Homebrew01

Puttering along a back road. I think I blacked out while riding, & the next thing, I see a tree coming at me, about 2 feet away.
9 broken ribs.
Prefer not to repeat.

Olefeller77 

Tough time for a hospital visit. That tree really done a job on you to bust 9 ribs. Have you had problems with blacking out before this experience? Here's to hoping the recovery is rapid .

OldTryGuy

DANG, another inconsiderate immovable object jumping out at you. JUST HOW FAST was that tree coming at you???

Relax and heal.

Homebrew01

Never blacked out before. I assume that's what happened.
E.R. did EKGs and CAT scan. Everything else inside is ok.
The tree was going about 15 mph or so.

delbiker1 

George of the jungle, watch out for that tree! OUCH! Damn tree should have watched where you were going. Hope your down time goes quickly.

avmech

Hate it when those trees jump out in the middle of the road.....DOH!!!!!!

GeezyRider 

Did the tree at least wave as it was coming at you?

big john

A friend has had 3 crashes he thinks were due to blacking out. Docs can't find anything and he's not sure what to do when he heals up from the latest one. The thing is, he's not sure if he actually blacked out but with no memory of the event it's the only explanation that makes sense.

Heal fast Homebrew.

79pmooney

I feel for you. I know how much ribs hurt. Take it easy (and stay away from jokes).

Ben

Cyclist0108

Very sorry to hear it, and a frightening time to go to the ER. This is one occasion where laughter probably isn't the best medicine. Heal quickly.

curbtender

I have a friend I ride with that gets this unexplained low blood pressure. He's never blacked out, but gets right on the verge.

raceboy

I “came to” a few years back during a ride with a bloody knee and shoulder, as well as crooked handlebars. I was about a mile away from home so I finished the ride. Me head felt foggy. No memory of what happened to this day. I went to the ER and MRI was negative for cerebral bleed. Best guess was a fall, blackout, and serious concussion. Please get checked out by your doc.

canklecat

Yikes. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

I slipped on an icy puddle three weeks ago. The temperature was in the 50s but I'm guessing it was left over from a bit of sleet or hail the night before. Fortunately I was going very slowly, maybe 8 mph. Landed on my right side, same shoulder that was broken and dislocated two years ago. No pain at the time, not even a bruise.

But a week later my ribs began aching. Still have some rib pain on that side. But I'm not going to the doctor for that. Nothing they can do for broken ribs anyway, and there's no internal injury or risk of puncturing anything. Just takes a few weeks to fully recover.

A full body bone scan last year revealed several healed breaks I wasn't aware of, including ribs. Didn't surprise me, I've had a lot of crashes and been hit by cars twice in less than 20 years. And I rarely went to the ER or doctor. But now at age 62 stuff breaks more easily and takes longer to heal.

I'm still gonna ride, but I'm a bit more cautious. I stopped riding with fast groups that are reckless. Fun but too risky when folks don't call out road hazards or have sketchy bike handling skills. I'll probably avoid riding when road are wet, even for errands -- I've been walking instead.

79pmooney

An editorial on opioids. This is the one place where they are God's gift. And for that one reason, a really good reason to not get addicted to then so if you ever do break ribs, you can use them. For those who have not broken ribs, this is the injury where unexpected bumps, jolts, twist of the torso and deep breaths can run pain to 10. I won't claim it is more painful than childbirth,l but it is probably as close as men can get. And it is a pan most painkillers won't put a dent in. But powerful opiates do. When I wrecked my shoulder (collarbone was the least of it), broke three ribs and collapsed my lung, the first thing they did in the ER was shoot me up with morphine. Thank you, thank you! (I'm guessing the resident who met me at the nearby ER called ahead for me. That local hospital had no trauma unit. Took him about 5 minutes to take my oxygen levels, move me from the torture of the hardboard to a comfortable gurney and send me right back past where I crashed to the best trauma unit in the state. Big screw up by the ambulance crew. By their own standards, they should have known to take me there in the first place.)

