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😩

No that’s not time wasting. If you’d called 111 I think they’d have told you to go to A&E anyway. I think perhaps the nurse was tired and stressed (understandably) and we all get like that occasionally when work is hectic..

You were most definitely not wasting time. You had a medical condition which was not improving despite having received advice from a pharmacist.
Please complain to your local PALS, I appreciate the doctor was probably tired, overworked and stressed but that is not your fault, you were concerned and she had no right to make you feel like a time waster.
This is an extreme, rare case but my mil went to A&E with a swollen face and was told it was nothing. It turned out she had a neuro-endocrine bowel tumor but the A&E doctor dismissed it as nothing (without asking her her other symptoms, of which, there were quite a few red flag ones!).
We are our own health advocates and many people are brushed off by doctors. They are there to do a job and not judge people or make them feel like a waste of time for a service all tax payers contribute towards. She wouldn’t have made you feel like that if you were paying privately!

Maybe pop to your GP and explain the situation. They may be able to issue you with something like an Epipen for when you next go away.

You did nothing wrong going to A&E. Dr was extremely rude and unprofessional. I’d complain.

The pharmacist told you to go.

Not a timewaster.

YANBU She gave you antibiotics.

I’ve had a similar thing. It is terrifying. Quite often, once this has happened, it continues to happen; it’s as if your body has learnt how to do this, and so repeats it, not always for the same trigger. It can be stress related.

mine was not susceptible to anti histamines, I was given predisnolone ( can’t make spell check accept this) to always have with me. It eventually stopped and I haven’t had it for decades now, but it can be risky when it happens, so do try to act and get some medication before it happens again.

No you weren’t, the doctor was unprofessional. You weren’t to know how bad it could have got, it was still swelling, it could have turned into a life threatening situation.
It happened to me, sudden facial swelling one Sunday afternoon, I’d walked to see a friend and she gasped when she opened the door to me. “Whose punched you in the face?” I didn’t know what she was talking about, she said look into the mirror.
My face was like a balloon but I’d had no inclination that it had happened. It wasn’t itchy, I hadn’t been bitten, I’d not eaten or drunk anything. He dad took me home.
it got worse overnight, both eyes swollen tight shut. Mum nearly passed out on the spot the next way when I got woke up. Our gp surgery was a walk in surgery, no appt. system.. The battle axe receptionist, took one look at me and waved me straight past the patients before me, into the inner sanctum of the doctors office.
The doctor diagnosed sinusitis, I had to take a month off work and antibiotics. It took ten days for the swelling to go down. Doc would sign me fit for work though until he was sure it had cleared up.

Unfortunately it's very much the Dr who was in the wrong here, OP.

Please do not let this put you off in future - facial swelling like this can be benign but as a previous poster has said it's a very fine line before your eyes (or worse, airway) is affected. A&E was the best course of action in this case. You were not a time waster.

Please remember this is a service we pay taxes for and are perfectly entitled to use.

Genuine time wasters are those who attend with sunburn/minor coughs and colds etc. not something as alarming and potentially very serious like your reaction x

Did you take any photos of your face/head at all? Might be helpful when you see your GP.

Unfortunately some HCP don’t actually want to work and do the job they’ve be paid to do. We’ve spent the last few years clapping the NHS but my experience of it, along with many others, isn’t positive at all. This is from
pre and post Covid times, too.

I think you just unfortunately got unlucky here, to be honest.

You should have gone to A and E abroad, you would have gotten far better treatment!!

Hope you are ok, you are not a time waster and don’t ever be afraid to go the hospital if you need to.

Not time wasting at all. It’s disgusting behaviour from them and it seems to be happening more often. I know people who have been to hospital and sent home saying nothing is wrong. People having scan results lost. It’s a fucking shambles! And I don’t know how these people sleep at night.

I'm an X nurse and I would have gone to A&E before you did. I would not take any chances with worsening facial swelling. I'd look at it this way, would you rather deal with a doctor being arsey with you for turning up or wait until it was an emergency and have them asking you why you didn't come in sooner. The doctor may have been confident it wasn't serious but you weren't to know that so I think you did the right thing. Put it down to someone having a bad day.

I would keep pushing with you GP though, you do need to know what caused it so that you can either prevent it in the future or have a plan for how to deal with it.

YANBU, how scary for you.

it’s as if your body has learnt how to do this, and so repeats it, not always for the same trigger

@Allthegoodnamesarechosen this is pretty much exactly how the process of an allergic reaction develops. For many allergens there’s the risk that the immune response is stronger each time up to the point of anaphylaxis or other reaction that may put the sufferer in mortal danger or cause significant long term damage. This is why people are advised to do a patch test with hair dye every single time they use it even if they’ve used it before. (I digress but you didn’t dye your hair before you went on holiday did you @Applecrumblelipgloss? I’m wondering if newly dyed hair might have had some residue which in the heat reacted to more porous skin? I’ll admit I’ve gone a bit ‘House’ with that theory though )

You can retrain your immune response which is why there are processes like the milk ladder for dairy allergies or micro dosing exposures to other allergens but they’re not guaranteed to work and there’s always the risk the immune response could develop to be stronger and these should always be done under medical supervision.

Ok, I think whatever you may or may not have experienced is clouding your judgement. Doctors and nurses are, except in a few vanishingly rare cases, not ‘dangerous, murdering arseholes’, Christ almighty.

Ha, just saw the absolute clusterfuck that was your second post @Kd44. I think you’re best ignored.

Yes when a earbud from a headphone got stuck in my ear I went to A-and E and was told I was wasting Nhs resources despite me ringing up my GP surgery to get it removed who advised me to go to A and E

A FB posting on my local hospital page made me feel better . Didn't name names just time and date

Yes. You are so worldy and clever. Where on this planet have you lived and worked. Oh yes, nowhere 😂

Good one @Kd44 😶

This happened to me in December. Kept having phone appointments with the GP over the course of a week and taking antihistamines and it was just getting worse every day. GP finally gave me a face to face appointment and when he saw me he sent me straight to A&E due to the extent of the rash and my resting pulse rate was sky high. I had no breathing difficultiesand this was now 8 or so days after the reaction. Consultant in A&E admitted me overnight for steroid drip so no you weren't being unreasonable.

I was referred to allergy team for testing in December and was told they might not take me on as they are so overwhelmed particularly with people reacting to covid vaccines (doctor said this).They did agree to give me an appointment but I am still waiting for it.

You saw a pharmacist (one of the services you are advised to use instead of A&E/111/GP) and their advice was to attend A&E - so you were following medical advice - not time wasting.
Facial swelling could turn deadly serious very very suddenly. You state an eye was swollen closed and the other was starting to too so its not much of a stretch to be concerned about mouth/airway.
111 would have sent you to A&E and may very well have sent an ambulance.