A&e, doctors or wait it out?

Why didn't you call an ambulance? Wouldn't that have avoided the car journey and also the wait at a&e?

Hope you get sorted soon, you're in the right place, paramedics would have given you pain relief and laid you on a stretcher if an ambulance came last night, hindsight is a wonderful thing but it's not a&e fault,

Despite caudia equina being a medical emergency they are in no rush

Neither were you to be fair, despite other posters warning you about the potential urgency.

I hope it isn't, I hope you make a full recovery with no lasting effects. But if you don't, I don't think you can blame the NHS for this one.

Thanks for keeping us updated op. Fingers, toes, arms and legs all crossed that it’s a severe muscle spasm (time will heal this, I get these a couple of times a year-blinding agony!) and a bit of sciatica-but if it’s not then at least you’re on the road to diagnosis and treatment.
Im also glad to see that the majority of whatsernames awful posts have been deleted 🤣

There isn't one test that rules out cauda equina. I've had multiple CT scans, nerve conduction tests and MRI's and they never did find out what caused the symptoms. Its been a year and there's some improvement but I still can't walk normally.

I'm sure you don't.

I had suspected caudia equina. Fortunately after quite a lot of tests and two MRI spinal scans it seemed that it wasn’t QE and I was sent home. Over the next few weeks the symptoms gradually reduced and I recovered.

So, they’ve already done a test for the potential emergency cause.

And they’re working to manage your pain.

I’m struggling to see the issue.

Glad you're at hospital. Hopefully they can get to the bottom of it.

A fair point.

The Save the NHS mantra of COVID still haunts us.

My SIL a solicitor dealing in commercial personal injuries. Advocated for her husband. Bugging them in A&E, photographing all the notes, when he was admitted noting everything that the nurses and consultants said. She was an absolute rottweiler.

I suggest @autienotnoughty husband does the same.

Agree, you can't complain that they weren't treating it as an emergency when you weren't treating it as an emergency either. Literally everyone telling you to go to A&E at 8pm last night, you leave it another 16 hours before going, you can only blame yourself.

When my neighbours husband had a stroke, she knew exactly what to do. Ambulance too busy so two big strapping neighbours got him in the car. She drove to the hospital as advised by 999. Got him unloaded into the unit by staff. 32 hours later he was finally seen by someone who agreed to admit him. Two days later a consultant said it was too late he should have brought him in sooner. Well she bloody did within an hour.

I hope you get seen to soon

Oh OP poor you, I hope you get the MRI soon. It will get better, hang on in there. Hope something works soon for the pain

Just shocked at her attitude when she’s sat at home worrying for so long.
she will be unfortunately one of manny emergencies in A&E, many of them life threatening. not uncommon to wait a few hours for an MRI.
I agree with you that the NHS is struggling and it means waiting times in a&e are awful. It’s terrible, sadly not the staff’s fault though (which OP seems to be implying).

perhaps because GPs are i n a mess
and hospitals have 4 hour targets

@Gemmawemma9 But she isn't a medical professional at a hospital is she? Regardless of when op presented at the hospital, it should still be treated as a potential medical emergency.

Op I've been there before in a hospital with an emergency and literally left for hours.
So did my dh a few weeks ago. Our nhs isn't what it used to be !

@autienotnoughty I'm appalled. At your treatment at the hospital. Just pray the MRI will get the buggers moving.

Despite caudia equina being a medical emergency they are in no rush.

Sorry? You waited 24 hours to go to A&E! Gobsmacked at this comment.
I really hope it isn’t cauda equina and you manage to get sorted, whatever is causing your pain.

Fingers crossed your seen soon. Slso small mercy you got something to lay down on.

I have bloody scoliosis, 64 years, three pregnancies, visiting chiropractor for years on and off. When an MRI would have shown it. Weirdly it was a consultant doing gastrointestinal checks that pointed it out. When I was 64. When I finally crashed at 66 another consultant confirmed it as the cause of my spasms and immobility.

OP thanks for your update. So pleased you are being seen for your back pain, appreciate you must be in agony. Sadly, I’m not surprised A/E wouldn’t help initially. If you’re still breathing there’s no immediate danger. So sad in 2024 that this has to be the norm.
As another poster has said, try your upmost to stay put now, if you get an MRI it will be a big win & you will be on the pathway to a diagnosis & correct treatment/drugs.
Wishing you all the best.

Glad you're getting treatment, OP.

For what it's worth, I'm a paramedic and think you would have been absolutely justified calling an ambulance in this case, especially as you were unable to sit in the car/waiting room. Aside from needing to go to A&E for further investigation, unmanageable pain is still an emergency.

Really hope your pain ins under control now and you get answers in A&E 🙂