To just admit myself to the emerg room

[Chocchoc88]

15 weeks pregnant and been so ill since Tuesday, severe diarrhoea, mixed with constipation, stomach hard to touch and delicate. Anyway went to the docs on Thursday who helped me out a bit with some prescription liquids to help things out but it’s now Saturday and my stomach is playing up yet again. Have eaten little to nothing and the pain has given me sleepless nights.

When I rang my hospital (the Women’s in Liverpool) they said only come into the emerg room if I’m bleeding? But I’m not having that. So I’m wanting to go along and just wait it out there so I can get some sort of reassurance scan and speak to someone. Plus my doctor even said if the pain stays/worsens just go straight there.

So would I be unreasonable to just rock up?

@fairynick it's more that attending a waiting room full of pregnant women with potential D&V is dangerous. As OP has done the best bet is to call 111, who can either advise on the phone, or make an appointment at an out of hours clinic which helps to lower the risk of sitting in a waiting for x amount of time around vulnerable people.

Why do people not understand what 111 is there for? Asking on here is completely bloody pointless because you will either get mocked, scared half to death or told to go to A&E.

The whole point of 111 is that they can actually decide what you should do better than a whole load of untrained people on the internet. That’s what they are paid to do. Honestly threads like these should have an automatic CALL 111 answer and be closed.

My (adult) daughter woke up in agony with abdominal pain last week. I called 111, they spoke to me, asked me some questions then spoke to her as much as possible given the pain she was in. They then made a clinical decision to send an ambulance. It would never have occurred to me to call 999, yet it turned out she needed to be seen in hospital. I’m sure if I’d asked on here, I’d have been told that she was absolutely fine and to give her a paracetamol. 111 is there for a reason. Use it people or we might lose it!

I think it’s best to be safe rather than sorry too.
I think you need to be seen and checked out.

I tend to agree, you sound constipated- which can be agaony, and yes, you do get runny bowel movements around the hard stools. Speak to the chemist

LittlePaintBox

Symptoms in females are different from those in males. Anatomy books and training is traditionally on the male body. I’m glad op is talking to 111.

If any consolation I got sick in France when I was 32 weeks pregnant. As I had eaten a pizza laden with uncooked ham (ie put on after cooking) I was terrified. Went to GP there, he had a really cool mini ultrasound machine and it was very reassuring, all fine. Best 50 euros ever spent! Yes I would call 111, A&E would be awful and prob unhelpful.

They then made a clinical decision to send an ambulance.

111 are not making clinical decision unless you spoke to a doctor. They are people with no medical training with a checklist.

Do you have someone with you? Get someone over if you don’t already.

Ignore all of the ‘it’s not an accident and it’s not an emergency’ bullshit.. plus all the guilt tripping re other people there.

Read what @lostfrequencies wrote

When I was around 18 weeks and got a sickness bug and took to my bed for 2 days. I became really dehydrated and felt bloody awful so I ended up calling 111 who gave me an out of hours appointment which lead to me getting admitted to hospital and diagnosed with sepsis

Other posters have had similar stories to tell.

My friend almost died because her Dr had just kept giving her laxatives for her severe stomach pains & ‘constipation’ causing her diarrhoea... she was admitted a few times & eventually when her DH went in with her when he had to carry her in because of the pain, & he refused to take her home until they found the problem, they found she had a growth on her intestine/bowel, unfortunately it was cancerous too & her bowel (?) exploded when they tried to remove the growth and she spent 18 months with a stoma because of it.

Go in if you feel you need to, but for YOU, not the baby. Baby is nicely tucked up inside oblivious to it all.

If it was me I’d just try to keep comfortable & hydrated. Drinking lots, but eating only a little (but eating to keep things ticking over) & try to get through to Monday. Then make an emergency GP appointment as by then you’ll have ‘waited to see how it goes’ and you’ll get admitted via the surgery rather than just arriving at A&E unknown.

