Was I wrong to go to A&E?

[Glaocoma]

I attended a&e recently for a bad headache. I was told it was likely just a tension headache and to follow up with my GP. However I’m unsure if I did the correct thing by going to a&e and just wanted to check.

I had woken up with the pain- it was both a headache and eye ache. My eye was also very red which I was unsure if was from rubbing with the pain when I was sleeping or if it was just like that. I don’t usually get headaches particularly often, but this felt extremely painful and sore and painkillers were not touching it. I decided to go to a&e because I have a history of glaucoma but not the normal type, I was told the type I had was where part of my eye completely closed over and the pressure in my eye was threw the roof. I had several of these attacks despite treatment because of a different eye condition which caused my eye to become inflamed and then it to get closed over. The first attack was in my late 20s and I’m in my early 30s now so I’m fairly young for it. The pain was indescribable

when I woke up with this headache, the pain felt exactly the same, and my eye was red too which happened last time as well. I remember being advised to go to a&e ASAP as the condition can blind you fairly quickly.

so I went to a&e and thankfully it was all fine. My eye wasn’t inflamed and wasn’t blocked. But i felt slightly guilty as it was incredibly busy and I had attended for what turned out to be nothing basically. The doctor I saw was brilliant but I felt silly being around people who were incredibly unwell and I was taking up their time with what ended up being a simple tension headache. I suppose I’m just concerned too about it happening again and being unsure when to get it checked out and when not to because I’m wasting their time for a headache IYSWIM.

Thats all great to know, much appreciated. Hindsight makes

You absolutely did the right thing given your history. I’m glad it wasn’t anything untoward and I hope you’re feeling better now x

If you have a history of closed angle glaucoma then you did absolutely the right thing

It may be worth looking to see of any of the hospitals near you have an eye A and E, I have lived near a couple but I don't know if its just a thing. But if there is one it means you get seen by an ophthalmologist if you need one and it may make you feel less guilty (not that you have anything to feel guilty for) from 'taking up' normal a&e time

Most (all?) GPs dont have the tools to measure eye pressure so if the OP was worried about glaucoma going to a GP would have been more of a waste of NHS time than going to A&E

An opticians generally would have been a better bet if eye pressure needs to be measured, but im pretty sure if the OP had rung an opticians and said that she had her symptoms and a history of closed angle glaucoma they would have advised her to go straight to A&E because it would need immediate medical attention, if its not fixed within hours you can end up with permanent blindness

You have a condition which can result in blindness, felt you were having a flare up and therefore went to the appropriate place for help

You did the right thing.

You did the right thing. I have glaucoma, I have the rarer low pressure glaucoma as opposed to the high pressure type.
I’m always reminded to go to Eye A&E department at my regular checkups if I ever suffer sudden pain and or redness in either of my eyes. To Bypass the GP (even on weekdays) as they can’t treat it, they’d just send me to hospital anyway.
I’ve had to do it twice. Both times it was an infection in the membrane surrounding my eyeball following eye surgery. The first time if happened I rang the eye department as I was worried, I was told to get down there asap. A three months course of steroid eye drops and antibiotics sorted it out.

This

No need to second guess yourself OP

Not sure where the rest of my post went, lol. I meant to say that hindsight makes you question everything and whether you were reasonable or not!

You should have gone to a walk in centre if one was open failing that you should have rung 111 they may have directed you to A&E.

With your history it was the right decision to go. Please don’t feel bad about it.

Walk in centres can’t do anything to check for closed angle glaucoma and if 111 took as long as it did last time I called and it was a closed angle glaucoma I’d be blind by then so I definitely wouldn’t have done either x

No, she did the right thing in going to A&E. with the type of glaucoma she has her symptoms pointed to it being a medical emergency.

I think with the history you needed to be seen, but possibly by an optician. Also this is far more urgent treatment centre stuff than A&E

No need for guilt, glad all turned out well.

Urgent treatment can’t do anything to check if it’s a closed angle glaucoma, same with minor injuries, they can’t do anything unfortunately so i wouldn’t go there x

I probably should have gone to an optician first but I called the 2 opticians near me and the lines were engaged or busy on both, I figured I would be better just to be seen than sit on the phone and try to get through x

So, story. A friend of my mam's woke in the night with a really bad headache, feeling dizzy and disoriented, asked husband to take her to A&E. Her disgruntled husband told her to stop being dramatic, she was just having a migraine, go back to sleep, go see the GP in the morning, call 111 if you must.

1hr later she had a stroke, the headache and disorientation was the first warning sign.

I don't know if she'd have survived if she went to A&E or not, but she'd have had a better chance because she'd have already been in a hospital.

The lesson I took from it is you don't fuck around with sudden onset head pain. Because 99% of the time it's nothing, but the 1% of "not nothings" it could be are usually very quickly fatal or extremely damaging.

Even without your history you did the right thing. I know the NHS is overloaded at the moment and most A&E's are struggling, but don't feel guilty for going for a valid reason.

I worked in an opticians for 7 years and we would have told you to go straight to Aand E with a risk of closed angle glaucoma because its an emergency and needs immediate treatment

You did the right thing OP. I have a family history of sight loss and have been advised to always go to A&E with the sort of symptoms you had and I have done so in the past. It's always been taken very seriously.

Better to go and be given the all clear than not go and lose your sight.

You absolutely did the right thing. You cannot risk waiting in this kind of case.

No. You did the right thing. Anything glaucoma related needs looking at straight away. I have to attend eye outpatients twice a year for what seems like very boring , routine check ups but one of the nurses said to me “ I never realised so many things could go wrong with eyes and they’re very close to your brain”

I think people are so focused on saving NHS time being avoiding A&E they are actually suggesting options that would waste more NHS time

Go to the GP: waste NHS time because the don't have the right equipment

Go to urgent care: waste NHS time because they don't have the right equipment

Go to a walk in centre: same

Call 111: a waste of NHS time because a medical professional has already told you what to do in these circumstances

Go to an optician: wouldn't waste the NHS time but might delay your treatment leaving you with worse issues needing more NHS time and resources

By following your previous medical advice you saved NHS time even if it didn't turn out to be glaucoma because if it had all of the other ways would have just been a waste of NHS time because you still would have needed A&E.

That’s a good point, I hadn’t thought about it that way before.👍🏻