Any brain injury is serious and Julie should not have continued the climb. Seeking immediate medical attention as soon as the injury occurred may have saved Julie's life. The severe headache and ringing in her ears is another sign that the bump on the head was not so light, but still consistent with a Grade 1 concussion. Although Julie did not lose consciousness, she still had the key signs of a concussion.

The treatment of a concussion includes rest and inactivity. Aspirin should be avoided, as it may contribute to continued internal bleeding. Continuing the hike may have caused Julie's blood pressure to remain high, contributing to the inability of her body to form clots at the injury points. The onset of severe headache was a sign that things had become critical. Julie's life may have been saved had the severity of the injury been recognized from the beginning and had she been made to rest until help arrived.

Scenario 2

You are at a friend's outdoor barbecue on a hot summer day. One friend, who is drinking beer and sweating profusely, begins to complain of a headache and indigestion; suddenly faints. What has happened? How could you determine if this was a life-threatening condition? Did the beer play a role in his collapse?

In this scenario, it is difficult to determine if the alcohol played a role in the collapse. There are several pieces of information that are missing, which would be helpful in determining...

First, we do not know how much he has been drinking. We do not know if the symptoms were there before he started drinking. This may be his first drink and the symptoms may have been there before. We also do not know if he has been drinking enough water throughout the day. There are simply too many unknowns to make a definite choice in this case.
The first clue is profuse sweating. This could mean one of two things. It is easy to pass this symptom off while standing over a barbecue on a hot day. It could mean heat exhaustion that is progression towards more serious heat stroke. In this case, alcohol may have been a contributing factor due to its dehydrating effects.

However, profuse sweating is also one of the more common first symptoms of a hear arrhythmia or infarction. In this case, the alcohol may or may not have been a factor. It did not help, but may not have contributed that much to the condition. Headache and indigestion could also indicate either a heat related, or heart related cause. However, the indigestion would tend to indicate a heart attack.

In this case, there are simply too many factors to determine what happened without further medical evaluation. Immediate medical attention should be sought to rule out a more serous heart attack or heat stroke. It is unlikely that beer and bad barbeque sauce alone would cause the collapse unless there is an underlying cause.