance
• Confusion
• Memory loss
• Ringing ears
• Difficulty concentrating
• Sensitivity to light
• Loss of smell or taste

If any of these occur after a blow to the head, a healthcare professional should be consulted as soon as possible.