I suffered a minor head injury 2 days back. Hit my head against a cabinet( wooden) when I got up suddenly from underneath it. Hit the back part of my head pretty hard(or so it felt). It was a distance of 1-2 feet. I am 33 y/o healthy male. No LOC no confusion no amnesia of the event or immediately before. I had no symptoms whatso ever for 2 hours. On day-1 I had a mild headache and some lightheadedness. On day-2 for a few hours the headache and lightheadedness (not vertigo) continued. I also had some numbness of Lt leg and weakness of Rt. hand for few hours that spontaneously resolved. After 28 hours I was completely symptom free. Due to insurance issues and also since at that time I did not feel that my injury was serious I did not get a formal evaluation or a CT scan done. However today ( after 48hours of injury) when I was driving my car I had stopped at a stop light. When I accelerated my car(from stop) due to inertia my head went rapidly forward and back. Immediately I experienced severe lightheadedness for 15-20mins which slowly resolved. I did work out at the gym( on the treadmill and lifted light weights) afterwards and this did not exacerbate the symptoms. Also I am having some trouble concentrating and at times ( today)finding it difficult to use a few words(no slurring but unable to recall certain words immediately to use in a speech). Also I find myself a little clumsy and have dropped things twice. I do not know if this is due to anxiety or a true neurological symptom.I have been a trained paramedic and have some medical knowledge. My questions: Did I suffer a true concussion? Since I never had any LOC No confusion NO amnesia Do I need imaging studies How do I manage the lightheadedness? How long will my symptoms last? Is Chronic Subdural Hematoma a possibility even though the trauma trivial? head travelled forcefully for 1-2 ft before striking the cabinet Thanks
2015-02-05 05:22:55
Dear funnydavidblack Thanks for the query. Firstly I would like to reassure you that the symptoms that you describe do not appear to be caused by a head injury. Your history does not suggest a concussion. The type of injury that you had is unlikely to have caused a subdural hematoma (SDH). Acute SDH usually produces features of raised intra cranial pressure such as headache nausea vomiting and sometimes loss of consciousness with seizures. You have not experienced any of these symptoms. As for the light headedness that you have been feeling I think it may be related to a inner ear problem similar to benign positional vertigo. Usually light headedness starts after trivial trauma and is felt when the head is turned in different directions. This is a temporary problem and can be controlled with vestibular sedative medicines and labyrinthine exercises. I would recommend that you see an ENT consultant for further evaluation and get started on the medications and exercises. I do not think imaging studies are warranted at this time. I hope you find this reply to be helpful and informative. If you have any additional concerns I would be happy to address them. Thank you for using MedHelp's "Ask an Expert" Service where we feature some of world's renowned medical experts in their fields. Millions have benefitted from our service to get personalized advice for them and for their loved ones. Best Regards
2015-02-05 05:23:31
