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Helmet just saved life...

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  • 29-06-2012 11:07pm
    #1
    ck101
    Registered Users Posts: 182 ✭✭


    After a hard spin this evening in North County Dublin, 9.00pm & I was coming back into Swords on the Ashbourne Road when a momentary lapse of concentration at only 15mph (reaching down to insert bottle) sent me into the kerb. A dramatic effort to retrieve the situation and a blow out sent me down on my right side, head & hip smashing off the ground.

    The head impact was significant my 3 month old Spuik Nexion took the impact breaking all the way through.

    Right now I've got that shook up whiplash feeling and a mild headache. Also nursing the ego over the fact my mistske has set me back a new tyre, helmet and left some bad scrapes on the new bike.

    Thank god for the helmet without which I would be without doubt be sitting on a chair in Beaumount waiting on a scan with a head injury.

    On thing that amazed me was many motorists and a lady walking a dog passed by and failed to stop to help.


«13456

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    #2
    MarkR
    Moderators, Regional Midwest Moderators Posts: 11,062 Mod ✭✭✭✭MarkR


    Perhaps you should get checked out after that. Hard enough to break a helmet sounds nasty.


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    #3
    Mint Sauce
    Registered Users Posts: 29,294 ✭✭✭✭Mint Sauce


    Glad to see you here to post that.

    Take it easy my friend.

    ;)


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    #4
    dited
    Registered Users Posts: 257 ✭✭dited


    MarkR wrote: »
    Perhaps you should get checked out after that. Hard enough to break a helmet sounds nasty.

    +1
    Definitely worth getting that looked at asap - on the bright side, if you leave now you might beat the Friday night rush ;)


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    #5
    Lumen
    Registered Users Posts: 31,016 ✭✭✭✭Lumen


    Head injuries are bad. At the very least don't be on your own.


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    #6
    Beasty
    Administrators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 75,533 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Beasty


    Seriously OP, get yourself checked out. I had a bad injury (3 years ago tomorrow actually). At the scene I apparently appeared very lucid, gave details of the accident, provided full details of my next of kin (who were away on holiday at the time), but to this day I cannot remember any of that. I'm just going on what I was told after the event. My first memory is coming out of the scanner at Beaumont Hospital about 2 hours later


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    #7
    daenerysstormborn3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3


    Not meaning to frighten you but head injuries are one of those things that might not pop up until hours later. You should try get yourself to a doctor or the hospital just to be sure.


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    #8
    ford2600
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,457 ✭✭✭ford2600


    Had concussion on 3 occasions, playing football, no joke get checked to be sure.
    Get someone to stay with with you, watch for vomitting, blurred vision and nausea. Also get someone to wake you in middle of night.
    That's what they told me in A & E, as far as I remember....;)
    ck101 wrote: »
    After a hard spin this evening in North County Dublin, 9.00pm & I was coming back into Swords on the Ashbourne Road when a momentary lapse of concentration at only 15mph (reaching down to insert bottle) sent me into the kerb. A dramatic effort to retrieve the situation and a blow out sent me down on my right side, head & hip smashing off the ground.

    The head impact was significant my 3 month old Spuik Nexion took the impact breaking all the way through.

    Right now I've got that shook up whiplash feeling and a mild headache. Also nursing the ego over the fact my mistske has set me back a new tyre, helmet and left some bad scrapes on the new bike.

    Thank god for the helmet without which I would be without doubt be sitting on a chair in Beaumount waiting on a scan with a head injury.

    On thing that amazed me was many motorists and a lady walking a dog passed by and failed to stop to help.


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    #9
    ck101
    Registered Users Posts: 182 ✭✭ck101


    Yikes, I knew this would be the reaction, consulting with the missus now re next steps. The kind Taxi driver (& allowed bike on back seat in new car) who took me home gave me the same talk.

    I'll keep you posted.


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    #10
    ck101
    Registered Users Posts: 182 ✭✭ck101


    Right, after reviewing the list of possible symptoms on the American Brain Injury site (none of which I have, other than a mild headache which could be related to the state I generally get myself into after a long ride, they say severe headache) on the Web we have decided to self diagnose and keep an eye on things.

    Fingers crossed and all that. Thanks for the advice all, hope you are wrong.


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    #11
    el Bastardo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 573 ✭✭✭el Bastardo


    Thankfully I'm a lefty and anytime that's happened to me, I've really only suffered a beaten elbow (It's always the right arm, which I don't really 'need' anyway! :D)

    Best of luck though, in saying that!


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    #12
    Mycroft H
    Registered Users Posts: 9,316 ✭✭✭Mycroft H


    ck101 wrote: »

    Right now I've got that shook up whiplash feeling and a mild headache. Also nursing the ego over the fact my mistske has set me back a new tyre, helmet and left some bad scrapes on the new bike.

