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Children's health

Is this true about bumps on the head?

16 replies

LynetteScavo · 16/10/2009 18:23

That it's better to get a great big "goose egg" bump, than no bump at all?

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goingtohaveagoodnightssleep · 16/10/2009 18:24

I guess it's better for the swelling to be external rather than internal.

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theyoungvisiter · 16/10/2009 18:27

I'm not a medic but I think that's rubbish. It's not like there's a choice between internal and external swelling, is it?

If you get internal swelling you get internal swelling regardless of what's going on on the outside of the skull. It's not like the swelling inside the skull can escape to create an external lump - or at least not unless the skull is cracked, and if that happens you've got serious worries anyway.

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LynetteScavo · 16/10/2009 18:57

Sofar it's one all.

I need more opinions!

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theyoungvisiter · 16/10/2009 19:15

I think my point is that a bump only tells you what has happened to the outside of the skull. It's not a reassuring sign that there is no internal injury - how could it be?

It's possible to get brain injury without a bump (like with shaken baby syndrome) and it's possible to get a bump without brain injury (like... well... all the time!)

If anything, lack of a bump is probably a positive sign in that if the impact was too slight to cause a bump, it probably wasn't that serious.

In all the "should I worry about my child's head bump" tables on the web, the presence of a bump is never mentioned as a reassuring sign!

I think a bump shows they've hit their head - nothing more, nothing less. But hey, I'm not a doctor so perfectly willing to be told otherwise by someone qualified

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theyoungvisiter · 16/10/2009 19:17

is this related to a RL dilemma by the way? Or just curiosity?

(nosey? moi?)

Now I want a medic to come and tell me I'm right the real facts.

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nellie12 · 16/10/2009 19:20

If its a hard bump I would rather see an egg on the outside of the head as there is somewhere for the swelling to go if you follow.
If the swelling is inside the skull it can only swell by squashing the brain which is not good at all. (this is what happens with haemorrhage)

However the important thing with all bumps on the head is what the person is like afterwards i.e. nausea, drowsiness, confusion all merit A&E.

If this is rl and not curiosity then go and be seen.

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LynetteScavo · 16/10/2009 19:27

Yes, RL!

DD came out of school with a HUGE bump on her forehead, which happened at morning break. I marched back in to ask what had happened, and was told it's good to have a bump on the out side. (Somehting I'd never heard before)

Then after tea she fell off a kithen stool and banged the back of her head, and now has an egg on the back of her head too!

In 10.5 years of parenting none of my children have had "eggs" on their head, and now two in one day!

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LynetteScavo · 16/10/2009 19:28

She's fine in herself, BTW.

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theyoungvisiter · 16/10/2009 19:30

Oh dear - so sorry it's a RL thing.

You've probably looked at NHS direct, but they have quite a useful page on when to worry [[http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Head-injury-minor/Pages/Symptoms.aspx here] with a list of symptoms that should be checked out immediately.

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theyoungvisiter · 16/10/2009 19:31

sorry, crappy link. This is the page I was trying to link to:

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Head-injury-minor/Pages/Symptoms.aspx

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Kerrymumbles · 16/10/2009 19:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

theyoungvisiter · 16/10/2009 19:34

"If its a hard bump I would rather see an egg on the outside of the head as there is somewhere for the swelling to go if you follow.
If the swelling is inside the skull it can only swell by squashing the brain which is not good at all. (this is what happens with haemorrhage)"

Yes, obviously external swelling is preferable to internal swelling.

But external swelling doesn't mean that internal swelling isn't present. It doesn't tell you anything about what's going on inside the skull.

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theyoungvisiter · 16/10/2009 19:38

argggg sorry to bang on about this but how can a bump POSSIBLY mean that "the swelling is not going in"?

Swelling on the brain is not caused by fluid on the outside seeping in. For that to happen there would have to be a crack in the skull!

Swelling of the brain is caused by trauma to the brain itself.

Swelling on the outside means that the skin is bruised - that's all.

Worrying symptoms should be checked out regardless of whether there's a bump or not!

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LynetteScavo · 16/10/2009 19:47

I'm with you, theyoungvisitor...I don't think a bump is a good sign or a bad sign.

And why did I have to sign an accident book at nursery, but not at school? Or is that another thread?

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nellie12 · 16/10/2009 20:48

theyoungvisitor - you can't tell whether there is internal swelling on the brain by the way a bump presents hence the reason for looking at the patient and seeing how they are.
Which if you'd bothered to cut and paste the rest of my post you would see that I thought that to be more important.

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theyoungvisiter · 16/10/2009 22:51

Nellie. Of course I read your post in its entirety and I appreciate your final point - I C&Ped the part that I wanted to comment on because I felt it needed clarifying.

The first sentence of your post had an implication (in the context of Lynette's question) that a visible bump was somehow preferable to no bump and a reassuring sign that no internal swelling was taking place.

I was questioning whether this was correct.

If that's not what you meant to say then feel free to clarify your original point, but there's no need to get shirty with me for questioning a specific aspect of how your post came across.

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