After a head injury, fluid can build up even when the skull looks intact. This “water on the brain” creeps in weeks or months later, so changes are often blamed on mood or fatigue alone.

The first sign is usually walking trouble: feet feel stuck to the floor, steps shorten, and turns take tiny shuffles. People joke they’ve “forgotten how to walk.”

Thinking slows next. You lose the thread of a short story, need grocery lists for three items, or answer questions seconds too late.

Bladder urgency shows up. A normal day ends with sprinting to the bathroom, and nights may involve two or three trips that barely make it in time.

Headache is dull, steady, and often worse in the morning or when bending to tie shoes. Nausea may come with it, but vomiting is rare.

Mood flattens. Jokes fall flat, motivation dries up, and family say you “just stare.”

Vision can blur at the edges, like looking through a tunnel, yet eye exams find nothing wrong.

Sleep flips: either knocked-out tired by day or wide-awake restless at night.