May 25, 2012
Topics A-Z Brain and Nervous System Paresthesias after a head trauma four months ago
Paresthesias after a head trauma four months ago |
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Dear Ask The Doctor: My 17 year old daughter has been having bilateral arm, hand Paresthesia and abdominal Paresthesia (front center) for about 4 weeks. She says it does not hurt but is uncomfortable. She gets the symptoms every time she flexes her neck forward (such as looking down at her toes) and occasionally at other times. Usually the symptoms disappear as soon as she stops flexing her neck, but in a few instances they lasted a while. Once she was driving (not flexing the neck) and got the paresthesia which did not resolve for more then 30 mins. Another time she was having lunch at school and the symptoms did not resolve for about 30-45 mins. The degree of tingling also varies with how long it has been since she last had tingling. If she hasn't had the tingling in a while (an hour or more) it is much worse then if it just happened a few mins earlier. About 4 months ago she fainted at crew practice (likely due to dehydration) and hit her head on a concrete floor. She was seen at the ER for concussion with vomiting and severe full body painful paresthesia. She had a CT scan that came back normal. The paresthesia from the fall slowly faded away and was gone after about a day. In the past week she has seen several doctors. The Pediatrician ordered x rays and refereed us to a Neurologist. The Neurologist hinted around at anxiety and hyperventilation but ordered an MRI (in Feb) due to the neck flexing issue. The x rays all came back normal. Please help with any ideas. Dear Stacy: According to your description and the antecedent of a head concussion most likely a post concussion syndrome must be ruled out on your daughter. A concussion is a brain injury that may produce headache, altered levels of alertness and unconsciousness. Most of the time is the result of an important and significant blow to the head that shakes the brain inside the skull, which temporarily prevents the brain from working normally, this blow may be mild, moderate or severe. Sometimes a person who has a more serious concussion, may develop new symptoms over time and feels worse than before the injury, this is “Post Concussive Syndrome”. It is important that if over the time she starts to show Post Concussive Symptoms, you call your doctor and get her a thoroughly neurological evaluation. The post concussive symptoms include: difficulty to think, concentrate or remember; paresthesias, headaches or blurry vision; becoming angry or anxious for no reason; lack of interest in your usual activities, dizziness, lightheadedness or unsteadiness that makes difficult to walk or standing. It is difficult to predict the outcome in terms of neurologic sequels, some people feel normal again in a few hours after a concussion while others have symptoms and sequels for weeks or months, it depends on each case in particular and also depends on the severity of blows.I strongly recommend that your daughter has the follow up evaluation with the doctor.
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 27 January 2012 ) |
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