NHS 111 - 12hrs wtaf!!!

[frenziednurse]

I’ve had paramedics out, I thought I was dying - rapid breathing and sweaty. I have a tooth abscess and have antibiotics but I’m in agony. Taken max amount of paracetamol and ibuprofen and a propanol for my anxiety. Paramedics safety netted me and offered to take me to hospital but as it’s a tooth infection rightly said I’d be waiting a long time in a+e. So advised I ring 111 for pain relief - call back time 12, yes TWELVE hours! What has this world come to! I have a little dd to be here for - and I feel like I’m dying a slow death!

Rant over!

Well if she only usually has 6 hours nightly that's a possible inference......

They said I wouldn't wake up... Usually wake after 6 hours...

It's not difficult to understand surely??

I told them I had work the following morning and would have been up at 6am. They said I wouldn't have been.

Obviously you don’t die at the time you usually wake up 🙄 it’s clear the poster put exact timings on a generalised comment, which sounded so bizarre she was rightly questioned about it.

How are you now @frenziednurse?

Wow. I'll explain again and add some more details, read slowly if you think it'll help...

I had Sepsis.
I was in hospital for 10 days
I had a lot of surgery
I had lots of meetings with various medical professionals who explained that had I gone to bed that night I would not have woken up the following morning to go to work
I said 6 hours as that is the amount of time between midnight and 6am. Whether they though I could have died at 5.36am or 6.07am or even 3.12am I couldn't tell you

Happy to explain further if you think it will help

NRTFT but wouldn't you be better off finding an emergency dentist if it's tooth related?

Yes we understand. What that does mean though, is that your original comment makes no sense. 6 hours is a timescale you put on your life when you knew no such thing.
It reads like something people say when they are making stuff up, which is why the poster (and later I) commented

“I had Sepsis. I was 6 hours away from being dead”

Pharmacies will treat that. DS1 had antivirals within an hour of seeing the rash.

My partner had sepsis. In half an hour he went from trying to book a GP appointment to being too unwell to stand in the queue at A and E.

It's something everyone needs to be aware of because people can deteriorate so quickly

Surely by that reckoning everyone who has a backache should get checked for sepsis 'just in case'? I have a sore toe tonight as I cracked it on the bath - should I go to A&E??

Sepsis is serious, yes. Some people have it. Some people just... don't.

However, no one, no one, no one should be giving, asking for, or taking, medical advice on Mumsnet. It's wildly inaccurate, irresponsible and a waste of time. A 'nurse' especially should know better.

Presumably at some point in that 6 hours @yeahimawrongun progressed from mere back pain to symptoms of sepsis?

No, everyone who has back ache shouldn't get screened for sepsis (the initial testing is a screening process, not a 'test'), but if they exhibit a collection of 'amber flags' or just one 'red flag', then yes, they should.

So breathlessness, rapid respiratory rate, rapid heart rate, low or high temperature, ashen/cyanotic skin, pain disproportionate to injury, confusion, low or no urine output.

I got sent to hospital. I’m sure I would have been told to go to a pharmacy if necessary

Indeed

Bf needed a tooth removing and ended up having to have 2 courses of antibiotics before the dentist could actually extract it.

I still vividly remember there being posters warning about sepsis and the symptoms in the dentists office.

Ah, presumably. So... you have no idea because you weren't the attending physician. Yet here you are, weighing in on a medical issue you have zero knowledge about.

As I said, taking medical 'advice' on Mumsnet is a dangerous game. Offering it is a fools' one.

It's not giving medical advice to discuss general principles. It's also not giving medical advice to say 'you sound quite poorly and you probably need to see a professional'.

What is dangerous, and frequently seen here, is the foolhardy criticism of posters who are worried about their health, saying that there's nothing wrong with them, that they're being hysterical, and that they don't need to get professional assessment and advice.

I have just got back from A&E, after being told to go there for my DD. She is under the virtual ward for follow up and I phoned to check that a couple of returning symptoms could wait until her appointment on Monday. Looking at her latest blood results and hearing her symptoms made the nurse flag it to a senior, who decided she needed to come in. Once there, the medical reg said very clearly that he wasn't worried about her, but they absolutely did the right thing because they couldn't tell how bad her symptoms were over the phone.

It's incredibly dangerous for people to dismiss posts that say 'I've never felt so ill in my life' or 'I thought I was dying'. Either don't post, or post the only sensible advice, which is 'get seen' or 'if you don't feel like you got the right treatment, go back.'

