A and e experience

[Mincespie]

I have a condition called endometriosis I’m on numerous medication see consultant’s doctors, private doctors have pelvic floor therapy have changed my diet and had 3 surgeries. I’m still left in so much pain every month I’ve had to quit my job because of it. Today I was in bed with morphine codine some other meds got water bottle etc. I’ve been sick constantly from the pain. in the past I’ve called 111 and been sent an ambulance which I felt was over the top especially as I live so close to the a and e department. My partner was so worried about me as I wasn’t myself and spent the evening crying on the bed in pain being sick. He took me to a and e as there was nothing else I could do for the pain. I got seen to have some obs done
quickly to begin with and said I had some morphine 2 hours ago and some codine 3 hours ago. After waiting two hours I asked the lady on the desk if I could have some pain relief as I would of been due some codine an hour ago if I was at home or could I take what I have in my bag they said no and to wait incase they want to give me something else. I spent the whole time crying under my mask trying not to be sick in the bowl as it was all so painful it was way worse than normal. They eventually took my bloods and and hour after gave me some morphine but said it could be up too 7 hours till I properly see someone who can help. At that point I didn’t no what to do I couldn’t do seven hours being sick in the waiting room but I also couldn’t be in pain at home crying I ended up going home as I was in more pain from sitting up and my hot water bottle had gone cold. I asked if when my bloods come back and my urine sample would I get the results and they said no even if I called up. I spent around 4 hours waiting. I know the nhs is underfunded understaffed and over run and the doctors and nurses are working as hard as they can but I feel so fed up I had to decide weather to put myself in more pain just to get some help or go home and lie down to get slightly more warm and comfortable. I’m now in bed crying while lying on a towel as I’ve soaked through my pad and pyjamas.

@Eeve walking around is not an indicator of wellness which a lot of people here seem to think it is. My stepdad waited in A+E for 7 hours, walking around, going out and putting money on a car park ticket. When he was finally seen he went straight to the heart and chest hospital for heart ablation because he had severe arrhythmias. Should he have gone home? He was walking? Women with endo are prone to blockages and twisted ovaries. Both can be potentially threatening (not to life but to organ damage and can only be treated with surgery) and the pain is exactly the same. There is no way of knowing if it's just the endo or something is happening.

OP I have endo and I sympathise whole heartedly with you and only those who have it will know how bad it actually gets. The fear when you have thrown everything you can at it and nothing works. You get stuck in fight or flight and it's hell. It's more than just pain. Its can completely debilitate you so quickly. Numerous times I have thought about A+E and if our system wasn't so absolutely fucked and broken then I would have gone for more pain relief. One day soon the NHS will collapse entirely and a new healthcare service will mean we can go back to receiving good treatment and be able to attend A+E for when we can't control our illnesses.

@bakebeans spoken like a true know it all who actually knows nothing. I have endo and am prescribed codiene for regular use and oramorph for breakthrough pain. Want to call my endo consultant who advised my GP to prescribe it for me? And yes I was told I can both use them at the same time, the body metabolises codiene into morphine so internally it becomes the same drug. Good to know for next time you decide to give patronising advice.

Whilst you are on the phone to the gynae consultant you might want to add that his advice of attending A+E if the pain is not being controlled by morphine as it could indicate a torsion or ruptured cysts is wrong. Good to know people like you have all the answers.

Did you mean to be so rude? @Eeve was very polite and sympathetic towards OP so why have you jumped in with all this aggression?

She wasn't polite at all? Completely misguided opinion, invalidating someone by saying that because they were able to walk and go home they shouldn't have been there? We deal with this judgment all the time whilst being told by specialists to go to A+E if morphine isn't keeping your pain in control. You can vomit so much you can't take it anyway or just bring it back up and need IV ondansetron and you can do this all whilst walking around. Walking around is not an indicator of need and it's wrong to say that no matter how 'polite' you word it. And my aggression comes from feeling this in my soul how TIRED I am myself of people not understanding what's it's like to have an illness that can both debilitate you completely on the inside whilst looking okay on the outside. Women with endo have YEARS of functioning whilst in extreme pain. YEARS. We are experts at it.

