Concussion or Headache?

I was watching the Saints and Vikings on Monday Night Football last night and saw several brutal hits. There were several times in the game where I just knew the guy that got hit had a concussion. The scary thing is, a lot of the time, it can be hard for people to distinguish concussion symptoms from a routine headache.

I found this interesting article in Men’s Health this morning and wanted to share it with you all.

Protect Your Noggin
by Erin Hicks of Men’s Health

It’s no lie that football players take hard hits to the noggin—but you don’t have to be a pro athlete to get clocked in the head.

Morton Hyson, M.D., a neurologist in Las Vegas, says more than 2 million patients with head injuries are seen in the ER in America every year. That means a head injury occurs every 7 seconds and a death every 5 minutes.

Snowboarding, skiing, football, hockey, and skateboarding can all lead to a concussion, but only 25 percent of head injuries are sports-related. The remaining 75 percent are caused by car accidents, work-related accidents, or falling, Hyson says.

Your brain has the consistency of Jell-O, and a jar to the head could cause a headache, blurred vision, nausea, and dizziness. These symptoms shouldn’t last more than 7 to 10 days. More serious concussions and repeated blows to the head could lead to a potentially fatal brain hemorrhage, long-term memory loss, depression, or Parkinson’s disease.

“People don’t realize they can be serious. If the problems don’t go away, it can alter your life,” says Barry Willer, Ph.D, psychologist and professor at the University of Buffalo who studies post-concussion syndrome—the term coined for the lingering effects of concussions. “It’s mysterious,” Willer says of the syndrome estimated to affect 5 percent of all concussion cases. “People don’t feel like themselves; they feel misunderstood. They don’t believe their symptoms are linked to their injury months ago.”

Men are 3 to 4 times more likely than women to get a concussion, so if you sustain a blow to the head, check the clock: A headache or dizziness in the first 15 minutes is normal. If either develops 2 or more hours later, there may be bleeding in your brain. But refrain from popping pain meds right away so you can tell if the pain’s getting worse.

“In a typical concussion, you’ll get a headache. It will last 24 hours, but shouldn’t get worse,” Willer says. “We recommend you don’t take Tylenol because you don’t want to mask the most important symptom.”

If symptoms worsen in a 24-hour window, go to the ER, where doctors can give you a CT scan or an MRI to look for brain hemorrhages, which require immediate surgery. If bleeding or swelling is not detected, you’ll be sent home with a prescription of bed rest and minimal physical activity. Go easy on your workout routine for a few weeks and slowly ease back into it before hitting the field or office again.

And always be sure to wear protective gear on your head when playing sports and buckle up in the car. Whether or not you think it’s dorky, it’s better to wear them than to end up at the hospital in pain.

Make Sure you jump over to Men’s Health and check the original article, as well as the other great article’s written by Erin Hicks.

When it concerns your head, “Always be on the side of caution”.

It’s better to go see a Doctor and nothing be wrong, then to not go, and Something Be Really Wrong.

I’ve been close to having a concussion a few times. It’s an odd feeling. Any good concussion/near concussion stories?

Dr. Ben