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 Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 5:27 pm
I once hit the back of my head and literally saw stars. Did you see stars? I am glad you are doing better.
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Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 6:37 pm
I hate to say it Dave, but I think you may need to go see a doctor. A prolonged headache can be a sign of something serious, and you want to make sure that there's nothing seriously wrong with your brain. It's got to last you for the rest of your life, you know. They're probably going to want to run some tests, and, just to warn you, do a CT scan. Those can be pretty expensive if your health insurance won't entirely cover it.
If you decide not to go to the doctors, I'd say you're doing the right thing by resting. Whatever you do, DON'T take the aspirin, since it prevents clotting and promotes bleeding, which will make the concussion worse (since a concussion is basically injured brain tissue). But I would suggest braving the lights and sounds of the outside world and picking up some acetaminophen (tylenol, etc) or ibuprofen (advil, motrin, etc). Those drugs will reduce the swelling which will ease the headache and help healing progress faster. (Hint: Go generic; it's cheaper and just as effective.)
Hope you start feeling better soon. *sends a psychic get-well card*
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 5:17 am
If there were no signs of healing or it was painful in a certain way then I would go see a doctor...And from my reading it is possible that I could have incurred more severe damage than I feel, but I would think by now I would have shown some symptoms of that. The headache is dull all around my head, but with each day, the area and intensity have decreased. I would like to get some sort of pain reliever today though just to help out, even if all symptoms of the trauma are decreasing. And to ease me through work on Monday. If anything changes I'll see a doctor, but for now I'll continue staying in bed.
It wouldn't hurt to be safe though, and add to my collections of CTs and MRIs, haha. I just figured if I didn't show any of the long-term symptoms then I wouldn't have to worry about it. But, having a second look at the mayoclinic site, some symptoms appear on both lists. This first one being symptoms of having had a concussion.
Other immediate signs and symptoms of a concussion may include:
Headache
Dizziness
Ringing in the ears
Nausea or vomiting
Slurred speech
Some symptoms of concussions don't appear until hours or days later. They include:
Mood and cognitive disturbances
Sensitivity to light and noise
Sleep disturbances
Most of those are true. The ear-ringing stopped yesterday(Saturday), and the dizziness only occurs if I tip my head upside-down at some weird angle. The nausea stopped Friday night.The slurred speech I suspect is just being tired, people on the phone have had no difficulty understanding me. Sensitivity to light and noise is to me part of the headache. The pressure I had on my eyes yesterday is gone now. I didn't have any mood, cognitive, nor sleep disturbances that I am aware of. The next section is "when to seek medical advice" and lists this:
When to seek medical advice
While most concussions get better on their own, some blows to the head can cause more serious injuries. You should seek medical advice if you have any of the following symptoms:
Prolonged headache or dizziness
Vision disturbances
Nausea or vomiting
Impaired balance
Prolonged memory loss
Ringing in the ears
Loss of smell or taste
The nausea was only Friday night, and I suspect that had to do with all the aspirin I took, my stomach didn't appreciate it. My vision has not been impaired, and no loss of smell nor taste.. My balance too is fine. I have no memory loss except for the impact itself. The ear-ringing is gone. And yes the headache and dizziness are still there (dizziness only if my head is held at just a certain uncommon angle) but perhaps I wouldn't know I had a headache if I had tylenol. Since I continue to improve, if my symptoms are gone early this week I feel no reason to be alarmed.
No, I didn't see stars, but I have once in the past!
Edit: Wow, the tylenol has helped quite a bit.
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Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2007 3:00 pm
Dammit, I did the stupidest thing last week and lost my pills and haven't found them yet. I feel like s**t. It wouldn't be too bad except the anti-depressant causes withdrawal like symptoms, even though it's not addictive. Between feeling physically sick and the mood swings that are slowly but surely setting in, I feel horrible. I don't think my insurance will replace the bottles, and one of them at least is 75 bucks a month. Ouch. Lucky for me I'm doing alright for the moment, I just need to find the stupid bottle before I get worse. Gah.
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Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 6:43 pm
Sorry to hear that Entervixen. I hope you have found the bottle by now. You should not abruptly stop that as you already know so I hope you are ok now.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 8:35 am
Well I did go and see the doctor in a nearby walk-in clinic on Monday due to the scores of people insisting I see a doctor. He said I was fine, but prescribed a CT on Wednesday just to make sure. So Wednesday I got my CT done and then went off to work. When I finished work and was meeting everyone for lunch, the doc called me and said to pick up my films and go to the ER immediately due to irregularities in my scan. So I went to the ER and everyone there started flipping out and hooking me to equipment and saying there was blood on my brain. After a good five hours of hanging out in the ER, while watching the victim of a knife attack being worked on, the neurologists (neurosurgeons... whatever, I am sure there was a little of everyone) gathered and had a look at my scans and told me that there was a substantial amount of blood in my skull, but that it wasn't enough to warrant surgery. (Despite the docs in the ER going nuts telling me they'd put me under any minute because I would undoubtedly have to be worked on)..... So they wanted me to hang at the hospital a few days, take a CT each day, just to play it safe. I was to stay at least until Saturday evening, but this morning the neurologist saw me and said that despite what had to have been an enormous impact, whatever had been bleeding had healed enough and the blood in there would diffuse back into the body over time. Epidural and subdural hematomas. Hematomae? Haha. Yeah, so, there you have it. And despite there being a slight lump and abrasion on the back of my head, it turns out it was my right side that took the impact, odd.
The nurses were all very nice and knowledgeable, although I would rarely see them due to being in a comparatively superb condition to the other patients on the neurology ward. I would have been better off at home, as my room can be pitch black if I make it so, and very quiet. Whereas at the hospital, the other patient in my room had suffered heart attacks, seizures, and all sorts of other problems, and the various machinery and alarms kept my headache-enraged skull up constantly.
I can see now how people in medical professionsspeak so much on being healthy; that is the focus at work. Well maybe not the focus but a pervading idea and now it's no wonder how such people can react so strongly to a decision that isn't necessarily the most healthy one. Ok, I am going to find something to eat. I figured someone might be interested.
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 10:26 am
Well, I am glad you went. I am also glad that you are alright.
As I told you in IMs this news makes me angry and sad and relieved all at once!
Angry cause it took, like, 50 of us to yell at you to get yourself checked out
Sad that you got hurt a lot worse than we thought
And then relieved that you'll be back to your beer-swilling ways in no time razz
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Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 6:45 pm
If you hurt the right side of your brain from a blow to the back then you had a contracoup injury. So you had both epidural and subdural hematomas...man, that is serious. It is a very good thing that you went to the doctor and it sounds like they did just the right thing for you, keeping you there and doing serial CT's.
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 6:09 pm
~gives dave some blindfolds and earplugs~
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 6:29 pm
I wouldn't need tylenol if I had those. Well, actually yeah I would, because I get dizzy if I move around much. ESPECIALLY getting out of bed in the morning, oh my gosh. Pop 'em when I wake up and still gotta wait until 8:00 before I am functional at my job.
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Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 9:21 pm
I hope your followup appt is soon. I am concerned that you are still feeling dizzy. If that persists you need to let your physician know about that. Maybe another CT is in order, that is nothing to mess around with.
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Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 12:14 am
My followup is one month from the day I was released, which I believe was Friday. At which point another CT is due.
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Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 2:33 pm
That's it! Dave, I'm sending you 3 nurses--all of them within the ages of 19-22, and all of them blonde--to care for you! ASAP! ~uses umar's CC~
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Posted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:38 pm
Brunettes, please. neutral
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