Internal bleeding is one of the most dangerous injuries you can get in a car crash. You might feel fine at first, but hours or days later, you could start feeling sick. This happens because adrenaline masks pain and symptoms right after an accident.
In this guide, you’ll learn:
- The warning signs to watch for
- When to see a doctor
- How doctors treat internal bleeding
- What causes internal bleeding in car accidents
Don’t ignore the signs. Internal bleeding can be deadly if left untreated. Our Houston car accident attorney will examine the signs of internal bleeding after a car accident and what to do if you’ve been hurt in a crash.
Know the Warning Signs of Internal Bleeding
Internal bleeding is one of the most serious trauma consequences. Medical personnel may focus on obvious injuries and overlook internal bleeding unless you receive hospital scans and comprehensive evaluation.
Undetected internal bleeding causes blood to leak from your circulatory system, starving your body of oxygen and nutrients while allowing waste to accumulate. Eventually, blood pressure drops dangerously low, leading to unconsciousness. Watch for these often subtle symptoms:
- Swelling or pain in the abdomen, especially if it gets worse over time
- Severe fatigue
- Blood in the urine or stools
- Vomiting blood
- A deep purple, flat bruise called an ecchymosis that occurs when blood escapes into the tissues from ruptured blood vessels
- Pallor, or a pale complexion
- Feeling cold
- Dizziness, feeling light-headed, or fainting
- Confusion, slurred speech, or difficulty concentrating
- A painful headache
- Low blood pressure
- Loss of consciousness
Symptoms vary by bleeding location, but faintness, dizziness, or loss of consciousness require immediate emergency care. Internal bleeding affects your body the same way as external bleeding—blood escapes your closed circulatory system, even though it remains inside your body.
Potential Causes of Internal Bleeding After a Car Accident
Any time the body experiences extreme forces during a wreck, it could suffer damage that causes internal bleeding. Head-on crashes tend to be very serious due to speeding, alcohol use, or other factors that lead to high-impact injuries.
Some causes of internal bleeding could include:
- Blunt force trauma from hitting the steering wheel or windshield
- Crushing injuries in a T-bone or rollover accident
- Puncture wounds from debris or shrapnel
- Damage to the aorta or liver from shearing or twisting forces
- Broken bones that puncture or sever blood vessels
- Traumatic head injuries that lead to bleeding in the skull
- Sudden deceleration that causes your internal organs to press against one another
Always contact emergency services after a crash, even if injuries aren’t immediately apparent. This decision could save your life or that of someone else who could be suffering internal bleeding without realizing it.
Additional Internal Injuries in Car Crashes
Car accidents can cause multiple life-threatening injuries beyond internal bleeding:
- Respiratory distress from punctured lungs filling with fluid
- Organ damage when broken ribs puncture the spleen, stomach, or liver
- Chemical or flame burns
- Brain damage from head trauma or oxygen deprivation
- Spinal cord and neck injuries
- Broken pelvis and legs in head-on collisions
- Compound fractures where bone protrudes through skin, risking infection
These injuries often require extensive treatment and lengthy recovery periods.
How Doctors Treat Internal Bleeding
Diagnosis: Doctors locate and assess bleeding severity through scans, symptom evaluation, or during surgery for other injuries.
Surgical intervention: For severe cases, surgeons operate to stop bleeding, relieve pressure, repair blood vessels, and remove pooled blood. Bleeding can occur in the head, abdomen, around the heart and lungs, or limbs.
Supportive care: Treatment includes:
- Intravenous fluids to maintain blood pressure
- Blood transfusions to replace lost blood
- Clotting medications for patients with bleeding disorders or on anticoagulants
- Post-surgical monitoring to ensure bleeding has stopped
Always See a Doctor After Any Car Accident
Immediate care: Always accept medical evaluation from paramedics at the scene. Call 911 if no one else has requested emergency services.
Follow-up care: Schedule a comprehensive examination with your doctor as soon as possible after the accident, even if you feel fine.
Why it matters: Medical evaluation serves three critical purposes:
- Health protection: Identifies “silent” injuries like internal bleeding before they become life-threatening
- Medical documentation: Establishes a record of your injuries and condition
- Treatment planning: Provides baseline diagnosis for your physician to develop a recovery plan
Early medical attention can be the difference between catching a dangerous condition in time and facing a medical emergency.
When to Seek Emergency Medical Care
Call 911 immediately if you experience any of these symptoms after a car accident:
- Severe abdominal pain or swelling
- Dizziness or fainting
- Rapid heart rate
- Shortness of breath
- Vomiting blood or blood in stool/urine
- Confusion or altered mental state
- Severe headache
- Signs of shock (pale skin, rapid pulse, weakness)
Remember: Internal bleeding can be life-threatening with delayed symptoms. When in doubt, seek immediate medical attention—early detection and treatment can prevent serious complications.