There are many ways you might sustain a concussion. For instance, maybe you’re playing sports, and your head takes a violent blow. Maybe something falls on you, or perhaps you slip and fall at home or work.
Concussions can be either severe or mild. You can usually recover from a mild one relatively quickly, while severe ones might sideline you for quite some time. If you suffer multiple concussions in your life, as sometimes happens with boxers or football players, you can develop chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
If you’re unsure about whether you’re dealing with a concussion or not, you should watch for the following symptoms.
Headaches
Before we get into concussion symptoms, we should mention that if your slip and fall or some other accident took place at work or in a store, you might bring a lawsuit against those responsible.
Maybe that’s warranted if it was their fault, and you can get a settlement that will help pay your medical bills. If you sustain a concussion in these situations, hire a personal injury lawyer who can help you.
Headaches are one of the more common concussion symptoms. You might have these headaches:
- Immediately after the accident
- In the days or weeks that follow
They can be milder or more severe. Some concussion sufferers describe them as feeling like migraines. You might feel so bad that you’ll have to lie down and put a cold washcloth on your head for a while before you can interact with other people again.
Confusion
You also might experience confusion. That’s another common concussion sign. Perhaps:
- You can’t remember how you got to where you are
- You’ll forget what you’re doing for a few moments
These are strong head injury indications. If you damaged your brain, even mildly, it’s easy to see why that would confuse you.
Worse brain injuries might bring on more extended confusion periods, but generally, you should get over this pretty quickly if you rest and don’t overexert yourself for a while.
Nausea
You might also feel nausea if you suffered a concussion. Some people say there is a spinning sensation that’s like being drunk. It’s hard to walk a straight line or focus on anything.
You also might feel so sick to your stomach that you could vomit. If there’s nothing in your stomach, all that might come up is a little bile.
These distressing symptoms are another clear indication that you’ve suffered a concussion, and you need immediate medical attention.
Tinnitus
You might experience tinnitus, which is another way to say you have persistent ear ringing. When someone close to you speaks, you might not hear or understand them because the ringing is so bad.
Like most of the other symptoms, you can expect this to go away after a little time passes. It can frustrate you until you get over this symptom. You might have to spend some time away from work and the recreational activities that you usually enjoy.
Tinnitus and headaches often go together. Shutting yourself off from light and noise with a cold head compress is usually the way to go.
Fatigue
You might feel fatigue or drowsy for some time after a concussion. It might take days until these feelings dissipate.
You probably can’t go through your usual routine until you get past this phase. Rest and keeping stress out of your life are the best ways to get by these symptoms.
Your family will have to look after themselves for a while. If you have a spouse or partner, they may have to watch the kids and handle household duties while you’re recuperating.
Amnesia
Amnesia is one more concussion symptom. You usually experience it right after you sustain the injury.
Perhaps you can’t remember things like appointments for a while. Maybe you have a hard time remembering people’s names or why you went into a particular room. If you go to the store, perhaps you can’t remember everything you wanted there.
Long-term memory loss isn’t common with this injury type. It’s when you sustain multiple concussions that you might lose your long-term memories, like where you grew up or how you met your spouse.
People don’t want to go through concussions, but if you do sustain one, the most critical thing to do is to seek out medical attention without delay. Now that you know what the most prominent symptoms are, you’ll know to find a doctor immediately if you exhibit one or more of them.