To want to go to A&E!?

[hollowtree]

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 please tel me WWYD

Oh my gosh, OP, I am so pleased that your OH was on the ball looking after you. It's frightening!

I'm off to Google Sepsis now as I've only ever heard that on mumsnet!

Oh my goodness. I was also all in a flap after you were discharged with antibiotics last night. Did not feel right to me at all. Big high five to you and your DH for keeping a good eye on it. And please PLEASE follow up with PALS. That first A&E doctor needs to know what happened subsequently so he will perhaps be more cautious in future. I know how dreadfully overstretched they are but jesus, not to even take your vitals? That's insane.

Can I ask are you absolutely certain about your vital signs (temperature, blood pressure and sats) not being recorded on your earlier

Yes I am absolutely certain. I was in and out of the double doors in less than 5 minutes.

Gallon I'm so so sorry and really owe you for all of your help. Seriously, really owe you. All of you in fact.

I'm home now- feeling about a hundred times better after my big hit of IV ABs. I've just remembered, same as a previous poster, I was also on oxygen when the paramedics got here! I was so delirious this morning I don't know what the he'll went on so I don't really remember but DH says my heart was racing but my breathing was quick and too shallow so my brain was probably oxygen starved casing sleepiness and delirium.

My DD is sound asleep (after a HUGE cuddle) and we are having a chat and a cuppa on the sofa.

Honestly Mumsnet I wouldn't have known to tell him to watch over me if I hadn't come on here- it would have looked to Mr Hollow like I was just really tired with flu and that infection could have gone much further.

I will be making a comment to the NHS as today could have been preempted, but mainly I am just so grateful I've now had the treatment I needed and feeling on the mend.

I am starting to get over the 'What ifs' too... Oh man I was so emotional earlier..!

Just glad you're on the mend. Listen to your body and don't be afraid to ask for help. X

Was this Stoke Mandeville by any chance?

Glad you are feeling better.

I was always in the “only go to A&E if your arm is falling off” camp but since I spent 3 days telling my 8 year old that he just had a sickness bug which was actually a ruptured appendix resulting in surgery and having to have his insides cleaned and part of his bowel lining removed and the surgeon saying it was the worst appendix he had seen in years I am now firmly in the “if in any doubt seek help, better to be safe than sorry” camp.
That doesn’t mean go for a paper cut but it means I don’t fob the kids off with a you will be fine.

This thread has made me much more aware, DS2 who is now 7 has had numerous ear infections, his ears used to burst every other week when he was little, he’s had grommets and been much better although his ear burst last week again. I’d become a bit blasé about it in a way as he deals with it well apart from the few hours when it’s about to burst so I’m just like ‘oh another burst ear’ but now I will be much more aware to look out for signs of a deeper worse infection.

Blimey op good to hear from you and wish you a speedy recovery

Too many people dismiss ear infections as being incapable of being more than trivial, including many medical staff. Our 8 year old daughter has just been in hospital with a severe ear infection that had spread, and we had to make 2 trips to the GP and were initially sent home from hospital, with nothing but a derisory reference as to how common they are. I knew something wasn't right, and 6 hours later we went back, and the attitude we had was appalling. Our daughter couldn't sit up without being sick, she was in excruciating pain, 6th day of fever and was having rigors, and her ear was profusely draining heavily blood stained pus for days. I insisted on her being reviewed by an ENT doctor, and it was only because she was already under the ENT team at the same hospital, and I had rang the consultants secrectary from her bedside, that they agreed to see her. They discovered that she had a really severe infection, and had to have surgical treatment and IV antibiotics. I am still so angry at how the staff were treating us like timewasters, rolling their eyes and making snide comments about our daughter needing to lie down, and how they quickly changed their tune upon realising how severe her infection was. It was all so upsetting, and we will definitely be making a complaint.
Hope you feel better soon OP, what an awful experience for you

Please do make a complaint anyone who has been dismissed or treated badly having to go back multiple times - it’s all too common and although it’s not nice to complain it’s the only way to make a difference and stop it happening to someone else.

A gallon of diet coke this is when mn really shines... Glad to you are feeling better op.

Agree rainbow in this scenario I see it more as flagging up a near miss and being in health care they would want to know to get it right next time especially with 111

Yes there’s no way the dr that dismissed you will ever learn otherwise. He won’t realise how ill you were today.

What a relief that you have been properly treated and that your lovely husband knew what he was looking for. I hope you recover very, very quickly now.

