Among all possible head injuries, most often, as seen from the statistics, concussion occurs. It is often difficult to understand whether a simple bruise is received or if the situation is more difficult. The relevance of knowledge on how to determine a concussion is associated with the need to provide urgent qualified assistance in this condition. Without contacting the doctor immediately, in the future you may encounter serious complications and consequences.
General view
Before you figure out how to determine a concussion, you need to understand what kind of condition is designated by this term. Shaking is damage caused by external force impact, shock. This provokes a touch of the brain tissue of the cranial inner wall. Based on the symptoms, the severity of the injuries received by the individual, it is customary to speak of a mild and severe form.
At home, the most difficult thing in practice is to apply knowledge about how to determine if there is a concussion, if you suspect a mild form. In a human condition, there are no indications of serious dysfunction of the brain tissue. Even with a thorough examination of the patient, brain structure disorders are not detected. If symptomatology is present, gradually it exhausts itself on its own in a couple of weeks. In severe form, the integrity of the cerebral blood vessels is violated, hematomas form. The doctor, telling how to determine a concussion at home, will pay attention to the presence of symptoms for at least a month. If severe damage is suspected, it is especially important to contact the clinic in a timely manner.
Concussion: stages
When figuring out how to determine a concussion at home, you need to remember that the pathological condition is progressing. There are three stages, each of which has its own unique features. Initially, mild manifestations are observed. Possible loss of ability to navigate in space, fainting, but complete loss of consciousness does not occur. Such signs are observed the first 20 minutes after the event that caused the concussion.
The second stage expresses itself with prolonged disorientation. The severity of the condition is indicated by the third stage, accompanied by severe health consequences. Explaining how to determine concussion in adults, the doctor focuses on the first symptom of injury - loss of consciousness. Both a short and a long unconscious episode are possible. Inability to navigate in space is observed for more than 20 minutes. In some cases, the patient loses memory for some time and cannot remember under what conditions the injury was received. Gradually, memories come back, it usually takes from an hour to five days.
Symptomatology
When figuring out how to determine if there is a concussion, you need to pay special attention to the symptoms: it is in the analysis of the characteristics of the condition that pathology can be suspected. The key signal indicating the need to urgently go to the hospital is a loss of consciousness for a while, even a fairly short period.
However, more often the patient retains consciousness. How to determine concussion at home, if the pathology develops precisely in this scenario? Suspect injury by tinnitus and general weakness. As a rule, dizzy. The first few hours, the back of the head may throb and hurt. Possible nausea. Temperature measurement shows a lack of heat, consciousness is normal. Visually, you can notice that the skin of the victim turned pale, breathing more often than normal. Some have the urge to vomit, significantly beating the heartbeat. All these manifestations develop in the first few hours after receiving an injury and exhaust themselves in a day or a couple of days. Most feel a significant improvement the day after the shocking event.
Causes and consequences
Explaining how to determine a concussion, the doctor will definitely tell you that the symptomatology of the condition is explained by a disturbance in the activity of nerve brain structures at the cellular level. This can lead to a decrease in visual acuity. If there was an injury, after which suddenly a person began to see worse, it is worth contacting a doctor. Possible pain in the eyes and pathological change in the size of the pupils (more or less than normal). When reading, eyeballs may inadvertently diverge.
When understanding how to determine a concussion, it is worth paying attention to other features of the condition. It is known that for some, after receiving an injury, it suddenly and suddenly rushes blood to the face, others are drawn to sleep in the daytime or other problems with rest are observed. Perhaps a disturbing sensation of heat. Over time, the condition progresses, symptoms replace each other.
Concussion: the first moments
It is especially important to remember how to identify a concussion in the first moments after receiving an injury that could potentially provoke such a condition. Doctors say that the primary symptom is stupor. A person feels stunned, confused. Muscle tone rises, one expression freezes on the face, which makes it seem like a mask is on. Motor reflexes slow down, emotional inhibition is observed. The reason for this stupor is a violation of impulse transmission in the cerebral cortex.
Another manifestation that allows you to notice a concussion from the outside is the loss of consciousness to the injured person. In this case, the individual does not show a reaction to external factors. Loss of consciousness for a second or several, but in some cases lasts up to six hours - it depends on the strength of the external influence. Loss of consciousness is explained by the work of nerve cells against the background of a weakened blood supply and lack of oxygen.
What else is possible?
It is possible to notice a concussion if, after the influence of a traumatic factor, the victim vomits once. The emptying of the stomach is accompanied by the active generation of the secretion of the salivary and lacrimal glands, rapid breathing. In rare cases, vomiting is repeated, due to a violation of blood flow in the vomiting center. Along with this, the patient is sick, pressure is felt in the epigastric sector, and the condition is generally unpleasant. It is also associated with the vomiting center, the excitation of its separate structures, the irritation of which is explained by shock force.
