Disclaimer: the material in this article is for informational purposes only and is in no way a substitute for professional medical advice. Although Kiran’s intelligence knows no bounds, she is not a real doctor nor a medical professional.

Maybe you said something stupid, or got mugged, or joined an underground fight club. Either way, you’ve been punched or you’re bleeding, and you’re panicking. Get yourself to safety; a public place like a bus or a streetcar, or a fast food joint or restaurant will help if you’re alone and aren’t at home. Afterwards, this is how you’ll know whether you need to go to the hospital, or just stay at home and rest.

Immediate action

Bleeding is frightening, but it isn’t always a big deal. If the wound is on your torso or abdomen, take an Uber to the hospital. Otherwise, RED: Rest, Elevation, Direct pressure. Keep the area still, lift it up (like putting your arm on the backrest of your seat), and put an absorbent material on it. If you can’t get something sterile immediately, choose something clean and dry. Press it to the wound, hard. A life-threatening amount of blood to lose is 5 cups, so you have more room to bleed than you think. If you bleed enough that it could fill a can of soda, Uber to the hospital. Otherwise, be patient. The body works on a timeline of hours, not instantaneously. Press the wound down for at least half an hour before checking if it’s clotted. 

One hour later

If your wound has clotted, apply an antibacterial spread such as Polysporin to prevent any infection, then put on a Bandaid or sterile gauze and tape. If something is swollen like a twisted ankle or wrist, try moving the joint. If moving makes the pain spike, it is likely fractured and you need to go to the hospital to get it properly immobilized. 

If moving it does not change the level of pain, it is a sprain. Sprains are treated with RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Keep ice on for ten to twenty minutes and don’t let it touch your skin directly. Use an elastic bandage or a specially designed wrist/ankle compressor. 

Provided that your wound is not actively bleeding and you do not have a fracture, you can go home now. 

Deciding if you want to press charges can be a serious, difficult decision, but better to have the option now than to wish you did later. Write down everything (time, location, description of the perpetrator), and take pictures of your wounds. You’ll be exhausted now; take a shower (be careful to keep any gauze dry!) and go to sleep.

The next morning

If you don’t live with them or haven’t done it yet, call your guardian. You can tell your mom a sanitized version, but you cannot keep this a secret from her altogether. It will cause more trouble when she inevitably finds out later. She’ll also know insurance information and contacts for people you can reach out to. If turning on the lights gives you a headache, ask your mom to book you an appointment to be checked for a concussion. You cannot do it yourself because reading or talking on the phone will make your concussion worse, and an appointment will be easier than waiting in Urgent Care for hours.

Getting checked is not optional; concussion recovery takes days if you do it right and weeks if you ignore it and do it wrong. This means you need a note from a doctor so you can be temporarily excused from classes. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. Post-concussion syndrome, which comes if you don’t take concussion recovery seriously, can last for a year. It will ruin your undergrad. Be smart, take three days lying in bed bored out of your mind, and then move on with your life instead of deciding that you’re special and immune to something that affects everybody. (I am being harsh here to try to persuade you to listen to me!!!)

If you were sexually assaulted, go to yourchoice.to, a Torontian website that will walk you through all your options for justice and support. Even if you are determined that you do not want to report it, I would strongly encourage going to look. Your duty is to yourself, and you might decide that while you need short-term privacy you need long-term accountability. Go buy the morning-after pill, which costs around $40 over the counter. 

The homepage of yourchoice.to

Two days after

At this point, your sprains should be partly recovered and any abrasions should start to scab over. If they do not feel better (not necessarily healed, better), then I would recommend booking an appointment so someone can take a look and prescribe any necessary antibiotics.

You went through something frightening. Go talk to someone about it. If you already have a mental health condition, stress will exacerbate your symptoms and you need a little extra help to get them under control. If you don’t, remember that young adulthood is an incredibly vulnerable time for your brain, and take preventative steps. The best person to talk to is a family member or friend you can be truly honest with. If that is not an option, there are crisis centres meant for handling mental health run by U of T or the government. Many people suspicious of therapists find that faith-based counselling or volunteer peer support works well for them; it doesn’t matter who you talk to so long as you don’t let all that stress rattle around inside your brain.