Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury

Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury

The list of signs and symptoms mentioned in various sources for Traumatic Brain Injury includes the 15 symptoms listed below:

• Headache
• Nausea
• Confusion
• Cognitive problems
• Personality changes
• Depression
• Irritability
• Emotional problems
• Behavioral problems
• Seizures
• Contusion
• Countrecoup
• Hematoma
• Brain bleeding
• Concussion
• more information...»

Research symptoms & diagnosis of Traumatic Brain Injury:

• Overview -- Traumatic Brain Injury
• Diagnostic Tests for Traumatic Brain Injury
• Home Diagnostic Testing
• Complications -- Traumatic Brain Injury
• Doctors & Specialists
• Misdiagnosis and Alternative Diagnoses
• Hidden Causes of Traumatic Brain Injury
• Other Causes -- causes of these or similar symptoms

Traumatic Brain Injury: Complications

Review medical complications possibly associated with Traumatic Brain Injury:

• Concussion
• Coma
• Death
• Brain damage
• Permanent brain damage
• more complications...»

Diagnostic Testing

Diagnostic testing of medical conditions related to Traumatic Brain Injury:

• Glasgow Coma Scale
• Eye opening response
• Verbal response
• Motor response
• more tests...»

Research More About Traumatic Brain Injury

Do I have Traumatic Brain Injury?

• Traumatic Brain Injury: Introduction
• Traumatic Brain Injury: Diagnostic Testing to confirm diagnosis
• Home Diagnostic Testing
• Alternative diagnoses and misdiagnosis for Traumatic Brain Injury
• Failure to Diagnose Traumatic Brain Injury
• How serious is it?
• Treatments for Traumatic Brain Injury
• More about Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic Brain Injury: Undiagnosed Conditions

Diseases that may be commonly undiagnosed in related medical areas:

• Brain & Neurological Disorders: Undiagnosed:
  • Adult ADHD -- Undiagnosed - ADHD can be undiagnosed in adults.
  • ADHD -- Undiagnosed
  • Alzheimer Disease -- Undiagnosed
  • Migraine -- Undiagnosed
  • Concentration Disorders -- Undiagnosed
  • Stroke -- Undiagnosed
  • Bipolar Disorder -- Undiagnosed
  • Schizophrenia -- Undiagnosed
  • Epilepsy -- Undiagnosed
• more undiagnosed conditions...»

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical tests related to Traumatic Brain Injury:

• Nerve Neuropathy: Related Home Testing:
  • Home Diabetes Test Kits
  • Home Blood Glucose Testing Kits
• Brain & Neurological Disorders: Related Home Testing:
  • ADHD -- Home Tests
  • Drug Screening Kits
• more home tests...»

Wrongly Diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury?

The list of other diseases or medical conditions that may be on the differential diagnosis list of alternative diagnoses for Traumatic Brain Injury includes:

• Common cold
• Korsakoff's psychosis
• more diagnoses...»

See the full list of 2 alternative diagnoses for Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic Brain Injury: Research Doctors & Specialists

• Nerve Specialists:
  • Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine
  • Neurology (Brain/CNS Specialists)
  • Pediatric Neurology (Child Brain Specialist)
  • Spinal Cord Injury Medicine
• Neurology (Brain/CNS Specialists):
  • Pediatric Neurosurgery (Child Neurosurgeon)
  • Clinical Neurophysiology
  • Neurodevelopment Disabilities
  • Neurosurgery (Brain Surgery)
  • Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine (Nerve/Muscle/Bone Specialists)
  • Neuroradiology
  • Vascular Neurology
  • Neuropathology
  • Otology / Neurotology (Ear/Hearing Specialists)
• Stroke & Vascular Specialists:
  • Vascular Neurology (Brain Blood Vessels)
  • Vascular & Interventional Radiology
  • Vascular Surgery (Blood Vessel Surgeon)
  • Neuropathology (Brain Diagnostics)
• more specialists...»

Research all specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.

More about symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury:

More information about symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury and related conditions:

• Other diseases with similar symptoms and common misdiagnoses
• Tests to determine if these are the symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury
• Symptoms that may be caused by complications of Traumatic Brain Injury
• Underlying causes of Traumatic Brain Injury
• Risk factors for Traumatic Brain Injury

Other Possible Causes of these Symptoms

Click on any of the symptoms below to see a full list of other causes including diseases, medical conditions, toxins, drug interactions, or drug side effect causes of that symptom.

