Pulmonary Embolism Support Group

By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.

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My first Whack to the head......

cjmenjou
cjmenjou
My only real concern on thinners is getting in a bike or car accident and gettng a nice whack to the head, causing a hemhorrage. Never thought it might happen in a pool.

Last Tuesday night swimming with my masters group (just a formal group workout, nothing "master"ful about it....), I was swimming along near the end of our set when BLAM out of nowhere I hit something, HARD. I saw stars, couldn't open my eyes for a few moments, didn't know what had happened.....

Turns out a guy IN THE NEXT LANE doing an individucal medley set, coming off butterfly turning to backstroke, pushed off underwater and came into my lane. He's a big guy. I'm a big guy. I was moving at a good clip, he was pushing off the wall... we hit. Did I say HARD? the back of his head to my forehead. Drew blood and left a big lump. I took a pic, you can see it in my photos (if they show up).

I was a bit worried, to say the least, not only about a concussion but about a bleed. My wife and I woke up every couple hours to make sure I could see straight and knew my name. Had a mild headache that wouldn't go away but everything seems to be A OK about 48 hours later....

Watch those heads people.

Chris
rmb
rmb
OW. That had to hurt. I always heard that if there was a brain bleed, you'd have like the worst headache ever, but I don't know if that's the case all the time. I would have been a bit worried too.

Bring your bike helmet with you next time, ha!
TossNTurn
TossNTurn
Seriously, I've had back/neck troubles ever since hitting my head on the bottom of a swimming pool when I was like eight. But I'm a bit of a water-baby and that isn't the only good whack on the head I've had in a pool. Definitely can be bit of dangerous spot. Thank goodness for life guards!

Glad you're doing OK Chris.
elsners
elsners
I think that needed ER examination. My guess is you would have been taken off the thinner immediately.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Hitting that hard I would at least call your doctor and get it checked out. My grandpa died from a hemorrhage after slipping & falling, he didn't have symptoms for 4 days and then it was the worst headache. (he was on coumadin for 9 years) it has made me have anxiety about hitting my head. I know that he was at higher risk because he was older & had been on blood thinners for so long.
cjmenjou
cjmenjou
I appreciate the concern. Nearly 6 days post an only a Harry potter like scar to show for it. I am well versed in coumadin therapy and the dangers, more so than nearly anyone I know, including my physician and clinic. Doc and/or ER would have said monitor yourself for the next 24-36 hours for symptoms of a brain bleed, an if they start cone in for a CT, which is what we did. I would not have authorized a CT scan at that time anyway since there were no sumpts.

I am more about taking control of my own care than going to the doc every time something potentially dangerous happens. Been there done that in my early Coumadin career, and well over it. I monitor my INR at home and make my own dosage responses depending on the level. Anyway, I certainly don't think an ER trip, or even a call to the doc, was warranted. But that is just my .02
cjmenjou
cjmenjou
Spelling the result of iPhone typing and auto correct. Not a hemorrhage. :)
Aussie38
Aussie38
Glad to hear it all worked out as a cyclist I worry about my next big fall from the bike (have had a broken collar bone and amnesia from previous falls - pre warfarin), but life goes on despite warfarin, and I agree we are our own best judge of when to see a physician.
clarkjulieann
clarkjulieann
Ouch that sounds right painful. I had a 3 good knocks to the top and back of my head from my truck when reaching in to buckle up the kids and backing out too quick. I worried a bit about my last bump because it hurt for a good 3 days and a bump instantly formed and followed with a mild headache that progressively got worse over 6hrs until I took more Tylenol. By the next day the headache Started feeling better so didn't feel like it warranted a drs visit. You did the right thing in watching your symptoms. I've been told that a head trauma might not actually show on scans until almost a week after the initial incident unless it was very severe
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