Coconut Safety pg.3
- Buy bicycle helmets or hard hats for yourself and garden workers. However, do not depend on these to protect you fully; it is possible that energy from the fall could be directed into your spine rather than your head. Do not spend large amounts of time weeding under the palms with no protection.
Coconut First Aid:
A falling coconut is potentially life-threatening. At the very least, it can causes brain damage if not treated immediately:
- Move quickly away from the tree. Lie down in the shade or indoors.
- Send someone for ice – immediately. This will minimize your suffering from headaches, pain, and associated trauma. Ice reduces swelling. remember there is not much room inside your skull for brain tissues to swell. Get as much ice as possible. If you’re at the beach, borrow someone’s cooler so it doesn’t melt. Make them as cold as you can bear.
- Do not take aspirin. Although aspirin may help you deal with head pain, remember that it is also a blood thinner. It hastens hemorrhaging of broken blood vessels.
- Go to the emergency room quickly. Don’t drive yourself – you’re in enough trouble already! You may suddenly experience violent, uncontrollable dizziness and nausea, with your whole visual world spinning wildly. If you don’t have family or friends at your side, call 911 and request an ambulance. Forget the cost.
- Keep up the ice packs for 24 hours. Even if you feel stable, delayed symptoms such as dizziness and vomiting may surprise you by popping up many hours later.
- Don’t lie on the injured side of your head even if it feels relatively normal.
- No caffeine. No alcohol. No narcotics (includes cigarettes).
