Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with GoogleGet your health question answered instantly from our pool of 18000+ doctors from over 80 specialties
How Long Does Dizziness Persist After A Concussion?
I fainted at Wal-mart and hit the floor. Was taken to the hospital, they said I have a concussion, contusion, and syncope?.......I was wondering how long a person would still be having dizzyness, unable to stand with out being unstable and feeling like you might pass out again? This has been a week ago.
Mon, 9 Nov 2015
Hello thank You for contacting HCM
Let me tell you something regarding Dizziness and Concussion first-- The Brain is enclosed into the bony cavity called skull and there's hardly any space for it to expand . Due to any traumatic head injury there's a direct impact to the area the skull got hit as well as impact to the brain inside the skull where it got hit.
This results in injury to the brain matters/torn blood vessels leaking blood causing blood-clot/active bleeding/swelling of the brain matters etc. The symptoms that happens in a patient due to this are numerous mild-mod-severe i.e. Dizziness/Headache/nausea/vomiting/sudden loss of consciousness/fits/weakness of any body parts/loss of vision/hearing/fever/change of personality etc.
Well as per your query - seems like you'd fainted first then fell down and hit the floor -- it was the fainting which is needed to be evaluated at first. There are several causes for it i.e. Syncope(Vaso-vagal syncope--most common type of fainting) as you've rightly mentioned but definitely not concussion in your case (as you're thinking/told).
Vaso-Vagal means a trigger(it can be anything i.e. forcefull cough/sneeze/any stressful condition of the body), with a corresponding malfunction in the parts of the nervous system that regulate heart rate and blood pressure. So when heart rate slows, blood pressure drops, and the resulting lack of blood to the brain causes fainting and confusion.
In a case of Concussion injury due trauma to the brain , the symptoms generally last for ~ 7-14days(depending on the severity).
Now I don't want you to focus too much on that timeline as your case seems different and it needs thorough check-up in a healthcare set-up.
Please don't allow any more delay and perhaps visit a Hospital where Neurologist and a Cardiologist are available as it needs further investigations from both point of view before putting up the diagnosis.
Hope this'll help you and thanks again for contacting HCM , will see you soon again
Let me tell you something regarding Dizziness and Concussion first-- The Brain is enclosed into the bony cavity called skull and there's hardly any space for it to expand . Due to any traumatic head injury there's a direct impact to the area the skull got hit as well as impact to the brain inside the skull where it got hit.
This results in injury to the brain matters/torn blood vessels leaking blood causing blood-clot/active bleeding/swelling of the brain matters etc. The symptoms that happens in a patient due to this are numerous mild-mod-severe i.e. Dizziness/Headache/nausea/vomiting/sudden loss of consciousness/fits/weakness of any body parts/loss of vision/hearing/fever/change of personality etc.
Well as per your query - seems like you'd fainted first then fell down and hit the floor -- it was the fainting which is needed to be evaluated at first. There are several causes for it i.e. Syncope(Vaso-vagal syncope--most common type of fainting) as you've rightly mentioned but definitely not concussion in your case (as you're thinking/told).
Vaso-Vagal means a trigger(it can be anything i.e. forcefull cough/sneeze/any stressful condition of the body), with a corresponding malfunction in the parts of the nervous system that regulate heart rate and blood pressure. So when heart rate slows, blood pressure drops, and the resulting lack of blood to the brain causes fainting and confusion.
In a case of Concussion injury due trauma to the brain , the symptoms generally last for ~ 7-14days(depending on the severity).
Now I don't want you to focus too much on that timeline as your case seems different and it needs thorough check-up in a healthcare set-up.
Please don't allow any more delay and perhaps visit a Hospital where Neurologist and a Cardiologist are available as it needs further investigations from both point of view before putting up the diagnosis.
Hope this'll help you and thanks again for contacting HCM , will see you soon again
I find this answer helpful
1 Doctor agrees with this answer
Disclaimer: These answers are for your information only and not intended to replace your relationship with your treating physician.
This is a short, free answer.
For a more detailed, immediate answer, try our premium service
[Sample answer]
Related questions you may be interested in
Recent questions on Syncope
Loading Online Doctors....