Concussion

Injury	Diseases	Nutrition	Poison
Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Brain

(Page 2)

Complications

Complications from a concussion can include:

Bleeding in the brain (intracerebral hemorrhage)
Brain injury that results in physical, emotional, or intellectual changes

The second impact syndrome (SIS) is when a person gets a second concussion while still having symptoms from a first one. This raises the risk for brain swelling, which can be deadly.

Calling your health care provider

Call your health care provider if a head injury causes changes in alertness or produces any other worrisome symptoms.

If symptoms do not go away or are not improving after 2 or 3 weeks, talk to your doctor.

Call the doctor if the following symptoms occur:

text continues below

Changes in behavior or unusual behavior
Changes in speech (slurred, difficult to understand, does not make sense)
Confusion
Difficulty waking up or becoming more sleepy
Double vision or blurred vision
Fever
Fluid or blood leaking from the nose or ears
Headache that is getting worse, lasts a long time, or does not get better with over-the-counter pain relievers
Problems walking or talking
Seizures
Vomiting more than three times

Page: <<Prev 1 | 2

Review Date: 01/11/2011
Reviewed By: Jacob L. Heller, MD, MHA, Emergency Medicine, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Washington. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).