Smacked my head pretty hard and now I'm scared to sleep.

**CrystalChord** · 11-04-2010 01:03 AM

About 4:45-5:00 on 3 November, My friend and I went to a park about ten minutes away from my university. We were playing on a teeter-totter that was attatched to a slide, and between those was a bar that kids usually hang off of upside down, like the baby version of a gymnast bar.

Well I was getting off the teeter-totter and walked around it, and about parallel to the middle of it I looked down to turn off my camera. I took two more steps and *SMACK!*

The right side of my forehead connected with the metal bar. It sounded like *CRACK* in my head, and I got completely freaked out. My friend said she didn't hear anything really and then heard me going "OHMIGOD OHMIGOD NOT COOL HOLY OHMIGOD I JUST HIT MY HEAD I WANT TO GO HOME CAN WE GO HOME???" I remember walking back to the car in a panic, climbing into the car and leaving the park. I don't really remember the ride home, but I remember freaking out all the way home and texting my other friend (who is an EMT) about what happened at around 5:00.

We got back around 5:10-5:15 and I put three ice cubes in a sock on my head. I left them on for an hour, and eventually I couldn't FEEL the pain in my head because I had numbed the area with the cold.

I did not black out, I did not fall down or drop my camera. I remember asking my friend if she had hit her head like that before, if she had heard it, what I should do. I remember her saying "You're fine! Do I have to yell at you? 'Cuz I will!" I was nauseous, but I believe that was because I was on the verge of a miniature panic attack. I didn't feel tired after the accident, and I did not lose any lucidity apparently.

I feel tired now, but I am afraid of sleeping because I was told that people could slip into comas after head trauma. So now instead of just being worried about aneurysms, I am worried about those too.

My head still hurts and is tender to touch, and there is a very slight goose-bump. It also hurts to raise my eyebrows (I smacked into it right over my right eye). I don't know what to do, and any advice would be really helpful. Thank you!!!

**p3375** · 11-04-2010 04:27 AM

CC - you're probably fine. But go see your doc as soon as ya can just to make sure.

P

**sourpuss** · 11-04-2010 07:44 AM

I think you're probably fine. Try to relax, people hit their heads all the time and they survive. Think of how often little tiny babies smack their tender heads on the coffee table. You're full grown skull can withstand more than you think. Your panic reaction was probably more stressful on your body than anything else.

If you're still worried then see a doctor. But my guess is that you'll feel just fine today, although you'll probably have a bit of a lump there for a few days.

**CrystalChord** · 11-04-2010 08:11 AM

Thank you, p and sourpuss.

It's 10:08 where I am, and I woke up around 9:00 this morning. My head still hurts a little, and I feel a little nauseous, but I am chalking that up to being very very worried right up until my body forced me asleep (at about 4am) and eating a couple handfuls of chocolate chips (yeah eating before bed. Good job, ha ha).

My roommate is an EMT so when she gets home from her classes, I'll have her check me out, and then if I'm still feeling off tomorrow I'll make an appointment with my university's health centre (where a nurse will say "you could have morning sickness" and give me a pregnancy test even though I haven't been sexually active for two and a half years).

**ItsASecret** · 11-04-2010 08:25 AM

You smashed your head on a metal bar...it is going to hurt for a few days. You will get a headache and you will maintain that dumb goose-egg as they call them. I slipped on ice once running to get a ball as a kid at school and smashed my head on frozen bricks. That hurt. The nurse checked me out, massive goose-egg and I was fine. It takes a hella lot of trauma to cause something like a coma or internal bleed etc. So oo you will not fall into a coma and die, there will be no aneurysm, the worst that can happen is your brain being bruised do to being forced forward against the skull during the actual impact. And no a bruised brain is not going to kill you. The time to worry is if you fall on the floor passed out and someone drives you to the hospital. Then you should be alarmed and have the whole CT scan bit with the doctor but you cannot go about your day worrying if or when something like that is going to happen. It is just going to cause more anxiety. With injuries the first hour is the critical time...if something is going to happen like swelling bleeding numbness etc it is going to happen in that first hour. You went home just fine, well sore, but fine and woke up the next morning.