To go to A & E?

[EarProb]

Even though I'm not strictly sure it's an issue for them because I am so desperate.

I am having really bad problems with my ears. My GP is at a loss and has referred me to ENT months ago but nothing has come of it yet. I keep going back to the GP but they say there is nothing they can do.

My ears are completely blocked with gunk. GP says not infected but the one time I managed to pay privately to have them cleared out he said he thought they were.

Both my ears are completely swollen on the outside and the inside. My ear drums have not been visible for the best part of a year and I sometimes wake up with stuff leaking all over my pillow and even running down my face. It's absolutely vile. I have even woke up before now with blood dripping down the side of my face from the inside of my ear.

It looks awful too so my self esteem has plummeted.

I now cannot hear at all when I am lay down and only slightly when I'm stood up because they are that swollen and full. I cannot hear my baby stirring in the night.

I am so desperate. I feel incredibly depressed with it and I've no idea where to turn. The ENT referral has been chased several times by my GP but nothing yet. It was sent in April.

I don't know what else to do. Sometimes I honestly feel like I don't want to be alive anymore it's affecting me that much.

Have you had antibiotics or eardrops? Did gp do a swab?

If you are in so much pain erhaps try and see if you can get an appt with out of hours for antibiotics to treat the immediate problem, hopefully you'll have a 24hr pharmacy you can get to.

Go to A&E, at a hospital that has an ENT service (not all hospitals have ENT).

Emphasise that it is making you feel like this " I honestly feel like I don't want to be alive anymore it's affecting me that much."

You will need to tell them what is different now to last week. Explain regarding your hearing, the leaking onto the pillow, not being able to hear your baby. You need someone to look at it and sort it out before you permanently lose your hearing.

(I'm an emergency medicine matron)

Don't go to A&E; it isn't appropriate. What is a junior Dr in A& E be likely to do?
Is it recurrent otitis externa?

Oh please just go and explain. You can't carry on like this.

Yep go tomorrow.
Not today, they are expecting a huge spike of call about 1 hour after the end of the match. It will be mayhem

What wowzel says. I didn't even think of permanent hearing loss. Go asap

@yikesanotherbooboo

Don't go to A&E; it isn't appropriate. What is a junior Dr in A& E be likely to do? Is it recurrent otitis externa?

Hmm.. I think that if it was as simple as that, the GP would have sorted a long time ago

Yep I'd go to a&e. I can empathise - my best friend has permanent hearing loss from recurrent infection in one ear. It looks so painful.

After a year I'd say you've given them more than enough chances to fix things. Good to a&e and tell them you can't cope with the pain any more.

Can you afford to see a private ENT? They may be able to see you same day in some places, and you won't have to wait in A+E!
Honestly if you feel you need to be seen tonight, I would go. Ear problems are horrendous.

Go tonight, constant ear infections could lead to permanent damage to your hearing, you shouldn't have to suffer like this. A&E wouldn't be so busy if GPs did their bloody jobs properly these days.

You haven’t described anything new. A&E isn’t the place unless you develop a temperature……and certainly not tonight. (Senior A&E dr).

It feels like the ENT referral sounds the correct course. Am loathe to ask but when when your GP said they had no signs of infection, was this during a phase with active production of material? Did they swab the fluid and send it for culture?

No to A and E tonight unless there's a significant (real, not fictional) change.

When you say nothing has come of it, have you called your hospital appointments or ENT department to ask if an appointment has been made?

Yes, go to A&E. Get help.

@Zilla1

No to A and E tonight unless there's a significant (real, not fictional) change.

When you say nothing has come of it, have you called your hospital appointments or ENT department to ask if an appointment has been made?

If they are anything like my local hospital, nobody answers the phone. If that's the case, call PALs, OP. I did this and they called me back within the hour and gave me a appointment (not fast one, but at least I knew I was in the system!)

@Twinkie01 with your insight, what should the GP have done, beyond a referral if they judged they were unable to diagnose and treat themselves?

Those saying not to go - have you read the posters describing their experiences of going to A&E and being helped?

Op - go. Sounds like they'll be able to help alleviate your suffering.

Gp doesnt sound like theye investigating enough surely should have give you antibiotics by now

@Marshmallow91

Yep I'd go to a&e. I can empathise - my best friend has permanent hearing loss from recurrent infection in one ear. It looks so painful.

After a year I'd say you've given them more than enough chances to fix things. Good to a&e and tell them you can't cope with the pain any more.

this. many years ago this happened to a friend. dismissed repeatedly by gp, and then went to a&e who treated it immediately and said he could have lost his hearing. Maybe not tonight! but go asap and tell them all you said, especially blood dripping down your face from your ear.

I wouldn't go to A&E tonight because it will be full of drunk knob heads.

But I absolutely would go tomorrow. I would lay it on thick and say you are in unbearable discomfort.

At the end of the day ears and hearing are very important and I wouldn't put up with it any longer.

And ignore anyone who may witter on about saving our precious nhs and only go to a&e if your leg is hanging off.

Not read the full thread but I had something similar several years ago and after going back and forth to the GP I was sent to urgent ENT clinic. You need to go back to GP tomorrow and have an urgent referral done to this department - my doctor called them while I was there and I was seen by them that afternoon.
Gunk and blood running out of your ears is not normal. Any drops that they give you will have no effect due to the debris that is in the ear. It sounds like they need microsuctioned and then appropriate topical medicine applied.
Please call your GP or call 111 tomorrow and demand urgent help. Good luck.

Because waiting for the referral could result in permanent hearing loss. It's ok to say, I don't know wait but if symptoms persist or worsen I'd go to A&E where they would most likely get an ENT consultant to check it out.

Go back to the GP. Tell them to take a swab and get them to prescribe drops. If it is a fungal infection you will need something like canestan drops.
I’ve had something like this. I was back and forth to the GP and finally went to A and E when I was in agony. The drum had burst and was oozing liquid constantly.

I had debris sucked out of my ears, different drops from the hospital and I am now under the ENT department but really my ears are mostly OK. I have lost some hearing and occasionally odd spell of tinnitus.

Seriously, don’t take your ears for granted and don’t allow doctors to fob you off.