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It starts with long hair (not mine). Which clogs the drain. Which makes the water not go down. Which means a soapy residue on the tub. Which gets slippery when you turn on the shower. (I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll die...)
All of this leads to me slipping on the way into the shower and whacking my shin into the tub. Really, really hard. Smart person that I am, I had my shower before going for ice. I think I actually went into mild shock. I haven't had something hurt that badly in a long, long time. Huge, ugly welts, all down my shin.
That was two and a half weeks ago, and the bruises are still visible, there's still a bit of puffiness, and I get occasional twinges of pain. One of my clients kicked me last night by accident. It hurt like the Dickens for the rest of the evening. I've had long-lasting bruises before (though not with the ongoing pain), and my legs are pretty vulnerable to bruising - wheelchairs are surprisingly easy to run into - but I've been careful to not add to these particular bruises, so I know that they're the same ones, not new ones in the same spot.
Is it possible that I bruised the bone? Can one even bruise a bone? What about little cracks? (I've been biking and walking on it since slipping, so I'm assuming I didn't actually crack the bone.)
Has anyone else had bruises like these? Horror stories of awful bruises might make mine seem less horrible. Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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The inflammatory swelling from intense bruising can cause long-lasting shin splints, with or without accompanying stress fracture(s).
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Bad bruises can indeed take weeks and weeks to fully heal. The puffiness is of more concern, I think. If it were me, I think I'd call my doctor (assuming I had one) and see if she thought I needed to be seen.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:That was two and a half weeks ago, and the bruises are still visible, there's still a bit of puffiness, and I get occasional twinges of pain. One of my clients kicked me last night by accident. It hurt like the Dickens for the rest of the evening. I've had long-lasting bruises before
My shin got fallen on once and there was a mark that lasted for more than six months. I could feel that there was a lump beneath the skin on the bone there for that long, I mean.
I doubt I actually broken the bone at all because I could walk without pain. It eventually healed completely. I assumed it was just a very deep bruise.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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If it lasts more than a few weeks you definitely bruised the bone.
When I was like 14 I bruised one of my bones in my foot. I couldn't move very much, and it was bruised like that for almost a month. I ended up having to quit boxing because when I came back, my mobility was so out of touch compared to what it had used to be.
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2006
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Once I managed to run full-speed into the corner of a table. The bruise on the fleshy part of my hip lasted about two months, and there was a noticable discolouration there for 6 months longer, give or take. No bone was there to be bruised, but it didn't continue to hurt like this one.
I bruise really easily. It's kind of sad, really.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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The bruise on the shin hurts more because there was no soft tissue for the blood to go in to. A bruise on your tuchis tends not to hurt as much, plenty of area for the blood that comes rushing to help repair damage.
Plus the bone itself is maybe bruised too, not just the tissue on top of the shinbone, and bones take longer to repair than simple tissue.
Rule of thumb (especialy for areas with no place to expand like knees and skulls) 30 minutes of an ice pack (not three...not ten....ok maybe you could get away with 20 minutes. Cold bowl of water with ice cubes floating in it is ok substitute. Cold can of soda great emergency replacement.) kepp ice on bruised area for 20-30 minutes. Take aspirin if you can right away. All of this helps to reduce swelling and tenderness in the days to come.
Next day apply a gentle warmth. Does not have to be a heating pad, that can be too much heat, but the warmth of your hand is enough. Warmth (not to be applied until 24 hours or more after the bruise is inflicted) helps the absorption of the blood in the bruised area.
So...bruise your arm on the office fax machine? Get a cold can of soda and hold to the affected area. Can usually be done disreetly enough you could do in a meeting. Next day, get a cup of coffee, and hold that to the bruise. 3 days, all better! Posts: 15 | Registered: Apr 2007
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lol, I know how to treat a bruise. I don't usually bother until it's a painful one like this. I've found livid purple bruises on my legs many times in the past and had no memory of getting them. My roommate laughs at me when we go swimming. Fluorescent light makes them look even worse.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Off the top of my head (IANAMD) Aspirin doesn't sound like a great idea for a bruise. For one, it's not as good an anti-inflammatory as, say, Ibuprofin (my drug of choice in these kinds of situations). For another it thins the blood and prevents clotting. Anyone with real medical training care to weigh in?
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
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A couple of weeks ago I burned my finger when I grabbed a pot that was on the stove and my index finger touched the burning metal. The burn has healed since, but right in the middle of the burn there's a cut that I guess I got by straightening my finger when the skin wouldn't stretch. The cut has not healed and does not seem to want to even begin healing. This makes it extremely painful when I shake hands with anyone or I try to hold something.
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I get mystery bruises that last forever all the time.
My most spectacular bruise ever has to be the one I got when I broke my right baby toe in a dozen or more places and dislocated at least a couple or so joints. The bruise covered my entire foot and past my ankle by a couple of inches. Blue blue blue and purple, fading - eventually - to glorious shades of green. That lasted for, oh, months. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I jammed my middle finger in my sleep a couple days ago. The first day it was just stiff. Yesterday it had started to hurt and was swollen. My sig-o had me put ice on it, and I swear it made it worse.
I had to get up about 4 this morning, take some ibeprofin, and put more ice on it. Now it's stiff and doesn't want to move. It's the knuckle that meets the hand, too, so the entire finger doesn't want to move.
On the bright side, it's not the hand I write with. Small blessings, as it were.
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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I was in a car accident in fourth grade that resulted in red, blotchy bruises all down my chest where my seatbelt was. The redness lasted for a couple of months, and it hurt to breathe. Then they turned into blue/purple/green bruises after that. But I got out of PE for months!
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I got bit on the arm by a german shepherd a couple weeks ago. It didn't really puncture the skin, aside from a minor scratch, but it did give me a gigantic bruise. It went from a pale shade of blue to a shocking yellow that made me think my arm was going to fall off, then back to blue and pale red, and has now all but disappeared. All that remains are a couple splotches of brownish discoloration.
Posts: 1855 | Registered: Mar 2003
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