As discussed in the
Emergency Department prior to discharge, you have been diagnosed with a
concussion. Concussions
are common after a strong head injury.
For the vast majority of people, concussions last several weeks. Concussion symptoms vary from person to
person. They usually involve headaches,
difficulty concentrating, feeling like you are in a fog, and/or speaking more
slowly than usual for you. If the
concussion symptoms last longer than 2 weeks, follow-up with your primary care
provider.
While
your brain is healing, a second injury (even if it is minor) can have
catastrophic consequences. This is
called “Second Impact Syndrome.” It is
extremely rare, but has been reported when an athlete who had a concussion goes
back to playing their sport too early, and has a second (even very minor) head
injury. These patients may die from the
second injury, so it is extremely important that you avoid having any more head
injuries when you have a concussion.
For
the first 2 days after the injury, avoid doing any reading, and anything that
makes you concentrate hard. This
includes texting, reading on a computer screen, laptop, or smartphone, reading
books, magazine text, or newspapers (all of these things make your brain work,
when it needs rest). After that limit
the amount of computer/cellphone/laptop use, cutting back still further if your
symptoms worsen.
If
you had a CT scan and there was no evidence of bleeding on the scan, you do not
need to return to the Emergency Department unless you are taking a blood
thinner like Warfarin (Coumadin), Apixaban (Eliquis), Dabigatran (Pradaxa), or
Rivaroxaban (Xarelto). These medications
are blood thinners and you can have more bleeding if you are taking these
medications.
If
you had the injury right before bedtime, it might be helpful to have someone
wake you up once during the night to make sure that you are okay (there is no
scientific evidence that this helps, but
there is no harm in it either). If the injury happened in the early evening
or earlier, this is not necessary, since you’ve been observed for 4-6 hours
before heading to bed.
Return
to the Emergency Department for confusion or increasing drowsiness, severe
headache and/or vomiting, numbness or weakness in one arm or leg, seizure, or
any new or concerning symptoms.
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