Mild concussion symptoms

Written by Chen Yu Fei
Neurosurgery
Updated on April 30, 2025
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For patients with mild concussion, they often experience temporary loss of consciousness after suffering from violent blows, car accidents, falls from heights, and other accidental injuries, generally lasting no longer than 30 minutes. When patients regain consciousness, they may feel headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and have difficulty accurately recalling the incident, often referred to as retrograde amnesia. For such patients, cranial CT or MRI scans often show no significant positive signs, and it is suggested that no special treatment is necessary. Instead, patients should focus on rest, avoid overworking and exhaustion, and reduce excessive mental stimulation. The symptoms of most patients will gradually alleviate or even disappear within about two weeks.

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Written by Chen Yu Fei
Neurosurgery
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What are the symptoms of a concussion?

Patients with concussions often present with a clear history of head trauma, followed by a brief period of impaired consciousness, often referred to as a state of drowsiness or stupor. As the condition progresses, patients usually regain consciousness spontaneously and experience significant symptoms such as headache, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. In addition, during subsequent treatment, patients may experience clinical symptoms such as insomnia at night, frequent dreaming, and easy waking. Patients often cannot accurately recall the incident at the time of injury, a condition clinically known as retrograde amnesia. However, in such patients, head CT or MRI scans typically show no significant positive findings. For these patients, diagnosis is generally made based on clinical presentation.

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Written by Li Jin Quan
General Surgery
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Can you drink alcohol with a concussion?

Patients with concussions typically experience transient disturbances of consciousness after injury, such as coma, along with recent memory loss. Some also suffer from various degrees of headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, insomnia, and other clinical symptoms. The diet for concussion patients should be light and easy to digest, avoiding spicy foods and other strong irritants, as well as avoiding alcohol, since alcohol can aggravate symptoms like headaches, dizziness, and insomnia. Therefore, patients with concussions should not drink alcohol.

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Written by Gao Yi Shen
Neurosurgery
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Precursors of concussion

Concussions generally do not have precursors, as they occur immediately after the brain is injured and certain clinical symptoms manifest. There is no concept of a precursor with concussions. The clinical symptoms of a concussion primarily appear after a trauma and include headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, retrograde amnesia, and brief periods of unconsciousness. These symptoms must all be present to classify as related to a concussion. If symptoms are present and a head CT scan shows no significant bleeding, a concussion can generally be diagnosed. Therefore, there is no such thing as precursors, only related clinical manifestations.

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Written by Li Jin Quan
General Surgery
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What to check for a concussion?

A head CT scan for concussion usually does not show organic changes, as it primarily stems from temporary dysfunction of brain neurological functions. The main symptoms include brief disturbances in consciousness, retrograde amnesia, and some patients may also experience a series of clinical symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. For patients with concussion, what we need to do is a head CT scan or an MRI of the head to rule out organic brain lesions. The second option is to examine the cerebrospinal fluid. The third option is to conduct an electroencephalogram (EEG) test.

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Written by Li Jin Quan
General Surgery
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What to do if you feel dizzy from a concussion?

Patients with concussion often exhibit signs of transient consciousness disorders and recent memory loss after injury. Some patients may experience varying degrees of headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, blindness, and other clinical symptoms. If a patient with concussion experiences dizziness, the first step is to rule out the possibility of intracranial organic lesions through examination of the head and body. Then, the patient should rest in bed in a quiet environment with dim lighting. Additionally, symptomatic treatment with medications, including some that expand cerebral blood vessels, can be administered.