Concussions and Their Impact: Recognizing the Signs and Seeking Help

A concussion is a mild form of traumatic brain injury and is usually caused by blunt force to the head. In some cases, it can result from a back-and-forth jerking of the head, resulting in the brain matter being dashed against the skull wall. It’s a pretty common injury in children, individuals engaged in contact sports, and Michigan car accidents.

Most concussions are not life-threatening. However, some cases can develop complications that could significantly impact a victim’s life. So, the first step in getting timely treatment is understanding its symptoms and what you ought to do after suffering an injury.

Signs and Symptoms of a Concussion

Symptoms and signs of a concussion fall into three categories: physical, cognitive, and psychological or emotional.

PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS

Where a significant blow to the head causes a concussion, the victim could pass out for a few seconds. However, this is not always the case, so you cannot use passing out as the litmus test for concussions. Often, patients exhibit symptoms like headaches, nausea and vomiting, blurred vision, dizziness, loss of balance, slurred speech, fatigue, ringing ears, tingling in the hands, loss of taste or smell, etc.

COGNITIVE SYMPTOMS

With a concussion being a brain injury, it is unsurprising that it may cause problems with brain function. In some patients, a concussion will cause problems with concentration, confusion, forgetfulness, feeling slowed down in your thinking, and trouble finding words.

EMOTIONAL SYMPTOMS

A concussion can, in some patients, cause emotional problems, resulting in a deviation from a person’s normal behavior. For example, patients may become easily irritable, report feeling foggy or “out of it,” experience immense sadness, and have anxiety.

When to See a Doctor

In most cases, symptoms of a concussion will start to show immediately after an accident, in which case seeing a doctor makes absolute sense. However, concussions are among the few types of injuries that tend to have delayed onset. In some cases, it can take up to 72 hours or even more for the first signs of a concussion to show.

If you are in an accident where you have suffered a blow to the head or are violently shaken, it is always a good idea to see a doctor. You may not have to call 911 if your symptoms are not as severe, but it is best to see a doctor on the same day or within 72 hours of an accident at most.

Timely medical interventions help in several ways. It helps stop the deterioration of an injury, shortens recovery time, and provides the documentation necessary for filing a personal injury claim if you intend to seek compensation.

What to Do To Recover Damages

Once your health is taken care of, focus on evidence gathering, starting with scene documentation in pictures and video. If there were any witnesses to the incident, talk to them, record their statements, and get their contacts so you can easily trace them if you need help with your case. If it is a car accident, you will need to get the other driver’s insurance and vehicle registration details.

Besides evidence, you need to prepare for the legal battle. It doesn’t always have to go all the way to court, but you will still need to work with a personal injury lawyer to get the best chances at recovering fair compensation.

Personal injury lawyers bring knowledge, investigation and evidence-gathering skills, negotiation skills, and respect, which altogether help you in mitigating mistakes and increasing your chances of getting a fair outcome.

Saliva Test Predicts Prolonged Concussion Symptoms in Children

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, although the majority of concussions that are diagnosed annually occur in children, clinical guidelines are usually based on adult concussion sufferers. The lack of guidelines may limit the ability of pediatricians to accurately predict the duration of a child’s symptoms, including headaches, fatigue, and concentration problems — which can interfere with school and other activities.

In many concussion cases, concussion symptoms last only a few days. However, up to 25 percent of children have prolonged concussion symptoms which can last for months.

Concussion Symptom Saliva Test Study Presented at Annual Meeting

New research presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Meeting suggests that a saliva test for children may offer answers as to how long concussion symptoms will last. Researchers presented an abstract of the study, “Peripheral microRNA patterns predict prolonged concussion symptoms in pediatric patients.” The PAS Meeting is produced through a partnership of four organizations: Academic Pediatric Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Pediatric Society, and Society for Pediatric Research.

Results of Concussion Symptom Saliva Test Study

Following a concussion, injured brain cells release fragments of genetic material (microRNAs) which show up in blood and saliva. Studies have found altered micro ribonucleic acids (miRNA) levels in the saliva of children with mild concussions. Similar miRNA changes have been found in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with severe brain injury.

Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine studied 50 children, ages 7 to 18 years old who experienced mild traumatic brain injury. Spit samples from each child were tested for miRNA levels. Concussion symptoms were evaluated through the parent and child Sports Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT-3) surveys.

Researchers found that salivary miRNA levels were more effective than SCAT-3 surveys in predicting which children would continue to experience concussion symptoms that lasted longer than four weeks. The SCAT-3 surveys were less than 70 percent accurate in identifying children who would have prolonged concussion symptoms. The miRNA saliva test correctly predicted whether concussion symptoms would last for at least a month nearly 90 percent of the time.

The saliva-based RNA testing indicates the potential for an accurate and non-invasive method to evaluate pediatric concussions and provide a more accurate prognosis.

This post was written by Bruce H. Stern of STARK & STARK., COPYRIGHT © 2017
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