DH just been taken to french hospital

[AirbnbhostAWOL]

On holiday in France. DH woke me up at 12.30 with intense pain in his left shoulder. Couldn't get comfortable. I put some voltarol on it and we propped him up on the bed, and turned the light out. Next thing I know he's fainted/lost consciousness, and is making a terrible groaning noise and his eyes have rolled back in his head. I can't rouse him, and obviously called emergency services.
He then woke up but was very confused and sweaty. We spent a long time using a combination of my long ago a level french and the operators broken English, but they sent an ambulance.
By the time the ambulance arrived he was better, although in a lot of pain and very pale and clammy. They had an amazing interpreter on board, they took his vitals, and seems convinced it is not his heart, but have taken him to hospital anyway.
I am in the apartment with two DC who slept through almost the whole thing (DD appeared right at the end but half asleep and has gone back to bed). He seemed ok and is obviously in the right place, but now the adrenaline has left my system I feel very shaky and tearful. It was fucking terrifying when he lost consciousness, I genuinely thought he was dying.
If anyone is up to keep me company it would be appreciated

Could it be vasovagal syncope ? I have it - I gave blood once and faint fitted so badly the nurse threw up 😝 banned from giving blood now unfortunately

@IMBCRound2 already mentioned.😀

My daughter and my granddaughter both have a recognised condition where they faint in response to shock or pain. I believe it's called STAR syndrome

You dealt with it admirably. But sounds pretty traumatic. So a massage is ideal, even if you do fall asleep! Do take it easy on the rest of your hols. Maybe cut back on some of what you planned to do and have a few days just chilling somewhere if you can. Especially if you’re doing all the driving and prob most of the packing, seeing to kids etc if your DH is in a sling/pain. You’ve had a big shock and need some TLC yourself.

Lucky you’re in France. French healthcare is amazing, well staffed and efficient.

As some who's husband who has been diagnosed with epilepsy 18 months ago and also a very experienced nurse.
Please get him investigated for these 'episodes' as they sound like seizure activity.
as you've said he's had a few of these episodes over the years.
Pain,stress, tiredness. Dehydration, alcohol can be triggers.
My husband has also dislocated his shoulders during seizures (only once has it not gone back in place and need intervention).
Please don't let him drive until these are sorted.

I’ve also just clocked who you are OP, I’m so sorry! Bognor next year??!

I'm in France, have been for 16 years. I think it's really odd that your husband had to go to a cash machine and get money out to pay for the ambulance en route. Ambulances here are a mixture of private and public. Either might get dispatched to a call-out and for a French person it doesn't really matter which they use, as they will be charged / reimbursed through the usual carte vitale / mutuelle system. I guess it was a private ambulance company which has this rather odd policy for dealing with non-French patients.

112 is the Europe wide emergency number. You can also dial 15 in France which gets you to the SAMU - who will triage your situation and either send an ambulance or pass you onto the appropriate specialist. All the emergency services are well connected to each other.

And yes, French healthcare is amazing! Having been back in the UK over the summer and trying to help older family members sort out medical issues there, I appreciate the French system so much. I did a First Aid course recently and the paramedic who led it was complaining that currently he has to wait 15-20 minutes to drop off patients at the local (big city) hospital rather than the usual 5 minutes: I just kept my head down!

In my experience French hospitals are v good

Did he have a GHIC card?

Glad it was nothing life threatening op.

Just to mention, if the Drs in the UK think it's a seizure then they have a duty to report it to the DVLA.

DM had one fit and she had her driving license suspended for two years.

She didn't have any more seizures (she maintains it wasn't a fit but the neighbour thinks she was kicking her legs) and got her license reinstated after two years.

@Lexigone better to be safe and seizure free than injure/kill yourself or someone.

I'm going to have to do a search if OP is Queen of disaster travel 😂

Does he have a GHIC ? I used mine in Europe and didn't have to pay anything ?
Glad he's ok but you really get some investigations when home , he shouldn't just pass out randomly.

