EQ5 v head - beware the three legged monster in the dark!

[Mr Spock]

So here I am feeling groggy after another sleepless night due to headache cause by a severe concussion. 

It was nothing really. A week last Tuesday while out observing, I picked something up from the ground and banged my head on the EQ5's counterweight bar. Nothing to it, or to see. However the next day I woke up with intermittent stabbing pains in my right temple - every couple of minutes, or up to 30 minutes. The day after that I started on strong painkillers and that helped. Felt worse Saturday so went to A&E. After waiting 7 hours I saw a doctor who said it sounded like a swollen nerve. Monday I spent all day on the sofa feeling really ill and not eating anything all day. Contacted my GP Tuesday morning via their online request stating my symptoms. The GP phoned me to say it sounded like a concussion and I would need a CT scan. So, off to A&E again, this time with a 6 hour wait. Got the scan done which showed no bleeds or damage/fractures. They said it was a heavy concussion and I should rest.

10 days after a minor tap on the head and I still feel really ill. Medication helps but I'd feel better if I could get some sleep 🤕

To add insult to injury the area of my head where the pain is, is now covered in stress induced eczema - nice...

[Alan White]

Oh Michael, you are in the wars.
You have my sympathy as I too have done the same on a counterweight standing up.
Wish you well.

[John]

Sorry to hear of your accident @Mr Spock 😟

I hope you are feeling better soon.

If it is any small consolation, this happens to professional astronomers as well. I spotted this at the Lowell Observatory when I visited a few years ago. It is part of the mounting that holds the astrograph that Clyde Tombaugh used to discover Pluto. Clearly more than one person had suffered a "bump in the night" 🤪

[Ratlet]

Hope you are feeling better soon and glad it wasn't worse.  It still must have been serious, I can tell because you didn't say whether the mount was okay or not 😉.

With any luck it we'll have back to back clouds until you are back out observing.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Sorry to hear that, Michael. Hope you recover soon

[Swoop1]

So, mr Spock- clear evidence that you have failed to fill out a risk assesment for the hazardous activity you were undertaking.

Had you done so, you would have identified the risk of injury from striking your head on the counterweight bar, assesed the liklihood of this happening and put control measures in place.

Off to Screwfix (other vendors are available) for a bump cap you now must go.

😉

Hope you recover soon!

[Coco]

Blimey @Mr Spock that sounds like a hell of a bump 🤕

 

[Mr Spock]

Two weeks after and I'm still getting bad headaches 🤕

[cajen2]

Warning: astronomy can harm your health!

[Peter_D]

Sorry to hear what happened. Don't take any chances, if you're still getting headaches, you should go and get medically examined again.

Edited April 18, 2023 by Peter_D

[mikeDnight]

Wow, it sounds like you've suffered quite an injury Michael. 

 Over the years I've hit my own head countless times on counterweight and counter arms. For years now I've had foam laggingaround my counterbalance arm, after my elderly friend who wasn't as tall as me, walked eye socket first into the end of it. There was blood everywhere and its a wonder he didn't do more of an injury. He was a bit prone to telescope injuries so I should have been a bit more alert to possible dangers.  It was the same friend who back in the 80's had a 6" F15 refractor in a domed observatory in his garden. One night he decided to adjust the weight balance and so using an Allen key, released the weight which was too heavy for him to hold, and which promptly slid straight off the arm and onto his foot. The long, heavy F15 steel tube then swung around at high speed knocking him into next week. He only made that mistake once!

 I have seriously thought about using some of that rolled up exercise matting that you can buy cheap from Aldi etc, and cutting a piece to wrap around the counterweight.  They may even have the right colour!  It's also crossed my mind to cut the balance arm down further reducing potential injury.

 More recently I had a brief spell with a 6" F10 achromat on an old Irving mount. This mount is a monster as is the counterweight and its long 2.75" diameter stainless steel arm. I saw more stars because of the counterweight and the shaft than I ever saw through the telescope.  Eventually I cut a hole in a tennis ball and stuck it on the end of the Irving mount. I'm now back to using my Vixen GP thankfully!

 

Edited April 18, 2023 by mikeDnight

[wookie1965]

On 14/04/2023 at 09:25, Mr Spock said:

So here I am feeling groggy after another sleepless night due to headache cause by a severe concussion. 

It was nothing really. A week last Tuesday while out observing, I picked something up from the ground and banged my head on the EQ5's counterweight bar. Nothing to it, or to see. However the next day I woke up with intermittent stabbing pains in my right temple - every couple of minutes, or up to 30 minutes. The day after that I started on strong painkillers and that helped. Felt worse Saturday so went to A&E. After waiting 7 hours I saw a doctor who said it sounded like a swollen nerve. Monday I spent all day on the sofa feeling really ill and not eating anything all day. Contacted my GP Tuesday morning via their online request stating my symptoms. The GP phoned me to say it sounded like a concussion and I would need a CT scan. So, off to A&E again, this time with a 6 hour wait. Got the scan done which showed no bleeds or damage/fractures. They said it was a heavy concussion and I should rest.

10 days after a minor tap on the head and I still feel really ill. Medication helps but I'd feel better if I could get some sleep 🤕

To add insult to injury the area of my head where the pain is, is now covered in stress induced eczema - nice...

I did exactly the same not as bad but it bloody hurt, you must be cursed like me if you get a medicine man or a psychic to remove it please pass on there details to me.