    Off to your GP tomorrow morning, don't mess about with head injuries. If and ambulance had arrived they probably would have bundled you with a head collar and off on a spinal board.

    Take it from an emt to get it checked out pronto.


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    #13
    Jawgap
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,297 ✭✭✭✭Jawgap


    ck101 wrote: »
    Yikes, I knew this would be the reaction, consulting with the missus now re next steps. The kind Taxi driver (& allowed bike on back seat in new car) who took me home gave me the same talk.

    I'll keep you posted.

    Feckin' taxi drivers! The same happened to me when I had a tumble, a taxi driver was the first to stop and help - don't they realise they have a stereotype to live up to?
    ck101 wrote: »
    Right, after reviewing the list of possible symptoms on the American Brain Injury site (none of which I have, other than a mild headache which could be related to the state I generally get myself into after a long ride, they say severe headache) on the Web we have decided to self diagnose and keep an eye on things.

    Fingers crossed and all that. Thanks for the advice all, hope you are wrong.


    Seriously, unless yor wife is a doctor or nurse, you should get yorself looked at properly. Head injuries aside, you also mentioned whiplash and who knows what other damage you might have done.


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    #14
    ustazjoseph
    Registered Users Posts: 181 ✭✭ustazjoseph


    Sympathies.Ive always been casual about my helmet. but ....

    had a similar experience to you a fortnight ago.Been to the hospital 3 times. I'm typing one handed-broken collar bone - lots of pain,discomfort, regret (no rok cycle this year) and shame.But the helmet split. if i had nt been wearing it it could have been a different story. I knocked my mate - his head hit a wall. rest - watch for a crash 2-3 days on. stay well.


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    #15
    galwaycyclist
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,913 ✭✭✭galwaycyclist


    Op if your helmet split then likely all it prevented was a scalp injury. The brain injury prevention is supposed to happen through the liner crushing. If it split it didn't do that part of its job.


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    #16
    Gillo
    Registered Users Posts: 5,566 ✭✭✭Gillo


    Glad to hear you are okish op.
    From recent experience with a friend who was getting bad headaches, which turned out to be a clot on his brain, the slightest knock to the head I'd certainly get checked out.

    In time OP, any chance of posting photos of the remains of the helmet? Part curiosity on my part but more importantly it'd be to best response to people asking "Do I really need on? It makes me like stupid"


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    #17
    mcmoustache
    Registered Users Posts: 7,237 ✭✭✭mcmoustache


    Gillo wrote: »
    ... more importantly it'd be to best response to people asking "Do I really need on? It makes me like stupid"

    Oh, here we go.


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    #18
    kendragon
    Registered Users Posts: 885 ✭✭✭kendragon


    I'm going to reiterate what people are saying here OP. Get it checked out. Regardless of how you are currently feeling. I've known people who have had knocks to the head from less traumatic falls that ended very badly for them. Its just not worth the risk.


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    #19
    tomasrojo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,744 ✭✭✭✭tomasrojo


    kendragon wrote: »
    I'm going to reiterate what people are saying here OP. Get it checked out. Regardless of how you are currently feeling. I've known people who have had knocks to the head from less traumatic falls that ended very badly for them. Its just not worth the risk.

    Yes; OP, see a doctor. You really are not the best judge of whether or not you have sustained a significant head injury. (The Helmet Thread stuff I'll treat as irrelevant for now.)


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    #20
    galwaycyclist
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,913 ✭✭✭galwaycyclist


    tomasrojo wrote: »
    Yes; OP, see a doctor. You really are not the best judge of whether or not you have sustained a significant head injury. (The Helmet Thread stuff I'll treat as irrelevant for now.)

    Backing up this advice. Just because your scalp and skull are intact it doesn't mean that you haven't sustained some form of brain injury.


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    #21
    kincsem
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,013 ✭✭✭kincsem


    Order a new helmet today. I did when I smashed mine, head first onto concrete.
    Bad situation but a good result. Relax with a nice cup of tea and count your blessings.


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    #22
    dougal01
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 30 ✭dougal01


    jesus go and get checked asap just shows how inportein helmets really are take it easy[


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    #23
    tomasrojo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,744 ✭✭✭✭tomasrojo


    Gillo wrote: »
    the slightest knock to the head I'd certainly get checked out.

    When I did a first-aid course, that isn't quite the advice they gave.

    However, if you have had an impact to your head that leads you to believe, as stated in the thread title, that you would have died without a helmet (a conjecture I am not going to address one way or the other, as we have many and long threads that already cover that), then it probably isn't a slight knock to the head.

    So, again, OP, see a doctor.


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    #24
    ck101
    Registered Users Posts: 182 ✭✭ck101


    Ok after all the good advice here I got myself to DDoc on Saturday. I didn't fancy sitting it out in Beaumont.

