Hi
A week ago I was bending down to pick something up at home, when I brought myself back up, I did it reasonably fast as if there was nothing around me. However, I ended up hitting the top of my head on a metal door handle (the door was shut so it stayed put and didn't move with my head)
The pain was terrible, all across the top of my head, infact I cried. Later the top of my head was still feeling sore. However, I developed a pain around my eyes like sinusitis and a feeling of having a 5kg sack of potatos pushing down on my head. I just didn't feel too good, but thought it wasn't serious as just 'a small bump on the head'. My nose ran later, not sure if that's relevant.
I was still feeling terrible in the evening, I'd taken some pain killers for the headaches. When I woke the next day I felt like I had the 5kg sack of potatos on my head again, only a bit more in the forehead this time, but still pushing down. I also had a feeling of pressure in my head. The headaches were still there. I even had a loud ringing in my ears(just the next day)
As time went on I the soreness on the top of my head seemed to decrease, but I had pain in my temples, round my eyes/nose and at the back of my head. I had leg cramp in the night a couple of days after the bump.
Then a couple of days later I had to take the bus to town, the bus braked hard to avoid a car at a roundabout. I was standing holding a vertical metal bar, thrown about a bit, had to use my arm/shoulder to protect my face from hittting the bar or perspex partition and the metal bar hit me in the chest. I was shaking when I got off the bus, but calmed down within an hour or so and although it wasn't very pleasant I didn't think too much about it. I had two sets of leg cramps that night (which i haven't had for years)
The pain in my head continued a dull pain and heavy feeling all the time, with some sharp shooting pains from time to time. I started to realise that I was talking a bit slower than usual, felt thick headed, struggling at times to recall a word needed to complete a sentence and even having to make 3 attempts at saying a word. I felt disorientated, slow and a bit stupid. I also felt like I just wanted to stay in bed and had been feeling a bit sick the last couple of days.
I had thought about seeing the doctor before, but felt silly about it, then when I tried to go, I arrived too late twice. Then when I finally went yesterday, my doc was away and I had to go elsewhere. I told the doc about what had happened. He took my blood pressure, looked at the top of my head and said he could not see any cut or bruise. He told me to keep taking paracetamol, then gave me some ibuprofen due to the fact that I had discomfort inmy neck and shoulder (which he assumed was from the bus incident) He then told me to go for a brain scan. I've also had a strange twitching in 2 or 3 of my fingers (the middle ones) on my right hand and a strange sensation.
The dull sensation is still there in my head, last night I had a seriously painful shooting pain in my left temple, coupled with the feeling of something expanding like a vein or something (that's just what it felt like not saying that's actually what it was) I still just don't feel right.
The thing is, I am now afraid to have the scan, I didn't realise that it involved injecting iodine into my vein nor that the scan can be the equivalent of upto a 1000 chest x-rays, that this type of scan causes cancer... I don't like the idea at all. Perhaps an MRI would be better? However, I've now been told that is like a high concentration of mobile phone, which is also not good.
Is it worth having a scan after 1 or 2 weeks since the head injury? If so which is safest? Which is the best in my case? I'm already distresses by my symptoms, but the thought of the scan is just not helping. I'm lost. The top of my head is sore again today, temples hurting, sinus pain and it seems like I have a lump at the back/bottom of my skull, it doesn't hurt when I press it?
Many Thanks.