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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To please ask what you would do? A/E

213 replies

Lamplightlady4 · 12/05/2022 15:54

I’m an adult but hate wasting anyones time so I’m asking mumsnet for their opinions. AIBU for considering a and e?

I’ve had an ear infection for eight weeks: my ear is incredibly swollen, leaking pus and blood daily and smells like fish. (sorry TMI).

In the past 6 weeks I’ve has 5 doses of antibiotics, and steroid drops and it’s remained the same. My ear is still as it was eight weeks ago.

My GP has done an urgent referral to ENT but this is nine weeks away even as urgent referral.
I went to my GP a few days ago and was given another set of antibiotics and sent on my way.

But the issue is I’m getting even more poorly over the past day, my glands in my mouth have now swollen, saliva glands and it’s hard to swallow, my ear is still swollen and red and bleeding, and I’m shivering and clammy, waking up with wet hair and a wet back with sweat. I’ve also slept 15 hours but I can barely keep my eyes open at work. I don’t have a temp however.

im just a loss of what to do, I’m feeling so unwell within myself I can hardly function and do my normal activities but I cannot bear a 6th sent of antibiotics, and without a temp, I doubt they’ll do anything:

Does anyone have any advice? Even ibuprofen isn’t touching the sides.’

OP posts:
ImJustMadAboutSaffron · 15/05/2022 21:13

HelenMirrensWeightedBlanket · 15/05/2022 20:15

Very glad you’ve been admitted and that you know what you’re dealing with now, OP.

FWIW, I went to A&E with sepsis in 2010 (south London) following a serious operation. Was triaged quickly then left in a corridor for six hours, sobbing in pain and fear and begging for help. Every member of staff just walked past me.

Eventually the porter came over and asked if he could help - I asked him to get a doctor because I couldn’t bear the pain any longer. Later found out they wrote ‘patient is hysterical’ on my notes. I ended up in hospital for two weeks.

I have panic attacks now due to that experience and at the time I hoped it was very rare. I’m horrified to see how much worse it’s become in the decade since.

I hope you complained.

MrsMingech · 15/05/2022 21:16

RenoSusan · 15/05/2022 20:30

I had this and my ear drum burst and no one could fix it for 6 weeks and I was a telephone operator and lost my voice every shift and my ear hurt so bad. I was very young. Call the opera house or concert venue and ask where they send performers who are losing their voice. This is the doctor you want to see and they will fix it asap.

What kind of advise is that?!

Jconnais1chansonquivavsenerver · 15/05/2022 21:16

So glad you got to A&E in time. Wishing you well and a speedy recovery.

BajaBaja · 15/05/2022 21:22

Definitely A&E ear is too close to the brain. Hope you got to have it checked. And are ok!

Hollywolly1 · 15/05/2022 21:24

I'm so happy you got help

Americano75 · 15/05/2022 21:25

Lamplightlady4 · 14/05/2022 11:39

Hello everyone. Thanks for your comments, I’m in hospital now. They did a CT scan and found that I had mastoiditis and it was on the brink of becoming meningitis and entering the brain.

A/E was really diabolical however, despite a high temp once I got there, feeling faint and the sepsis risk, I still waited for 5 and a half hours to see a doctor, but there had been one woman waiting almost 12 who I felt so sorry for.

I do worry how the NHS will continue at this rate. There was someone screaming on the floor for hours with gallstones, and was told the wait for the bed was 12 hours in a chair. Devastating.

Fucking hell, hope you're OK?

EleonorBronte · 15/05/2022 21:47

The sepsis dementors are out in full form!

OP, you pay for the NHS, we all do, so use it - good luck, it sounds bloody awful x

Pepsi2001 · 15/05/2022 21:47

Definitely go to a and e

Pepsi2001 · 15/05/2022 21:49

Go to a and e.

EleonorBronte · 15/05/2022 21:51

Apologies, didn't see update.

I was only reading about mastoiditis last week, I currently have blockages with wax and it frightened me to death. I am hearing more and more worrying reports about what is happening within the NHS, and in my own opinion I believe it is being dismantled by stealth, neglect. I'm so sorry to hear you had to wait so long, and that other poor woman.

I hope you have a quick recovery, op. They use intravenous antibiotics don't they for this? Do you have anyone with you to help?

pilates · 15/05/2022 21:53

Glad you are in hospital and being treated. Wishing you a speedy recovery 💐

Iamthewalnut · 15/05/2022 21:54

Lamplightlady4 · 14/05/2022 11:39

Hello everyone. Thanks for your comments, I’m in hospital now. They did a CT scan and found that I had mastoiditis and it was on the brink of becoming meningitis and entering the brain.

A/E was really diabolical however, despite a high temp once I got there, feeling faint and the sepsis risk, I still waited for 5 and a half hours to see a doctor, but there had been one woman waiting almost 12 who I felt so sorry for.

I do worry how the NHS will continue at this rate. There was someone screaming on the floor for hours with gallstones, and was told the wait for the bed was 12 hours in a chair. Devastating.

