Brief Answer:
TBI and Concussion considered synonymous

Detailed Answer:
Good evening young lady.

Thank you for your question. For informational purposes and in case you were trying to convey another bit of information the terms "TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI)" and "CONCUSSION" are one in the same term.

Spinning (a symptom technically called VERTIGO) and Dizziness (not necessarily vertigo) are common aftermaths of TBI and can persist or resolve. The severity of the injury doesn't seem to correlate with these particular symptoms which can be horrible even in the slightest of injuries...or the other extreme which is nonexistent in the most damaging of injuries.

Sinus mucosal thickening is an incidental finding which is commonly seen in at least 20-25% of the patient I send for MRI independent of the reason why I send them and is something that radiologists just love reading that has little or no value to me as a clinician. I've even spoken with my ENT colleagues who are not impressed by that read when it is made. Mucosal thickening can be as a result of allergies, chronic sinus infection, or just thickened because the person has slighter thicker mucosal linings than the "average bear". The finding is irrelevant when it comes to traumatic brain injuries, headaches, vertigo, or any other abnormal symptoms. It also has nothing to do with the intracranial hematoma. It sounds from your description that you suffered a SUBDURAL HEMATOMA (SDH) although it could've been a traumatic SAH (subarachnoid hemorrhage) though the latter usually requires at least hospitalization in an an ICU and often must be immediately intervened upon by a neurosurgical procedure otherwise the risk for major intracranial complications such as brain herniation are great.

In contradistinction, SDH's often are the result of trauma but are a much slower and less aggressive type of bleed although if not watched carefully (as in patients who choose not to get to an ER when they've had a concussion) can result in disaster (death) so neither SDH's nor SAH's should be taken lightly.

The dizziness you refer is (as I said above) a very common symptom of concussion and can take weeks to months (and in some cases may be permanent) to resolve. If the symptom does not improve within several weeks you may seek help with PHYSICAL THERAPY or potentially VESTIBULOTHERAPY (if there's accompany imbalance in standing, walking, or otherwise balancing) to see if there may not be some gentle maneuvers they may be able to use on you and teach you for the purpose of helping GATE the symptom and help the brain ignore the spinning sensation. Dizziness as you describe is DEFINITELY not related to the thickened mucosal linings of the sinuses.

I honestly wish the radiologists would stop adding unnecessary detail to reports like that because it really just sounds like they're just trying to say something to fill up space. To me, telling a neurologist or neurosurgeon who looking for specific PATHOLOGICAL information for them to make the read of something as benign as thickened mucosal linings in the sinuses is the equivalent of telling me that the MRI shows the presence of a brain inside the cranium. I would say, "OK...great....now tell me something of importance and relevance to why I sent the patient to see you please!" Make sense?

BTW, I would not recommend taking anything over the counter for dizziness or motion sickness nor would I recommend taking prescription medication by the name of meclizine (trade name ANTIVERT) which is poorly effective in many folks to the point where you won't find many neurologists prescribing it anymore but you will find internists, family practitioners, and ER physicians giving it away as if it were Oct. 31 every day in their clinics or hospitals. ANTIVERT can cause some significant side effects and honestly the symptoms themselves may get better with time just as quickly (or slowly) without anything as with.

What I would do is check to see that your serum vitamin B12 and serum vitamin D levels are indeed within normal and adequate levels of (B12- at least 400-450 and D- at least 60-80) and then, I might use either a warm or cold compress over the area of the head that was stuck to see if 20-30 min. of thermal therapy won't eventually help? You'd have to do it for at least 1 week before noticing any major long lasting effects but it could help so is worth your trial.

I hope you'll begin to feel better young lady and wish you a perfectly pleasant evening and fabulous upcoming week. :0

If I've provided useful or helpful information to your questions could you do me the utmost of favors in not forgetting to close the query along with a few POSITIVE words of feedback and maybe even a 5 STAR rating if you feel it is deserving? I am definitely interested in getting updated information on how things are going in the next few weeks if you'd drop me a line at www.bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi

You can always reach me at that address for this or other questions. I wish you the best with everything and hope this information helps you.

This query required 29 minutes of professional time to research, assimilate, and respond in complete form.

---