There is no way they would have given codeine and morphine. They are both opiates. And everyone knows that 4 hours in A&E is nothing.

OP, you were triage, given pain relief and they were doing investigations (blood and urine tests) if you couldn't be arsed to hang around for the results that is on you. Tests take time. The bloods have to go to a lab, be tested and the results reviewed. I'm sure you weren't the only patient in there.

Suggesting a coil is no help to this lady…. She’s ttc!

Also to suggest if she’s in this much of a state she shouldn’t be trying to have one is rude!

I don’t have Endo but many of my friends do.
Surgery and coils can help up to a point but the OP is going for a hysterectomy hence having a baby asap.

Lots of luck to you OP. I hope you fall pregnant quickly.

I agree. This is so fucked up

I can't believe how crap healthcare is in this country. And this "you should be grateful" mentality is a massive part of it. I wonder if these people are government bots?

Op have they ever put you in the medical menopause temporarily?

I had a laparoscopy and they lazered some endo off then 6 months later I was put in the medical menopause for 6 months. 40 days after my last injection we started trying and I got pregnant. I had stage 2 borderline 3 endometriosis then x

No I haven’t been put into early menopause this was suggested after I conceive and have a baby. Yes I’ve been told by my gp I can take both codine and morphine together I take codine 4 times a day when in pain but if after an hour or so I’m still in pain I move on to the morphine. I hardly take the morphine when I can avoid it and the same with codine but I’ve been actively told to try take it on the onset and not when it’s that bad as it will work better rather than catching the pain to late

I recently had a laproscopy to check for endo as the scarring from flair ups can affect implantation. I hope your doctor is sending you for laproscopy if you are trying to conceive ( if you haven't already been)

I was 19 the first time they put me in the medical menopause. It just shuts everything off and your body goes back to normal. I actually think it protected my fertility because they lazered the endo off and within 6 months put me in the menopause just as the pain had started back up. I've been put in the medical menopause twice and got pregnant with DD at 20 if that helps

I’m really sorry, OP - that sounds awful. I have endometriosis and found the Mirena coil worked really well for me. Did they scan you or have you been scanned recently? Could you have a burst ovarian cyst or large endometrioma that has twisted your ovary? I have been admitted to hospital with both of these before and needed emergency surgery. I really hope you get some answers or start to feel better soon.

Partner woke up to me crying in pain/ having a panic haven’t managed to get any sleep since I got into bed at 9.30. I’m in a state of extreme tired pain and feeling sick. He insisted on a and e as he’s never seen me
look so unwell. I’m currently lying on a hospital chair crying wishing I wasn’t in pain and more comfortable. This is an evil disease. I can’t handle a seven hour weight but can’t handle anymore pain.

I just feel so lost

@Loachworks I have fentanyl petches and can drive you don't even need to inform the dvla. Someone has given you the wrong info.

@Loachworks
Talk to your doctor about whether you should drive if you’ve been prescribed any of the following drugs:

amphetamine, for example dexamphetamine or selegiline
clonazepam
diazepam
flunitrazepam
lorazepam
methadone
morphine or opiate and opioid-based drugs, for example codeine, tramadol or fentanyl
oxazepam
temazepam
You can drive after taking these drugs if:

you’ve been prescribed them and followed advice on how to take them by a healthcare professional
they are not causing you to be unfit to drive even if you’re above the specified limits

@IsItaCowIsItaPlane I am prescribed oramorph, fentanyl , codeine, pregablin and diazepam. Don't say things you know nothing about.

OP ignore everyone who is implying that you were not unwell enough to be at A&E and also should be grateful for its existence.

I have stage 4 endo so I know how you feel and you have my sympathies. You had every right to be at A&E and you (we all) have every right to a decent level of service.

I was you a couple of months ago, I had to be carried into the hospital because they had no wheelchairs. I passed out from pain several times on those awful hard chairs and still they did nothing... I could go on forever about the depressing state of the NHS.

