Head Injury Signs and Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of a concussion may show up immediately, or they can take hours or even days to show up. You don’t always lose consciousness with a concussion.
A concussion causes changes in a person’s mental status and can disrupt the normal functioning of the brain. Multiple concussions can have a long-lasting, life-changing effect.
Signs of a TBI, like a concussion, include:
- Confusion
- Depression
- Dizziness or balance problems
- Double or fuzzy vision
- Feeling foggy or groggy
- Feeling sluggish or tired
- Headache
- Memory loss
- Nausea
- Sensitivity to light or noise
- Sleep disturbance
- Trouble concentrating
- Trouble remembering
Signs or symptoms that a head injury may be more than a concussion and requires emergency treatment include:
- Changes in size of pupils
- Clear or bloody fluid draining from the nose, mouth, or ears
- Convulsions
- Distorted facial features
- Facial bruising
- Fracture in the skull or face
- Impaired hearing, smell, taste, or vision
- Inability to move one or more limbs
- Irritability
- Lightheadedness
- Loss of consciousness
- Low breathing rate
- Restlessness, clumsiness, or lack of coordination
- Severe headache
- Slurred speech or blurred vision
- Stiff neck or vomiting
- Sudden worsening of symptoms after initial improvement
- Swelling at the site of the injury
- Persistent vomiting
