Healing or recovering from a concussion takes time. It may take days, weeks, or even months. You may be irritable, have trouble concentrating, be unable to remember things, have headaches, dizziness, and blurry vision. These problems will probably go away slowly. You may want to get help from family or friends before making important decisions.

Complications from a concussion can include:

• Bleeding in the brain (intracerebral hemorrhage)
• Brain injury that results in physical, emotional, or intellectual changes

The second impact syndrome (SIS) is when a person gets a second concussion while still having symptoms from a first one. This raises the risk for brain swelling, which can be deadly.

Call your health care provider if a head injury causes changes in alertness or produces any other worrisome symptoms.

If symptoms do not go away or are not improving after 2 or 3 weeks, talk to your doctor.

Call the doctor if the following symptoms occur:

• Changes in behavior or unusual behavior
• Changes in speech (slurred, difficult to understand, does not make sense)
• Confusion
• Difficulty waking up or becoming more sleepy
• Double vision or blurred vision
• Fever
• Fluid or blood leaking from the nose or ears
• Headache that is getting worse, lasts a long time, or does not get better with over-the-counter pain relievers
• Problems walking or talking
• Seizures
• Vomiting more than three times

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Concussion

Brain

Concussion

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Review Date: 01/11/2011
Reviewed By: Jacob L. Heller, MD, MHA, Emergency Medicine, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Washington. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)