Once the vehicles came to a stop, it probably took you a minute to realize that you survived the crash. It may have taken another few minutes to figure out that you could move.
Perhaps you didn’t see any outward signs of injuries, and after looking at the wreckage, you feel lucky. You may not have any injuries that you can see right now, but you could have internal bleeding and not know it yet. Even if you go the doctor as a precaution, diagnosing internal bleeding is not always easy, especially if it is slow.
Watch out for these symptoms
Internal bleeding is not an easy condition to pinpoint. Even a slow bleed can end up life threatening depending on the circumstances. Some people do not experience the following symptoms, but if you watch for them, it could at least give you an indication that something is wrong and that you need medical attention right away:
- This may seem obvious, but pain can indicate something isn’t right, and internal bleeding is no exception. The problem is that the pain may or may not be where the bleeding is actually occurring.
- If your hands and/or feet begin to tingle, it could be due to your body’s natural defenses. When you lose blood, your body redirects blood flow to your vital organs and away from your extremities.
- Shortness of breath could result from a lack of adequate oxygen circulating through your body due to blood loss.
- You could get lightheaded only when you stand, or it could be constant. It depends on the rate at which the bleeding occurs.
- You could find yourself throwing up and nauseous. This could happen due to pain or blood loss, especially in your head or digestive tract.
- You could experience vision problems, loss of coordination, severe headache, or numbness or weakness on one side of your body. These are usually indicators of bleeding on the brain.
- Heavy sweating indicates that your body is expending a great deal of energy to continue functioning.
- You could go into shock, which means a drop in blood pressure and increased heart and respiratory rates.
- You could develop bruising, which could help identify where the bleeding is.
- Coughing up blood, urinating blood or bleeding out of your eyes, ears, nose or mouth could also indicate internal bleeding.
There are still other symptoms of internal bleeding, but these should give you an idea of what you need to watch for. Moderate to severe internal bleeding is serious and requires immediate medical attention. You could end up hospitalized as doctors attempt to get the problem under control and stop it.
While you recover, you will undoubtedly incur significant medical expenses, probably lose income since you won’t be working and sustain other financial damages connected to the accident. If the negligence or recklessness of another party put you in this situation, you could exercise your right to file a personal injury claim seeking the compensation you deserve.