Bad pain after a horrible fall

by Mary
(Binghamton NY)

I suffered a bad fall last week on the ice, living in upstate New York. I landed on my back and hit the back on my head very hard. Did not pass out but was crippled up where I could not get up for about 10 minutes. When I finally got up, I rolled to my left side and crawled to the dry stairs of my back door. I iced my head off and on all evening not even realizing how hard I jolted my body.
Now one week later, my head is still tender but I have terrible lower right abdominal pain, esp when I cough, sneeze or try to roll over in bed. It's stabbing pain that makes me tear up. What could it be?

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Hi Mary,

I am so sorry to "hear" of your fall on ice a week ago. I could visualize it as you described how it happened. It hurts.

I am glad to hear that you did not pass out.

Your main concern now is the terrible lower right abdominal pain worsened by coughing or sneezing or rolling over in bed that you are experiencing.

May I first of all ask:

1. How old are you?
   
2. Do you suffer with any ongoing medical condition?
   
3. Are you on any blood thinner like aspirin (ASA) or coumarin (Warfarin) Xarelto etc?
   
   
4. Do you also have pain just under or below your right breast or liver area?

Is there any bruising or swelling to area where you have pain?

If you answer no to the last three questions, then it is most likely that the cause of your continued pain after one week of falling on ice is either a muscle tear or from direct contusion or pounding to the right lower abdomen if you got hit directly at that specific site.

If you are 65 years or older or on any blood thinner, it would be strongly advised you go to see your doctor to examine you to exclude internal injury / bleed.

What are you using for pain?

Simple pain killers like Tylenol (acetaminophen) or Tylenol and Aleave (naproxen) could help.

It is perhaps worth mentioning here that depending on the severity of your injury, pain from muscle tear could last up to 6 to 8 weeks! But it should start getting better by the day.

What about seeing your doctor anyway to get checked and have some pain killers prescribed if stronger pain killers are required?

Thank you again for stopping by and using our free online resource here at abdopain.com. I hope you have found it useful.

Please do not hesitate to contact us, if there is any other way we could be of help.

Get well quick.

Good Health To You.


Dr Omatseye Edema MD MRCGP CCFP MSc DRCOG
Family Physician, Emergency Medicine Practitioner and WebMD
Abdopain.com.

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