My friends two-year-old daughter is at the hospital, because yesterday she started behaving strangely, about two hours after bumping her head. Communicating less and unable to keep her balance when she walked.
They did a CAT scan and a tox screen and nothing is showing up. When she fell asleep at the hospital last night, they had trouble waking her back up again, but no tests are showing any problems. Does anyone have any experiences similar to this. Sorry I don't have any more details.
Brain swelling takes time, so they can't necessarily see everything right away. If you have a children's hospital in the area, she should be transferred there. They usually have state-of-the-art equipment and their people are experts in pediatrics.
Concussions can result in all kinds of symptoms and not everything shows up on the first test. Brain bleeds are odd things and don't always behave the same way from one person to the next. They also change over time.
Obviously more needs to be done - if they aren't getting any answers and if there's no plan in place, perhaps a pediatric neurologist and infectious disease specialist (in case the symptoms are unrelated to the head bump) should come in, or they should transfer the child to a children's hospital.
So scary!
Brain bleeds can take 24 hours to show up. I know that hospitals typically repeat a CT scan 24 hours later if that is what they expect. I'm sure they will weigh the pros and cons of another CT scan but having a 2 yo get that much radiation to the brain would scare me.
I'll say a prayer everything works out okay.
Please do get her checked by a pediatric neurologist. Our daughter had a major brain injury couple of years back. Sounds like concussion. Our daughter had these symptoms . She also had skull fractures and internal bleeding which was found in the second scan 7 hours after the injury. I really don't mean to scare you. The good thing is kids bounce back much faster. In the meanwhile take care and please keep the kid away from bright light or sounds. It bothers them for couple of days. Best wishes.
Sounds like a concussion.. pediatric neurologist? Sounds concerning for sure.. hope they get better answers. If nothing is showing up it could be a concussion. Since she is so young though they should probably monitor and then do another scan or send to neurologist to make sure their is nothing going on.. sometimes it takes a while to have things show up or be ruled out.
i would press for more testing.. like an mri. something don't show up as well on certain tests and i would not let the drs rest till they find a reason for my child acting drunk after bumping her head.
i have no experience.. but definitely would want an answer
My son has had 3 concussions. They are very very scary. I'm glad that she is at the hospital and they are checking her out. I would suggest a repeat CAT scan or MRI. It might take 24 hours for something to show. Brains are tricky and not to be messed with.
Well if she's in the hospital already, that is good. This is scary and yes brain swelling doesn't happen immediately but you'd think that would have shown up already.
I had a similar experience with my daughter actually. She was about 18 months and fallen and hit her head. She took a nap and when she woke up she was very unbalanced, dizzy, and not making much sense (which is hard to tell with an 18 m/o anyway!). Anyhow, I took her to the ER and we did a CT, etc. and in the end it turned out to be a really severe double ear infection. It was just a coincidence that she had hit her head but the ear infection was the cause for her being unsteady on her feet.
I would think that if this was the case with your friend, it would also be easily found since they've most likely looked in her ears already, but you might make sure! I hope they find the cause!
Poor thing. I hope she is feeling better. According to several sites I read, it seems like the symptoms of a concussion. Here is some info: http://www.livestrong.com/article/83441-symptoms-concussi... Though it could also be a hematoma. The only way to know which of the two it could be is with testing. If ignored, it can be fatal, as this story proves: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2968238/Mother-tw..., so it is crucial that she is kept under observation until they can confirm she is in the clear (and she begins to act normal, once again).
If the hospital staff aren't able to find an issue after several tests, your friend can always ask for another doctor (for example, a neurologist, who would specialize in head injuries) or take her to another hospital. If she is still having trouble, the symptoms should not be dismissed, under any circumstances. Even if tests find nothing, her attitude and imbalance say otherwise. In that case, I would either press on to find a solution and become very assertive, push for further testing, or go elsewhere for a second opinion.
