Transcript of How to tell if you have a concussion

New research shows one-third of former NFL players believe they have the degenerative brain disease known as CTE. That was published yesterday in the JAMA Neurology Journal. The disorder is thought to be caused by concussions and repeated hits to the head. But it is not just athletes who are at risk. An estimated 1-3 million people visit the emergency room with a concussion in the US each year. This is according to the Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Leah Kroll, she's a neurologist at Maimonides Medical Center. She joins me now. Dr. Kroll, great to have you. To help people understand what are the symptoms of a concussion and what are the most common ways that just everyday citizens find themselves with a concussion. Is it a fall?

Yeah. So it can be sports, it can be a fall, it can be car accidents, whiplash type of situation. Anything that's going to allow your brain to jostle in your head can do this. And everyone experiences concussion differently. So for some people, symptoms will come on right away. For others, they'll develop over hours to days. And there's a broad spectrum of symptoms that people may have with this. Certainly fatigue, dizziness, and headache would be the most common, but you can also get brain fog, irritability, problems with your memory, problems with sleep, depression, the list goes on. So every concussion is different.

So if you have some trauma to the head and you feel fine right away, but then you start feeling that way, then that is a sign to seek medical care.

Absolutely. Particularly if those symptoms are really debilitating, really getting in your way, then you definitely want to see a neurologist Okay, very good.

Is it safe to go to sleep if you have a concussion, or what are some things that you should avoid and really be careful to monitor?

So we've seen this myth perpetuated in the movies that it's not safe to sleep, and that's totally untrue. Actually, rest is extremely important for the brain after it's had a hit. So you really want to allow someone to get as much rest as possible. In terms of things that are of more immediate concern for more serious stuff, we worry about serious brain injuries beyond concussion. So if someone is really showing that they are losing consciousness, having a seizure, a severe headache, they're nauseous, they're vomiting, if they're weak, numb, have slurred speech, imbalance, trouble walking, those are signs that may be something more serious has happened, and you should definitely head to the ER if that's the case.

We are seeing some athletes that Tua comes to mind, where he has had multiple concussions on the football field. At what point should someone really monitor their brain health and pull back from situations that could put them in that risk?

I think in general, we always want to monitor our brain health. Nothing is more valuable than that to us. You always want to be careful about when is the right time to return to activity because it can be dangerous to do that too early. Not only does it slow your recovery, it puts you at risk for repeated hits to the head, and that second hit is more likely to be more serious than the first hit. It's important that people are wearing helmets, that they're wearing seatbelts that they're really doing everything they can to avoid unnecessary risks to their brain health by avoiding head trauma, because that, as we have learned lately, is a major modifiable risk factor for dementia.

Okay, so it's preventable. And so head trauma is linked to dementia later in life.

Head trauma is linked to dementia later in life. In fact, up to 45% of dementia cases are thought to be preventable, and head trauma is just one risk factor.

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