I stayed on prescription opiates for weeks after I got out and they were a key part of my heeling because with them I could breath relatively normally and sleep. And think about the body's healing from a bike racing perspective - what is the most important factor for a three week stage racer who above everything else needs day to day recovery? Oxygen. That is why EPO worked so very well in the drug fueled '90s and '00s. They could process more oxygen - climbing mountains, yes, but more important, while they were laying in bed and their bodies' recovering. (EPO would probably help broken rib recovery but that isn't my point.) It's that oxygen. And the number one way to get more is to breath deeper. But that takes us deeper into the pain pit and removes the possibility of sleep unless we have really good drugs. Opiates, with as much trouble they have brought to mankind, are that drug.

For those who have broken other bones but not ribs - ribs are like all the others. They heal best and hurt the least when they are not moved. But unlike all the other bones, we die if we don't move them. Our instincts will force us to breath deeply enough to stay alive, yes, but real healing requires a lot more. Without painkillers that work, we muddle along at a compromise between pain and suffocation. And we get bumped into 10 levels of pain way too regularly where typically we don't breath much at all until we can get back to 9.

Back to opioid addiction. Two issues. One, no doctor is going to give anybody the opiates an addict needs for broken ribs just to get beyond his high threshold. He will have to go to outside sources or live a recovery of h###. And if he is in recovery, re-engaging probably is launching him back into his addiction. I know that knowing this doesn't change anybody's decision making re: the stuff. But as an addict in recovery (different addiction), I have thanked God many times that the kid at my school who sold me the stuff a million years ago ripped me off and allowed me to accept it as a gift from that same God many years later.

Ben

79pmooney

Yeah, I've stopped telling doctors about ribs. They are another two sets of chest X-rays (to someone who has seen a lot of X-ray radiation including two CAT scans on a very early machine. And my deductible. And my deductible for the followup visit. All this to hear, "There's really nothing we can do. Ribs heal up on their own. It just takes a while." My last crash, I broke my collarbone and broke/cracked rib(s). Had a taxi take me to the local urgent clinic. Didn't mention my ribs. Next day I went to another clinic to the sports orthopedic they recommended. He X-rayed my shoulder and decided not to do anything. (I expected that, but shoulders can set wrong and not work properly so I'll get collarbones looked at.) As I was walking out of my followup visit, he mentioned I broke ribs. That surprised me because I han't said a work and no chest X-rays were taken. Asked him how he knew. "Well, you told the nurse it hurt to breath!" Told him why I kept my mouth shut. "Yup! That's exactly what I would have done and said." And we both laughed. (Well me, as best I could.)

Cracked my sternum from my shoulder harness in a fairly minor car crash. Didn't see a doctor or mention it. Never did a sternum before but is seemed like the exact same deal, just far less pain. Healed up just fine. (I'm sure it will get pointed out to me down the line sometime.)

Ben

canklecat

Ditto, the ribs and sternum. My sternum was dislocated or broken in boxing when I was 17 or 18. I weighed around 140 lbs and wanted to get in some sparring, but there was nobody my size around. I usually sparred bigger guys but the only bigger guy in the gym that day was the state heavyweight Golden Gloves champion. He was a good fellow and I knew he'd go easy, so we just moved around, mostly shadowboxing without contact.

But I got frisky and connected with a few jabs to his head. He smiled and jabbed me in the chest. Not even a hard punch. Felt like he introduced my sternum to my spine. I'd sparred guys who outweighed me 20 lbs or more, but there's nothing like the punch from a heavyweight. Featherweight, bantamweight and featherweight punches felt like pillow fights to me. This guy's punch felt like a pillow filled with lead.

For the next year I felt popping and crackling in the sternum when I took a deep breath. No pain. I finished 10 weeks of Navy boot camp, another 5 weeks of Marine boot camp-lite (for Navy Corpsmen assigned to the Marines), and plenty of gym workouts with sparring against guys my size. No problems. But it seemed to take forever for that sternum crackling and popping to stop.

There's a good reason why martial arts have weight classes. Lesson learned.

canklecat

Good points. I've had plenty of injuries and a few minor surgeries (tonsils, wisdom teeth) and seldom needed anything stronger than ibuprofen or aspirin. I think I got three hydrocodone after my four wisdom teeth were pulled when I was in the Navy and I used only one to sleep that night. Went back to work the next day, no problems.

