If you were involved in a car accident, you may have suffered injuries that are immediately apparent and that are already as severe as they are going to get. An example could be a broken arm or fractured ribs.
But when it comes to internal injuries, like a traumatic brain injury (TBI), the symptoms can sometimes get worse. For instance, you could have an intracranial hemorrhage (brain bleed). This means that there is bleeding in the brain tissue or in the space between the brain and the skull.
With these types of injuries, the pressure that the bleeding puts on the brain can lead to escalating symptoms that slowly get worse. What starts as a minor headache turns into a migraine, for example. You could develop symptoms like mental confusion, dizziness, loss of balance, loss of coordination, sensory agitation or trouble with fine motor skills or speech.
Seeking medical attention
If you see symptoms that are getting worse, it is an indicator that your TBI could be more serious than you thought. Maybe you believed you just had a concussion at first, so you did not go to the hospital. If you have an intracranial hemorrhage, however, then it is important to seek emergency medical attention.
This is part of the reason that it is wise for parents to monitor children’s symptoms after a car accident. Even if the child seems fine initially, they need to keep an eye on their symptoms for the next 24 to 48 hours to make sure that they are not growing worse.
Emergency medical treatment after a car accident can be very expensive. Those who are facing these costs and the parents of children who have been injured need to know what options they have to pursue financial compensation if another driver caused the collision.