Signs of a brain hemorrhage include things such as vomiting, seizures, loss of consciousness, altered mental status, confusion and the sudden loss of or the impairment of the ability to move or speak. They also include bleeding from the ears or the nose, deteriorating vital signs, one eye that appears sunken, pupils that are unequal or not reactive to light and more. There is a difference between signs and symptoms. A sign is an indication of a person's medical condition that can be observed by other people who might see, smell, feel or hear the sign. Symptoms, on the other hand, are an indication of a person's medical condition that cannot be observed by other people, and they must be reported by the patient himself or herself.
The various signs of a brain hemorrhage do not necessarily indicate the symptoms that might accompany those signs. Some signs are considered major indications of bleeding. Others are classified as late signs and almost always appear in cases of skull fractures and brain injuries. For example, any type of neurological problems, such as weakness on one side of the body or paralysis, are considered one of the major symptoms. A bruise behind the ear, also known as Battle's sign, is considered a late sign and one that almost always accompanies a skull fracture or injury to the brain.
When vomiting appears, it is often projectile or forceful and might present shortly after the symptom of nausea or even loss of consciousness. Although a sudden headache is a symptom, it might be accompanied by behavior that can serve as a sign of a headache, such as a person grabbing his or her head and crying out in pain. This can be followed by any number of the other signs of a brain hemorrhage, such as seizures, confusion, an altered mental status or the loss of consciousness.
Among the signs of a brain hemorrhage that health care providers can measure are vital signs that are deteriorating. These include an increase in blood pressure accompanied by a decrease in the patient's pulse rate. A person's temperature can be abnormally high because of damage to or inflammation of the areas of the brain in which temperature is regulated. Respirations are also vital signs that can present with irregularities in their patterns. Although the condition of the pupils is not a vital sign, it is checked using a pen light to reveal whether they are unequal or not reactive to light.