to think this is a ridiculous reason to go to A&E?

[PregnantPhD]

So a friend posted on Facebook they hurt their back a month ago. Went to A&E over the weekend about it and have been diagnosed as having a trapped nerve. Ffs no wonder A&E is so full when idiots go about something they did a month ago! Maybe IABU but to me it just seems ridiculous and really irks me. I didn't want to cause a shitstorm on Facebook and be accused of being unsympathetic so thought I'd ask here instead.

Yep, agree with pp that the pain is unbelievable. Fortunately for me I worked in a gp surgery when it happened to me and the GP sent me straight to the right department but I would have gone to a & e otherwise.

Fekko - I was the same. I birthed a 10lb 2oz baby without even gas and air, I broke my leg and refused pain relief, but the slipped disc and sciatica were 1000x worse then either of those. I actually did not know pain like that existed. None of the hard core drugs I was given touched the pain.

TwitterQueen - thank you for asking. I am out of hospital and recovering from surgery. Th surgery got rid of the acute pain but my leg still feels quite uncomfortable and that leads me to panic (usually around 2am) that it's all going to happen again. I can't wait to start physio and get back to normal life.

I had a trapped nerve once. I went along to a nice physio/chiropractor lady. She checked me out, bear hugged me to free it, gave me a deep tissue massage and i was right as rain. Of course i had to pay a fee which wasnt too high.

I had cystitis and it was the weekend (GP surgery closed) and I called NHS direct and they told me to go to A&E because it doubled as a walk-in clinic at the weekend. So, who knows from a facebook post whether or not your friend was advised to go there as it was the weekend.

Also, sometimes back pain means that you are in so much pain that you cannot walk.

I thought you were going to say mild headache or something

So your friend's pain didn't get any worse or more symptoms? That's a bit different than a condition that gets more painful.

Like a poster upthread I slipped a disc and couldn't move, 111 called an ambulance and I felt so guilty at the (what I thought) waste of resources.
10 hours later I was in surgery after being unable to wee and having numbness round my bum. Thank fuck I was sent to A&E or I could have been paralysed as I had Cauda Equina.

I thought it was gonna be for a cold sore or something!

Yabu.

Trapped nerves are awfully painful.

I never understand people who go to a&e rather than a Dr. I can't think of much worse than sitting for hours waiting to be seen unless you actually genuinely need to be there.

We dont have such a thing as OOH centres where i am.

You can phone nhs 24 for advice and they can make you an appointment to see a doctor but you see the doctor in a&e. So the waiting room could be busy but a lot of those people could have appointments and not just rocked up to a&e and expected to be seen.

Out of interest how did a&e treat your friend? Did she get painkillers, a referral etc, told to just put up with it?

YANBU if everything can be tkane on face value- niggly back no previous GP appointment then youre right that is no reason to go AandE.
Why does everything on mumsnet have to be so dramatised. A pain can just be a pain without needing life saving surgery and bellends who abuse AandE also could just be bellends who abuse AandE

I used to go out with an orthopaedic surgeon who had extensive trauma experience. He told me that no-one needs to go to hospital with back pain unless they have one of the following: loss of sensation or tingling in lower limbs, trouble peeing or trouble with bowels.

I'm glad he told me that, as it means I can put DP straight when he wants to go to hospital for a bit of a twinge. We'd be down there most weekends if he had his way. The lengths some people will go to to avoid a bit of housework or gardening...

Years ago I took my DM to A &E as she had pain in her back and could not walk straight. Outcome - she spent 3 months in hospital and had two operations to remove two malignant tumours from her spine - one at the top and one in the middle. My husband also suffers from a trapped nerve and yes, the pain is horrific.

Someone missed the point about Ireland. It's 140 euro and everyone pays it unless they have a medical card. It's just the A&E fee, it has nothing at all to do with the validity of your reason for being there.

Very true, Lakie. Loss of urinary control can be very serious.

My poor DH had terrible pins and needles in his toes along with the back ache. It was very scary but thankfully his operation was a success.

You're a lovely friend! I'm sure she appreciates you lol

Ever since our local walk-in closed all OOH care is done through a&e at our local hospital.

The daftest reason for a trip to A&E I ever heard was someone at my toddler group, who had left a bottle of Calpol in the baby's room and was worried her baby had drunk it when she had left the room.
The lid was still on the bottle and her baby was one month old.

cathf I can only assume some pretty major sleep deprivation was involved?

We phoned NHS direct the first time DS was ill. It was 2am and we just panicked a bit after googling - everything potentially nasty seems to have the same early symptoms as a simple cold. They were very nice and reassuring.

Wake up one morning with mild back pain, oh I must have slept funny
A week later the pain is getting worse and worse, try to ring for a gp appointment
'No appointments for two weeks' ok I will wait
A few days later pain gets unbearable
Rings gp again
Explains to receptionist about the back pain, she sighs and says it's not really an emergency but will get a doctor to call back
Doctor calls back, says you need to go in
Drive or walk to the doctors which is probably pretty hard in that much pain
Get there
Examined blah blah
They give a prescription for medium painkillers
Have to wait 20 mins in the pharmacy, no chairs available
All the while the pain is increasing and increasing
Get the meds
Go home
Take them
Barely take the edge off
Have a hot bath, use a hot water bottle
Google what could be wrong and scare yourself half to death
Cry yourself to sleep because the pain is so bad
Ring doctors first thing, wait for 10 minutes in a phone waiting que
Explain problem again
And repeat

I completely understand why she went to A&E
I worship the NHS I really really do
I would be dead without them
But they aren't good for back pain
End of
Gp's aren't specialists and you have to be suffering for so long before you can even get a referral which can take months
So if she was in that much agony then I don't blame her one little bit
I've seen people go there for much much less..

(If she was in mild pain then please scrap my comment)

I have a trapped nerve in my lower back which causes numbness on occasion. Last time it happened I phoned my GP who instructed me to go to A&E immediately so I could have an urgent MRI. It can be very dangerous to have a trapped nerve, particularly in your back.

YABVU and have obviously never been in pain with something like this before. It's not fun at all.

You have no idea about individual levels of pain. I went to A&E about a year ago when I thought I had broken my wrist. Absolute agony for hours before I went in and I sat in the hospital with tears streaming down my face with pain. Left with painkillers and a diagnosis of repetitive strain injury. Felt like an idiot but looking back it wasn't wasting resources because of the emmense pain I was in.

Have you ever had a trapped nerve op? my mil has and in the 6 years I've known her I've never seen her in so much pain!

I know someone that went to A&E with a broken fingernail. Honestly. Yeah it was broken just below the skin line and yeah it would have hurt sorting it out with nail clippers yourself but A&E?. The difference is that here she was billed for both the visit and the doctors time, cost her close to $1000 for a broken fingernail.

My mum had a trapped nerve in her back. As others have said, the pain is agonising and she needed surgery for it. YABU.