Been told not to attend A&E by gp receptionist..

[shallwego]

Hello,

Following from another thread of mine, regarding painful ovulation (will summarise below)

• Been TTC for almost 3 years

• Had bloods taken by GP (day 21 bloods) and was advised at the time that this would show endometriosis or PCOS issues

• Had a GP appt yesterday to get the ball rolling with fertility help, mentioned that I get very painful ovulation, and she advised that endo / PCOS wouldn't in fact show in bloods, only a physical examination would determine this.

When I'm in / around ovulation, I get EXTREME crippling cramps in one side of my ovaries / lower abdomen, radiating across my pelvis. They're so awful I often feel like I'm going to split in half. When I sit and then stand again, I can barely stand up straight. It's crippling and lasts a LOT longer than the seconds / sometimes hours that others explain and experience during this time of the month. We're talking days. Sometimes 2/3.. and the pain is MUCH worse than my period pain.

I phoned the GP reception today, as I'm having a really hard time with the pain today. They've advised that nobody can see me there until 2nd week of January; and so I must get on with it until then. Fine, but pain killers are literally not touching the pain and I don't know what to do with myself. I'm at work and can't even stand straight. It's like someone's sawing me in half from hip-hip..

So I asked the receptionist if she would recommend I attend A&E for guidance in the meantime.
She almost screamed 'NO' at me. That they're under pressure (which I'm fully aware of and understand completely) but I honestly don't know what to do with myself 😞

So my question is.. would I be unreasonable to attend A&E after work? I just want help and answers. I'm so scared and in so much pain.

@MissMisss · Yesterday 16:08
Like you say you were expecting to manage and then something happened during work that changed that.''

What is your point exactly?

A health issue can worsen really quickly so the fact the OP has still been working up to now while in pain is not something people should use to tell her that she is not sick enough to go to A&E. Better to get things looked as quickly as possible.

I've also explained further down thread that I am at risk of redundancy at the moment, so for me to take time off work is just not an option, no matter how unwell I feel.

I can't give the company any reason to use against me in the next round - even if it would come under discrimination.. they don't have to use this as a reason when deciding that I'm the next to go.

Sounds awful! Glad you’ve seen someone and hope you get some answers soon OP.

Thank god for that if all you can do is be nasty

I actually agree with you that OP didn’t need A&E in this instance, she needed to be urgently seen and examined by her GP. Which she thankfully was, in the end. But expecting her to wait 5 weeks to see anyone with the kind of pain she describes is clearly unreasonable, and the GP receptionist was very wrong to suggest that. OP’s question about A&E arose when she thought she was going to have a long wait to have her pain investigated through other channels, with no idea whether it might actually be a medical emergency like appendicitis or ovarian torsion. So no, she didn’t need A&E, but I can understand why she was exploring that option in the absence of anything else. I’m very glad the GP surgery saw sense and finally dealt with it in a more appropriate way.

What I don’t agree with is the arbitrary declarations of who is or isn’t allowed to go to A&E. Or the blanket insistence that if you’re well enough to send an email or post on Mumsnet then you aren’t bad enough for A&E.

I’ve seen more than one thread on here where someone has posted with something like chest pain or abdominal pain and there’s always at least one poster who poo-poos the idea of A&E and accuses the OP of being the ‘worried well’ taking up all the NHS time, only for the OP to come back and confirm that they were in fact having a heart attack or suffering with a burst appendix. If they followed your rule that the ‘woman posting on Mumsnet’ isn’t a priority for A&E then they could be dead now. It’s very dangerous to try to impose blanket criteria online for what makes it ok/not ok to seek emergency medical assistance and you’d better hope nobody is reading this thread, now or in the future, and feels ashamed or embarrassed to go to A&E after reading your posts when actually, they really really should.

I panicked at the thought of having to wait until 2nd week of January before I can be seen, and when in a lot of pain that's the last thing you want to hear.

I didn't want to go to A&E but asked the receptionist if this is sitting they would advise in the event that I can't be seen by them.

@FirewomanSam only I didn’t make a blanket statement that if you can post on mumsnet you don’t need A&E. it was the entirety of her situation.