While I am glad that we have the NHS, I am strongly against this hero worshipping of it. The whole system needs improvement. It is not fit for purpose and does not provide a basic level of service.

Also it's not free, we pay for it via our taxes so we really should be getting a good level of service and not be made to feel like free loaders.

I’m in a bed now they tried to get blood but it wouldn’t come out as I’m so dehydrated from being sick I’m going to try and get some sleep before the doctors sees me

I've had similar at A&E in the last 2 days. Poor service. Not fit for purpose. So I agree. You have my sympathy.

I disagree with pp @itwas : "4 hours is not a long wait for a&e unfortunately. how long were you expecting to wait? "
4 hours is a long time. Too long to wait.

I am a type one diabetic, and I've been very sick since Friday morning, not being able to keep anything down. On Sunday, I went to A&E and was seen by Ops/triage nurse. 1 receptionist. 1 triage. But then told it would be 6 to 8 hours to be seen by a doctor and I needed a doctors permission to be given any nausea medication or IV fluids because I was so dehydrated. I asked for my ketones to be taken but they said they didn't have an available machine. I asked to be prioritised and see a doctor but they says none was available for at least 6 hours.
So I left. Poorly.

Next day, Phoned my Gp, he said I should have been prioritised and sent me back. I had to fight, for 3 hours to even be seen triaged, which I wasn't. They said they lost me in the system. Eventually 3 people failed to get a Canula in me. They did. I was finally tested for ketones in DKA. I was given 2 bags of fluids and 2 anti sickness in a 12 hour period.

Unlike other posters complaining that a pp should've taken medication with her. I couldn't. I can't get this medication from anywhere else. My GP can't give it. I tried phoning 111. I was on hold for an hour and got cut off. I tried a Livi appointment on the Sunday. I was offered Wednesday. An IV drip can't be given by GP. Only by A&E so I did need to be there.

The system was so sad to see. I was sat with other patients four of us waiting to have a cannula taken out at the end of the day. Took over three hours for staff to do that basic thing to get rid of these 4 patients. staff over run. No sense of urgency, very slow. Everything takes an age. It's so sad to see. it's just not fit for purpose.

Hi OP. Did you get seen in the end? How are you feeling? I hope you're ok

Can u actually bother to read my post! What a horrid person you are. I Wasn't rude. I cannot seem to see where I said if you walk into a&e that it invalidates your reason for being there. Please point out where I mentioned someone walking to a&e. Lying about something I have said that I haven't! I simply said a&e isn't the place to be there for pain management. If the pain had suddenly become different, sharper or changed which may indicate something had occurred then yes it would. It wouldn't however get a sooner referral to a speciality. They would treat the pain and discharge which is what they did on this occasion.

The reason that referrals need to go from the Gp is that when it goes from the GP it is tracked and traced not sat on someone's desk or lost.

Morphine is an opiate and yes it can become addictive. The combination isn't always good as this can lead to constipation and addiction especially in high quantities. Don't you already know this given how much of an expert you are?
Try Twitter If you want to pick a fight and bully someone! This is not the place!!!

I wondered about that. I'm a nurse and would never give them together or use at the same time. If you are in that much pain. Skip the codeine and just use the morphine. Codeine doesn't work for some people anyway.

Thank you all for your support I went into a and e was seen pretty quickly this time and given morphine then a paracetamol drip and an iv bag as I was dehydrated from being sick and blood wasn’t really coming out so they couldn’t collect enough for the blood tests. I couldn’t sleep in a and e at all so I’m glad to be home and in bed now feeling better but exhausted

@KnickerlessParsons I was advised by my orthopaedic consultant to add codeine to the morphine that I take for my osteoarthritis. He said the morphine works quickly and wears off fairly quickly and that adding codeine would keep me covered much longer. I said I'd always thought I wouldn't be able to take both together because they're both opiates but he said it's fine. I've been doing this for almost a year now and have never been sick from that but I was sick from the pain after my first hip replacement when they didn't give me any strong painkillers.