Try to drink dioralyte or similar & get hydrated.

There's a number you can call to speak to a midwife at the women's, it will be on the front of your notes. They should be able to advise you, probably better than 111 on anything pregnancy related. I had to call them a few times and they're really good. Do not under any circumstances turn up to a maternity hospital with a stomach bug! Hope you feel better soon xxx

@gingersausage

🤣😂🤣

111 are about as medically trained as a garden snail.

Losing it would be a GOOD thing.

I’m absolutely not shocked at all at the various idiots on here, those people are precisely why people are petrified of asking a simple question.

I called 111 who assessed me and now I’m getting a call back from a doctor who is going to refer me to an out of hours service. Thanks to most of you offering genuine advice/pointers/support. No thanks at all to the rest of you.

And for clarity, when 111 do pick up, they say they are medical advisors so there must be an element of first line support.

God, I think I’ll stick to lurking in future!

I think people are misunderstanding it’s NOT A and E it’s the emergency room in the women’s hospital.

*womens , op yes I would definitely go along.

I had my babies at the Women’s, in my first pregnancy I had really terrible stomach cramps, went to OOH who sent me to the hospital for monitoring. I was admitted for three days, it was a virus but my pregnancy was quite high risk so they’d rather keep me monitored. I didn’t have constipation/diarrhoea, just severe pain.

I agree with @Shinygreenelephant - you can call the hospital direct, but you might be better going through your local doc as they’ve already seen you and I assume your pregnancy is not high risk.

PS all that happened for me during my admittance was IV paracetamol and fluids but it did help.

@myDcAreMarvel I know, it’s awful how you think you can ask for some basic advice on here and get hit with ‘so your going to go and sit in a room full of pregnant women probably having miscarriages’. I mean ffs.

Glad you're getting checked out OP, hope you don't wait too long for your call back.

Glad you are going to get an out of hours appointment OP, surely that must be a relief for you as although they may be running late it will definitely be less waiting around than with no app; and hopefully you will be home in no time. 111 do have clinical advisors in the room, but the vast majority arent- they will refer to one of the medical advisors if needed, or in some cases they will be listening into calls and intervene and necessary. Not perfect, but for access to out of hours appointments they're great.

Is the pain worse after you eat? Severe pain in waves, worse at night, could be gallstones - not saying it is, obviously, but it might not just be a stomach bug that you should ignore. You're not immune from other serious issues just because you're pregnant, but people sometimes tend to assume anything wrong with you is pregnancy related. I'm glad you called 111, and I hope they find out what the problem is - it sounds horrible for you!

Gallstones flare up can cause diarrhoea too and vomiting. Pregnancy often causes and/or worsens gallbladder issues.

You shouldn't go to AE with d&v if you're otherwise fit and well.
There's no such thing as a reassurance scan. The early pregnancy unit may scan if you're bleeding and they suspect a miscarriage and even then not usually out of hours.
They won't admit you unless you're dehydrated even then they will probably only put you on a drip for a few hours.
Just keep drinking as much water as you can.
I'm not sure people realise what terrible pressure the NHS is under if they feel it's ok to 'wait it out ' in AE.
If they don't think you need to e there they'll leave you in the waiting room.
Where I work there is often a wait of up to 8 hours for non emergency cases and waits for up to 24 hours to be admitted.

The pain is worse after I eat yes. Had my callback from 111 and been asked to attend a check as they want to check if I’m dehydrated (as some of you have said), vitals etc so I’m heading there for 2pm.

Thanks for the advice (most of you!)

I'm trying to work out why you think they would scan you because of D&V. I'm glad you are going to get checked out but tbh if they are only seeing you because if the dehydration risk that is something you can manage yourself anyway.

Sorry just to clarify that should read 'something you can INITIALLY manage yourself'.

Dehydration in pregnancy needs to be assessed by a professional as it can have serious consequences. Hope you're feeling better soon