People who think they are dying shouldn't be posting on Mumsnet. That's my point. Go to A&E by all means - or don't - but as you've very nicely demonstrated, no one can diagnose anyone virtually. Certainly not strangers who have very limited medical knowledge, save for a few personal anecdotes.

Of course, to be on the safe side you could simply advise everyone who feels peaky to go to A&E based on zero knowledge of the actual situation. It's pretty easy to do, you're bound to be right some of the time and it seems it makes you feel like you're making a difference.

Not at all. But people are very bad judges of when they are truly poorly and it's always the wrong people who decide A&E might help and the wrong people who think they're making a fuss.

I've been on MN over 15 years and there have been a fair few lives saved because people have posted about their 'bizarrely heavy period' (haemorrhage) 'really bad tummy pain' (ectopic pregnancy) 'my child has been feeling a bit unwell and has been asleep for 18 hours' (encephalitis).

There is currently another thread where the OP had been discharged from A&E with antibiotics and was feeling very poorly, she was advised by people here to go back rather than go to bed
Luckly her and her husband listened
It was Sepsis

good grief this thread is ridiculous.

Loads of unqualified posters womansplaining sepsis to the NHS nurses on the thread 🙄

Can people stop derailing long enough to notice OP hasn’t been back yet?
Talk about navel gazing.
Hope you’re ok OP and that you got to hospital. Any hospital can’t treat serious dental issues but one with a maxfax department absolutely can.

As I said, a broken clock is right twice a day.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands more have clogged up A&E because a bunch of uneducated mumsnetters have said 'just in case, you never know'. I wonder how many other lives were endangered by the increased strain on the resources...?

Noone has been endangered because someone else is going to A&E because they may have signs of a serious infection or Sepsis...
A&E is not a first come first serve service

Raise in normal temperature. Fast heart rate. Sweating. Pain killers maxed out. In agony. And feelings of going to die.
How ill do you think someone has to be to attend A&E
Uneducated ? Sepsis is a killer and potential early signs should not be ignored

How do you know who is qualified or unqualified?

Oh my goodness! I’m the OP and don’t know where to start…… can’t believe my post that was intended as rant has caused this much controversy! So facts are - YES I had already had an emergency dental appointment and was in tears at the dentist, she prescribed me the antibiotics and I have an appointment to have my tooth pulled next week. I fully admit my current mental health and anxiety may have caused me to panic but I was feeling so unwell I felt I needed checking over, I was literally beside myself with the pain. I’m not much further forward to be honest, but I feel the antibiotics are kicking in and I managed eventually to get the extra pain relief I needed - I’m so unwell that as dp is a d’head and left me alone to go away with his mates, I have had to call my mum to come and help me look after my DD. As I said previously I once knew of someone who died secondary to bad teeth…… yes I know it’s rare but it happens and when I’m in this much pain I needed to do something. I’m fully aware of the risk of sepsis, I’m also fully aware that 111 and a+e can’t sort my tooth, that is the dentists job and I’d already sorted that! But physically I was struggling to breath, sweating, and in pain - and I was frustrated with the wait for 111 call back when I just didn’t know what to do with myself.
Thank you to all of you that have supported me.
To those of you that have said I’m part of the reason the NHS is on its knees - I’m fully aware it is, hence being a nurse and suffering bad mental health and anxiety - but I also believe as a patient sometimes we have to scream and shout to get what we need for our health, I’ve been on the receiving end of this many times and it’s not nice but if you don’t you simply don’t get it and (this may be very outing) but about 10years ago I had a sub arachnoid haemorrhage, was on high dependency at the hospital, was told by numerous doctors I was ‘lucky to be alive’ then just discharged. If I hadn’t created a fuss for follow up they wouldn’t have sent me another neuro appointment. Another example is when my waters broke when I was pregnant I went to the hospital but then sent home, when I returned in agony from being in labour the midwife threw 2 codeine at me and told me off for being uncooperative when she was trying to examine me (I was in pain) she soon apologised when she realised I was fully dilated and it was a rush job to get my dd out as her heart rate was dropping.
SO - in conclusion - the NHS is failing us but never be afraid to scream and shout when you’re feeling unwell. And if you feel so unwell and ring 111 and it’s a long callback time, do consider to presenting yourself at a+e

Indeed. Three of us have survived sepsis - DH, FIL, and me as a child. From that I conclude it is fairly common.