Dd crying a lot tearful and upset after arm fracture (not in pain)

[NautaOcts]

Dd10 broke her forearm on Monday. She needed pain killers the first few days then the pain has eased. Yesterday she got a new cast at the fracture clinic and her arm is fixed at 90 degrees and the cast goes right up her upper arm nearly to her armpit

The last couple of nights she has become really tearful and upset in the evening/after bed time. Sobbing uncontrollably. She says she’s not in pain and she doesn’t know why she’s crying. This is really unusual for her and it’s been quite prolonged even when I’m lying next to her giving her a cuddle and reassuring her. Eventually then she’s fallen asleep.
I’m sure part of it is exhaustion and the end of the half term, but has anyone else seen this after a fracture/injury? Is it a sort of delayed shock reaction? The incident itself was during PE and she had a bad fall after she was knocked into by someone else and I think fell on her.

Bump

Think it’s probably the shock and tiredness. Healing takes loads out of you, plus the difficulty of managing with limited functionality.

Crying releases some of the stress hormones etc.

I would imagine that she probably is in pain, but maybe not the same sharp pain as when she first broke it. I'd be giving her painkillers for a few days regardless, personally.

But also, yes it's probably a bit of delayed shock now that the adrenaline has worn off. Hope she's feeling better soon x

may be overwhelming lying in bed trying to get comfortable with a cast on, after spending a day trying to figure out the new way to do things, things like that are mentally and emotionally draining, probably feels like it's going to be forever.

My daughter suffered a bad injury (not as significant as the break hour DD has but similar) and she was also teary which is not like her. She was also waking during the night really confused. I think it was shock and she got over it after a couple of days.

I hope your DD settles soon but I think it’s probably been a traumatic experience for her, understandably.

I fractured my arm at 7 and remember being really down about it. She's probably really down to. It's not much fun is it? Trying to sleep with it is crap to. Poor thing. Lots of love, cuddles, favourite food and spoiling is needed xx

We had this with a broken arm too.

Trying to get comfortable at night is when it's the most upsetting and annoying and stressful.

It's a big burden to have weeks ahead of you in plaster. And everything seems so much worse at night when you're tired and there's little hope of comfortable, undisturbed sleep.

Plus add to that hormones and the shock of it.

Totally understandable and normal I'd say.

I always have a few days of real annoyance at a new tattoo. And that's totally self inflicted.

Can't sleep as I normally would. Can't shower and bath normally. It disrupts life enough to knock you off quite a bit. Especially where normally relaxing activities become the stressful parts of the day.

Thank you all for your comments
It’s so hard to see her upset and it’s real full on loud crying too so her sisters have been upset hearing her.
I guess all I can do is continue with the cuddles and the reassurance.
As a pp suggested too I think I will insist on giving painkillers at night for a bit longer even if she says she doesn’t need them.

I had a couple of falls a while back and it does knock your confidence. I know in her case it was somebody knocking into her that caused the fall but she may well feel pretty vulnerable that it could happen again.

A bit of Trauma and feeling that your body isn't as it was. It's a strange displaced feeling that you can suppress quite easily in the day with distractions but not at night.
I remember the teary time at night as a child after I had broken my arm. Both my children were quite unsettled at night after fracturing arms needing a lot of reassurance and extra cuddles. I bought an extra cuddly fluffy blanket to wrap them up in to help.

I experienced this when I broke my leg as an adult. And so did DC2 when they broke their arm age 8 ish
It’s very common once the initial shock/adrenaline/novelty wears off and they realise this is it for the next 6 weeks. That seems such a long time when they are at the beginning of it. Maybe plan some nice things in to break up the time? Can godparents/grandparents Amazon over a small treat a few weeks in?

My daughter had a nasty break and was really not herself for a week after it. She didn’t cry a lot but really didn’t talk. I found it incredibly stressful and upsetting too, much more than I thought I would.

I think it’s a big deal for both parents and child, everything feels so out of control and of course they have the cast which feels weird. She probably just feels very vulnerable.

I think she might be ok in another few days.

It's not pain she's depressed xxx

But it will ease with time and as it heals. Its tough though xxx

Oh bless her. As others have said, it’s a release of emotion and healthy (for her at least - bloody traumatising for you!)

It’s quite a nasty shock to realise your body, your vessel through life, is broken. Yes, it will heal, but there is something primal about realising you’ve seriously damaged yourself.

Oops, posted too soon.

My DD badly broke her elbow when she was 7, requiring a hospital stay, surgery and some follow up. We found she wanted to retell the tale over and over again, I think to help build her narrative around it. We got her a photo album for all her photos, cards and hospital bands etc and she dictated her story to me to write in it (she’d managed to break her writing arm!) She read and reread it a lot and, some years later, will still pick it up occasionally and leaf through it. Bizarrely, she has quite positive memories of the whole experience now!

Just wondering if she was checked for concussion at the time? One of my DC had this kind of crying for no reason for a couple of weeks after a concussion.

She is also healing which is in itself tiring. She may need more rest and sleep than she would normally. Upping calcium intake can help.

I would also check with her that she’s managing to cope with day to day activities and not struggling and feeling too embarrassed to say. Eg going to loo, showering, dressing, shoelaces etc. When my sister was slightly older than your dd she needed help with the shower and washing her hair especially.

I would say shock too, sometimes it can be delayed.
Also, it must be very irritating to not be able to move your arm, or scratch it.

Ds had a small fracture at a little younger. It was so small it took us a week to realise that there was more to it than just hurt it playing football, and he continued as normal.

He was pale and tired for a couple of months and about 5 months later had tonsillitis badly and ended up with a rather nasty post viral fatigue. I do wonder if the broken bone took that much out of him that he was susceptible, but I can't prove anything.