We arent disputing you're in pain. We just agree with you that you should go to the GP not A and E.

OP there's something about gynae pain that sets off the worst of mumsnet.

I posted many years ago in the throes of extreme period pain - it turned out I have Stage 4 Endo - as I wanted DH to come back from a walking weekend as I was struggling to look after 2 year old DS.

Some people were kind and supportive, but others were not so to the point of being very unpleasant. I should have a support network of other DMs to look after DS( I worked 4 days a week at that point), I clearly wasn't that unwell as I could type and that as my pain was monthly I should be on top of it and have a pain control plan ( the only thing which stopped it was going on the pill again and DH was desperate for a second DC)

People can be horrible. Even if going to A&E is not the right answer, there's no need to be so nasty to a human in pain.

After 3 years of no answers whatsoever, I don't think anything would change now.
That's regarding fertility. This question / thread is regarding pain.

I wouldn't dream of wasting time merely to get some answers for something else. I needed support with the pain I was in. It's different.

This thread and several others like it recently are the main reason I rarely ask about anything medical on MN. It's almost like a klaxon goes off and there's a completion who can be the biggest arsehole to the OP.

It's incredibly upsetting that people honestly think I'd lie about something as serious and sensitive as fertility issues are.

I just sincerely hope that none of those being so cruel, have to go through it themselves.

There's no reason to start swearing at people @PinkSparklyPussyCat

OP couldn't get a GP appointment for severe pain for a known cause and wondered whether to go to the Emergency room.

Then people said she should go to A&E and lie about not knowing what caused it, taking up even more time.

We get it. The NHS is not performing. Nearly everyone here has had a bad experience.

But maybe a lot of it is us having unreasonable expectations of what the NHS can do for us. If it is a predictable problem that has happened at ovulation for months, why would someone go to A&E?

But deliberately lying to take up unnecessary resources was properly nasty and immoral. (At no point did OP say she was going to do this.) The people who suggested it should be ashamed of themselves.

The problem is @Zeeza this ISNT for a known cause. Yes it's happened around ovulation so I've put two and two together and assume it's something to do with this.. but that's NEVER been confirmed or even checked, until yesterday evening when I saw the GP.

It's also not an ongoing issue.
It's happened following my previous surgery.

This is why I've become frustrated. My posts aren't being read through properly and I'm getting absolutely flamed for the wrong reasons.

I didn't say I wanted to go to A&E, and I've not taken aboard the comments of those that thought I should, and should lie in order to get seen there, either.

I clearly misunderstood then. I thought this was an issue that had happened the last few ovulations but you had not sought GP care.

Go to A&E and put in a complaint about the receptionist.

Who is not qualified to offer a medical opinion.

If it's something you've experienced frequently then a and e is not the place If it's exceptional and unusual do a pregnancy test to rule out ectopic pregnancy

People are reading your posts.

you said would I be unreasonable if I went to A&E. people answered. You didn’t like anyone who didn’t agree it was fine.

Honestly I didn't think it would be too long until you came back to continue with the nasty comments @niugboo

I've taken on board everybody's comments, and I reiterate AGAIN (which is why I'm almost certain you're NOT reading my posts...)

I. didn't. go. to. A&E.

So there's really no grounds for you to carry on being nasty now.

Or just...y'know... read the thread

i have read your posts. And am aware you didn’t go. You clearly aren’t reading what I’ve said because you’re too busy trying to defend the fact that you think it would have been fine to go.

Bore off now, I've not said I think it justified me going. I was literally asking a question. You obviously have literally nothing better to do than troll

And what is it exactly that I’ve said that you thinks so awful seeing as you didn’t go and don’t think you were justified in going?

Because literally every criticism I’ve levied applies to the scenario that you WERE justified in going. If you agree you weren’t then it doesn’t apply to you.

If someone is in excruciating pain it is fine to go to A&E. I went with a Bartholins cyst. Should I have seen my GP? Yes, in an ideal world. I wasn't going to wait in agony though. I took time off work but my job isn't at risk so I didn't worry about it. If it had have been I would have probably struggled on and gone later. I was quite able to talk on the phone, post on social media and read a book while I was waiting.