Originally Posted by lunalu

This might be kind of a stupid question, and being a very anxious hypochondriac is what is making me ask this.. I've been wondering, how does one know when symptoms are serious enough to seek medical help? Being a hypochondriac I feel like I go to the doctor for every little thing, and it's quite embarrassing so in this case I want to get some advice before I run off to the doctor for nothing again..

When I hit my head a month ago I got a CT scan that came back normal. But the last few days I have noticed myself getting dark circles around my eyes, and of course I had to google it and came up with raccoon eyes, checked behind my ears and they were red and a bit tender to the touch on one side and I can't tell if it's a bruise there or not. I am freaking out but my mother just laughs at me and tells me to stop overreacting.

Is it possible for a fracture to start bleeding one month after injury, even with a normal CT(I read they sometimes miss basilar skull fractures on these scans)? Would there be other symptoms if this was the case? The dark circles could just be from crying and sleeping very little the last few days, I just don't know, I can't tell hypochondria from a real medical issues in this case.. Since I caused myself a relapse about a week ago after working out, I am scared I might have damaged my brain to the point of bleeding, even though my nausea is almost gone and I feel better in general..

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!