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Possible concussion

I suffered a minor head injury 2 days back. Hit my head against a cabinet( wooden) when I got up suddenly from underneath it. Hit the back part of my head pretty hard(or so it felt). It was a distance of 1-2 feet. I am 33 y/o healthy male. No LOC, no confusion, no amnesia of the event or immediately before. I had no symptoms whatso ever for 2 hours. On day-1, I had a mild headache and some lightheadedness. On day-2, for a few hours the headache and lightheadedness (not vertigo) continued. I also had some numbness of Lt leg and weakness of Rt. hand for few hours that spontaneously resolved. After 28 hours, I was completely symptom free. Due to insurance issues and also since at that time I did not feel that my injury was serious, I did not get a formal evaluation or a CT scan done.

However today ( after 48hours of injury) when I was driving my car, I had stopped at a stop light. When I accelerated my car(from stop), due to inertia my head went rapidly forward and back. Immediately I experienced severe lightheadedness for 15-20mins, which slowly  resolved. I did work out at the gym( on the treadmill and lifted light weights) afterwards and this did not exacerbate the symptoms. Also I am having some trouble concentrating and at times ( today)finding it difficult to use a few words(no slurring, but unable to recall certain words immediately to use in a speech). Also I find myself a little clumsy and have dropped things twice. I do not know if this is due to anxiety or a true neurological symptom.I have been a trained paramedic and have some medical knowledge.

My questions:
Did I suffer a true concussion? Since I never had any LOC, No confusion, NO amnesia
Do I need imaging studies
How do I manage the lightheadedness?
How long will my symptoms last?
Is Chronic Subdural Hematoma a possibility even though  the trauma  trivial? head travelled forcefully for 1-2 ft before striking the cabinet
Thanks
3 Responses
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1760990 tn?1313538198
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Dear funnydavidblack,

Thanks for the query

Minor injuries occur in everyone’s life and I would like to assure you that they do not lead to any serious problems. Sportsmen, boxers in particular keep getting repeated trivial injuries of face and head
but do not usually get neurological problems. So I do not think your injuries will add up to cause a serious problem. You do not need to restrict any physical activities. You can also carry on with your gym activities as usual.

Take Care.

Hope that this information helps and hope that you will get better soon.

Thank you for using MedHelp's "Ask an Expert" Service, where we feature some of world's renowned medical experts in their fields. Millions have benefitted from our service to get personalized advice for them and for their loved ones.

Best Regards,
Dr. Shiva Kumar R
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Dear Dr,

Thanks a lot for your reply. It was very reassuring. I have two additional questions:

1. I hit my head again today(albeit lesser intensity than my first episode). No symptoms expet for a mild headache(2/10). My question is since my first head injury was not considered a concussion, does today's injury act cumulative towards any brain symptomatolgy? In other words, Does the two incidents put together make my brain more vulnerable in the near future if I get hit on the head again. Now I am not a professional athelete or anything like, that, it was pure coincidence that I had two knocks in a span of few days, but such coincidences seem to happen, and in case I get another trival injury, will that produce a concussion?
2. DO I need to take any precautions in avoiding lifitng heavy weight or participating in gym activites?

Thanks a lot. I really appreciate your valuable input into this.
Helpful - 0
1760990 tn?1313538198
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Dear funnydavidblack,

Thanks for the query.

Firstly I would like to reassure you that the symptoms that you describe do not appear to be caused by a head injury. Your history does not suggest a concussion. The type of injury that you had is unlikely to have caused a subdural hematoma (SDH). Acute SDH usually produces features of raised intra cranial pressure such as headache, nausea, vomiting and sometimes loss of consciousness with seizures. You have not experienced any of these symptoms.

As for the light headedness that you have been feeling, I think  it may be related to a inner ear problem similar to benign positional vertigo. Usually light headedness starts after trivial trauma and is felt when the head is turned in different directions.  This is a temporary problem and can be controlled with vestibular sedative medicines and labyrinthine exercises.  I would recommend that you see an ENT consultant for further evaluation and get started on the medications and exercises. I do not think imaging studies are warranted at this time.

I hope you find this reply to be helpful and informative. If you have any additional concerns I would be happy to address them.

Thank you for using MedHelp's "Ask an Expert" Service, where we feature some of world's renowned medical experts in their fields. Millions have benefitted from our service to get personalized advice for them and for their loved ones.

Best Regards,
Dr. Shiva Kumar R
Helpful - 0

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