The Highway to Health - Bumped Heads

I recently had a reader send me this comment:

"As a full-time dad I have to deal with just about every minor illness my two children pickup, everything from a bump on the head to chicken pox. I found the Highway to Health ebook very useful and it's one of the first things I reach for when something goes wrong!"

Mr John Bradbury
United Kingdom

It got me thinking - although the Highway to Health does cover headaches, perhaps going into a little more detail about 'bumps on the head' would be useful. So here we go...

There are two main types of head injury - concussion and compression.

*Concussion* is the commonest:

It's when your brain gets 'shaken' inside your head. Like anything, it gets a little bruising. Like any bruise it heals with time.

It can be caused by all sorts of things:

• Kids banging heads, perhaps playing sport.

• A child recently ran in to a coffee table and got concussion.

• Falling off things, running into things, tripping over...

It's common and not too serious.

You might feel a bit shaken up at first, might even pass out for a few moments, but not for long.

You could feel dizzy or confused as well.

You'll have a headache - but you knew that, right?

You'll probably get a bruise or bump on the outside too.

You might feel or be sick, but this will pass.

Your vision might get blurred, but this passes.

Sit down and take it easy.

Put a cold compress (e.g. wet sponge) on the bump.

Try not to worry - or if it's a child, try to reassure and comfort them.

Five to ten minutes later, you should be feeling a whole lot better. The headache won't have gone yet, but it will settle. You might still feel sick, but everything else should have cleared.

Now you can take whatever pain relief you'd usually have for the headache (and see http://www.thehighwaytohealth.com/ for a whole chapter on relieving headaches).

Take it easy for the next three days.

Keep a watch out for the signs & symptoms below (and have someone else watch out for you too).

You'll soon be wondering what the fuss was about!

*Compression* is the other type of head injury:

• Just like anything that gets injured, your brain can swell.

• This is bad news - it's trapped inside your skull and has nowhere to swell to.

• So you get a build-up of pressure on your brain, which causes problems.

• It is usually caused by something a bit more severe than a bump on the head

  • more like a bat over the head, or a bigger fall, or a traffic accident.

• This often starts out like concussion, but doesn't get better in a few minutes.

• That feeling of sickness gets worse, and you start to be sick a lot more often.

• The headache just gets worse, even when you've treated it.

• The dizziness or confusion will get worse, and you might pass out for a lot longer. You might have a fit or convulsion.

• Your vision might blur and keep getting worse.

You need the hospital - and quickly! Anyone who has these symptoms goes straight to hospital. Even if it started out as concussion, this can take up to 72 hours to develop (It's commonest within the first four hours).

About The Author

Tony Howarth is a UK qualified pharmacist. After graduation he studied for a PhD - this looked at ways people use the Internet to access health information and included methods of making the information easier to understand. He then spent several years in a local pharmacy (where he still works) to understand just what people want to know about and have problems with. Now that information is here!

http://www.TheHighwaytoHealth.com/; tony@thehighwaytohealth.com

In The News:

---

Times Online
Auto bailout: The best medicine?
Florida Times-Union, FL - 12 hours ago
By The Times-Union They already received $25 billion in low interest government loans intended to help them transition to a new generation of fuel efficient ...
The wrong medicine TheDay
Motor city seeks answers The Gazette (Montreal)
Comment by Gary Chaison Prof. of Industrial Relations, Clark University
The Oregonian - OregonLive.comall 1,537 news articles

Naturopathic doctor popular among Hispanics
Newsday, NY - 2 hours ago
The medicines she gave me helped calm the pain a lot." Robinson, one of many doctors in the small but growing field of naturopathic medicine, ...

MinuteClinic co-founder launches e-medicine startup
Bizjournals.com, NC - 16 hours ago
Nearly a decade after he came up with the idea that became MinuteClinic, Rick Krieger thinks he’s come across a new way to change health care. ...

Exploring: medicine the world of
Asbury Park Press, NJ - 8 hours ago
The club, which offers education and activities for teenagers considering a career in medicine, is a program of Learning for Life, a Boy Scouts of America ...

$700 billion? Don’t think bailout, think money spent on medicine
Washington Business Journal, DC - 1 hour ago
... drug companies and doctors swayed by them, said the author of “Overdo$ed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine,” published in 2004. ...

Healthcare for Avatars? Medicine in the Metaverse
E-Commerce Times - 6 hours ago
By Laura Bruck Some industries have been more receptive than others to the idea of conducting business in virtual worlds such as Second Life. ...

University of South Alabama College of Medicine Chooses MDaudit(TM)
MarketWatch - 23 hours ago
... WIRE) -- Hayes Management Consulting announced today that it will provide its MDaudit(TM) software to University of South Alabama College of Medicine. ...

WNCT
Three Employees Fired After Patient Chokes on Medicine, Dies
FOXNews - Nov 20, 2008
GOLDSBORO, NC — North Carolina officials have fired three employees and disciplined others in the death of a patient who was neglected for more than 22 ...
Firings a good first step in neglect case CharlotteObserver.com
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BBC News
Detroit prepares to swallow some bitter medicine
Financial Times, UK - 15 hours ago
By Bernard Simon in Los Angeles Among the many conditions imposed on Chrysler by Washington in the bail-out of 1979, none is said to have angered the ...
United States needs to help automakers Vineland Daily Journal
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Entry Level Finding Ways to Help Children With Cancer
New York Times, United States - Nov 21, 2008
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