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Should I Be Concerned About A Sore Head In My Adolescent Following A Head Injury?
My eleven year old fell back and hit the back of her head on the edge of a hard wood desk. She said she was fine but before bed said the back of her head was sore. Her eyes looked fine and I couldn t feel a bump though she said it hurt when I touched it. Should I wake her up and check on her or let her sleep
Fri, 17 Jan 2014
Hi. My name is Vin. I'm so sorry to hear about your daughters injury. I'm hoping we can establish some basic guidelines together so that you can intelligently decide whether to take her to your local Doctor / ER over the next few hours or not.
Firstly 11 year olds bump their heads all the time and statistically speaking it generally amounts to nothing but a sleepless night for their parents. So take heart in the numbers.
A couple of things that you should look out for and be concerned about are:
1. Excessive sleepiness (Difficulty waking up later in the night)
2. Seizures... take immediately to ER
3. Vomiting (people talk about projectile vomiting.. i'm not in the mood to see what a vomit balls hang time is.. lets just say any vomiting is bad)
4. Difficulty moving any part of the body or any new weakness across the body
5. Pupils are assymetric (one pupil in one eye is bigger than the other)
If any of these things are true, I would urge you to take her to the ER or call 911 (or your local ambulance services) immediately.
If those things are not true. I would recommend you have her room with you tonight or check in on her from time to time over the next few hours. If she's becoming difficult to wake up or if shes doing anything that you don't consider to be ordinary while shes asleep.. please get her to the ER ASAP.
Otherwise.. such concussions (fancy word for bruises) should clear up in a day or 2.
I hope this helps, feel free to email me with any more questions.
Vin
Firstly 11 year olds bump their heads all the time and statistically speaking it generally amounts to nothing but a sleepless night for their parents. So take heart in the numbers.
A couple of things that you should look out for and be concerned about are:
1. Excessive sleepiness (Difficulty waking up later in the night)
2. Seizures... take immediately to ER
3. Vomiting (people talk about projectile vomiting.. i'm not in the mood to see what a vomit balls hang time is.. lets just say any vomiting is bad)
4. Difficulty moving any part of the body or any new weakness across the body
5. Pupils are assymetric (one pupil in one eye is bigger than the other)
If any of these things are true, I would urge you to take her to the ER or call 911 (or your local ambulance services) immediately.
If those things are not true. I would recommend you have her room with you tonight or check in on her from time to time over the next few hours. If she's becoming difficult to wake up or if shes doing anything that you don't consider to be ordinary while shes asleep.. please get her to the ER ASAP.
Otherwise.. such concussions (fancy word for bruises) should clear up in a day or 2.
I hope this helps, feel free to email me with any more questions.
Vin
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