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References: Brain Injury, Stroke, and Epilepsy

  1. Signs and Symptoms of Concussion - CDC HEADS UP - Lists what others may notice, what an injured person may feel, and the danger signs that mean calling 911. The HEADS UP site also has CDC's six-step return-to-sports plan and advice on returning to school, written for students, parents, and coaches.

  2. Signs and Symptoms of Stroke - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Explains the sudden warning signs of stroke and the BE-FAST check in plain language. It's the best single page to memorize before you might need it for a family member.

  3. First Aid for Seizures - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Step-by-step seizure first aid, what not to do, and when to call 911. Short enough to read in two minutes and practical enough to use at school or practice.

  4. First Aid for Seizures: Stay, Safe, Side - Epilepsy Foundation - The source of the "Stay, Safe, Side" steps, with explanations of why you should never put anything in a person's mouth. It also links to free posters and seizure first aid training.

  5. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH) - A thorough overview of TBI types, concussion, diffuse axonal injury, and CTE, plus current NIH-funded research. Useful when you want more depth than a fact sheet.

  6. Stroke: Assess and Treat - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH) - Describes how doctors diagnose stroke with exams and imaging, and how clot-busting drugs, clot removal, and aneurysm repair work. It also tells the story of how NIH research led to the first approved stroke drug.

  7. Spinal Cord Injury - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH) - Explains complete versus incomplete injuries, tetraplegia and paraplegia, emergency care, rehabilitation, and research on stimulation and brain-computer interfaces.

  8. Overview of Stroke - Merck Manual, Professional Version - A clinician-level reference with a table of stroke syndromes by artery (ACA, MCA, PCA). It is more technical than the other sources, but it is where the patterns in this chapter's Stroke Territory Map come from.

  9. 1.4 The Brain: Structure and Function - OpenStax, Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) - A free, open textbook section reviewing the lobes, hemispheres, and lateralization. Read it to refresh the brain map you need to predict stroke symptoms.

  10. Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990-2021 - GBD 2021 Nervous System Disorders Collaborators, The Lancet Neurology (2024) - The study showing that nervous system conditions affected about 3.4 billion people in 2021 and were the leading cause of ill health and disability, with stroke ranked first among them. The abstract and figures give a big-picture view of why this chapter matters.