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Car accidents are one of the most dangerous experiences people can go through due to all the injuries they can get in the process. One of the most common injuries after a car accident is a concussion.
Since some concussions are mild traumatic brain injuries, people think they are not as severe as they are. However, not treating a concussion after a car accident can make it even worse than it was in the first place.
Hence, victims of a car accident who notice they are suffering from concussion symptoms should get a doctor's appointment as soon as they can.
Regardless of that, not everyone knows the symptoms or signs of a concussion after a car accident. Anyone wondering if they got a concussion or brain injury after a car accident can find some answers on this page!
Victims of car accidents suffering from concussion injuries don't deserve to pay for the medical treatment needed to heal from head injuries. Fortunately, car accident victims in St. Louis. Missouri can call the Powell Law Firm to help them win their case and get compensation for what happened. You should also learn whether or not you need an attorney for minor car accidents.
What Is a Concussion?
Concussions are brain injuries that happen after a sudden hit that makes people's brains and head move back and forth. This problem causes the brain to get in contact with the victim's skull, and some of them are more severe than others.
This head injury can be a moderate or traumatic brain injury depending on how fast the cars were going before the accident and how the victim hit their heads. Nonetheless, the best way to determine a brain injury's severity is to get a doctor to check it afterward. If it turns out that you did have a traumatic brain injury or concussion it is a good idea to contact the best car accident attorney in St. Louis MO.
What Is the Difference Between a Moderate and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury?
Traumatic brain injuries can be mild, moderate, and severe; the same happens with concussions. Doctors need to run some tests such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), an X-ray, or a cranial computerized tomography scan on the victim to know how severe the injury is. However, some signs tell the victim how much they should worry about the problem.
If the victim of a car accident passes out for 24 hours or more, everything points to a severe traumatic brain injury. When the victim loses consciousness for 30 minutes, they may have suffered from a moderate brain injury.
Although not all concussion injuries lead to loss of consciousness, not passing out at all could be a sign of a mild issue. Regardless of that, there are many other symptoms that help the victim know how severe their brain injury is, and they can find some of them on this page. Some of these more serious injuries can be from accidents caused by drunk drivers, learn the steps you need to take after being hit by a drunk driver.
Most Common Symptoms of a Concussion
Getting to the main part of this article, below are seven signs of a concussion after a car accident. Nevertheless, this doesn't mean victims of a car crash can avoid going to the doctor if they don't experience any of these symptoms.
The signs listed on this page are only a guide for people to know how careful they should be after a car accident, but everyone should check themselves with a doctor regardless of how severe the accident was. Some head injuries only show up months or years after the accident, and the best way to keep them from worsening is to treat them on time.
Loss of Consciousness
As mentioned before, experiencing loss of consciousness doesn't always tell the victim they are suffering from a head injury after a car accident, but it's still a strong sign of it. This only applies if victims lose consciousness right after the accident.
It's worth noting that passing out doesn't mean the recovery time for a head injury will be longer or shorter. This symptom is not that dangerous unless the victim passes out for more than 24 hours.
Passing out doesn't only happen to victims of an auto accident since that also happens a lot to athletes. They lose consciousness when they suffer from sports injuries during a match.
Post-traumatic Headaches
Many things can trigger headaches, but if victims didn't get them before the accident, they may be suffering from a head injury. Headaches after motor vehicle accidents are more intense than regular ones, and people often confuse them with migraine.
These headaches won't go away after taking some pills, which makes it easier to tell them apart from a stress problem or any other factor that could trigger that pain. Even if the pain goes away for a moment, it will come back after some minutes or hours.
People tend to suffer from post-concussion syndrome after a motor vehicle crash, and that includes dizziness, photophobia, and headaches. Unfortunately, these headaches will last a minimum of three months even if victims seek medical attention. If the victim got a severe concussion, the headaches can extend to six months or a year.
Disturbing of the Victim's Sleeping Patterns
Regardless of how severe an injury is after a sudden acceleration of a car or a car wreck, if a concussion occurs and disturbs the victim's sleeping patterns, things can get worse. The reason for that is not sleeping well can make the victim's body weaker and worsen their mood, which makes the recovery process more difficult.
The disturbance the motor vehicle collision causes can show itself in different chronic sleep problems such as narcolepsy or sleep apnea. Similar to headaches, victims of personal injury cases should only worry about this if they didn't suffer from any sleep disorder in the past.
Any injured person with a concussive injury should watch out for these sleep-related concussion signs after a car accident:
Insomnia
Sleepwalking
Narcolepsy
Unusual drowsiness during the day
Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome
Periodic Limb Movement Disorder
Nausea and Vomiting
If the victim's head hit the steering wheel, dashboard, or any hard surface after the accident, they need immediate medical attention since that's a strong sign of post-concussive syndrome. This issue can happen due to many things, and one of them is the victim damaged their vestibular system during the car wreck.
The vestibular system is between the brain and the part of the ear that keeps people in balance and controls their eye movements. While some people are not that affected by this problem, it can cause vertigo, which makes them suffer from nausea.
However, this is not mild nausea, so victims may vomit a lot if they damage their vestibular system. This problem doesn't come alone since it can also make the victim lose their physical coordination.
It's normal if these symptoms persist after some months, but the victim should call medical professionals often to keep them updated on the issue and how it progresses.
Amnesia
Victims who got a mild traumatic brain injury don't often get amnesia, so suffering from it is a sign of a moderate or severe head injury. Amnesia after a car accident can make the victim forget memories from months before the accident or make them unable to keep new ones after it happened.
The liable party's insurance company may be hesitant to believe the victim is suffering from amnesia, so doctors will need to run an orientation, immediate memory, or concentration test on the victim to prove it.
Ringing in the Ears
Moderate concussions can damage the victim's inner ear and causes several symptoms, such as the vomiting mentioned on this page. However, if the victim suffers inner ear damage, they may also get tinnitus. This condition consists of ringing in the ear after the brain tries to heal itself from the injury.
The thing about tinnitus is that it means the brain failed to heal, and that's what causes the ringing. Unfortunately, it's impossible to cure tinnitus or heal the inner ear damage that caused it after it happens, but there are many ways to manage it. Victims of that condition recommend others to stay out of loud areas since they make the ringing worse.
Chronic Seizures
Chronic seizures are the last sign of concussion after a car accident, and it only appears in severe traumatic brain injuries. Seizures don't happen regularly and are more dangerous than the other symptoms on the list, so they make the compensation victims can get by filing injury claims higher.
Victims suffer from chronic seizures if the accident caused a scar on the brain. People suffering from this problem should be with someone who can take care of them when the seizures start happening and track how much time the victim suffers from them.
Conclusion
Dealing with the insurance company after an accident is not easy since victims need to prove what they are suffering from. The best way to do that is to know when they are suffering from concussions or any other issue, so these signs are an excellent start to building a strong personal injury case.
Medical bills won't pay themselves, so victims of a car accident should contact the Powell Law Firm as soon as they can to get a free consultation on their case.
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