I had never even heard of mastoiditis until last Tuesday when my 4-year-old developed a fever, couldn't stop vomiting and the skin became enflamed behind her left ear. DH & I just assumed it was a stomach bug and didn't link the sore ear (she has a cochlear implant and we just thought she'd be lying on it in awkwardly)

We deliberated taking her to A&E as we weren't sure it was severe enough, but when we phoned 111 they sent an ambulance immediately - I'm so grateful they did - she too was diagnosed with mastoiditis and we were told if we'd left it any longer the infection could have spread to the brain and been fatal. This was after waiting from 7pm till 3.30am to see a doctor - the NHS is terrifyingly overstretched.

Because the infection was in the bone there was talk of her needing to stay in hospital for 6 weeks to receive longline antibiotics. DH and I both work, have no family support nearby and were already on our knees after six days of making sure one of us was by her side 24 hours per day as she recovered. To our enormous relief we were told today she could in fact go home with a course of oral antibiotics and we brought her home this evening.

I'm so glad you're getting the treatment you need OP, and I hope you make a swift recovery. I feel extremely relieved right now and fortunate that my daughter is on the mend when it could so easily have been a different story.

(Pics taken 4 days apart - before and after antibiotics).

To please ask what you would do? A/E
To please ask what you would do? A/E
Strangeways19 · 15/05/2022 22:10

Very glad to read that you're getting help now but sounds like a horrendous experience in a&e.
I have to say though that the NHS has been in a state for at least 30 years. I was seriously ill 28 years ago & it was entirely missed, I was so ill by the time it was (privately) picked up.

CockSpadget · 15/05/2022 22:10

@Iamthewalnut oooo bloody hell that looks so angry! So glad she is on the mend now!

ElizabethBoland · 15/05/2022 22:13

MrsMingech · 15/05/2022 21:16

What kind of advise is that?!

Show quote history

Call the opera house might be the most mumnset batshit advice for an ear infection I’ve ever heard 😂
so glad you went to a/e, best wishes

EleonorBronte · 15/05/2022 22:23

I am also fucking disgusted that your GP saw pus and blood coming out of your ear and DIDNT send you to A&E immediately.
I'm just speechless all round here, op. I truly am. You have my best well wishes for a speedy recovery.

Tusue · 15/05/2022 22:29

I’m a nurse 😳go ,go asap ,NOBODY will think you’re a time waster ,GO !

Helentwinsplus1 · 15/05/2022 22:40

I had gallstones just before the pandemic and developed pancreatitis and the infection had spread to my liver. The ambulance crew had been told to only take in life threatening emergencies but seeing how much pain I was in and the onset of jaundice they ignored it and took me anyway. So glad they did because the surgeon said if I'd of waited until the next morning for the antibiotics I would have been seriously ill indeed. At the same time I was in waiting for surgery my friends lovely mum passed away from pancreatitis in the HDU unit having been treated on the same ward a few hours earlier so it brought things home hugely how lucky I was.

I nearly didnt call the ambulance because I didnt want to be a time waster.

Glad you're on the mend

Nanny0gg · 15/05/2022 22:56

fetchacloth · 15/05/2022 20:56

You really should go to A&E urgently OP as this has become a serious bacterial infection that may lead to sepsis. Trust me you don't want that😮

🙄

oakleaffy · 15/05/2022 22:59

So glad you are hopefully ok OP

Fucking Tories have run the NHS into the ground.

Utter Arseholes.

They want it abolished.

Nanny0gg · 15/05/2022 23:00

Iamthewalnut · 15/05/2022 21:54

I had never even heard of mastoiditis until last Tuesday when my 4-year-old developed a fever, couldn't stop vomiting and the skin became enflamed behind her left ear. DH & I just assumed it was a stomach bug and didn't link the sore ear (she has a cochlear implant and we just thought she'd be lying on it in awkwardly)

We deliberated taking her to A&E as we weren't sure it was severe enough, but when we phoned 111 they sent an ambulance immediately - I'm so grateful they did - she too was diagnosed with mastoiditis and we were told if we'd left it any longer the infection could have spread to the brain and been fatal. This was after waiting from 7pm till 3.30am to see a doctor - the NHS is terrifyingly overstretched.

Because the infection was in the bone there was talk of her needing to stay in hospital for 6 weeks to receive longline antibiotics. DH and I both work, have no family support nearby and were already on our knees after six days of making sure one of us was by her side 24 hours per day as she recovered. To our enormous relief we were told today she could in fact go home with a course of oral antibiotics and we brought her home this evening.

I'm so glad you're getting the treatment you need OP, and I hope you make a swift recovery. I feel extremely relieved right now and fortunate that my daughter is on the mend when it could so easily have been a different story.

(Pics taken 4 days apart - before and after antibiotics).

Show quote history

Poor little thing. Glad she's on the mend

My mother had mastoiditis back in the late 1920s/early 1930s when she was a child, when obviously medicine wasn't so advanced.

They treated it and the antibiotics worked but she never ever forgot the pain she was in.

allboysherebutme · 15/05/2022 23:15

A and E now. X

allboysherebutme · 15/05/2022 23:25

Glad you're on the mend. X

Misty333 · 16/05/2022 00:03

Go to A&E and let us all know how you are. Good luck.

Lullab · 16/05/2022 00:16

Get to A&E immediately - sounds like the infection has spread. If nothing else you should have a swab taken and sent for culture and sensitivity tests. These will show if the correct antibiotics have been given and if not, which ones should be given. You cannot wait for your ENT appointment!