Ryan Findlay | November 22, 2024 | Personal Injury
Delayed Concussion Symptoms
A concussion occurs when your brain gets jolted. The resulting brain injury changes the cells and produces physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms. As the brain injury evolves, the symptoms will change. These concussion symptoms can profoundly impact your life.
You might lack the physical coordination to drive or even walk. Memory problems might plague your thoughts. As a result, your injury could prevent you from working or caring for yourself and your family members. Fortunately, you can pursue injury compensation for concussion symptoms — including those that appear delayed — if you document them.
Causes of Concussion Symptoms
A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury. In other words, it results from physical jostling of the brain rather than disease or exposure to chemicals.
The skull forms a protective shell around the brain. Meninges surround the brain and spinal cord. These tough membranes seal the central nervous system (CNS) from pathogens that can damage it.
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) forms a protective cushion between the CNS and the meninges. It helps to compare these protective structures to packing material. The skull is analogous to a cardboard box, while the CSF and meninges are the bubble wrap.
The CSF and meninges push the brain to slow its motion. After a jolt, they resist the movement of the brain to prevent it from hitting the inside of the skull. If the brain overcomes them and strikes the inside of the skull, the resulting cerebral contusion can cause permanent brain damage, coma, or death.
However, the force exerted by the meninges and CSF to protect the brain can also damage its cells. The body triggers an inflammatory response when it detects the injury. The brain swells and increases in temperature.
These changes create the following concussion symptoms:
- Unconsciousness
- Confusion and brain fog
- Amnesia
- Blurry vision
- Ringing ears
- Slurred speech
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Nausea or vomiting
- Loss of coordination and dexterity
These symptoms appear immediately in many cases. If you have suffered a concussion, you might recall the paramedics or emergency room doctors asking you questions like “What’s your name?” and “Do you remember what happened?” They probably checked your eye response and asked you to push and pull on their hand.
These tests helped them assess the severity of your concussion at that instant. However, as your brain swelled and additional cells died or malfunctioned, your symptoms might have changed.
Can Concussion Symptoms Be Delayed?
Patients often wonder, “Can concussion symptoms come and go?” Symptoms can worsen, improve, disappear, and reappear as your brain changes in the hours and days after your injury. Immediately after suffering head trauma, you might feel rattled but otherwise fine. Your condition may worsen significantly as your concussion evolves.
The main reason this happens is because the inflammation in your brain may worsen before it stabilizes and begins to improve. The swelling will slow the blood flow to your brain cells, and the increased temperature may cause them to misfire.
Symptoms may also appear to be delayed simply because they go unnoticed until after you leave the crash scene or doctor’s office. For example, you might not notice the ringing in your ears until after you go home and try to rest in a quiet room. Or you might experience delayed vomiting after concussion examinations primarily because you ate after you left the hospital.
Signs of a Delayed Concussion
Any concussion symptoms could be delayed. However, certain symptoms are more likely to appear after a delay than others.
Unconsciousness and memory loss often occur immediately after your brain experiences a jolt. By contrast, other symptoms tend to appear or worsen after the concussion. Your headache may become more intense, and you may experience dizziness, nausea, and vomiting as your condition worsens.
Similarly, emotional symptoms often develop later in the process. Depression and anxiety can appear in concussion victims. These symptoms may include difficulty concentrating, irritability, paranoia, and sad or angry outbursts.
Fortunately, most concussion symptoms clear up in two to three months after the injury, regardless of when they appear. However, until that time, you may feel “off” or “foggy” until your brain inflammation subsides.
Some victims suffer from post-concussion syndrome (PCS), which is characterized by symptoms that last longer than three months. Doctors do not know why some patients develop PCS. However, many PCS patients also suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Researchers speculate that these conditions may accompany or amplify each other.
How Delayed Symptoms Affect Injury Claims
You can usually pursue an injury claim when your concussion results from someone else’s negligent or wrongful actions. For example, a common cause of collisions is striking your head during a slip and fall accident. If your accident occurred in a store, your lawyer will assemble evidence that the manager or employees were negligent in finding and fixing the slick floor.
If your lawyer establishes the other party’s liability, you can pursue compensation for your losses. This compensation may be paid by an insurer. After a car accident, for example, your insurer will pay for medical care for your concussion.
In other cases, the other party’s insurer will pay compensation to you. Thus, in a slip and fall accident, the store’s insurer will be liable for your losses after you prove liability.
You can pursue compensation for your injuries regardless of when the symptoms appeared. Thus, you should document delayed symptoms and discuss them with your doctor to make it more likely that you will get compensation for their effects.
Dealing With Your Delayed Concussion Symptoms
Keep your doctor in the loop as your concussion symptoms appear, change, or worsen. Some delay is expected. But occasionally, these changing symptoms may signify something more serious.
Both you and your doctor should document these symptoms since they may become relevant in your injury claim. When you talk to a lawyer about your injuries, bring copies of your medical records so they understand what happened and how it affected you.
Contact Our Personal Injury Law Firm in Ontario, Canada
If you need legal help with a personal injury case, contact the team at Findlay Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free initial consultation today.
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