Silent, Slow And Deadly: The Post-Accident Brain Bleed

Imagine that someone you know or love is with you in an accident. She hits her head, or has some trauma to her head. It looks pretty bad — maybe she actually blacked out for a second or two.

But eventually, she comes out of it, and seems fine. She answers your questions, seems lucid and aware and not even in any real pain. But slowly, over the next few hours, she gets worse.

And then she’s gone.

Brain Hemorrhages

This is the story experienced by many people who suffer brain injuries after accidents, and specifically, who suffer from brain bleeds or hemorrhages.

Some brain injuries are severe, and immediate. But they aren’t always like that.

Your brain is like any other part of your body — it bleeds. In a major accident it can bleed quickly and  significantly, but it doesn’t always. Like any organ the impact from an accident can cause the brain to bleed much slower.

But unlike other parts of your body, the blood that comes from the brain has nowhere to go, because of your skull which surrounds your brain. So, the blood pools. There isn’t much room between your brain and your skull, and when that slow, small bleed continues over time, the blood pools up, and pushes against your brain. The end result from that pressure can be death, if left untreated.

The Immediate Aftermath: The Victim Seems Just Fine

The scariest part is that immediately after an accident, the victim may have no symptoms and may seem fine. The bleed itself is happening — its just too small to detect and for the present moment, too small to cause the victim any symptoms. In fact, in many cases, X-Rays or CT scans of the brain done in emergency rooms after accidents, show a normal scan, because the bleed is, immediately after the accident, too small to detect.

Victims and their families are sent home, with the false sense of security in believing that nothing is wrong. That belief is reinforced by the victim’s apparent good health.

Hours Later

Most hospitals will tell you to always monitor someone with a head injury after an accident, and this is why. Because hours later, when that slow, small bleed, has been going for hours, the pressure on the brain from the accumulated blood pressing on the skull becomes too much. Left untreated, the victim can die.

The symptoms of an unchecked brain bleed after an accident are very similar to other kinds of traumatic brain injuries. As the bleed and the damage progresses, the victim may suffer from difficulty speaking, fatigue, confusion and the victim may begin to feel nauseous. Other symptoms might include loss of vision, loss of balance or difficulty breathing.

The end lesson is when you have injured your head in an accident, no matter what the emergency room says — make sure that you’re monitored, and make sure that you get immediate attention for any irregular or abnormal symptoms that may arise, minutes or hours after the accident.

We help victims with traumatic brain injuries suffered in accidents. Contact our Rhode Island brain injury accident lawyers at Robert E. Craven & Associates at 401-453-2700 for help.

Source:

my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/14480-brain-bleed-hemorrhage-intracranial-hemorrhage