Attention to the nuances!
In a calm state during a concussion, the head may spin. When you try to change the pose, this feeling becomes stronger. It indicates a violation of the blood flow in the organ responsible for the orientation and coordination of movements.
The concussion pulse may be faster or slower than normal. The patient feels weak, some note that the heartbeat intensifies, becomes noticeable. This condition indicates a lack of oxygen supply, an increase in pressure inside the skull and an effect on the cerebellar structures and the vagus nerve.
Attention to detail: causes and consequences
When shaking, the skin first turns pale, and soon after that the face turns red. This is due to the incorrect tone of the autonomic NS. Small blood vessels narrow, then become wider than normal.
With a concussion, a headache is felt by a pulsation in the neck or directly in the area that had an external impact. Some patients note that their whole head is as if bursting or crushing. This indicates abnormal internal pressure, activation of receptors located on the shells of the brain. As a rule, the condition is accompanied by tinnitus, which is observed due to pressure on the ear nerve and a malfunction in the functionality of the sound perception system. When you try to move your eyes, discomfort also occurs, especially pronounced when reading or looking away. It is also associated with pressure readings within the skull.
With a concussion, an inhibition of a person's ability to coordinate their movements is observed. Patients describe the condition as the inability to make the body obey. This is due to malfunctions in the transmission of nerve impulses from the brain to the muscles, as well as disturbances in the circulatory system. At the same time, the work of sweat glands is activated, palms are getting colder, moisturizing, the face and body are covered with droplets of sweat. This manifestation indicates an increased tone of the sympathetic NS.
Several hours passed: how to notice a concussion?
In the first few hours after being injured, the pupils may dilate relative to the norm or be narrowed. It is impossible to independently evaluate this, but the doctor, when examining the patient, should immediately notice if the visual system reflects a concussion. If the size of the pupils of the eyes is different, the resulting injury is more severe than a simple concussion. Size imbalance is associated with increased pressure inside the skull and the effect on the centers that control muscle contractions.
When looking away to the side, you can notice eye trembling due to a violation of the functionality of the vestibular apparatus, parts of the brain and auditory system. For the victim it seems a problem to focus on a specific point.
Visit to the clinic: relevance
Tendon reflexes are asymmetric in the first few hours after a concussion. This can be established by a neurologist when examining a patient. To check the condition, a medical mallet is used. The limbs on the right and left bend differently, which also indicates an increase in pressure inside the skull and impaired performance of the structures responsible for reflexes.
Age features
If in the general case an adult needs to be able to navigate among the symptoms, so that in case of an injury he arrives at the clinic on time, then the parents have a double responsibility: they need to know how to determine a concussion in a child, so that in case of doubtful situations they immediately show the baby to a specialist. Injuries received at a young age can affect the quality of life in the future, provoke severe complications and even consequences incompatible with life.
When considering how to determine a concussion in a baby, attention should first be paid to breast-fed infants. At this age, loss of consciousness during trauma is not observed, damage can be noticed by a sudden blanching of the skin and an increase in heart muscle contraction. If you feed the baby, it spits up, then the baby vomits. As the state progresses, the child becomes more and more lethargic, constantly sleeping.
Age groups: features
Analyzing the topic of how to determine a concussion in a child, one should consider the period of preschool age. At this stage, the child’s injury is accompanied by the above general symptoms. With a mild form in a couple of days, all manifestations will exhaust themselves.
For the age group older than preschool age, but under 35 years of age, loss of consciousness is characteristic, and the symptoms are moderate. The most severe concussion is carried by persons of advanced age. Manifestations of the injury are strongly expressed, disorientation is possible not only in space, but also in time.
In the general case, the symptoms of concussion exhaust themselves in one and a half to two weeks, but there are cases when the first manifestations were observed much later than this period. For example, situations when severe headaches are due to a concussion received several years ago are not uncommon.
Status Update
The above symptoms give a fairly clear idea of how to suspect a concussion without a medical background. Assuming this condition, you need to seek qualified medical help. Diagnostics using special equipment helps to accurately identify whether a concussion has occurred or if manifestations are due to other conditions.
Concussion refinement usually begins with an x-ray. Check the cervical spine and skull. Analyzing the obtained images, we can understand whether there are cracks or fractures, displacements of individual structures. To assess the state of the circulatory system, encephalography, echoencephaloscopy are used. To control the quality of brain structures, CT is shown, especially informative in case of complex injury. The fact of the formation of a hematoma or the presence of hemorrhage is established by studying the fundus. If you suspect a concussion in a child, you must first contact a local pediatrician, who will then refer the baby to research and analysis. It must be remembered that a sick child can not clearly describe the symptoms and assess the severity of damage, so the responsibility for contacting a doctor lies entirely with the older generation.