How to determine concussion at home

Concussion is a very common traumatic brain injury. Concussion is damage to the cerebral vessels, resulting in a short-term loss of consciousness. Such an injury can happen to every person - when playing sports, in case of a fall, accident or a sharp blow. Many people neglect concussion, especially the lungs, transferring the condition "on their feet." Indeed, a minor concussion can be confused with a bruise, but the lack of quality treatment can lead to long-term consequences and complications. In this article we will talk about concussion - how to recognize it yourself and what to do after getting injured.

How to recognize a concussion

It is very important to know the symptoms of this trauma, since it is the person and his relatives who make the decision about the necessary hospitalization.Here are some signs that may indicate a concussion, and the symptoms may appear immediately after getting the injury, or after a few hours or even days.

1. Fainting. Immediately after the injury, a person may lose consciousness, such a condition can last from a few seconds to several hours. This occurs against the background of circulatory disorders in the brain, as well as due to powerful nerve impulses. At the same time, a person, even having regained consciousness, may still be in a stupor for some time — not reacting to external stimuli, not understanding what is happening. Even a couple of hours after regaining consciousness, there may be some inhibition in behavior and speech.
2. Dizziness. After getting injured, a person begins to experience a headache, sharp, pressing, bursting or dull, a person may hear tinnitus or see flies before his eyes. Dizziness is associated with an increase in intracranial pressure. The pain is usually localized in the neck or in the area of ​​injury.
3. Nausea and vomiting. Very often, when he is injured, a person may feel nauseous, he develops vomiting, usually once.In difficult cases, when the shaking is very serious, vomiting does not stop for a long time. This is due to the fact that in the brain the work of the nerve endings that are responsible for the gag reflex is disturbed.
4. Pulse change. After injury, the pulse may slow down or, conversely, accelerate. This is due to many factors - the cerebellum is compressed, intracranial pressure rises, hypoxia develops.
5. Change in skin color. Often, against the background of a concussion, a person becomes either pale, or, conversely, red. Similar arises on the background of a violation of the work of blood vessels - they expand and contract.
6. Pain in the eyes. Ask the person to look to the side, raise their eyes to the top. Increased intracranial pressure makes these movements difficult, painful.
7. Loss of coordination With complex tremors, a person cannot stand up, falls, does not maintain balance, or feels that his body does not obey. This is due to two reasons. The first is a violation of blood circulation in the vestibular apparatus. The second is the disruption of nerve impulses that transmit information from the brain to the muscle fibers.
8. Pupils. Immediately after injury, especially if the person has not yet regained consciousness, his pupils should be examined. If they are greatly enlarged or overly narrowed, this is most likely a concussion. If the pupils of different sizes - the situation is very serious, you need to urgently go to the hospital.
9. Tendon jerks. Usually this is done by the doctor, however, you can also conduct an experiment to confirm or deny the diagnosis. You just need to lightly hit the malleus in the region of the elbow and knee tendons, if the limbs are bent with different amplitudes, this is a consequence of a concussion.

There are three degrees of concussion. Mild degree is characterized by slight loss of consciousness, blood from the nose, nausea, and vomiting may occur. Typically, the patient's condition returns to normal within 20 minutes after injury. The average degree of concussion is more serious - the patient loses consciousness for more than 15-20 minutes, he cannot stand up, cannot speak coherently, is not oriented in time and space, and expresses psychophysical inhibition. A severe degree of concussion is not always characterized by prolonged loss of consciousness.With such a diagnosis, a person loses memory, many cognitive functions are reduced, he quickly gets tired, does not sleep well, loses his appetite.

What is dangerous is concussion

This is one of the few types of injuries that can manifest itself not immediately, but in a few days or even months. Among the long-term effects of tremors, photophobia can be distinguished - it develops due to a violation of the reflex abilities of the constriction and the expansion of the pupil. In addition, untreated shaking can lead to high sensitivity of sounds - a person is afraid and does not tolerate loud noise. Violation of cerebral circulation leads to problems with sleep - insomnia, nightmares, a person can not get enough sleep. Quite often, concussion causes neuro-emotional disorders, a person develops fear, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, the patient is more susceptible to stress. Severe tremors can lead to memory loss, and a person forgets those events that occurred immediately before the injury. The stronger the concussion, the longer the time gap falls out of memory.In the long run, a person with a concussion may lose concentration, cannot perform long-term monotonous work, and cannot bear certain types of mental stress that were familiar to him before getting injured. This is due to the breakdown of the connections of the cerebral cortex with the subcortex.

How to determine the concussion of a child

It is much more difficult to diagnose concussion in children, since the child of the first years of life cannot tell about the nature of his symptoms. In general, children often fall and the risk of injury is much higher. However, nature has foreseen everything - in children, the bones of the skull are not only strong, but also more mobile. For example, at birth, the two halves of the skull form a little like one another, so that the large head of the baby can pass through the birth canal. In the same way, the bones of the child's skull also react to a blow - mobility and elasticity help protect the head from damage. Very young children have a spring, which does not grow to a year. This is also a kind of protection - when struck, the soft part of the fontanel bulges, not allowing an increase in intracranial pressure.

If the child fell and hit his head, you need to watch him for some time. Pallor, vomiting, drowsiness, bleeding from the nose, divergence of the pupils, headache, frequent breathing - all these symptoms suggest that you should immediately go to the hospital. Various procedures are used for diagnosis: radiography, computed tomography, fundus examination, encephalography. In many cases, it is better to take the child to the doctor and make sure that everything is normal, than to suffer from conjectures and subsequently receive distant complications of injury.

When you shake, you need to give first aid - to put a person on a horizontal surface, to raise his head. Do not allow a person to sleep in the first hour after injury. If a person is unconscious, he should be put on his side so that he does not choke on vomit, because vomiting can occur even in an unconscious state. Next, you need to attach to the forehead and temples ice or a cold wet towel, as soon as possible to send the patient to the hospital.

Treatment of concussion is a long and complex process, which includes the restoration of the normal functioning of the blood vessels of the brain.brain, taking analgesic and sedative drugs, tranquilizers, nootropic drugs. But the most important thing is a long bed rest, which will help restore health without the risk of complications. Take care of yourself and consult a doctor in time!

Video: what happens with concussion