[Artchic528]

I bumped my head rather hard a few days ago on the back hatch of 20+ year old Jeep grand Cherokee as I was loading plants into the back in a parking lot at Lowe's. The darned hatch only goes up about halfway now, and i didn't look to see if my mother had raised it. The impact was hard enough that I was stunned for a couple seconds and I saw stars, but remained fully awake and aware. My mother told me to go sit down as she finished loading.

That was Wednesday evening. On Friday evening, I began to get a mild headache that has yet to go away. I took an Alleve last night and the headache is still there, but not as annoying. It does feel worse now that I massaged my head at the sight of the knot and am writing this post. I also noticed I am rather light headed, but that could be from not sleeping. I hadn't slept Friday night, but did get a nice long nap in all day yesterday, but hadn't slept since about 4 in the afternoon.

Should I be worried enough to go to the ER? I am not vomiting at all or feeling confused and forgetful. I mean, not more than normal anyways.

[Raindropvampire]

With head injuries I always err on the side of caution even though I usually just get dismissed. Last time I slammed my head in a wall I had the same symptoms as you but with nausea and blurred vision. At the ER they wouldn't even do an x-ray. He just held up his finger told me to track it. Then he shined a bright light in my eyes and said my pupils were reacting fine and it was just a concussion. Said if the knot suddenly got bigger or if my symptoms worsened or persisted for more than 7 days then come back. Told my to take tylenol for the pain and sent me on my way.

If you go hopefully you get treated with a bit more compassion. Hope you feel better soon.

Yes, I'd definitely go to the ER ... The sooner you have this checked out the better!

Not to scare you, but our director was walking through the shop last September and hit his head on an open hatch of a bus that was being worked on in the shop. It ruptured a blood vessel in his brain and three months later so much blood had seeped into an area of the brain it was as if he was having a stroke! Fortunately they were able to fix it, but they had to do a major surgical procedure to accomplish that! There was no permanent damage and his recovery was spectacular! However, had he had it checked out when it happened it could have remedied by less invasive means.

Any head injury, no matter how mild it may seem, needs to be checked out as soon as possible ...

Therefore, hie thee to your local ER today and without further delay!

Sincerely,
Pfrog!