Emergency and Urgent Care - Adult Head Injuries

General Advice following Head Injury

You have been examined and we feel that you are well enough to leave the hospital. However, you may experience some of the following symptoms:

• Mild headache
• Feeling sick (without vomiting)
• Dizziness
• Irritability or bad temper
• Problems concentrating or with your memory
• Tiredness and problems sleeping
• Lack of appetite

These symptoms should disappear within the next 2 weeks. If you are concerned about any of these symptoms in the first few days after your attendance or if they continue after 2 weeks, you should see a doctor.

We also recommend that you seek a doctor’s opinion about your ability to drive a car or motorbike.

Symptoms to look out for

• Unconscious or lack of full consciousness (e.g. problems keeping eyes open)
• Any confusion (not knowing where you are, getting things muddled up)
• Any drowsiness that goes on longer than 1 hour when you would normally be wide awake
• Any problems understanding or speaking 
• Any loss of balance or problems walking
• Any weakness in one or both arms or legs
• Any problems with eyesight
• Very painful headache that won’t go away
• Any vomiting
• Any fits (collapsing or passing out suddenly)
• Clear fluid coming out of your ear or nose
• Bleeding from one or both ears
• New deafness in one or both ears

If you are affected by any of the above symptoms, please get someone to take you to the nearest Emergency Department as soon as possible.

DO’s and DON’T’s

• DO make sure you stay within easy reach of a telephone and medical help
• DO have plenty of rest and avoid stressful situations
• DO NOT stay at home alone for the first 48 hours after leaving hospital
• DO NOT take any alcohol or drugs
• DO NOT take sleeping pills, sedatives or tranquillizers unless they are fully prescribed by a doctor
• DO NOT play sports for at least 3 weeks
• DO NOT return to normal work activities until you feel fully recovered
• DO NOT drive a car, motorbike, bicycle or operate any machinery unless you feel you have recovered completely

If you follow the above advice you should get better more quickly and it may help any symptoms you have to go away.

Long Term Problems

Most people recover quickly from their head injuries and experience no long-term problems. However, some people do develop problems after a few weeks or months.

If you start to feel that things are not quite right (e.g. memory problems or not feeling yourself) then please contact your doctor as soon as possible to check that you are recovering properly.