Need a virtual hand hold , husband vomiting blood

[Justmeeeindie]

Still frazzled so sorry if this is all over the place husband has been constipated for around 10 days doing usual things laxative tons of water lots of fibre , he went to a&e at my insistence on Tuesday early hours as he was awake all night crying in pain, I’ve never seen him in as much pain and vomiting profusely
he went to a&e waited 4 hours to be basically fobbed off , they felt his stomach said it was just constipation told him to continue laxatives at home .

today he woke up around 11 in agony he vomited it was dark like coffee which in retrospect should have been warning sign anyways he tried to get back to sleep then shouted me not much later from bathroom , he was vomiting loads of bright red blood (no exaggeration there was a lot) and passing in and out of consciousness eyes rolling the lot , he passed out atleast 8 times whilst I was on phone to the ambulance , he peed himself at one point .

I was terrified I’m still shaking ambulance came pretty fast(20mins ) but he’s been waiting in ambulances at a&e for over 2 hours now .

I'm stuck at home with the kids , there off school (hand foot and mouth ) thanks to the two year old .
I don’t know what to do right now , I genuinely though he was dying , he kept saying he was and I had to calm him down telling him he will be fine all the while thinking he was actually dying .

no idea yet what’s actually wrong but I’m thinking bowel blockage (which I suspected on Tuesday hence making him go to a&e) or ulcer .

don’t know purpose of this post just need to let it out , the waiting on update is torture .

OP, how’s he doing? Did they send him home?

But it wasn’t period pain was it ? The PP is giving examples of idiots that have general ailments sitting in A&E.

Sounds very scary. V shocked they haven’t at least checked for a blockage!

Actually it was dismissed as period pain the previous 2 times I presented at A&E. It wasn’t until I went to a different A&E, they did a scan.

Respectfully, PP is a nurse, not a consultant. She has no right suggesting OP is overly anxious or that there is nothing seriously wrong with her husband when she has not medically examined him herself.

I haven’t read whole thread so sorry if there’s an update. How is he? Doesn’t coffee ground vomit usually mean old blood in the digestive tract? I wonder if the blockage caused vomiting and the persistent vomiting caused a bleed?

Definitely not suggesting he shouldn't be admitted/further tests but essentially vomiting/heavy retching can cause collapse/loss of consciousness - it can stimulate a nerve running down the back of the throat which leads to reduced blood pressure-collapse. Would be known as a vasovagal syncope. Stress/panic can also cause it i.e. the sight of blood.

If his observations, bloods and initial examination is normal that's a great sign in that he's not catastrophically unwell. But it certainly sounds concerning, If it were me I know id want a definite diagnosis!!!

Unfortunately a&e is so inundated by worried well who go in after single vomit/slight cramp, or bringing up a bit of bile and claiming vomiting blood - leading to a default position of skepticism.

That sounds horrendous, clearly a sign of a failing system.

But, just for future reference (as someone who has worked in in the operations room at 111 and 999) you should only call back if there's felt to be a significant worsening. Otherwise what often happens is your original call is closed and the clock starts on the next call, dropping you back to the bottom of the list.

I e. You call at 2pm, quite reasonably at 5pm you wonder what's going on, no change worsening but it's been a long time - you call back and they run through a quick triage and log and a new incident is logged, no worsening so it's the same category - now there are two jobs one at 2pm and one at 5pm and the system flags a duplicate - the 2pm job gets closed. Now on the system you've only been waiting from 5pm. So on and so forth if you keep calling back.

a rather chubby, post-prandial bloke, belching like Henry VIII at a feast, chomping Rennies, who'd reported "chest pain".

But then, what my father thought was bad indigestion was a major heart attack, so, you know... (Mum thought otherwise and called an ambulance.)

That makes complete sense thank you but yes I did only ring back because my symptoms got worse and they kept saying the doctor will ring you back as soon as they can.

I didn’t realise it dropped me back to the beginning though, I thought it would be the opposite, so really I probably would have delayed it and I should have just waited/rang 999 instead.

Thank you for letting me know as that’s actually really useful information.

Yes it would and also you can bleed to death from an ulcer. It’s more likely he has heliocobacter pyloris and a stomach ulcer or erosion caused by that. Very easily treated with antibiotics and another tablet

A friend once gave me some good advice. If you feel you are being fobbed off by a doctor, say to them “could it be X?” where X is the worst case scenario, for example cancer. If they say no, you say ‘then please write in my notes “this patient does not have cancer”. She did this with an elderly relative in A&E and, all of a sudden, tests became magically available. Worth remembering!

Coffee ground vomit can be a sign of appenditis or obstruction. The bright red blood is probably from his throat or stomach from vomiting. What were his blood results?

we are indeed living longer etc, which should warrant more opening more hospitals and GPs surgeries but NO! they would rather employ more managers and managers to manage the mangers who suck up a lot of the budget. Oh let’s not talk about the medical secretaries who like to create more work for themselves by creating appointments for patients without checking the consultants’ availabilities and then cancelling the appointments that they initially booked the patients because they purposefully booked them when they knew the doctor was on holiday. 😝😝😝😝😝and the cycle continues. Rotten to the core.

If they've done blood tests they'll know if he needs transfusions at least

@EBearhug that's exactly what happened here - I called the ambulance for my partner, same situation. First medic on motorbike - "no, not a heart attack, he isn't doing the painful arm clutching thing and it sounds like indigestion. Let's do a quick portable ECG - ah". Cue ambulance and blue lights to hospital, a week inside. All well now. How are things there?

Same happened with us. Dismissed as covid despite two negative tests. Was given a cream for an open wound that had appeared (autopsy showed severe atherosclerosis but they refused bloods or an eeg as they were adamant it was covid) and he was dead 4 days later.

Since then I'm afraid I've had very little respect for 'come back in a week if it's still bad'

So glad your ending was better xx

Yep. Exact same thing with my mother in laws dad. Complained for a few days of indigestion, no other issues, then on the third day collapsed and died of a massive heart attack, the third and biggest in a series of days that had gone unnoticed aside from the indigestion. Only 45 years old. Always since I’ve been with my husband have I thought of that and now I know indigestion can be a symptom I just wouldn’t take the risk. More recently, at her work her boss was complaining of the exact same thing, indigestion over a few days, nothing else just couldn’t shift it and was starting to feel really rubbish. She immediately told him about her dad and urged him to go to the hospital. He did, and he messaged her hours later letting her know he had in fact, had a small heart attack and was admitted and awaiting surgery. She without a doubt saved his life so I always think better safe than sorry with indigestion, especially prolonged.

@Justmeeeindie any update?

I hope all is well OP

Surely he needs an emergency CT scan to see if there's a rupture, then straight off to theatre if there is. If they discharge him then it's highly negligent.

Only read op’s threads.

How are things? Is your dh still in hospital? I hope you’ve insisted they do scans etc. can’t believe they’re not taking no movement as serious, considering everything that’s going on.

I hope he’s ok, @Justmeeeindie .

I have been thinking of you both 💐

Came in here to ask how the DH is….feel a bit worried!

Good luck OP. I hope they do get to the bottom of it.

bowel obstructions are dangerous... If I was your hubby I would be putting my foot down and INSISTING that he stay overnight in hospital and be seen by Gastroenterologist in AM>