    Maybe the "saved my life bit" might have been a tad OTT but a smack down onto Concrete at 28kmh (last speed shown on Garmin)without a helmet impacting the side of the head would for certain ruin the day.

    Mild concussion and soft tissue injury (whiplash) diagnosed, want to see me again on Tuesday. Still feeling terrible, the sore neck is the worst, can't see myself getting out for a week or so.

    Now to deal with the bent deraileur hanger.


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    #25
    ck101
    Registered Users Posts: 182 ✭✭ck101


    Just thought I'd update this thread to let all that contributed know what happened next, on the Thursday of that week and nearly a full week since the accident I had blinding headaches and a general feeling of being out of it.

    I decided to get myself into Beaumont where after 8 hrs I was seen to, a Ct scan was ordered which happened a full 18hrs after I presented at A&E.

    I had just dropped nearly a grand on out patient heart related tests a few months previously (which VHI reimburse F all) so had a moral issue going private again.

    Anyway back to the head, the CT diagnosed a slight bruise (contusion) on the brain at the site of the impact.

    So good advice from all here to get checked out, the consultant at Beaumont maintained that if I did not have the helmet on we would be "having a totally different conversation most likely via the wife"

    Back to normal (i think) now and getting a lot of long spins in.


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    #26
    kendragon
    Registered Users Posts: 885 ✭✭✭kendragon


    Thanks for the follow up and thank goodness you're okay...

    EDIT: Or should I say thank science you're okay :)


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    #27
    monument
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 14,072 Mod ✭✭✭✭monument


    Ban bottles holders! Ban cycling when tired and distracted!

    OP: Doctors say / believe a lot of crazy claims they can't prove or don't have a clue about -- see the book Bad Science or the Guardian columns of the same name.

    Sure the helmet may have saved you from cuts etc, but for all we or the consultant knows the helmet could have led to or make the other injures worse than they would have been without a helmet.

    Another major issue is that even with many posters telling you to go see a doctor you were slow to do so -- I'm not trying to pick on you but yours is a good example of something that seems to happen a lot where people think their helmet saved from all damage when it really only saved them from visual damage, while the internal injuries go unchecked because nothing looks wrong.


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    #28
    Mycroft H
    Registered Users Posts: 9,316 ✭✭✭Mycroft H


    monument wrote: »
    Ban bottles holders! Ban cycling when tired and distracted!

    OP: Doctors say / believe a lot of crazy claims they can't prove or don't have a clue about -- see the book Bad Science or the Guardian columns of the same name.

    Sure the helmet may have saved you from cuts etc, but for all we or the consultant knows the helmet could have led to or make the other injures worse than they would have been without a helmet.

    Do we have to go here? Can we not leave it at that the helmet *might* have been beneficial in this particular situation and not rehash the entire helmet debate for the seventeen millionth time?


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    #29
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,811 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    monument wrote: »
    OP: Doctors say / believe a lot of crazy claims they can't prove or don't have a clue about -- see the book Bad Science or the Guardian columns of the same name.

    Sure the helmet may have saved you from cuts etc, but for all we or the consultant knows the helmet could have led to or make the other injures worse than they would have been without a helmet.
    where there is no major damage to a helmet you can argue about how much protection they offered but in this case The head impact was significant my 3 month old Spuik Nexion took the impact breaking all the way through.


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    #30
    monument
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 14,072 Mod ✭✭✭✭monument


    BX 19 wrote: »
    Do we have to go here? Can we not leave it at that the helmet *might* have been beneficial in this particular situation and not rehash the entire helmet debate for the seventeen millionth time?

    I would not have bother posting if the OP had said "the consultant at Beaumont said the helmet might have been beneficial". But according to the OP the consultant didn't say that -- rather the consultant insinuated that the helmet saved his life.

    And this is still a discussion forum...

    Capt'n Midnight wrote: »
    where there is no major damage to a helmet you can argue about how much protection they offered but in this case The head impact was significant my 3 month old Spuik Nexion took the impact breaking all the way through.

    To summarise this:

    Helmets are designed to compress / crack with less force that might cause brain injured, the ability of the styrofoam in a helmet to absorb force is unlike to make a sufficient difference to brain injuries, and a helmets could be a factor in causing impacts that otherwise may not have happened.


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    #31
    Qualitymark
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,824 ✭✭✭Qualitymark


    monument wrote: »
    I would not have bother posting if the OP had said "the consultant at Beaumont said the helmet might have been beneficial". But according to the OP the consultant didn't say that -- rather the consultant insinuated that the helmet saved his life.

    And this is still a discussion forum...

    Hey, OP, get your consultant in here to say the word.

    Glad you're ok.


This discussion has been closed.
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