Is this 111/A&E worthy?

[RandomBanto]

My husband is hardly ever ill. We're talking never been in hospital, only been to the doc a handful of times in the 20 years we've been together and generally hardly ever gets a sniffle.

He's come home from work today saying he's freezing, then said he was boiling, aches all over, shivering, feels slightly sick, aversion to light and has a headache. Checked his temp which was 40 degrees and have given him Paracetamol and he's gone to sleep (he never take tablets etc hence me giving them to him, he doesn't need mothering!(

He said all this came on suddenly about 3pm and before that he felt absolutely fine and had his lunch which was just a basic marmite wrap and crisps and fruit so can't be food poisoning etc.

He said it doesn't feel like covid as he's had that before.

I'm really worried as Paracetamol hasn't brought his temp down but he is asleep as seems OK at the moment. His mum says I should take him to a&e or call 111. AIBU to let him sleep?

YABU wake him up and call 111
YANBU leave him be he's ok

Rubbish. Are you a doctor?

Nope. And that is why you can't get through or see your GP because our phone lines are absolutely clogged with this.

That’s what I’d do too. If he feels worse or symptoms get worse then ring. As things are he sounds like it’s calming a bit.

OP when one of my twins was 7 weeks he had sepsis and meningitis, and he was only a little bit grumpy, literally no other symptoms. If I hadn't taken him to hospital I'd have lost him, i appreciate this is about a grown man. If the symptom checker is telling you to call 999 that's what you should do, but if you can, drive him there yourself or take a taxi rather than wait for an ambulance. If it were me, I'd rather waste some hours in a&e than take the chance.

The headache and aversion to light would have me checking with someone who would realistically say go to A&E

@RandomBanto it's the headache and photophobia with a fever that are red flags for meningitis. You can obviously have both of these and it's not meningitis, but contrary to some posters here photophobia is not common with flu or covid. Not saying it never happens, but it's not common.

Put it this way I would not think you were wasting time with the history you gave at the start. If his photophobia and headache have subsided though, it's a lot less likely.

Wow I'm glad your daughter is OK now after that and you followed your instincts. I have a niggling feeling about my husband that I've only ever had with my kids - we just know when they're unwell don't we? So I'm keeping a close eye on him but he doesn't want me to do anything else or call 111 so I have to respect his wishes.

Sounds like flu? I had it as a teenager and it came on really suddenly, i had a 40 degree temp and couldn't stand up, my dad had to carry me up to bed, i then stayed there for 2 weeks! I would call 111 for advice though.

I would see how he is by morning when you can speak to gp. 111 is a massive waste of time and they take hours if they call at all. Hope the night is good and he rests

Sounds like the onset of flu aside from the light aversion.

I went from being absolutely fine to being unable to leave my bed for a week in the space of about 3 hours, it was absolutely horrific!

Hope he feels better soon x

My DD2 had sepsis at 9 weeks. She was irritable and sleepy only. I'm really not sure how or why you are comparing a tiny baby who can't speak or respond to a grown arse man with a temperature??

This is currently running through my house, last weekend my 5 year old slept for the full 48 hours (did wake for toilet, drink, medicine).
On Monday I felt like I'd been hit in the face with a spade but apart from that okay, went to bed, woke up Wednesday morning! just as my partner could get out of bed his body just hurt too much now the 6 year old has it.

It's fucking brutal but it's hits hard for 48 hours then it's slow to leave

It’s a 111 call, not a 999.

I’ve been in that situation before - against my husbands wishes. He is in bed, and they don’t know!

Every time I’ve used 111 online symptom checker it has advised me to call 999! I have never done that. I mean, I live within walking distance of a hospital and have never actually felt sick enough for an ambulance. I think the online symptom questionnaire is not that reliable.
If his temperature is coming down then keep up the paracetamol, fluids and rest. If he takes a turn for the worse then reconsider.

I’ve had the flu and covid over the past 2 months. Both came on suddenly and both gave me intense chills and fever.
I can’t comment on whether he needs to go to the hospital or not, I slept it off when I had it but the flu especially really knocked me and it was horrible.

hope he feels better.

About 10% of our pupils were absent last week with similar symptoms - flu. I don't know why everyone jumps straight to worst case scenario. There's another thread where someone waited 6 hours before going home from an over-run A&E dept. No wonder when people see flu symptoms and decide it's meningitis or sepsis, and take themselves to A&E where they can spread it to more people. I'm glad his temp is down and he's sleeping op.

These are the exact same symptoms I had with covid, I remember the aversion to light well and the hot and cold.

But I have something now which I thought was covid but isn’t and I have similar symptoms to your DH and there is stuff going around as 3/4 of my work have been off.

I am not as ill as your DH but I still couldn’t think of anything worse than being stuck in A&E for hours.

I would leave him for now but if his temperature starts rising or he starts feeling worse then don’t hesitate to take him.

It sounds like flu. Dd had similar a few weeks back. I did speak to a pharmacist on day 4, then did the 111 online and got a doctor call back. Advice was to see gp so we did that the following day. In our case her temp started to reduce and then spiked again so I was worried about secondary infection needing antibiotics. Gp checked her and said it’s flu. Paracetamol every 4 hours, fluids and more fluids then rest. Keep an eye out for sepsis but that usually develops as it’s when the initial infection gets into the blood.

111 often give you advice so it’s worth a call. It’s not likely of course, but my husband doesn’t get sick much and last time suddenly had high temp and shivers, couldn’t stand the light - they did rush him in to check for meningitis (the light aversion) and sepsis. It was neither thankfully and a kidney infection , so worth checking x

I'd suggest 111 tbh a& e is for this kind of thing

Call 111 if he gets worse or no better by the morning.
Sounds like classic Covid or flu. Hope he gets better soon.

Just a note; because someone is never normally ill isn't a reason to assume they must be seriously unwell and call 999. Warning signs are struggling to breathe, being very pale/blue and clammy, being confused/disorientated, having a rash, being unresponsive or losing consciousness. It's all on the NHS website.

Sounds like he's got an awful cold, there's lots going around at the moment. Having a fever means the body is doing its job.
Chicken soup, plenty of rest and vitamin c and keep an eye on his airways.

I had Corona last week and it was a bit like this. The symptoms have changed from earlier iterations of it.

@RandomBanto don’t play medic call 111 I unfortunately know one person who died of sepsis and another loss of lower limbs, similar flu like symptoms.

OP, you are right to keep an eye out and call 111 only if gets worse. We have symptoms in our household, sudden onset fever, horrible cold/cough gluey symptoms. I have to say I did worry about my DS then realised it’s because we haven’t had any non-Covid illness for so long it felt worryingly “wrong” kept close eye out for wheezing, rashes (he had some rashes but were more like heat rash) first DS is the on mend now after 3-4days of unusual quietness, fever, no appetite, cough and tearfulness. Now others in the family have it. Has dawned on me that pre-Covid, i took painkillers and rested for a day or two then tried to crack on and this is what we are doing. We all feel “meh” when the drugs wear off so are all doing a cycle of paracetamol followed by ibuprofen a couple of hours later to keep topped up (plus throat lozenges) or no ibuprofen and a few extra ventolin puffs for those of us with asthma. It sucks but it will pass. At least we will rebuild our immune systems 💪