A couple of days ago Mrs. HeyHomie was conked on the head by a falling icicle. She lived to tell about it, thankfully.
How common is death-by-icicle, anyway? My mother used to plead with me every winter to be careful, lest I fall victim to one of the Midwest’s more random ways of killing you via the weather.
In cases of death-by-icicle, has there been a documented case of the sharp tip of an icicle actually penetrating the skull ( :eek: )?
Also, when I was a kid I used to conk my head from time to time, and Mom would always urge me to not give in to the temptation to sleep, believing that sleeping after a head injury led to coma and/or death. Is there any grain of truth to this belief?
I didn’t see anything about icicles actually piercing the skull, but these pointy abjects are heavier than a tree limb of identical size, so skull breaches seem a definite possibility.
Perhaps a doc or emt can chime in on current thoughts about the dangers of sleeping after getting a concussion?
By brother was stabbed in the thigh while throwing snowballs at icicles. He though he was going to die there was so much blood, but he fully recovered and was playing football a couple of months later.
They did this a little on last year’s Mythbusters’ Holiday Special. I think they found cases of people dying from being hit by large chunks of ice (blunt trauma) but no skull penetration. They dropped a large icicle down a chute into a big piece of meat, and it penetrated maybe two inches.
I have only anecdotal information about concussions, but it’s what two different doctors have told me. Many years ago, I got a concussion from slamming my head in a car door. The urgent care doctor advised me not to sleep for a certain amount of time (I forget how many, but it seems like he wanted me to stay awake for the next four or five hours). When my daughter got a concussion (without loss of consciousness) on the playground in third grade, her pediatrician told me it was fine to let her sleep but that I should wake her every hour to be sure she was coherent (he told me to ask her her name; she got tired of that after the third time and said, “Mother, would you please cut it out?”, which sounded coherent to me). Both doctors said the reason for this was that a head injury can cause swelling in the brain some hours later, and the patient must be awake in order to check for symptoms (confusion, etc.).
I’m sure an actual doctor (or other medical professional) will be along presently to either confirm or debunk my information.
Mrs Mangetout used to be a nurse and I asked this question of her after she had attended a training course on resuscitation and monitoring of injuries (or something like that) - apparently it’s partly so that the patient can report on symptoms, but also because in some cases, allowing the patient to fall unconscious can bring about changes, When they’re awake, patients can consciously control their breathing (i.e. make sure they keep doing it); they can cough if their airway gets blocked, and their blood pressure is likely to remain higher due to adrenalin.
Staying awake after a concussion is mostly a myth, it does nothing to worsen the condition. It’s hard to tell normal sleep from a coma, therefore we often do routine awakening to make sure a patient can focus they’re eyes and say leave me the fuck alone, thus they’re not in a coma. I suppose if you’re alone, but have access to 911, it would be worth staying awake in order notice the signs of mental status change early enough to make the call, but I’ve never heard of it saving someone.
It was a windy day, and the car door was light. The wind caught the door just as I was starting to get in, and the door swung shut, catching my head under one ear and slamming it into the door frame on the other side. Mr. Legend insisted on taking me to the urgent care center when I was still dizzy and nauseated after half an hour. The urgent care doc was very insistent that I needed an X-ray, but I declined and promised I’d see my own doctor the next day. My own doctor managed to stifle the giggles when I told him what had happened, but when I asked him if he thought I should have an X-ray, he couldn’t resist asking me if I really thought I needed to have my head examined. I miss Dr. Best.
I’ve had very few accidents while actually operating a car, but getting in and out has proved to be an extremely dangerous proposition for me. I’ve shut my hand or fingers in doors three times now, and I still have a small scar under my eye from when I opened the car door into my own face six weeks ago (I got distracted by a sound and turned my head as I was pulling the door open).
What am I, chopped liver? You want to hear about the pt whose skull fracture looked like the roots of a tree on xray? Or the baby whose fontanel was bulging like a golf ball!
