Car Accidents and Headaches

One of the most common injuries that car accident survivors suffer is a traumatic brain injury. These injuries can occur when the head suffers blunt force trauma or when the force of an accident puts pressure on the brain inside the skull. These injuries are complicated and can cause a very wide range of symptoms. However, one common symptom is headaches. If you are suffering a headache after being involved in a crash, it is possible that you have sustained a brain injury. However, not all headaches are the same, and some may signify a much more severe injury than others.

Headache Statistics

Headaches can span a wide spectrum of symptom levels. Some people don’t even notice that they are in pain until they are evaluated by a doctor. In other cases, the symptoms are overwhelming. Some key data points from the World Health Organization about headaches include:

Nearly half of all people suffer one or more headaches every year.
Headaches are one of the most common issues caused by the central nervous system.
Chronic headaches can be brought on by many different causes, including traumatic brain injuries.
Many individuals fail to get proper medical attention for their headache and, as a result, do not get the treatment they need. This often leads to injury complications or secondary injuries.

Chronic Headaches

Some headaches that people suffer after traumatic injuries can become a lasting issue. After an injury, headaches may recur frequently over a period of time. Sometimes headaches can happen multiple times per day and in other cases spring up on a monthly basis. Chronic headaches include these types:

Tension: this is the most common type of headache. Tension headaches usually feel like a string or band is putting pressure on the head. They can be local (focused on just one area) or diffuse (spread over the entire head). Motrin and Tylenol are effective pain relief options for tension headaches.
Migraines: these headaches can be severe and are liable to cause nausea as well as vomiting. Symptoms of migraines can sometimes be controlled with triptans.
Cluster: these headaches are unusual, but can happen after serious accidents. Cluster headaches can cause paralysis, temperature changes, or tearing on either the left or right side of the face. Cluster headaches can indicate a serious injury and people experiencing them should seek immediate medical care.

Emergent Headaches

Certain types of headaches that develop after a traumatic injury can indicate emergencies. Headaches that develop because of brain swelling or ruptured blood vessels need to be treated right away. These headaches can cause loss of consciousness as well as paralysis of extremities. In cases involving ruptured blood vessels, crash survivors may need to receive surgery.

To learn more about the warning signs of dangerous headaches, you can watch this YouTube video:

Getting Help from an Attorney

Brain injuries can have serious effects on people’s lives. Often injuries cause mental health issues, loss of income, emotional stress, acquired disabilities, and other serious problems. To get help with these issues, it’s important to take a few minutes and speak with a Pollock Pines personal injury attorney. You and your loved ones may be able to claim compensation from negligent parties in order to pay for medical expenses and other damages related to the traumatic accident.

More Articles from Ed Smith, Pollock Pines Car Accident Lawyer

Pollock Pines Personal Injury and Car Accident Lawyer

I’m Ed Smith, a Pollock Pines car accident lawyer. Car crashes can be difficult to deal with. If you’ve suffered accident trauma, contact me at (800) 404-5400 or (530) 392-9400, so we can talk about your case. I am more than happy to offer you free, friendly advice.

My firm has helped Pollock Pines residents claim fair payments in injury cases for 37 years. See our history of success on our settlements and verdicts page. You can read for yourself what my clients have said about me on:

Google
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I’m proud to belong to these groups:

Brain Injury Association
Million Dollar Advocates Forum
Top One Percent.

Photo: “head pain” by tran toan through unsplash_cco

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Car Accidents and Headaches