I say loss of consciousness because it's not quite fainting, more like a mild fit? He's groaning and twitching and his eyes roll back.

This happens to me whenever I faint (which is fortunately rarely!) and my dad gets it too. I know it's very alarming for other people to witness (I've seen it happen to my dad and it's awful) but it's no more serious than any other fainting really. It's triggered by the reduced blood flow to the brain when you faint, which causes a seizure-like response.

I'm really sorry you've been through this with your DH; you must have been absolutely terrified. Glad he's on the mend and I hope you can get some rest today. You must be feeling absolutely wrung out this morning, physically and emotionally.

Sympathy to DH for his awful shoulder pain too - I had a trapped nerve in my shoulder once and it was the absolute worst!

Ofc.

Never heard of that happening before. Are you sure you had SAMU arrive?
Ime French hospitals are first class, get your insurance to liaise directly with them if possible.
Maybe better if you do the driving until you’re home and DH can have full assessment for epilepsy and other conditions that might cause seizures? Friends brother had episodes like these. Lasted several years then stopped, haven’t recurred in 20 years.

Just had another thought — could it be blood pressure related? Sudden drop maybe?

Friendly advice from someone who had dealt with travel insurance companies A LOT.

DO NOT suddenly announce he's has these funny episodes before and seen a GP about them unless you've declared it.

Although anything was ruled out I did ace companies will find any reason not to pay up and delay it.

With regards the 260€. I'm guessing the hospital got the rest paid direct from insurance? If so and it's all you laid out do you have an excess? It might be more hassle trying to get a receipt than worth it if your excess is £200+.

Hope the rest of your holiday passes without incident

What an ordeal - you have handled everything so well by the sounds of it though.

Just wanted to expand on what someone else has said about seizures and epilepsy. Almost the exact same thing happened to me a couple of years ago only the muscle pain for me was in my bottom 🙈 it woke me in the night and was extremely painful. I managed to get back to sleep but the next thing I remember is being in the back of an ambulance. DH found me unconscious, grunting, completely stiffened body and eyes rolled back. It was very scary for him to witness, I just felt confused and sluggish after.

I have since been diagnosed with epilepsy although my EEG and MRI came back normal. I have had random ‘fainting/loss of consciousness’ episodes for most of my life but never concerning enough to think more than, low sugars, periods, tiredness etc.

Definitely worth going to the GP and seeking a referral to neurology.

Hope you manage to enjoy the rest of your holiday - well done on keeping everything together during such a shock 👏

Never heard of that happening before. Are you sure you had SAMU arrive?

I was wondering that.

I certainly wouldn’t expect the Sapeur Pompiers (red vehicles) to routinely go via a cash point but I wonder if after the phone call the decision was made by somebody to send out maybe paramedics perhaps working for one of the privately run medical transport/taxi companies…(usually white vehicles).

That certainly wouldn’t be out of the question (certainly local to me) or that unusual, if that happens there usually is a charge but it is covered by the mutuelle.

Was it not covered by that European health card thing? Or is that an old thing?

Was it not covered by that European health card thing?

Be interesting to see the answer to that.

Transport to/from hospital is not always covered/fully covered by French state healthcare, even for the locals (hence all the previous comments about mutuelles = private insurance).

Just watch out incase it's a deep tissue infection, if he gets a fever or is sick I'd get that checked

Oh dear @AirbnbhostAWOL You'll need to be booking another holiday when you get back from this one, by the sounds of it. I recognised your name instantly from your last post. I'll bet, right now, you are wishing you had stayed home.

So sorry this has happened to your DH. You must have had a real fright. Hopefully he will be fine, but I agree with others, he should probably be checked out when he gets home. Could it be a reaction to the stress of the accommodation issues at the start of your holiday?

I do agree though, that if his previous 'incidents' weren't supplied to your Travel Insurance Company, be careful about who you tell about the previous incidents until the Insurance claim is sorted. It's so easy to forget to put things down if they happened years ago.

I hope the rest of your holiday goes better than the first part even although you are going to now do all the driving. Take Care