Car accidents can be emotionally stimulating events. In fact, they have a tendency to kick the “fight or flight” response into high gear, sending a rush of adrenaline throughout the body. What does adrenaline do? It blocks pain, sometimes for hours or even days. While this can be vital when you’re running from an armed robber in a dark parking lot, or when you’re rescuing a heavy child from a burning building, it can act against you at the car accident scene.
Car accidents can be frightening events, but the body doesn’t differentiate between a car accident at 12:00 noon on a beautiful summer day and a real-life threatening situation, like a shark swimming 6-feet away from you on a Florida beach. In effect, you can sustain a head injury or a concussion in a car accident and be completely oblivious of what just happened.
In fact, it’s not uncommon for people to be in a crash and to climb out of their car and claim, “I’m okay, I’m not injured!” However, once the adrenaline wears off, the pain starts to set in. While soft tissue injuries are common in most car accidents, even low-speed crashes, perhaps a bigger concern is a concussion, which can be caused by a blow to the head or by a sudden jolt that shakes the brain, banging it against the skull.
Signs & Symptoms of a Concussion
Some of the signs of a concussion are obvious from the start, such as nausea and vomiting. Other signs, are less noticeable and can take days to manifest. Signs and symptoms of a concussion, include but are not limited to:
- Headache
- Nausea
- Dizziness
- Vomiting
- Confusion
- Fatigue
- Seizures
- Ringing in the ears
- Sleep problems
- Depression
- Irritability
- Slurred speech
- Sensitivity to noise and light
- Personality changes
If you were recently in an auto accident and you are experiencing any of the above symptoms, you could be suffering from a concussion. You should seek medical attention without delay, and contact our firm to meet with a Marietta car accident lawyer. Let us help you seek the compensation you deserve! Call today to get started.