Questionable Questing

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pepperjack

Is there someone around who can get you to a doctor?

Plotvitalnpc

At this time of night, not really. I'll be staying up through the night then going in to a doctor in the morning.

pepperjack

If you're somehow 100% certain there's no spinal injury to go along with that concussion, that's a workable plan. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure you're meant to stay perfectly still until the doctor comes to you.

pepperjack

At the very least, I hope someone can stay up with you.

Plotvitalnpc

The impact was on the back of my head, but I'm not sure if that would make spinal injury more or less likely.

Plotvitalnpc

Unfortunately, neither of the others here really can.

pepperjack

Yeah, me neither. All I know is that the first aid advice is to *assume* that whoever you just witnessed experiencing head trauma suffered spinal damage as well (and therefore to immobilize the head until help arrives), since the opposite assumption is, pretty much by definition, riskier.

pepperjack

And I guess there's reason not to call for an ambulance, or you'd have done it.

Plotvitalnpc

Honestly, calling for an ambulance is probably the smart option here.

pepperjack

The only other advice I'm finding (that doesn't rely on having someone there with you to check periodically that you're still responsive and so on) is that Tylenol is a better choice for pain relief than Ibuprofin or Advil, since the latter two can sometimes increase bleeding.

pepperjack

Yes, please do call one if that is at all a possibility. I understand that it can end up being expensive depending on your situation, and that not all concussions turn out to be terribly serious emergencies, but even so.

pepperjack

I mean, particularly given that it sounds like no one's going to be able to keep an eye on you overnight, and given that concussion symptoms have been known to suddenly worsen hours after the injury, it just seems like the thing to do.

daniel_gudman

If you want to get to the hospital but don't want to spring for an ambulance, and you don't have a friend that can drive you, couldn't you, like, call a cab and have them drive you to the ER? I mean if you're not worried that it's urgent enough to need an ambulance.

pepperjack

I mean, the ambulance is still preferable due to the medical professionals and medical equipment it comes with, but I suppose that's also a possibility.

Ambulance is a smoother ride, too. Quite by design.

Plotvitalnpc

Unfortunately, my brother is being buoyed by some fucking literature that says you should only treat visibly catastrophic concussions as immediate cause to call an ambulance, and that standard procedure should be to just see your doctor.

Plotvitalnpc

Literature which /doesn't/ advise the assumption of neck damage, or treating a concussion in itself as cause for immediate alarm.

pepperjack

I've been going by this:

https://www.cprcertified.com/blog/how-to-treat-concussion

pepperjack

Given that "concussion" is basically "your brain bounced around inside your skull and now it's bruising," I'd personally consider that some fucking cause for immediate alarm, but hey, what do I know.

Plotvitalnpc

Yeah, kinda pissed at him right now.

pepperjack

I don't mean to be alarmist, and I get that I can't really know your situation since I'm way over here on the other side of the internet. You could wait until the morning, and see the doctor, and it could be totally fine.

It just makes me hella nervous to know that you'd be dealing with a fresh concussion all alone for hours.