• Behavioral problems - see all causes of Behavioral symptoms
• Brain bleeding - see all causes of Brain symptoms
• Cognitive problems - see all causes of Cognitive impairment
• Concussion - see all causes of Syncope
• Confusion - see all causes of Confusion
• Contusion - see all causes of Contusion
• Depression - see all causes of Depressive symptoms
• Emotional problems - see all causes of Emotional symptoms
• Headache - see all causes of Headache
• Hematoma - see all causes of Hematoma
• Irritability - see all causes of Irritability
• Nausea - see all causes of Nausea
• Personality changes - see all causes of Personality change
• Seizures - see all causes of Seizures

Medical Books Online about Traumatic Brain Injury

Medical Books Excerpts Excerpts of published medical book chapters related to Traumatic Brain Injury are available from published medical books for more detailed information about Traumatic Brain Injury.

Copyright notice for book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

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Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury: Online Medical Books

16 MEDICAL BOOKS ONLINE! Review excerpts from medical books online, free, without registration, for more information about the symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury.

Headache: Signs and symptoms
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Initially, migraine headaches usually produce unilateral, pulsating pain, which later becomes more generalized. They’re commonly preceded by a scintillating scotoma, hemianopsia, unilateral paresthesia, or speech disorders. The patient may experience irritability, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, and photophobia. (See Clinical features of migraine headaches.)

Both muscle contraction and traction-inflammatory vascular headaches produce a dull, persistent ache, tender spots on the head and neck, and a feeling of tightness around the head, with a characteristic “hatband” distribution. The pain is usually severe and unrelenting. If caused by intracranial bleeding, these headaches may result in neurologic deficits, such as paresthesia and muscle weakness; narcotics may fail to relieve pain in these cases. If caused by a tumor, pain is most severe when the patient awakens.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Blunt and penetrating abdominal injuries: Signs and symptoms
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Symptoms vary with the degree of injury and the organs damaged. Penetrating abdominal injuries cause obvious wounds (gunshots commonly produce both entrance and exit wounds) with variable blood loss, pain, and tenderness. They commonly result in pallor, cyanosis, tachycardia, shortness of breath, and hypotension. (See Projectile pathway.)Blunt abdominal injuries cause severe pain (which may radiate beyond the abdomen to the shoulders), bruises, abrasions, contusions, or distention. They may also result in tenderness, abdominal splinting or rigidity, nausea, vomiting, pallor, cyanosis, tachycardia, and shortness of breath. Rib fractures commonly accompany blunt injuries. (See Effects of blunt abdominal trauma, page 300.)

In both blunt and penetrating injuries, massive blood loss may cause hypovolemic shock. Damage to solid abdominal organs (liver, spleen, pancreas, and kidneys) generally causes hemorrhage. Damage to hollow organs (stomach, intestine, gallbladder, and bladder) causes rupture and release of the organs’ contents (including bacteria) into the abdomen, which in turn produces inflammation and, possibly, infection.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Blunt chest injuries: Signs and symptoms
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Rib fractures produce tenderness, slight edema over the fracture site, and pain that worsens with deep breathing and movement; this painful breathing causes the patient to display shallow, splinted respirations that may lead to hypoventilation. Sternal fractures, which are usually transverse and located in the middle or upper sternum, produce persistent chest pains, even at rest. If a fractured rib tears the pleura and punctures a lung, it causes pneumothorax. This usually produces severe dyspnea, cyanosis, agitation, extreme pain and, when air escapes into chest tissue, subcutaneous emphysema.

Multiple rib fractures within two or more places may cause flail chest, in which a portion of the chest wall “caves in,” causing a loss of chest wall integrity and preventing adequate lung inflation. (See Flail chest: Paradoxical breathing.)

Signs and symptoms of flail chest include bruised skin, extreme pain caused by rib fracture and disfigurement, paradoxical chest movements, tachycardia, hypotension, respiratory acidosis, cyanosis, and rapid, shallow respirations. Flail chest can also cause tension pneumothorax, a condition in which air enters the chest but can’t be ejected during exhalation. This life-threatening thoracic pressure buildup causes lung collapse and subsequent mediastinal shift. The cardinal symptoms of tension pneumothorax include severe dyspnea, absent breath sounds (on the affected side), agitation, jugular vein distention, tracheal deviation (away from the affected side), cyanosis, and shock.

Hemothorax occurs when a rib lacerates lung tissue or an intercostal artery, causing blood to collect in the pleural cavity, thereby compressing the lung and limiting respiratory capacity. It can also result from rupture of large or small pulmonary vessels.

Massive hemothorax is the most common cause of shock after a chest injury. Although slight bleeding occurs even with mild pneumothorax, such bleeding resolves very quickly, usually without changing the patient’s condition. Rib fractures may also cause pulmonary contusion (resulting in hemoptysis, hypoxia, dyspnea, and possible obstruction), large myocardial tears (which can be rapidly fatal), and small myocardial tears (which can cause pericardial effusion).

