[ClaraTaylor]

Last Saturday I was being stubborn / stupid and fell out of my chair while trying to get down a step. The embarrassment hurts but what hurt most was when I hit the my back on the edge of my step.

I still have an impressive bruise though it is disappearing rapidly and it's still really tender to touch. It's getting easier to breath too so I guess it'll be fine come the weekend (hurrah!).

I haven't been able to get to see my GP (seems he's really busy this week) to discuss this (and a rapidly growing list of other things) and didn't want to go to A&E because I knew they'd be filled with the stupid questions you have to ask

- does this hurt?
- can you feel any tingling in your legs?
- can you wiggle your toes?

In preparation for the next time I hurtle down a flight of stairs (still practising) or fail terribly trying to navigate the skateboard park (still hoping) how do I tell if I hurt my back seriously? I know I should be hyper sensitive to hurting my back and all of the first aid courses I've been on and taught you to treat for spinal injuries at any opportunity (I think half of the time they're just hopeful and hell - when your patient thinks something serious is wrong they do tend to keep quieter!) but if I treat for spinal injuries every time I fall over I'll spend most of my life strapped to a long board. Is falling from your chair too short a height to do anything serious? (Unless I land in something interesting)

[greybeard]

Sudden loss of a function or sensation that you had before a fall would be a clue.

Perhaps you should invest in your own spinal board.

................Or be more careful!!!!!

This post has been edited by greybeard: 11 February 2010 - 08:44 AM

[dangerousdave]

At the risk of sounding stupid
Please don't be more careful
Attack those things you wish to do and want to do
If I was to worry about the possible damage I could do - I'd prefer to die

As Greybeard says though - look out for new developments and get yourself checked out sooner then later

We all have to go through the treatment by nincomepupes - but it's that or nothin

Down the A+E one evening after sitting (falling) on to a glass table and finaly getting to a curtain cubicle and a doctor (of sorts)
He stops what he is doing (inspecting my bum)
And announces he has to go find a anehitist as I need cleaning out and stiching (much as I expected) So why says I - It's gonna hurt says he

Don't be daft says I, PAIN NEEDS NERVES - and they arn't connected - so of to work he goes and 2 days later I'm showing of his handiwork to the district nurse as she changes my dressing

[Tetracyclone]

Clara, Letters like yours make me ever so glad I suffer here in the US without NHS. I have a Chiropractor, very competent, and I ask him to palpate and offer an opinion first. The local hospital is eager for my dollars and will take an x-ray at my request- I mean, the e-room Dr. must order it but they are usually pliable. Enough of them realize they work for ME to make it all work. When I land with a raving egotist who thinks he knows better than I, I demand a different Doctor...

Like the time I got broadsided in my truck, was taken to the ER, and told the Physician "my left SI joint is killing me."
he looked at me blankly, like I had said nothing, and asked, "Where does it hurt?"

Is it possible to negotiate the NHS system as an alpha personality? even hit and miss? or is it lowly human against Jaba the bureaucrat every time?

[dangerousdave]

Here in the UK we love to knock our NHS to pieces
Sometimes they deserve it
If Clara had chosen to go to A+E they would have done a X-Ray
It's just the time and hollier than thou attitude some times taken that pisses us off
The reality is - we know our bodies better then any doctor - and they don't like being told what to do when we know what has to be done
Just as it is that sometimes we are afraid we have done more damage then we would like to admit to
You got to be brave to be a active SCI and brave to take the consequences when we push to far

[Tetracyclone]

Dave-
Speaking of holier than thou, I probably exaggerate any advantages here. i know i have to accompany my Dad on any medical appointment or they simply will not listen to him. If we want to feel lucky, go the the latimes.com site today for an article on medical care in China.

[greybeard]

Just wanted to add, Tetracyclone, that you shouldn't feel sorry for us poor Brits for having to survive with the NHS. You really shouldn't believe all the stories in the press.

Clara could of course have consulted a chiropractor or osteopath. There are hundreds of them around. Many of us probably use one regularly, and their charges are usually very reasonable. Of course they may offer a different service elsewhere in the world but in the UK they are not, however, the natural or sensible first choice for dealing with acute trauma injuries.

The NHS, for all its perceived faults, still offers a first class service for acute injury diagnosis and treatment ....... and cost zilch, at the point of service, whatever the financial or social status of the patient. Medical need dictates the treatment, not the profit factor dictated by insurance companies. But I'm glad you are happy with a different system.

[Tetracyclone]

GB,
I did fall into the vat of look-over-there rhetoric, didn't I? I much admire MOST national health services and was very happy to have had my own medical care under the Taiwanese system. What sucks the worst is NEEDING medical care.

[adaptiveone]

best suggestion I have is keep a mirror by the bed and inspect yourself regularly! The biggest scare I had was when a huge bursa popped up around T5. I am a T2 and between pulled groin, twisted knee, broke toes this by far was the one that really scared me. Turned out just wait two weeks and it goes away. Whew!

[The Black Sheep]

I had a similar experience about a year ago and it scared the be-jeezers out of me. I didn't have an accident or fall, so it might be completely different. I took a nap and my feet began to fall asleep. I had a very bad head ache and I remember my legs were tingling. All of this started with (I think) a bruise on my back from a trampoline fall a few days earlier. Last year, I had the same headache, a pinch in my neck and my fingers were tingling. I think the worst possible nightmare for me would be a re-occurrence of transverse myelitis, which some people have had. Thankfully nothing worse happened, but it was just like I remembered when I was first paralyzed.

The tingling and pinching pain were what I think were the most obvious signs something was wrong, in my case. If you have weakness in your hands or limbs, whatever you might still have sensation in, that would really worry me. I had a very bad headache right before I was paralyzed, and the doctor had said it was because the swelling was strangling the cord and the fluid was adding pressure in my skull... or if the spinal fluid drains, like right after a spinal tap, that can cause a severe headache too.

I dunno, but those are the things that really worry my about a re-occurence - the tingles and the head/back pain. I hate asking my doctor or WebMD questions because they always ask "Do you have pain, numbness, loss of movement?"... yes, but that's been normal for the last 11 years.