In hospital abroad and so so scared

[sorehead123]

Earlier today I looked upwards while on a zip wire and immediately got a blinding pain in the back top of my head. This happened earlier this week but went away quite quickly and I thought it was stress as my ASD child was mid melt down.

My head felt like it was going to explode for maybe 20 minutes. It felt like I had been whacked round the back of the head.

Has now eased off but 3 hours later the pain in the back of my head is still there. Has turned into a more general bad headache feeling.

I'm abroad and called 111 in UK for advice. They advised I come to hospital and said possible brain haemorrhage which has frightened the life out of me.

My husband has taken the children for food and I am waiting alone. Im so frighted.

Hi op, hopefully it’s nothing serious, but 111 were correct to send you to hospital, as there is a small chance it’s something a bit more serious. I hope you are seen and sorted soon op.

Please stay there - you could wait a very long time for an appointment if you came back to UK.

I hope you're sorted very soon

I went head first (bullseye) into the floor of a swimming pool coming off the bottom of a slide at a water park and got what you described pretty much exactly except I lost movement in my neck too.

I went to A&E when I got home the next day as I couldn't move my neck (not even pain it just physically wouldn't move like a rod had replaced my spine) and they where exceptionally rude and refused to do anything. They literally said if its been over 12 hours and I can still walk theres nothing wrong.

After 8 hours a nurse saw me for all of one minute told me just from hearing what happen that I had 'Whiplash' and told me not to drive until I regained full movement and discharged me.

Its 4 years later, I still get the migraines when looking up (and my neck loudly audibly crunches) but I am still alive and kicking... definitely not a brain hemorrhage (most likely a compacted disc and nerve according to Dr. Google) in my case.

@sorehead123 I am pleased to hear you are in France. Do stay and wait for advice. It will be far more thorough and helpful than you are likely to get in the UK.

I lived in France for a while. Their health care is second to none. They will give you the best treatment. Hang in there.

@JusthereforXmas wow that's scary what happened to you and also shocking that they just didn't seem to care very much. I am sorry this happened to you

Wait to be seen Op - they have a great healthcare system.

Please stay - the french healthcare is excellent and you may as well rule out anything serious.

We are having dinner tonight with a man who had the thunderclap headache 10 years ago and it turned out to be a brain haemmorhage. He did just fine.

Definitely stay. You need the reassurance if nothing else. It sounds like a trapped nerve to me but I’m not medically trained (I do have a lot of joint issues etc though). Hopefully it’s nothing serious.

Good luck.
Try not to worry. You will get better treatment in France than you would in the UK.

good luck; it sounds terrifying. I have awful migraines at times, but never as sudden as that.

How did you ring 111 from abroad? I didn't know that was possible. I have heard good things about french health care too, and if you have your GHIC card that will help, plus hopefully travel insurance that covers everything.

I hope you can get an English speaking doctor or translator.

I trapped my occipital nerve and the pain came on suddenly and was excrutiating, it kept happening intermittently until I put my big girl pants on and saw a GP who prescribed a short course of naproxen and its never happened since. Fingers crossed you are seen soon and its a simple fix

How are you doing OP? I had a very similar thing happen to me when I was doing an overhead press at the gym. You have to kind of tilt your head back for that too. Mine turned out to be a trapped nerve and the pain went away in a few days but I also thought it was a hemorrhage. Hope you're ok

Thank you to @Ws2210 and @Dymaxion for your responses and how weird that this has happened to other s too. I am still waiting to be seen and doing ok, I took some ibuprofen which has helped the headache ease off a lot. It's still there but nothing like it was. I think there is only one person in front of me. This happened 7 hours ago so I am hoping if it was anything serious I would be feeling worse not better.

Really hoping they don't keep me in though. Rubbish way to spend a holiday and rubbish for my children.

Hope you get seen soon op - sounds scary but it's a good sign you're well enough to read and type.

Do you have you GHIC card with you?
Assume you have travel insurance ?

Can you describe the pain exactly for me. And the previous incidents of pain and I'll translate it for you to give to the doctor if you want.

I hope you are kept in for a brain scan.
It's nonsense that if it's a haemorrhage you die instantly.

It happened to me. I had a ruptured brain aneurysm which didn't kill me instantly and I was dismissed as having a migraine by 999. By day 3 I decided to see a doctor who sent me straight to a & e.
At first they couldn't locate it. I had surgery.

I really really hope you have a scan. It's very important they make sure.

Xxx

@Wallywobbles you are so kind. Thank you.

The pain came on very suddenly at approximately 3.30pm and was in the upper back of my head. It was a sharp pain and felt like I had been hit on the back of the head. Felt like pressure. It was very severe at first and was a sharp pain in the back of my head for 60 minutes.

The pain has gradually eased since and is now mild but I can still feel it.

No dizziness, sickness, vomiting or vision problems.

I also have what feels like a normal headache.

Ok a bit more detail like the quality of the pain. Mark out of 10. Any nausea?

And that this has happened before.

And the doctor in the UK told you to go to the hospital.

Sorry. Your first message is fine now I've read it properly.

La douleur est apparue très soudainement vers 15h30 et se situait dans la partie supérieure de l'arrière de la tête. C'était une douleur aiguë et j'avais l'impression d'avoir été frappé à l'arrière de la tête. J'ai eu l'impression d'une pression. La douleur a été très forte au début et est restée vive à l'arrière de la tête pendant 60 minutes.

La douleur s'est progressivement atténuée depuis et est maintenant légère, mais je la ressens toujours.

Pas de vertiges, de maladies, de vomissements ou de problèmes de vision.

J'ai également ce qui ressemble à un mal de tête normal.

Cela s'était déjà produit auparavant, mais cette fois-ci, c'était beaucoup plus grave.

Translated with DeepL (https://www.deepl.com/app/?utmsource=ios&utmmmedium=app&utmcampaign=share-translation

As you can see I used the DeepL app. It's a good option for decent translations.