Effects of head injury or just anxiety?

[bakayaro]

Hi,

Two weeks ago, I was in a car in the seat behind the driver. Just when the driver was about to take a turn, I decided to shift my position from the seat behind him to the other one to have more leg space. Just as I was standing up, he was taking the turn, and he didn't see that in the middle of the road there was a trash can. So when he finally saw it, he suddenly slammed the breaks, and I fell and hit my head on the soft head prop of the chair in front (hit the top of my head basically, the part you would see if you were looking at me from above). I don't think it was a big hit since I remember my glasses stayed on as I fell. I didn't lose consciousness or blackout. It didn't hurt much since the thing was soft, but I was somewhat shaken/shocked. Of course the driver apologised, and we continued the journey. I don't know if it was just because I became paranoid/anxious about it immediately, but I think that I did feel a sort of pressure around the area for awhile after. The hit left no bruise, like if I touched the area of my head where I got hit, I wouldn't feel any soreness, pain or bump any of the following days.

For a week I had no symptoms, apart from just being anxious from time to time about it. Then one day I felt a kind of pressure sensation behind my eyes, or in the middle of my eyes. It's been another week now, and the sensation came and went several times.I don't know if it's because I've been using the computer more... It's never been strong, but I did notice it. It didn't stop me from continuing to do whatever activities I was doing (as in it was just there, it wasn't anywhere near being painful enough to be debilitating). I'm wondering if this is just from my anxiety about the hit especially considering that I didn't blackout, didn't lose consciousness, and was perfectly fine immediately after the hit. The speed of the car couldn't have been very great since he was just taking a turn. The pain is also in a completely different region from where I hit my head. Could this be from the hit? It worries me a lot, but most of the time when I can be entirely rational about it, I do think it is just my anxiety. Please let me know on more expert opinions!

Regards,
Bakayaro.

[bakayaro]

I've made an appointment, but I'm quite sure most people wouldn't bother to go who were in my case (only because I have anxiety problems do I get so worried). Rationally there's no justifiable reason. If I was really (seriously) injured chances are that I would have known by now. I mean what can the doctor do? He'll ask me to tell him the same story I wrote here. He will most likely not ask for a CT scan cause it's been quite awhile already, I'm young, and there's not much that it can show, especially in the absence of symptoms which are serious enough. He'll send me home and tell me to take some pill whenever i have my headache.

Really any serious injury apart from a chronic subdural hematoma would have manifested for certain by now. And the latter is extremely unlikely at my age... it's more frequent in old people, where the brain has shrunk, and a mild head injury causes some slow bleeding, which doesn't stop and over a few weeks accumulates to put on sufficient intracranial pressure on the brain to cause symptoms. What is more likely in my age is an acute subdural hematoma if anything, and that would have manifested within 6-12 hours and I would not be alive by now if that had been the case.

[AKC_75]

Whiplash was only an example.

At this point you do not know if you were injured or not. I would still seek medical attention. I am not saying run off to the ER but, making a doctor appt would be my advice.

[bakayaro]

Really? There's no symptoms of whiplash, nor were there any kind of symptoms the first week. If I had developed whiplash I would have had symptoms, I wouldn't have been able to play sports, and do running like everyday for one week after...Symptoms of whiplash develop 6-12hrs after the accident. I had none. This has been more than two weeks since the accident at this point...

[AKC_75]

Hi and welcome to the Migraines & Headaches Community.

You need to seek medical attention. Even though it was a soft surface it could have made your neck bend to where you developed whiplash. There is just no telling what it could be and you need to get checked out asap!