A&E Tonight, GP Tomorrow or Woman Up?

Well OP is now going to A+E after medical advice.

If you are so anaemic you wobble all the time, and are losing iron faster than you can replace it then absolutely it's an A&E issue.

@MoonOnTheRain try and get them to give you an iron infusion as you will never catch up on oral alone while you are still bleeding.

I usually advise people do go but not for low iron. Even nhs advice doesn’t advise that. A&E is for more urgent/life threatening situations. If she is concerned then of course 111 is the obvious answer.

In our area, if you phone 111 and they think you need to be seen right then instead of waiting to see your GP in the morning, and they don't think A&E is appropriate, they will arrange for you to get an appointment at a booked time, with the on -call GP for the area (as you have described) but that appointment is in our local hospital, accessed via the A&E dept ( there is a buzzer on the wall by the A&E reception area). So if the GP that you then see thinks you need further urgent treatment, they will arrange for you to be seen elsewhere in the hospital, but very often they can help without you needing to sit for hours in A & E.

I saw one last summer. It was great. Was phoned back by the actual health board staff about 4am - 10 minutes after 111 had said they would arrange an appointment. Got an appointment for 5am (soonest I could get to the hospital) and not another soul around in the GP area, so got seen immediately. A&E, on the other hand, was pretty busy.......

If you're not sure whether you need A&E or not, my advice would be always check with 111 first.

Can you imagine if a man went to the doctors because he'd been bleeding profusely from his genitals for 100 days? I'd bet my house that he wouldn't be months in, taking iron tablets.

How did you get on at the doctors?x

And again, you know it’s not an emergency, how?

Are you there taking vitals? Speaking directly with the OP?

No?

Then you cannot possibly know.
So tired of watching ambers give out ‘it’s not an emergency’ advice when in actual fact they cannot know.

It’s dangerous.

I think that's pretty normal. You've not eaten much and have been lying down all day. Get up and obviously get a dizzy and feel faint. That happens to most people in that situation doesn't it? For me I would also lose sound for a bit and go all woozy but then get over it and stumble back to bed.

I'd recommend getting up slowly in future. Sit up for 10 mins and then sit with legs over the side of the bed for another 5. If you've been flat all day you're blood won't be flowing.

It was essentially a nearly faint, how long do you think you'll sit in a&e for that? I've fainted, smashed my head open and needed stitches and sat for hours and hours.

Those of you telling op her heart rate is too high when she stands up - have you ANY idea what your heart rate is when you stand up? If it doesn’t go up over 100 then you feel terrible and can pass out! That’s the way the body works! Your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. So if your HR is sitting at over that when you’re lying down then yes that is a problem but a slightly higher than usual HR when OP hasn’t eaten and the body will be struggling 🤷‍♀️ first thing first eat something and also up your drinks as that helps.

op are you also taking b12 and vitamin c with your iron? Unless you do your iron levels won’t go up as it needs both of these to absorb the iron properly and use it. I had severe anemia all my life due to the very heavy periods I had and until I had a hysterectomy it didn’t get any better due to severe endometriosis and adenymyosis that went along with the periods and iron infusions and blood transfusions just kept me going till the hysterectomy sorted everything

I’d say 111 it. Your description of your situation reminds me of my symptoms when still bleeding after an operation which long story short I ended up back in emergency surgery and blood transfusion. The blood loss might be what’s making you feel like not eating also. I literally couldn’t sleep for the sound of my heart pounding. Hope you feel better soon.

i think you are doing the right thing to drink plenty of water, have something to eat and ask for a GP appointment tomorrow

Low iron isn’t an A&E thing - https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/iron-deficiency-anaemia/

Round here 111 books you out of hours gp appointments. I think it varies so check for local info.

And you know it’s not an emergency how?

Helpful advice in your area but in many OOO is diverted to 111 and they then contact the GP on call. It’s not the same in all places, just to say. Certainly where I live we are told to call 111 for OOO GP services.

Have I read this right, you’ve been bleeding for 100 days??

I'm here to remind people that before they ring 111 they can always try their own GP. In my local area all the surgeries divert to a central clinic who operate on evenings and weekends and while there's a long wait you can get appointments at like 11pm, 3am etc.

If you phone 111 they'll give advice over the phone, or direct you'll to A&E, but if you need to be seen Face to Face they'll send your details to the out of hours clinic to be seen by one of the local GPs, it's not actually a 111 GP who sees you. Phoning 111 just adds another step to the process.

No, but they can bring you back to Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) for exactly that

Long term bleeding and how you feel now needs to be taken seriously, don't be fobbed off.

How do you measure your blood loss from the gynae bleeding OP? I ask because I got to the point with my own excessive bleeding where it was heavy enough they were worried I would need admitting if they couldn't get the rate down as it was potentially dangerous to my health.

Is there any chance the bleeding could have ramped up further, because if that has combined with the dizziness, that would concern me.

Do you know what's putting you off eating at the moment - and has that just been today?

OP, have you had your thyroid checked? My mum experienced similar symptoms and it turned out it was her thyroid - she ended up having a surgery.
I think that anything with high blood pressure it’s important you are seen pretty quickly.
hope you feel better soon

How much have you drank today?

More like to be the not eating much, try having something like toast and see how you feel in an hour. DH has got atrial fibriliation and is permanent AF (has been since last Sunday). Heartrate anything between 50 and 128 bpm, and truthfully A & E didn't want to know. They did an ECG and blood test but told him it was a 12 hr wait to see a Dr and he'd be better off seeing his GP in the morning where they'd have those results.

I don't think people advising you to attend have been in A & E recently. The system is fucked, big time.