Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with Google
Is Fever A Symptom Of A Head Injury?
Question: Is it common for a 12 year old to run high fever after a head injury? bike accident yesterday. No one witnessed any LOC. Glazed look in eyes, not acting normal. Denies pain or headache, wants to sleep a lot and states just tired. not eating much. No N/V. Hospital Er this AM CXR, Neuro check. Dx: concussion but now has fever of 102. Should he be given Tylenol? 24 hours post
Brief Answer:
Best: 24-hour monitoring at a hospital to make sure all is well + tests
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
As the patient in speaking is a child, the fever could be due to the stress of the whole incident as well, but the other aspect of the whole thing is that because the patient in speaking is a child, it would be best to visit the ER and make sure there is no internal injury that is causing the fever.
Although the child has not shown any danger signs from the head injury, I would say 24 hours monitoring of the child from here on would be best and most critically advised at this point. A child not acting normally, loss of appetite and drowsiness could all be indicative of something more serious. I would prefer the rule this out at the earliest. Once all this is ruled out, we can take a breath of relief and blame the fever and other changes on the stress of the incident. But for now, a visit to the child's doctor is strongly advised.
I hope and pray this is nothing serious and the child recovers at the earliest.
Hope I have answered your query.
Regards,
Dr. Shoaib Khan, General & Family Physician
Best: 24-hour monitoring at a hospital to make sure all is well + tests
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
As the patient in speaking is a child, the fever could be due to the stress of the whole incident as well, but the other aspect of the whole thing is that because the patient in speaking is a child, it would be best to visit the ER and make sure there is no internal injury that is causing the fever.
Although the child has not shown any danger signs from the head injury, I would say 24 hours monitoring of the child from here on would be best and most critically advised at this point. A child not acting normally, loss of appetite and drowsiness could all be indicative of something more serious. I would prefer the rule this out at the earliest. Once all this is ruled out, we can take a breath of relief and blame the fever and other changes on the stress of the incident. But for now, a visit to the child's doctor is strongly advised.
I hope and pray this is nothing serious and the child recovers at the earliest.
Hope I have answered your query.
Regards,
Dr. Shoaib Khan, General & Family Physician
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Answered by
Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties
