This reading is not for the person with the headache. It is for the person across the table from them.
Maybe your partner was rear-ended on the way home and says they are fine. Maybe your mother had a fender bender and keeps asking you the same question. Maybe your roommate has been sleeping all afternoon since the wreck and flinches at the kitchen light. You are reading in low light because they are, or because you are trying to understand what they are going through.
We are not going to ask you to diagnose anyone. We are going to ask you to notice, write it down, and know the line.
Why you see what they miss
A head that took a jolt in a crash can change the way a person thinks without announcing itself. The wire's dazed, not knocked out reading explains that a concussion does not require a blackout. The trouble is that the part of a person that would notice being slower, foggier, or shorter-tempered is the same part that got rattled. People often describe themselves as fine and mean it.
The people who share their kitchen, their car, or their evenings see the difference against a baseline they know by heart.
The changes worth noticing
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke describes the kinds of changes that can follow a mild traumatic brain injury. From across the table, they tend to look like this:
- Repeating. The same question twice in an hour. The same story told again at dinner.
- Slowness. A pause before answering that was not there before. Losing the thread of a show.
- Mood. Irritation at small things. Tears that come easily. Flatness where there used to be jokes.
- Sleep. Much more of it, or much less. Naps that are new.
- Light and noise. Turning down the TV, closing blinds, avoiding the grocery store.
- Balance. A hand on the wall on the stairs. Dropping things.
- Screens. Setting the phone down after a minute. Saying reading makes the headache worse.
- Memory. Forgetting this morning's conversation, or not remembering the crash clearly.
Any one of those on its own may mean nothing. A cluster of them, new since the crash, is worth writing down.
When to stop noticing and go
This is the part to read twice. Some changes are not a watch-and-note situation. Take the person to an emergency room, or call 911, if you see:
- A headache that keeps getting worse.
- Repeated vomiting.
- Drowsiness where you cannot wake them fully.
- Slurred speech, weakness or numbness on one side, or trouble walking.
- Confusion, restlessness or agitation that keeps increasing.
- A seizure, or one pupil larger than the other.
- Any loss of consciousness, even brief.
The wire's standing line covers the same ground: chest pain, a sudden severe headache, weakness or numbness on one side, trouble speaking, a loss of bowel or bladder control, or a head injury with vomiting or worsening confusion is an emergency room trip right now, not a call to a clinic. If the person takes a blood thinner and hit their head, push for a same-day check even if they seem fine.
How to write it down
Keep your notes separate from theirs. A few lines a day, dated, in plain words. "Asked twice what time the game was. Went to bed at 7:30, usually 11. Said the kitchen light hurt." Do not interpret. Just describe.
If they keep a headache log of their own, your notes sit beside it. The two together often tell a clearer story than either one alone.
How to bring it up
Gently. People who feel foggy are often embarrassed by it, and a list read out like evidence can land badly. Something like: "You have seemed really tired since the crash, and you asked me about the dog twice this morning. I think it is worth getting looked at this week. Can I make the call for you?"
Then do the practical part if they want you to: find a time outside the 12 to 2 close, dial the number, drive. A foggy head does not do phone menus well.
Where they can be seen
Missouri Injury Clinic publishes a TBI and concussion rehab lane alongside its auto injury lane, which covers diagnosis and a treatment plan after a crash. It names tools such as oculomotor rehabilitation and cognitive rehabilitation on its own site; we list them because the clinic does, and we do not promise what any of them will do. The nearest office for most readers of this wire is Hazelwood, at 14 Village Square Shop Ctr, (314) 627-1411, open Monday through Thursday 9am to 6pm and Friday 9am to 12pm, closed daily from 12 to 2.