Far too often we're worried we may come off looking like a hypochondriac, so we try our best to suck it up when medical issues arise. I WebMD and google map search for the closest ERs.... just in case the parchment cut I received on my index finger was from molded pages thereby infecting my wound and possibly leading to amputation. I'm astonished by the people who can fall off a cliff and just say, whoops, and not freak out internal injury. Get to a hospital.
Redditor u/Funeraldance42069 was wondering how many times we've all thought.... "I'm still breathing, so I'll just shake it off".... by asking.... What was your biggest "I'll walk it off" injury that turned out serious?Broken
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In March, a friend and I were bouldering and a bunch of rock broke. I fell 10-12ft onto rock, broke my leg & tore a ligament in my foot. My friend took a hilarious video of the whole thing. I walked 1/2 mile back to my car after making the assertion "I'd probably know if it was broken, right?"
Deaf
Not me but my dad. He had an ear infection so bad he couldn't hear out of one ear and was getting vertigo if he stood up. He's old school tho and figured he'd just lay in bed resting to let it heal.
Nah. Didn't really work.
That crap made him deaf in one ear and there's no fix. He's tried going to doctors and has gotten "the ear is complex, sometimes stuff happens we can't fix" and he's tried hearing aids but he's just deaf in that ear now forever.
Doctor said if he had gotten in within a few days they would have just given him steroids (I think) and it would have been a fairly successful fix.
So yea. If you go deaf in one ear, go see a doctor.
Wear Shorts
I broke my arm falling over my pants which were too long and landed with my arms straight out and fractured my elbow and radius in the left arm. Mom saw the swelling but didn't take me for 2 days. When doctors saw how bad it actually was they called CPS and we were both questioned separately because they thought I was being abused.
Up to the bunk
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2 broken wrists from running into a wall and using my hands to stop myself. My dad kept trying to get me to climb up onto a bunk bed. Only then did we realize my wrists weren't just bruised but both broken.
To Boulder or not to Boulder
I was bouldering in a gym. Couldn't get the last hold to top out the route. Fell from 15 feet 4 times that day. Last attempt I made the transition and touched the top of the wall before falling back to the mat. Hurt a bit but I was able to walk on so I headed out. Decided to take the offer of someone else driving me home. Got home and climbed the stairs like a toddler to crawl in to bed. Couldn't get comfortable so I called a friend to run me down to the doc that was half a mile away.
They strongly encouraged me to go to the hospital since they didn't have an x-ray. Turns out I shattered my L1 vertebrae. Few days in the hospital for surgery and recovery and I was back on my feet. I don't climb anymore due to fear of an impact injury. I still want one of those rock walls that hang over a pool though.
in the river....
I had a shocking ear infection after swimming in a filthy river. Over the course of a week or so it got progressively worse and more painful. Parents thought I was just being a sook. Finally one night I couldn't sleep from the pain and was just lying in bed bawling my eyes out, so my dad told my mum to take me to the hospital where I ended up staying for ten days.
The School Called
I can't have been much older when I was climbing a bookshelf to reach something, fell back and landed on my ankle. My mother told me I was me being dramatic about the pain and sent me in to school the next day as usual. School had her come and pick me up by 10am, one trip to the hospital later to find I'd badly sprained it, and told to keep off it for at least a few days.
No apology or sympathy from my mother at all, and over the rest of my childhood she made me go to school sick or badly hurt no less than 10 times. School eventually started calling my grandparents to pick me up because my mother said I was faking/exaggerating it.
No Biggie
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One time, when biking alone, I fell and got some road rash. No biggie, just let me get back on and- oh crap I cant bike. Apparently I had ripped up some thigh and abdomen muscles that were crucial for like... everything.
At Granny's
Crashed on my bike at my granny's house at maybe 10 years old. My brother laughed at me and my granny put a dish towel with ice on it for 5 minutes. But damn, it hurt.
Life went on, 2 or 3 months later playing backyard football I went down on the arm and... this time I made sure it clearly broke. So on the X-rays they could tell I had broken it earlier somehow and had a chat with my mom. Lol.
Helmet Always
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Crashed on my bicycle while riding to work. Lost consciousness so I do not remember the impact. Came to, got up, started walking bike toward work, thinking I just needed to walk a bit and would be OK.
Saw ripped area on jacket and gloves (and skin!) so I realized I needed cleaned up and could not make it to work that day. Realized I was concussed when I could not remember phone number to call in sick to work. Caught a ride to Emergency room, learned I also had a neck injury. Helmet saved my life. Spent 8 weeks in a neck brace. Doing much better now almost a year later. Overall would rate the experience 0/10 and would not recommend.
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