Myocardial contusions — actual bruising of the heart muscle — produce electrocardiographic (ECG) abnormalities. Laceration or rupture of the aorta is almost always immediately fatal. Because aortic laceration may develop 24 hours after blunt injury, patient observation is critical. Diaphragmatic rupture (usually on the left side) causes severe respiratory distress. Unless treated early, abdominal viscera may herniate through the rupture into the thorax (with resulting bowel sounds in the chest), compromising both circulation and the lungs' vital capacity.

Other complications of blunt chest trauma may include cardiac tamponade, pulmonary artery tears, ventricular rupture, and bronchial, tracheal, or esophageal tears or rupture.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Traumatic amputation: Signs and symptoms
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

The obvious sign of amputation is a body part that has been cut off. Every traumatic amputee requires careful monitoring of vital signs. If amputation involves more than a finger or toe, assessment of airway, breathing, and circulation is also required. Because profuse bleeding is likely, watch for signs of hypovolemic shock, and draw blood for a hemoglobin level, hematocrit, and type and crossmatch. In partial amputation, check for pulses distal to the amputation site. After any traumatic amputation, assess for other traumatic injuries as well. The patient may exhibit crushed body tissue, in which the body part is badly mangled but still partially attached by muscle, bone, tendon, or skin.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005

Headache: Signs and symptoms
(Handbook of Diseases)

Migraine headaches and muscle contraction headaches have different signs and symptoms.

Migraine headache

Initially, a migraine headache usually produces unilateral, pulsating pain that later becomes more generalized. The headache is commonly preceded by a scintillating scotoma, hemianopsia, unilateral paresthesia, or speech disorders. The patient may experience irritability, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, and photophobia. (See Clinical features of headache, page 364.)

Muscle contraction headache

A muscle contraction headache produces a dull, persistent ache; tender spots on the head and neck; and a feeling of tightness around the head, with a characteristic “hatband” distribution. The pain is usually severe and unrelenting.

If caused by intracranial bleeding, the muscle contraction headache may result in neurologic deficits, such as paresthesia and muscle weakness; narcotics fail to relieve the pain in these cases. If the headache is caused by a tumor, pain is most severe when the patient awakens.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Handbook of Diseases, 2003

Chest injuries, blunt: Signs and symptoms
(Handbook of Diseases)

Rib fractures produce tenderness, slight edema over the fracture site, and pain that worsens with deep breathing and movement; this painful breathing causes the patient to display shallow, splinted respirations that may lead to hypoventilation.

Sternal fractures, which are usually transverse and located in the middle or upper sternum, produce persistent chest pain, even at rest. If a fractured rib tears the pleura and punctures a lung, it causes pneumothorax, which usually produces severe dyspnea, cyanosis, agitation, extreme pain and, when air escapes into chest tissue, subcutaneous emphysema.

Multiple rib fractures

Multiple rib fractures may cause flail chest: a portion of the chest wall “caves” in, which causes a loss of chest wall integrity and prevents adequate lung inflation. Bruised skin, extreme pain caused by rib fracture and disfigurement, paradoxical chest movements, and rapid, shallow respirations are all signs and symptoms of flail chest, as are tachycardia, hypotension, respiratory acidosis, and cyanosis.

Flail chest can also cause tension pneumothorax, a condition in which air enters the chest but can’t be ejected during exhalation; life-threatening thoracic pressure buildup causes lung collapse and subsequent mediastinal shift. The cardinal signs and symptoms of tension pneumothorax include tracheal deviation (away from the affected side), cyanosis, severe dyspnea, absent breath sounds (on the affected side), agitation, jugular vein distention, and shock.

Hemothorax

When a rib lacerates lung tissue or an intercostal artery, hemothorax occurs, causing blood to collect in the pleural cavity, thereby compressing the lung and limiting respiratory capacity. It can also result from rupture of large or small pulmonary vessels.

Massive hemothorax is the most common cause of shock following chest trauma. Although slight bleeding occurs even with mild pneumothorax, such bleeding resolves very quickly, usually without changing the patient’s condition.

Rib fractures may also cause pulmonary contusion (resulting in hemoptysis, hypoxia, dyspnea and, possibly, obstruction), large myocardial tears (which can be rapidly fatal), and small myocardial tears (which can cause pericardial effusion).

Further complications

Myocardial contusions produce electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities. Laceration or rupture of the aorta is nearly always immediately fatal. In rare cases, aortic laceration may develop 24 hours after blunt injury, so patient observation is critical.

Diaphragmatic rupture (usually on the left side) causes severe respiratory distress. Unless treated early, abdominal viscera may herniate through the rupture into the thorax, compromising both circulation and the vital capacity of the lungs.

Other complications of blunt chest trauma include cardiac tamponade, pulmonary artery tears, ventricular rupture, and bronchial, tracheal, or esophageal tears or rupture.

» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »

Source: Handbook of Diseases, 2003

Abdominal injuries: Signs and symptoms
(Handbook of Diseases)

Depending on the degree of injury and the organs involved, signs and symptoms vary as follows: