Symptoms:

• Confused speech
• Difficulty with balance or walking
• Headache
• Lethargy or confusion
• Loss of consciousness
• Nausea and vomiting
• Numbness
• Seizures
• Slurred speech
• Visusal disturbances
• Weakness

In infants:

• Bulging fontanelles (the "soft spots" of the baby's skull)
• Feeding difficulties
• Focal seizures
• Generalized tonic-clonic seizure
• High-pitched cry
• Increased head circumference
• Increased sleepiness or lethargy
• Irritability
• Persistent vomiting
• Separated sutures (the areas where growing skull bones join)

Signs and tests:

Always get medical help after a head injury. Older persons should receive medical care if they shows signs of memory problems or mental decline. An exam should include a complete neurologic exam.

Your doctor may order a brain imaging study if you have any of the following symptoms:

• Confused speech
• Difficulty with balance or walking
• Headache
• Inability to speak
• Lethargy or confusion
• Loss of consciousness
• Nausea and vomiting
• Numbness
• Recent congitive decline in an elderly person, even without a history of brain injury
• Seizures
• Slurred speech
• Visual disturbance
• Weakness

A CT scan or MRI scan likely would be done to evaluate for the presence of a subdural hematoma.