Seek Medical Attention as Soon as Possible
After a car accident, you should always seek medical treatment as soon as possible if you experience any noticeable symptoms. Many conditions are associated with delayed symptoms that might not fully emerge until several days or even weeks afterward. Catching them early usually means a better treatment outcome, and early treatment also makes it easier to prove to the insurance company that your headache pain was a direct result of the crash.
Keep in mind that although you may have received emergency medical treatment, the full extent of your injuries might not be known yet. The truth is that head injuries are often missed by emergency care doctors in the immediate aftermath of the crash. This can happen for any number of reasons; maybe the doctor isn’t an expert in traumatic brain injury cases or needed to prioritize more urgent or immediately apparent injuries. Maybe your symptoms just haven’t become obvious yet. And since headaches are both extremely common and usually temporary after car accidents, victims and doctors don’t always take headache symptoms as seriously as they should.
Follow Up If You Notice Any New or Severe Symptoms
Even if an initial evaluation from a doctor or other medical professional did not identify any serious issues, you should seek further medical care if you’re dealing with any of the following after an auto accident:
- Persistent headaches that don’t go away or frequently come and go
- Severe headache pain, such as migraine headaches or cluster headaches
- Nausea (with or without vomiting)
- Visual disturbances such as halos, flashing lights, or light sensitivity
- Other sensory disturbances, such as sensitivity to smell or movement)
- Sleep disorders
- Slurred speech
- Brain fog or confusion
- Anxiety or depression
Any of these symptoms could be a sign that your headaches and other issues might come from a more serious injury, such as a traumatic brain injury.
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Contact an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney
If you’re dealing with painful headaches after a car accident, you deserve fair compensation from the at-fault party.
However, headache cases can be challenging to prove to an insurance company or jury. The pain of a headache—or even brain injury symptoms like mood changes or brain fog—isn’t visible to the naked eye, and sometimes the signs of brain injury can even be hard to detect using an MRI or other objective medical test.
Because headache symptoms are often self-reported, insurance companies often accuse innocent accident victims of exaggerating their headache symptoms or blaming pre-existing symptoms on the crash. Successfully countering these claims may require extensive medical records, notes from doctors, statements from colleagues and loved ones, and more.
A personal injury attorney who understands the complexities of headache claims can serve as a huge asset to you as you pursue fair compensation. Even headaches caused by accident-related stress and anxiety can contribute to your overall pain and suffering damages.
Your attorney can help you:
- Fully investigate the car crash to uncover the truth about what happened and who was responsible. The investigation may include working with accident reconstruction specialists, identifying and preserving camera footage, talking with eyewitnesses, and more.
- Help you gather the medical records and other evidence you’ll need to prove the severity of your headaches and show the full impact they have had on your life. Without this work, it’s unlikely that the insurance company will provide you with a settlement offer that’s anything close to fair.
- Negotiate with insurers and medical providers on your behalf. Insurance companies are notoriously difficult for ordinary people to negotiate with, and they use many different tactics to try and pressure victims into giving up their claims or accepting unfair, lowball settlement offers.
- Handle all other aspects of your legal claim while always answering your questions and keeping you informed about the status of your case.
An experienced attorney can take the challenge and stress out of handling your legal claim and give you the best possible chance at a fair recover—all while allowing you to focus on getting better and being present for your family.