But in 2001 after my compact car was t-boned by a full size SUV, breaking my neck and back in six places, I was in pain for years. I had prescriptions for oxycontin and muscle relaxers, but I made a month's prescription last a year or more. I think my one month prescription of oxycontin from 2001 lasted me until 2010. I used it only when the pain was unbearable.

In 2018 a car hit me while I was riding my bike. Broke and dislocated my shoulder and aggravated the old 2001 neck injury. The ambulance crew offered fentanyl for the ride to the ER. I said, nah, I'm good, the ER is only a few minutes away. And the ER offered morphine. They were surprised when I declined and asked for a single Tramadol or hydrocodone, the tamest of all prescription opiates. But I did accept the 10 day supply of prescription hydrocodone, which included 20 or 30 tablets. I figured that would be more than enough.

It lasted me three months. But I was still in so much pain at night I could hardly sleep. It was impossible to get comfortable in bed with a busted up shoulder and neck. But the hospital was completely unsympathetic. They were so terrified of federal intervention they refused. And their so-called pain management clinic had no openings for six months.

So I started using CBD and kratom, which helped a lot. And I switched to the VA, which was far better equipped to cope with issues of chronic pain from injuries. My doctor did a thorough screening, determined I'm not a risk for drug abuse, and authorized a 30 tablet supply of hydrocodone, which lasted me a year. And I can still get refills of cyclobenzaprine, but a month's supply lasts me at least a year. I use these only when the pain persists for 2-3 days without relief despite less potent meds, soaking in a hot bath with Epsom salts, massage, stretching, physical therapy, etc. Most days I take aspirin twice a day, and CBD. Usually works fine.

Sleep is a huge factor in recovery from injuries, both physically and mentally. Everything hurts worse when we can't get adequate rest.

Homebrew01

I got Hydromorphone HCL pills, but they had no effect, positive or negative. So I stopped taking them.

Same with the Ketorolac Tromethamine

indyfabz

Practice arboreal distancing.

Homebrew01

I should have thought of that a week ago !

CliffordK

OldTryGuy

Must have been an Old Oak!!!! Have heard that Young Saplings don't do less than 25mph.



Tornadoes, Floods, VIRUSES, my "most aggressive" prostate CANCER - - - (Romans 11:36)

Wildwood 

My silver lining in your black cloud is that at least my profound memory loss isn't from blacking out and hitting trees.

9 ribs sounds most painful.
No laughing.
No hard sneezes.
No hard beds. Learn to sleep on your back.

Heal well and take it slowly, for a permanent lasting recovery.


edit: Note to Self - listen to body analytically when riding, hydrate well, avoid all moving trees.

Be safe out there. We codgers are High Risk for everything BAD!

79pmooney

The rib routine - First, rolling over simply isn't something you do. When I had my biggie, it was on a Saturday. The next two nights I had a big, strong weekend nurse. (An imposing woman. On the street you would keep your distance.) I would ring to get rolled over and I was so drugged and she was so strong (and very skilled!) that it wasn't too painful. Rang Monday night and got the week nurse, a far smaller woman. She was just strong enough the do the job - barely. Pain through the roof! I never rang again. Instead I would get up and sit and sleep in the chair for visitors. I borrowed my roomate's different chair for th erest of my stay for a third sleeping position. When I got home, I would start in my bed, then move to the living room and sleep on the couch, then in the armchair. Next time around, at week two I went to Cycle Oregon. No, no bike! Beforehand I went to REI, bought a camp chair, installed a board to the back that came high enough to hold the pillow and slept in it. Worked so well I kept using it after the week and again when I broke ribs a third time.

And those tree trunks - no contact! The 6' rule is a good one. The one better aspect is that you are not contagious after contract. (Seems that unlike the CV19 virus, those trunks do not need a human host to replicate. They do replicate, but fortunately at a rather slower rate.)

Ben

Homebrew01

Sleeping on my back would be ok, except once down, I can't move or reposition without help. So, I am sleeping on the sofa in a sitting position, about as restful as sleeping in airplane cheap seats.