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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to go to A&E!?

377 replies

hollowtree · 17/02/2018 20:23

My first AIBU so go a little easy- also feeling extremely sorry for myself!

For about 2 weeks I've been having chronic headaches (think can't drive/lights hurt) which I put down to sleep deprivation. On my worst days I used the codiene I was given after my EMCS! Naughty I know but when you have a small baby and no time for the bloody doctors you'll do anything.

Last few days been feeling a bit fluey- temperature, fatigue, aches and pains along with the usual cough/sore throat/stuffy nose.

Then, last night around 2am I woke up with this excruciating pain in my ear along with (what sounded to me like) a firework display in my head! Followed by fluid leaking out from my ear all over my pillow.

So I thought- happy days: must have been an ear infection/abscess which had sorted itself out and explains the headaches and temperature.

But the pain is getting worse. And I'm feeling so dizzy and just so so shit. My head is banging, my neck is aching and my body feels like it's giving up on me.

I sort of want to see if I need fixing, and getting through today has been a struggle let alone waiting all of tomorrow for an appointment on Monday 😓 WIBU to call 111 and ask if I should be worried or if I need to go to A&E?

I read a thread on here recently about wasting NHS resources and now feeling guilty Blush please tel me WWYD

OP posts:
AnnieAnoniMouse · 18/02/2018 16:57

She has an ear infection. Why is everyone panicking so much?!

Because of meningitis & sepsis, both killers. The Dr hasn’t even done a basic check, it’s negligent. It scares those of us who have had life changing repercussions or lost loved ones through this type of neglect.

MadameJosephine · 18/02/2018 16:59

Hope you’re feeling better soon OP Flowers

When you are feeling up to it can I suggest you make a complaint about your treatment. I’m a health care professional and I am genuinely shocked that nobody checked your basic observations in A&E. Sadly our services are stretched to the limit and the only way things get better is if complaints are made

ItsNachoCheese · 18/02/2018 17:06

I hope you feel better asap op what a time your having :(

hidengosqueak · 18/02/2018 17:42

Why am I thinking you've been to my local hospital stoke Mandeville? Poor Drs and nurses are unbeliebly stressed there. I've been 3 times 1) dd1 aged three with infected arm referred by gp, 8 hours waiting only to be sent home with no meds as pharmacy shut and rushed back by ambulance 4 hours later as she was howling. Turned out she had sepsis I her arm. 2) dh sent by Gp suspected break in hand, 5 hours sent home no x-ray. Back 2 days later xrayed and had 3 broken bones in his hand.
3) me referred by Dr for suspected ectopic rupture ( ambulance ) sent home told might be a cyst. Rushed back from car park. It was ectopic pregnancy. Every time I don't blame the Drs and nurses they are shattered and over stretched. I think anyone would make mistakes working under the same conditions .
Hope you recover quickly OP but don't be afraid to go back.

LittleSwede · 18/02/2018 17:43

Hollow, I really hope it is an ear infection and that you begin to feel better as soon as the ABs kick in. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to go and see GP in morning or even back to A&E if you feel (even) worse overnight. Fingers crossed for you.

I had my first A&E trip when visiting my mum in Sweden in January so can't compare with UK NHS service, but one thing they did on arrival in reception was to check oxygen uptake (sorry, not the medical term) with a machine on the finger. They also checked temp on arrival. This was all done through kiosk with receptionist (nurse) one side of plastic glass and me on other (like a post office). Guessing it was to eliminate some life threatening conditions? I know this is not helpful to you OP, just worried that they didn't even bother to check these things during your A&E visit.

Is there a minor injuries walk in centre in your area? Maybe you can go first thing and get them to check you over? Hope DH can keep an eye on you overnight.

Hope you manage to get some rest tonight.

SersioulycanitgetWORSE · 18/02/2018 18:13

Little swede that sounds so sensible!!

SersioulycanitgetWORSE · 18/02/2018 18:15

One wonders if people from NHS do research on this sort of stuff...

Rainbowsandflowers78 · 18/02/2018 18:20

It’s dangerous though isn’t it as not all life threatening/serious conditions have temperatures.
Imo it’s better that you are seen by a triage nurse shortly after arrival and assessed fully by a trained professional.
The problem at the mo is that you are waiting 1 hour or so even to be triaged they are so busy. More money is needed for the nhs.

Frombothsidesnow · 18/02/2018 18:23

Of course the NHS routinely take temperature and oxygen sats when someone presents with fever at A&E. Thankfully OP's experience was not the norm.

