Calling all medics

[InspectorRebus]

Right, DH managed to shut his own arm in the living room door - he basically had his hand in the handle on the wrong side and pulled ti shut on himself.

He says it was not hard, not sore, and he has no idea quite how he managed it.

It swelled up a lot instantly (he never mentioned it till this morning) and is spectacularly black and blue.

It is now a little puffy around the bruise, but entirely mobile and hardly any pain.

The bruising is approximatley half way up his forearm and the full width of this wrist.

He is on warfarin, which prbably accounts for the bruising.

Can he have done himself any kind of serius injury, with minimal pain? A worried about a giant blood bruise or something.

If its not painful and it's working properly, then I wouldn't worry.

That's what I thought

Eek, just realise this is not in chat.

Pic on profile now, this was the tiniest bump ever.

Is his INR closely monitored? Is he due at anticoagulant clinic soon? If not - might be worth getting a sooner appt

OP I think your profile is private so can't see the pic, but I'd agree with Heebie that if it's working ok and not too sore, it's probably ok. If that changes over the next day or two get him checked over.

The mind boggles at quite how he managed that one though!

Because he's on warfarin I would get him to get someone to cast an eye on it. Just to be safe. If he's ok in himself but monitor overnight and get himself along to his gp tomorrow

His INR is checked once a mnth, they are very good.

Ps pic should be visible now.

His blood will still take longer to clot than someone not on warfarin so I would get any bruising checked by gp or practice nurse to make sure no haematomas have formed

Thank you.

He is at a heart gym in the morning, I may advise him to pop round to minor injuries while there. Whether he will go or not, that's another question.

Because he is on warfarin he should really get it checked, just to be safe like fled said

Not a medic but my FIL is on warfarin and always gets spectacular bruises from the tiniest bump. I would get the bruise checked out just in case, but I wouldn't worry about it.

Red flags - severe pain, swelling that persists/comes back/gets worse, numbness or pins&needles in his hand (particularly in the thumb and first 2 fingers on the palm side), inability to clench his fist, inability to move his thumb across his palm to touch his little finger (moving little finger only doesn't count, has to be the thumb that moves).

If he has none of those then he doesn't need to worry (except about the ability to shut his wrist in a door!) - any of the above signs and he might have ongoing bleeding or pressure on his median nerve.

Patients on warfarin always bruise spectacularly and it spreads up between the skin layers so the bruises look huge!

Thank you all