My six year old son was practicing soccer when he and this other little guy and him ran into each other pretty hard. They both fell to the ground and cried for a while. When we got home my son complained his brain hurt. So I thought lets get him in the shower, ready for bed and relaxed. When he was sitting at the table he said he was not hungry and felt like he was going to throw up. He did. I have a friend who is a family doctor so I called him up. He explained that it appears my son has a mild concussion. I had to monitor him all night, try to make sure he woke up fine and the doctor said he would not participate in sports/PE for 7 days.
In your experiance with children and concussions what else to you watch out for? How does the school help with this? My brothers teenage friend had a concussion, hit his head again and that night he died. I am a little bit on the nervous side.
You need to take him to a doctor. Getting a second concussion prior to the first one healing is a big big risk and not all concussions are fine in 7 days. Look how much hockey Sid Crosby missed.
I would have taken him to the ER the moment he vomited from a bump on the head.
You should actually take him to the Dr. A concussion is nothing to mess with. My son has a concussion right now also. He was out of school for 7 days and NO sports for a month. He has to be cleared by his dr. to play again. Your sons school needs to be notified and dr. notes with instructions for his teachers. My son has had base line testing before he played sports and a ct scan. He has a level 2 concussion. You cannot do this over the phone. Its a brain injury that needs care. If he get s hit again with another concussion your son could end up with a learning dissability. This is a serious matter and needs to be treated as such. I hope you take these extra steps. I did to make sure my son will be healthy.
I'm a combat medic and an EMT. My professional opinion is that you should take him in for an evaluation by a physician. No doctor should make a diagnosis over the phone, sight unseen.
Here's information about concussions. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001802/
But be aware, that many "rules" for what constitutes a medical emergency, or what injuries should have a CT, go right out the window when you're talking about pediatric patients. Children go downhill SO fast. Their bodies compensate better than adults...so by the time you see major symptoms, it might be too late.
Take your child in, if you haven't already. Please.
You need to take him in right away because it sounds like he does have a concussion. Your friend/doctor is not in the position to call it 'mild' if he hasn't checked him out in person. Current thinking on this is that an Xray/MRI is necessary. My neighbor had a concussion at 6 yo and he had to literally do nothing for a whole month and then had to be sports-free for at least 6 months.
Trust your mommy gut. Take him to YOUR son's doctor and get an actual diagnosis from someone who has actually looked at your son. Concussions are nothing to mess with as you know.
It is not too late to take him to the doctor. They may order a CT - the worry is not so much a broken skull, but bleeding or swelling of the brain - this can take hours to days to develop/show effects. Even though many doctors will do a CT or MRI there is controversy about the need for it, so watch and wait is still an accepted approach. Many doctors will decide for one or the other after evaluating his symptoms.
You will also need a doctors note to excuse him from sports activities at school. If this happened at school many school nowadays also require a note from the doctor before he can return to sports.
Doctors take head injury a lot more serious nowadays - my prediction would be that he will be excused from sports for much longer than a week. But you need to discuss that with your doctor.
Umm....most people know that if a child has hurt their head and then barfed that they should immediately go to the doctors or ER. I am a bit confused as to why that didn't happen.
L.
I don't know the answer to your question, but I think that if he doesn't feel well today, I'd be getting him in for a CT scan. I don't think I could stand NOT to... it bothers me that he wasn't actually SEEN by a doctor. As soon as he threw up, I would have been at the ER...
Dawn
He should be seen by a pediatric neurologist-stat.
My son had a concussion twice. Each time he was on a dirt bike with a helmet on. The doctor said that they were looking for swelling on or damage to the brain, and that's why they need to make sure that they wake up okay. In the beginning, they said not to give him aspirin or ibuprofen, because it might mask what they need to see and unnecessarily shrink something in the brain. Each time, he kept asking the same questions over and over again on the day of the accident, but in the morning, he had his memory back and was fine. Each time, he was shaky, nauseous, and his eyes hurt. Each time he recovered completely by the next morning, waited a few days before doing activities that could shake up his brain again, and now he is a father of two and owner of a business. No problem!
I would call his pediatrician right now. His ped might want to look him over and/or have specific questions for you. Personally, I wouldn't mess around with a possible concussion. Just call his ped. You'll feel so much better.
I think that an X-Ray would be in order. Just to make sure he didn't crack something. Call the pediatrician about it to make sure.
If he threw up you should take him to the doctor immediately. Soccer may be out for at least the next week if not more depending on what the doctor says.
I had a concussion in HS (from a car accident) I was out of school for three days and down for the whole weekend. And couldn't play softball the whole next week either.
Have you taken him to be seen yet?
If not, does he repeat things - keep asking the same question type of thing?
Are both his pupils reacting normally?
