“Brain injuries are like snowflakes and fingerprints. No two are the same.”
+Wendy Renzulla, brain injury survivor and life coach
PEOPLE HEAR ABOUT CONCUSSIONS happening in sports, where a player “sees stars” or “gets their bell rung” after sustaining a particularly violent collision. While those phrases might trivialize the hit, there’s nothing trivial about concussions. Concussions are among the most common—and most commonly misunderstood— injuries. And while concussions are rarely life-threatening, their effects can be serious and last for days, weeks, or longer.
A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Or as the Cleveland Clinic explains, a concussion is a head injury when the brain moves or twists inside the skull. “Your brain is soft and squishy,” the Clinic says. “It’s surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid, which acts like a liquid cushion between it and your skull. Picture a glass bowl of gelatin. If you smack the bowl hard enough, the energy passes through the glass into the gelatin and makes it jiggle.”
A concussion stretches and injures the nerves and blood vessels in the brain, which causes chemical changes that temporarily make the brain cease working as it should. When this happens, the brain redirects all its energy to healing itself and sends signals to the body to slow down and avoid activities, according to the Clinic. “That’s where concussion symptoms come from,” the Clinic says. “They’re your brain’s way of telling you to take it easy while it heals.”
Common symptoms after a concussion are headache, confusion, and loss of memory, the Mayo Clinic says. Others are nausea, ringing in the ears, blurry vision, dizziness, slurred speech, dazed appearance, delayed response to questions, and fatigue or drowsiness.
The Mayo Clinic adds that while some of those symptoms occur immediately, others don’t show up until days after the injury, including sensitivity to light and noise, trouble sleeping, changes in taste and smell, and trouble with concentration and memory.
“Everyone experiences concussion symptoms differently,” the Cleveland Clinic says—as a reference to the Renzulla quote—“but almost everyone has a headache afterward, and you’ll probably feel like something is ‘off.’ Visit a healthcare provider if you hit your head and notice that you don’t quite feel like yourself.”
A concussion also can affect a person’s mental and emotional health, such as causing irritability, mood swings, depression or sadness, new or increased anxiety, or nervousness.
There’s no magic pill to make a concussion go away. In fact, medical experts urge a concussed person to refrain from taking any pain medication, at least until after consulting with a healthcare provider. Many pain medications can thin the blood, making it dangerous if there’s a brain bleed.
“Rest is the most important part of treating a concussion, especially at first,” the Cleveland Clinic says. The brain and body need time to heal, so any physical activity needs to be suspended.
Most people need a few days of little to no activity, but each person is different—again, referencing the Renzulla quote. A medical provider will recommend how long to rest and when it’s safe to resume activity— slowly.
Speaking of rest, there are two myths that need to be broken. “Sleep is an extremely important part of recovering from a concussion,” according to the Cleveland Clinic. “It’s a common myth that you shouldn’t let someone with a concussion fall or stay asleep.” It advises a concussed person to sleep as often and as long as needed.
The other common myth is that someone concussed needs to be awakened every few hours. Not so. “If you’re caring for someone with a concussion, it’s OK to check on them every few hours to make sure they’re breathing normally and not tossing and turning restlessly. But you don’t need to wake them up.”
The National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, offers this concluding advice: “Most concussion patients recover quickly and fully. They should be counseled that if they do not return to normal within a week, they should seek care at a clinic experienced in treating brain injuries.”
Dennis Bova is a freelance writer and editor. ✲