And obviously complain about your appalling treatment last night. It was truly clinically negligent and that doctor needs to be made aware of the consequences.

@BrieAndChilli a perforated ear drum can cause infection and hearing loss. I wouldn't treat it so lightly.
I have seen people with a burst appendix. They are in huge amounts of pain. I can't imagine what your little boy went through before he got medical treatment.

Glad you are feeling much better. I was rquite worried when you hadn’t posted yesterday morning.

If you were admitted through the same A&E it might be that the hospitals system will flag something up anyway.

They’d much much rather investigate and change procedures/protocol after a near miss than from a case with a worse outcome. And if they were aware of the symptoms you described in the OP I don’t really think they have a foot to stand on in trying to argue they didn’t screw up here.

@snakeshun
I don’t treat DS2s ear drums lightly, I’m fully aware of the fact that they can cause hearing loss, DS is under ENT care and has regular hearing tests to monitor in case his hearing falls too low and needs hearing tests etc. DS is never poorly with his ear infections, he never has any signs or discomfort or a temperature at all, it’s literally he will wake in the night, screaming in pain, all we can do is dose him up with painkillers at that point and wait for it to burst a couple of hours later. After it bursts he is then again absolutely fine. Because this is how he has always been with them I had forgotten about the fact that most people are very poorly with an ear infection .

Regarding my eldest and his appendix - again he showed now signs of being in great pain, he was sick a couple of times, had a slightly raised temp not even a fever, and would occasionally say his tummy hurt, he did not cry or scream once, (and I’ve seen him cry and scream over a paper cut and demand a plaster) when we were at the hospital he didn’t even flinch when they put the giant needle and tap thing in his hand for the IV drip, all the medical staff that treated him constantly commented on how brave he was and how most grown men would be screaming in pain. It wasn’t like he was crying and rolling around in pain on the floor and we were ignoring him, he does have ASD so doesn’t always respond to things the same way as other people.

Had a similar experience to DNAP this summer our summer was spent mainly at the local hospital and sucked obviously, with DD being admitted due to a very nasty infection in her ear which gps refused to take seriously until it was bleeding. Sent us to a&e who refused to take it seriously and sent us to the on site gp there. Thankfully she took it very seriously, lost her shit with the triage staff and got ent down sharpish to her.

Like brie our DD is under ent care, has grommets and rarely ever complains of ear pain, even when her ear was bleeding. She's just come off the back of another bad ear infection the gps tried to fob me off for but I insisted they swabbed so we didn't get a repeat of summer. Luckily I did as it was the same infection type. She's recovered now, but with perforations having appeared in both ears. Again, she complains of no pain. I think it's because she's so used to her ears being sore she knows no different.

Glad to hear you're feeling better hollow and kudos to Mr hollow for looking out for you so well.

Sorry for all the stories on here of people experiencing similar treatment, it is actually horrible to be treated like a time waster when you are in so much pain, exhausted and just desperate for some help!

I've just remembered a previous poster asking me if the original doctor had told me to come back if things got worse- he didn't. He said "you'll be fine in three weeks".

The doctor who discharged me yesterday spent ages giving me a list of things to look out for; she even said to go back in if I started sweating! So I am hoping to be taken more seriously next time- it does really put you off going in tbh.

You just think I already feel so shit, I don't want to sit for 4 hours to be ignored at the end. But now I can safely say I am in the 'Just get it checked!' brigade!

As a matter of interest - and I know it was overtaken by events - but did you ever get the call back from 111?

I haven't read the whole thread, but I do hope that you complain OP. This will give the hospital impetus to review its processes and assist in preventing further instances and even potential deaths as a result of negligence.

Friends bro. has had a sore throat, his Mum finally took a look at it, was black, his skin then started mottling, so took him to A&E who took a look and blue lighted him to another hospital. Sepsis. He is now on a drip. Things like this can accelerate so quickly.

sepsistrust.org/what-is-sepsis/ just leaving that there for everyone to see x

I am so glad you are ok. Thank goodness for the wisdom on mumsnet and for your husband. Please rest up and look after yourself as this is a big thing to recover from.

Hollowtree
So good to hear you’re on the road to recovery. Sure others have said it but when you are feeling please get in touch with the hospital’s PALS (Patient Advocacy and Liaison Service I think). They’re the go-to people when something’s happened and you want to avoid the formal complaint route (if you are). They are taken seriously and someone in A&E desperately needs some additional training by the sound of it.