blood loss

hey, this is just a quick question, hopefully with a fairly simple answer: i cracked my nose with my knee in a high jump landing today, and i lost a LOT of blood and was bleeding for a pretty long time. (i don’t think it is broken though) i went on to run a 300, but i am not feeling too great now… i am supposed to compete in 3 events tommorow, including a 400, so i need to be replenished. i’m not very big and the blood loss was pretty substantial, and it really feels like it affected me… what is most important to do (as in eat, drink…) so I can be 100% again?

I don’t think physically you are affected by this, since your blood volume has almost immediately been replaced to what you were before the fall as you typed this thread. If anything it might be affecting you mentally, but I wouldn’t worry, go compete and have fun, don’t dwell on it and worrying about what you should be doing or eating, just a waste of energy. Be happy it was your nose and not your leg or foot, then it would be something to have cause to worry.

It’s not likely you lost much blood (out of the total volume) but the shock can be draining. a relaxing nite should help.

this is true, a girl on my team just broke her foot and is out for the season :eek: i was just wondering about this because i threw up and fainted (very briefly) and i’m not someone who gets sick just from the sight of blood. it could well be just mental, as you suggested.

Whoa, that’s different. You didn’t say anything about throwing up or even fainting. This is something to worry about especially if you are still feeling nausea. If you are, I would see your doctor. Fortunately, your competitions are running and your not in a contact sport or even sports like soccer.

I say this, because there have been players (soccer) that have had minor concussions from butting heads with other players trying to jump up in air and head the ball. Common sense told them to sit out of the game till they felt better and then went out to play again. This is dangerous, as they resumed playing, and executed a normal soccer skill by stopping a ball with their chest, they fell to the ground dead. Its called 2nd Impact Syndrome, you can find it in any sports medicine text, maybe even on the net using Google.

Now, I am not trying to scare, and personally, I don’t think you suffered a concussion and I think your fine. As I said before, its probably more mental than anything, but if you are sensing anything physically weird/uncomfortable/strange (with this I mean, using your common sense since you know your body better than anyone else) then it might be a good idea to get checked out. Keep us posted.

You just scared me, lol, and this didnt even happen to me! :eek:

Broken foot? How?

If you fainted, you should get checked out to make sure you’re ok. (You didn’t mention this at first)

M.H. tripped on a hurdle reaching for three steps and landed wrong, breaking her foot and tearing some ligaments… within two minutes, another girl sprained her ankle doing the same thing, and a guy sprained his ankle long-jumping. totally unneccessary, and quite sad.

as for the fainting- it was nothing too dramatic, i blacked out briefly ( a matter of probably not more than a minute) and i felt that my vision was a little blurry before and after my 300 (in which i ran a normal time.) i just went to sleep for a few hours and ate something, and i can see fine again and my head doesn’t hurt much anymore. It was probably a mental stress, because i’ve never had a bloody nose like that or fainted before, but if I still feel woozy in the morning i might go make sure everything’s in place.

Ok, as far as maxilofacial medicine is concerned, the nose area is often called the “triangle of death” because of the huge amount of capillaries in that area, and it’s association with infections and the spreading of these infections to the “brain” via the roof of the nasal cavity (being composed of a very thin bone, part of the etmoid bone) the blacking out and vomiting which you mentioned is “often” associated with occasions where the head has received a trauma, and the brain has gotten knocked about (i.e. a concussion) and as a result 1. the body shuts down to prevent a total body hypovolemia, i.e. lays you out flat so the heart can pump easier to the brain and the vomiting can be due to 2 main reasons 1. taking the hit you triggered somehow the vomit centre in the middle brain (kinda like nicotine in cigarettes) and 2. edema.

my suggestion!!! get it checked out

Also, standard medical procedure after all head injuries and after you have been cleared by your doctor, fainted or non-fainted is to have someone wake you every couple hours the same night and have them ask you a few simple cognitive questions, such as, “What colours are in the national flag? or What shape is the moon?” Now I realize that most people after having been waken from a deep sleep may not be able to answer readily, so don’t be worried if you can’t commit an answer promptly, its just a standard follow up after getting checked out.

the swelling has gone down a bit, and my nose and surrounding area are black and blue, it is SO bad-ass. i competed today without any major problems- did well in the jumps and not so much in the running, but i figure the whole experience kind of drained me. no headaches or anything, i think i am ok… thanks for the replies :slight_smile:

too true vito, this is to test for any posibilities of a blood clot travelling to the brain and causing an area of necrosis of brain tissue and therefore impaired brain function or even on occasions death. But since your stil here Krasna, we’ll assume you’re ok :slight_smile:

Hey Krasnayafleur,

Just wondering how you were feeling? any better? did you get checked out?

thanks for asking :slight_smile: so far i have not gotten it checked- the swelling is not totally gone, but it is down enough that it was not noticeable to anyone else during the day unless they ooked for it. even the bruising is not too dramatic, just pretty sore. I have a little racoon-eye action going on, it is BADASS i’m extremely excited! :smiley:
felt a little weird to be jumping the next day, but by tommorow i think i will be fine… the height of my stress level did not help the calming down process :rolleyes: