Was I an a&e timewaster?? What should I have done??

[Applecrumblelipgloss]

if I am in the wrong for going to a&e then I’ll definitely accept it, I just need to know what to do in future if it happens again!

I was recently on holidays with my boyfriend and had a reaction to something. I’ve got no history of allergies and I’ve never had anything like this before. My entire face swelled up like a balloon. It started on the Thursday with my forehead going from normal to being extremely puffy over about an hour or so- I could press it with my finger and it left a big dent about an inch deep! I went to sleep and woke up on the Friday with my entire face massively puffed up and swollen. It was horrific looking. I was coming home the next day anyway (on the saturday) and I guessed it wasn’t urgent like anaphylaxis as it was swelling over hours rather than minutes and I otherwise felt fine, and I went to a pharmacy who gave me topical aloe Vera and some antihistamines.

I landed back home the next day and by now my face was even worse. It was so swollen that one of my eyes was pretty much closed over, with the other eye getting worse too. The gp was obviously closed and I was starting to worry as it wasn’t getting better and I didn’t want both my eyes to close over or my mouth or throat to swell as the swelling was spreading and worsening so we went to the pharmacy who said go to a&e and don’t wait for the GP to open

When I got to a&e and saw the doctor she was so dismissive and it was obvious she thought I was a time waster. She said there was nothing wrong with me and it swelled over days not hours so wasn’t an accident or emergency and it was a gp matter. She said keep taking antihistamines gave me some antibiotics and said it could be a bite or might have been a sunburn reaction as I was mildly sunburned. She said go home and it would just go down over the next week. She was clearly annoyed at me for going as it wasn’t an urgent thing and had happened over 1-3 days so not really an emergency which I understand but my eye was pretty much swollen over now and the other eye was going the same way. I was also worried about my throat swelling as rest of my face was still getting worse and was huge at this point and she said that won’t happen. She kept sighing at me and I overheard her saying I shouldn’t be there and I went home as soon as I got my prescription

Thankfully it did go down but my face took 7 days to return to normal again. Since then it happened again and I just ignored for a week or two until it went down as I’m not sure what to do and i didn’t want to go back unnecessarily and waste their time when I’m not actually unwell and it’s just swelling, but getting a GP appointment is impossible and I’m worried about the swelling being worse next time

Was I wasting A&e time for going for this? What should I do if it happens again? Has anyone else had this happen to them? I’m going on holidays with my boyfriend this summer and dreading incase this happens again or that its worse next time😩

thanks everyone for the advice it’s genuinely helpful! We don’t have a minor injuries so next time I’ll call 111 and ask for a GP appointment out of hours. I really should have done this in the first place before going straight to a&e and honestly I’m not sure why I didn’t, I think I just got too worried and panicked my throat would be next to swell up or that my other eye would close over and I completely forgot about 111 and emergency/out of hours appointments via them!

DS has a severe peanut allergy, so we're used to dealing with reactions. You were absolutely right to go to A&E. The first sign that DS had a peanut allergy was extreme swelling in his face and his eyes were practically closed. People react in different ways to allergens, so you could have been having an allergic reaction.

The Pharmacy told her to go there

You were not a time waster! You did what the pharmacist had advised you to do and it seems pretty proportionate considering that you're condition was worsening and you didn't know if you'd be able to see for much longer.

A doctor treated us similarly when my DS was a baby. We took him in as he'd had a cough for a while and one night I just knew he wasn't right. The doctor saw him, moaned that babies get viruses and he was fine, then went to discharge him. Meanwhile a nurse came by, noticed his breathing and checked him again. She insisted that the doctor came back and it resulted in him being in hospital for 3 days with a severe infection and dehydration. I'll never forget the way that doctor made me feel for being a 'time waster' but I'm glad I was. Always trust your instincts, better safe than sorry.

If something hasn't come on quickly it does not mean it doesn't need very urgent medical attention.

There's plenty of medical issues that, if left untreated for a period of time, turn into urgent and dangerous medical issues.

Having your whole face swell up and keep getting worse over a period of days of course is a reason to go to a&e.

The doctor sounds atrocious. I've also encountered this sort of awful attitude from a&e doctors as well because I have a chronic health condition that can flare up into needing emergency care. With some doctors, as soon as I try to give a backstory and they find out it's a long running issue the eyeball rolling starts.

We live in a culture that shames people and deters people from seeking out medical help they are in genuine need of.

The health system is broken here. It's not your fault although the government like to make you think so.

No, you were right to go to A&E. I had same as you, saw GP ( in the good old days when you could see a GP same day ) who wanted to send me to hospital. I was also given antihistamines but they had very little effect and like you it took a week to get back to normality.

Hope you’re feeling better.

