Brain Injury Resource Center

Hospital accident and emergency departments see a steady flow of people with head injuries. The majority found that minor head injuries and the recovery may be complicated. However, some people will need medical care to a variety of reasons, depending on the nature of head injury and a very small proportion of these has had a serious head injury that may require surgical treatment. Common causes of severe head injury are traffic accidents, falls and assault.

Features that would be an issue after a head injury are:

* Headache that gets worse or does not disappear within four to six hours after the injury occurred
* Drowsiness, if it lasts more than two hours, or if the person is hard to arouse
* Confusion and disorientation
* Nausea or vomiting indeed common following a head injury, but if it is persistent or appears to be worse, could be serious

Your doctor may order blood tests to see if there is a general medical problem or to verify that the injured person’s blood from clotting properly. X-rays may be needed to see if the skull had been fractured, or to see if any glass or metal in the wound if it breaks the skin. In some cases, a CT scan of the brain will be conducted to see if there is any bleeding inside the head, or brain swelling.

A mixture of blood and fluid can accumulate in the brain surface several days or weeks after a head injury relatively minor. This is called a chronic subdural hematoma. This can cause pressure on the brain and progressive worsening of symptoms such as headache, drowsiness, confusion, problems with speech or weakness on one side of the body. Chronic subdural hematoma can be seen on a CT scan of the brain and are usually easily treated by simple drainage operation (through holes).

Many people who attend emergency departments because of a head injury have been left out. If this is the case, and seems to have returned to normal after that is said to have concussion. This means that for a short time the effects of head injury was severe enough to keep the brain functioning properly and as a result, he lost consciousness.

Although CT may not show any abnormality in these cases, there may be small areas of brain damage that could have a major impact on recovery. Some people can not return to school, college or work because of the effects of concussion. If shock has occurred, doctors often classify the injury as moderate.

Post-concussion symptoms are common following:

* Headaches that do not follow any particular pattern, although it may be worse towards the end of the day
* Loss of concentration with a poor attention span, so that the person loses track of talks, films and books
* Memory loss. After major shock people often unable to remember the event and a period of time thereafter. You may also find that impairs memory for recent events.
* Of the person’s personality can be altered. Most commonly, they may be more irritable or angry
* There may be other specific problems such as loss of sexual appetite, loss of ofappetite, apathy or disinterest in life and lack of self-esteem confidence andself

If you have been involved in a head injury please contact the emergency department.