Injuries of any sorts are never pleasant, but those affecting the brain are especially worrisome as any damage can also lead to debilitating conditions as well.
There are several different types of injuries to the brain, from mild to severe. However, the more concerning factor is not the pain that they cause, but their repercussions. Many a times the injury is not visible to the naked eye, and gains prominence only when it causes physical problems.
It may take several days to several weeks for the potential injury to present itself. Hence, many specialists recommend getting an imaging test like an MRI in Islamabad from a good facility to catch any clot etc. in the brain in time before the condition aggravates.
One such type of brain injury that merits serious treatment is concussion.
What is a concussion?
Concussion is a head injury that results from any blow to the head. It occurs not only when the head gets hit with the hard substance, but also any indirect injury which is common in accidents. Due to the impact of the injury, the brain ends up hitting the skill with a lot of force, also damaging the neural tissue in the process.
If the injury is serious enough, the patient can also lose consciousness, although more often than not, patients remain conscious post-concussion. At the discretion of the doctor, the patient might have to remain in the hospital overnight for observation, as brain injuries do not present issues immediately.
What are the symptoms of concussion?
The symptoms of concussion can be observed within hours or even days after the injury. The common signs of a concussion include disorientation, a perpetual headache that does not go away even with painkiller.
Moreover, concussion also affects the balance of the person, and may make them dizzy as well. Memory loss or inability to concentrate is also a common sign of concussion. Patients also tend to be more perturbed and confused in this state of injury.
Similarly, concussion also causes vision problems and sensitivity towards stimuli like light, sound etc. Fatigue alongside sleeping problems are also experienced by the patients; either they sleep too much or too little. Behavioral changes including irritability, mood swings, depression etc. and digestive issues like vomiting are also amongst the symptoms of concussion.
Children might show different symptoms when they have concussion, and thus in case the child has hit their head hard, parents should be hyper vigilant. The signs to watch out for include excessive crying, loss of interest of the child in their surrounding and changed feeding and sleeping habits.
Scenarios of possible concussion to watch out for
There are certain indicators with regard to head injury that merit urgent visit to the hospital. Minor bruises can be treated by icing the region, but a serious blow to the head is a ticking time bomb.
If someone around you has sustained injury and is unconscious, not lucid, fumbling for understanding, have blood or fluid oozing from their ears, have a seizure, black eye that does not have any external signs of injury, or if the injury is a result of serious accident, call an ambulance as the patient needs immediate medical intervention.
What should be done in case of concussion?
Due to the lag in injury and the onset of symptoms, patients should be careful about their health after injury While most of the time concussions heal in around 7-10 days, however, some may even take months to heal.
Immediately after a concussion, be careful about not injuring yourself again. Do not drive or operate some machinery as its dangerous. Take plenty of rest and have an attendant for the first 48 hours of injury. Although, do not sleep immediately after the injury.
Take the pain medication as per the prescribed dosage. Do not drink alcohol for until after you have healed. Many people have triggers that aggravate their condition like loud noise etc. It is best to avoid all such scenarios that make the symptoms worse.
If the brain is stressed immediately after injury, the healing process will be affected so take time off work or school and avoid any sort of stress.
And the most important part of concussion recovery is medical help. Many people try to play macho and shrug off the injury. Do not do that as you don’t know how serious the injury is by looking at the superficial.
Visit the doctor and you will have to most likely get a CT scan in Lahore as well. It will help the doctor get the visuals from the inside of the brain. They will assess the situation accordingly then. Serious cases may require surgery, whereas other patients can recuperate at home.
