Patient/caregiver was educated that the signs and symptoms of head injury can vary depending on the severity of the injury suffered.
Also, some symptoms can appear during immediate 24 – 48 hours after injury and some symptoms can also appear in a few weeks after injury. The symptoms can progressively improve or worsen based on the impact of injury.
Moderate to severe head injury can result in the following signs & symptoms:
- Bleeding: Depending on the impact of injury, an individual can present with external bleeding on the head and/or internal bleeding inside the head. The fractured bone of the skull can sometimes penetrate the protective coverings around the brain, meninges, and injure the brain tissue resulting in trauma to the brain. Fracture of the skull, damage to the meninges, and trauma to the brain tissue from moderate to severe head injury can result in severe uncontrolled internal bleeding inside the head.
- Visual disturbance: The swelling of brain tissue and bleeding inside the skull can exert pressure on the nerve helping the visual function, optic nerve. This increased pressure on the optic nerve can lead to blurred spots in the visual field and in extreme cases can result in partial or complete vision loss. Uncontrolled bleeding from the injury can lead to elevated pressure inside the head. This can exert pressure on the nerves helping for the movement of eyes, thus making the movement of eyes difficult. Problems with the vision can contribute to increased risk for falls and accidents.
- Poor bowel and bladder control: Injury to the brain from head injury can affect portions of brain controlling bladder and bowel function. This can contribute to reduced bowel & bladder control with increased risk for bowel & bladder incontinence.