Bit of both- impossible and time consuming. I can’t go into the surgery as I work midweek and you’re only allowed in if you have an appointment. I’ve already called and enquired about booking appointments and was told it was same day so you have to call as soon as it opens. There’s no online provision or econsult or ask my gp unfortunately and they don’t take bookings in person or email. It’s actually a good practice but the phones are insanely busy (understandably) so it’s a lottery if your call gets through and I can’t take everyday off work so I can call at 8am in the hope that I might get an appointment when most of the time it’s impossible to get through. Ideally I’d take a week off work and try every single day but it’s not possible so I just need to try as and when I can x

You were definitely not a time-waster. Your attendance was entirely reasonable and understandable.

Please complain. These people are not gods like they think they are, they are dangerous, murdering arseholes

I'm not allergic to anything (that I'm aware of!) but one day I woke up with a swollen, puffy face. It was so puffed out I could barely see. My OH took me straight to the pharmacy, I would never have considered A&E tbh. Still don't know what caused it, but likely paint fumes.

Id have gone to the walk in centre

Please complain. These people are not gods like they think they are, they are dangerous, murdering arseholes

Don't be a twat. A&E is dealing with people with heart attacks, people involved in serious RTAs, people who are unconscious or not breathing. It isn't surprising they were a bit short with someone going in with an allergic reaction who was having no breathing issues.

Oh i hadnt even thought of this before! Thanks for the heads up, I always take out insurance for holidays so I’ll absolutely notify them about this. Thank you! 😀

Not at all I would have been so scared I would have asked to see someone else and kept going back

It's your fault up don't have a health service for defending it's the laughing stock of the world. In most places, a doctor is considered to be not clever enough to be an engineer. Or a job for a girl who is going to get married and have xar

I think you’re pretty much the only poster on the thread who’s interpreted that which suggests that the doctors (and possibly your) communication skills aren’t quite in line with everyone else’s. I think the OP is a completely normal amount of ‘sensitive’.

Maybe the doctor didn’t mean to be abrasive and dismissive or didn’t realise she could be heard but if that’s how she communicates with everyone she’s going to spend a lot of her time wondering why everyone she encounters seems to be upset or dislike her.

You can be blunt and factual and take into consideration the fact that someone is concerned.

If anything I think you underreacted and should of gone sooner but I am very dramatic in these situations

Such a valuable contribution. Praise be for you stumbling into the conversation.

I thought people were being encouraged to go to pharmacy's for advice? If a medical professional is telling someone to go to A and E then I can't see how it is wrong to follow that advice?

I 100% believe this. This happened to me once, was my first symptom of sunstroke. The fluid in my forehead was ridiculous.

OP, I wouldn't let it annoy you. But I would get an app with your GP, I know it may be in a couple of weeks time but best to just go and have a chat about it, show pictures etc. especially if you're head away again.

I honestly think you should ignore those who are saying you should have gone through 111 to get an appointment with an out of hours GP. Very often, there's a 6+ hour wait for a call back from your local OOH doctors. You will then be allocated an appointment - potentially another several hours. There's no guarantee you'll be seen at your appointment time so you should be prepared to wait another hour or so to be seen. There's also the possibility the OOH doctor would have sent you to A&E as well, assuming the advisors at 111 hadn't already done so.

If you suspect a potentially severe allergic reaction, HOWEVER LONG AGO your potential exposure was, you need A&E. Don't faff about as what may seem innocent to some may actually turn out to be life-threatening.

You were 100% correct to go to A&E, a pharmacist told you to, they are a professional and saw you face to face so no need to contact 111 for a second opinion.

The doctor was an arse considering you were just following advice, you are not medically trained so can't triage yourself.

You did everything correct so don't worry and put the doctors reaction down to being overworked and understaffed, they took their frustration out on the wrong person.

Hi op because you don't have medical training and because your eyes were swelling up, because nothing you were doing was bringing it down and because the pharmacy said go.
You did the right thing.
I would speak to Pals about the doctor in a and e appalling patients attitude and possible training issue.

I don't think you were unreasonable at all!

I have idiopathic allergic reactions, basically the idiopathic part means that the doctors have not got a clue what causes them but it's most likely left over from a virus. The Allergy Department didn't even see me, they diagnosed via notes, but I do agree with them.

It causes my eyes to swell up to such an extent that the skin splits, and in extreme reactions they get really, really sore! What has happened is that as I've had each reaction, they've got worse. On the last one, my lips and tongue swelled up. I went to MIU (we don't have an A&E), explained what was wrong and was immediately whisked through to be seen. They put drips in me, gave me more antihistamines and called an ambulance to take me to A&E. That was my last reaction though (touch wood), they've stopped as quickly as they started.

Exactly squiff. It's just appalling.