Faze84 · 18/02/2018 18:33

My MIL had an operation on Tuesday and was told to call 111 to get a nurse to change dressing. Been on phone to them the last 2 days for over an hour trying to get through. Promised call backs that never occurred. Sad reality.

phlewf · 18/02/2018 18:59

The temperature thing is so weird, I always assumed it was a great diagnostic tool but last time in A and E at the children’s hospital I had to make a scene to get DS temp taken. I mean I demanded they brought me someone more senior immediately (completely outrageous on my behalf and I did apologise). His temp was 41, they went from saying it was a summer cold to admission pretty quickly.
Is it because any run of the mill not serious infection can result in a temp?

LakieLady · 18/02/2018 19:24

When I was in hospital for elective surgery a couple of weeks ago, a nurse said she was about to take my temperature, BP and a couple of other things. She did the BP and the other things, then said "all done".

"You haven't taken my temperature" I pointed out. "Yes I have" says nurse, and showed me this thermometer that doesn't need to go in any orifice, but takes a temp by just being pointed at you.

I felt like a bit of a tit, tbh.

Hope you're starting to feel better now you're on the ABs, OP, it sounds like a horrendous experience.

ChateauCollapso · 18/02/2018 19:27

My Mum was advised to go to A&E by the GP a few weeks ago as she was in so much pain. This was after kidney stone surgery & numerous urine infections. She waited for hours & then a Dr who saw her was very dismissive and told her it was her hip (She's 78). Her GP had said it wasn't hip pain which is why she referred her. So after being sent home late at night, she was asked to go back in the morning. We were then in the surgical assessment unit from 8.30am until 6.15pm. She had a CT scan which showed she has a perineural cyst. She has now been referred to a neurosurgeon at St Georges. Don't be fobbed off!!

LondonLassInTheCountry · 18/02/2018 19:35

If you feel worse, go back and insist on blood tests

JustTerfingAlong1 · 18/02/2018 20:02

I repeat that my DH had sepsis following an ear infection. Same sort of things as the op. Ear burst - seen at OOHS and given antibiotics and sent away.
Less than 24hours later I was calling an ambulance for him as he was completely unresponsive and very very poorly with sepsis. It had started to form an abscess near/in his brain and he is very lucky to firstly be alive, and secondly not to have brain damage!

Apparently the OOHs doctor should have spotted it and would have see the early sepsis and abscess signs if he'd been properly examined.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 18/02/2018 20:06

Echo what others have said. If you start to feel worse go back. Don’t think that just because a doctor has seen you and given you antibiotics you shouldn’t go back.

Rainbowsandflowers78 · 18/02/2018 20:56

Are you feeling better op?

Rainbowsandflowers78 · 18/02/2018 20:57

Or sorry - should phrase that better! How are you feeling? Obviously you won’t be feeling better already but hopefully you aren’t feeling worse and maybe a bit better after the first dose of antibiotics

Rainbowsandflowers78 · 18/02/2018 20:58

Definitely don’t be afraid to go back
Hopefully they safeguarded you and said come back if you don’t improve/feel worse?

Cherrycokewinning · 18/02/2018 21:36

Tbh don’t you think the reason 111 is so busy and A&E so full is all these people with normal (if incredibly painful and dibilitating) illnesses who want to be checked to make sure they’re not going to die of sepsis?

OldBlueStitches · 18/02/2018 21:53

No, it's so busy because there aren't enough staff. The entire point of 111 and A&E is to diagnose/treat the general population, who are, by definition, not qualified to do that themselves. People are SUPPOSED to use the services staffed by trained professionals who can determine what sort of treatment is needed!!

OldBlueStitches · 18/02/2018 21:54

No, it's so busy because there aren't enough staff. The entire point of 111 and A&E is to diagnose/treat the general population, who are, by definition, not qualified to do that themselves. People are SUPPOSED to use the services staffed by trained professionals who can determine what sort of treatment is needed!!

OldBlueStitches · 18/02/2018 21:55

Sorry got a message saying first post didn't go through!

Cherrycokewinning · 18/02/2018 22:00

But it’s not sustainable for everyone who falls ill to attend emergency treatment in case they have a life threatening illness. Yet it’s frequently advises (ordered even) on here and I think that’s a reflection of the way many people are behaving now.

You can’t staff a hospital to deal with that

Rainbowsandflowers78 · 18/02/2018 22:03

Perhaps the gp services need to be more available then. Some are really good but a lot you can’t get an appointment for weeks. And when they do see you they send you away and you end up having to go back!

In this case though the op definitely needed a and e or at least ooh. She had loads of red flag symptoms