To not know where to turn for help with this?

[ihowlforyou]

I fell and fractured my ankle a week ago. I was told it’s a stable fracture to be treated like a sprain. I also really tore up my knee, which has been very slow to heal.

A week on and I’m still incredibly swollen, bruised and my ankle is becoming more and more painful. My knee is still very sore, the actual skin is numb but I have pain at the base and top of my kneecap. It also feels a little unstable and I am getting sharp stabbing pains to one side of my kneecap.

My GP isn’t interested. They say that I have to go to physio if I need, as it’s a muscular injury.

Physio has an eight week minimum wait for a video consultation.

This obviously isn’t an A&e situation (shamefully I did go to A&E for the initial injury because it had a very short wait time, it seemed to be a quiet time of day!), and they wouldn’t take a look at my knee anyway as it’s a “superficial injury”.

Minor injuries is now by appointment only in my area and appointments are gone within a minute of opening.

I’ve tried the pharmacy for the graze that isn’t healing but they just say to dress it and keep it clean and it’ll heal “eventually”.

I feel like I’m being turned away at every turn but I’m in so much pain, I’m left feeling sick by lunchtime because my ankle is that sore, and by the end of the day I can’t stand walking around. I have basic physio exercises from my last sprain years ago but I can’t do them, but I can’t be seen by anyone.

Please don’t suggest a private physio assessment, it’s not within my budget at all. AIBU to just feel despondent and like I can’t get help anywhere?

Is the swelling from the injury itself or is it possibly it’s infected. If it’s the latter it will be hot and you may need antibiotics. Otherwise, I think you just have to be patient. I was bitten by a horse fly 10 days ago and I still have a 4 inch diameter bruise. The body does take time to heal.

Go to A&E now while you're in too much pain to sleep. You won't have to miss work either if you just go and get it checked now.

Don't even think about NOT going to A&E. Go to A&E, say you can't put weight on this foot anymore. They will sort it out, even if you have to wait several hours. Just go!

FFS, they cannot discipline you for having a broken ankle. If they try, put in an immediate grievance and get your union involved.

And please also phone minor injuries tomorrow or get yourself into A&E, preferably at a different time of day from last time so you see a different doctor.

I remember your original thread.

You were being martyr then. And you’re being a martyr now.

You either:

A) Go back to A&E, go to a different hospital if you have to, and tell them about your increasing pain. Tell them you will not be leaving without adequate support and a boot. FWIW, when I was a teenager I fractured my fibula bone. The first X ray didn’t show anything. So I continued to walk and weight bear until it got too painful. Parents took me back to hospital for another X ray and a second opinion- presto the Dr could see a fracture.

B) Get a grip. Order some crutches off Amazon Prime and get taxis to your desk job. Do not put weight on your foot and let it heal properly.

Please take someone with you if you can.

Just give them the facts. Don't worry about what anyone thinks of the nurse you saw.

You say you can't get help anywhere, but you were offered help - a call from a nurse. It's you who refused it.
You won't call in sick to rest it.
You won't go back to A&E.

Nobody can help you if you refuse all the available options.

Your leg needs to be in a boot for starts. All severe sprains and even the smallest of fractures need to be immobilised.

Studied Podiatry at uni but I am not a podiatrist. Never heard of POLICE before but Prof. Sarah Curran, Professor of Podiatric Medicine and Rehabilitation at Cardiff Met. taught us that PEACE & LOVE was best for injuries.

A stands for avoid anti-inflammatories. Anti-inflammatories hinder healing as they interfere with your body's natural inflammatory response. They reduce the production of prostaglandins and cytokines, basically. Cytokines are proteins that signal cleaner cells to clear the wound of damaged and dead tissue, and builder cells to repair the damage. So the body the body struggles to repair itself as the cytokines can't signal the builder cells to repair the injury.

You need to get it checked, but if you can't, I'd start by stopping the ibuprofen. No aspirin either.

Omg I get angrier and more despondent reading these sorts of posts.
A woman feels she has to go to work on a bloody broken ankle.
Where constant fury at people who admit they have gone to a hospital emergency department only to be lectured about the state of the NHS, results in a woman who was found to have a break in her ankle to shamefully, her words, admit she went to A& E.

Thankfully no one has yet said that she should have waited a few days to see if it felt better before going to the hospital........
To the OP, your pain is increasing, that is most definitely a sign that something is not right. I would go straight back to the hospital.

Mate, you really need to get that toxic culture of presenteeism looked at. It's NOT normal. Don't let work ruin your body. What is the point of working if you haven't got a functioning body to have time off with?

Go back to 111 and get that nurse call. Ask about the infection and the risk of sepsis.

GO TO A&E.

You’re not a nuisance. They aren’t doing you a favor the NHS is paid for by taxes and should be available when you need it, it’s not a charity it’s a right.

For God's sake, how do they know your injury is superficial without even examining it properly? It sounds really nasty and could get worse unless it's properly looked after.
If you can afford even one session with a good osteopath, it could help a lot, and look for videos about exercising and caring for knee/ankle injuries. Googling the exact symptoms usually brings something up. I hope you feel better soon.

Go to A&E at a different hospital, where you don't work and neither does the nurse that saw you.

Play dumb, just say you're visiting nearby and it's got worse and you're worried.

Check your temperature, see if you have a fever.

You can take a day off if needed. andy Burnham took 1-2 days off because of a bereavement - if the PM can then so can you. If you won’t go to A&E then you will need to get a GP appointment or go to minor injuries.

You wouldn’t want a patient coming to your clinic to suffer unnecessarily - so you deserve decent treatment too.

People are telling her to call in sick. She is refusing.

On her original thread, people told her to go to A&E/minor injuries immediately after her fall. She refused, and went to work for a few hours instead.

Im so sorry you're in so much pain. I recently had a hamstring strain that took 6 weeks to heal and it was terrible but you're being really silly. You need to rest it and you need to go get it looked at again. Why are you scared? You're a grown woman. Advocate for yourself!

Can you take someone with you?

That nurse NEEDS challenging. What they have done is absolutely awful. I swear to God the NHS only exist to send people away now it’s fucking horrendous.

I think at the very least you need an air cast, you know the supportive boot thing. And you may need crutches. And I don’t think you should be putting weight through it.

is there something called a virtual fracture clinic in your area? You should be able to get a phone number for them and if you tell them it’s getting worse then I think you should be seen. Also, your x-ray is your property you are entitled to a copy of it.

I used to think this. No matter how sick I was I still went to work even when I had a fall at work and fractured my arm. my manager always implied that I was letting my team down if I didn't go to my shift. I am a support worker. then last year my managers did care that I was having poor mental health they just wanted me to turn up for my shift and I thought NOPE I spoke to my GP and ended up off for 3 months. Staffing is not our responsibility that's down to management we have to put ourselves 1st. if we don't look after ourselves nobody else will.
if you are getting worse you need to either go back to a&e and tell them how bad it is or phone 111 and they will be able to get you to the right place doe help. don't suffer in pain

This is an update thread isn't it?

I despair, what's that phrase about the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing but expecting a different outcome or something?

OP if you insist you can't go back to A&E, and you can't stop working to rest your leg, then it isn't going to get better is it.

Anyway my good friend at work was promoted internally because we were on the bones of our arse and we needed a team leader. There was no budget to hire someone else at all, we were all critically burnt out and it was honestly a welcome relief. The same day he got promoted and walked into the building with his new job title he dropped dead in our reception foyer and by 2pm they'd managed to hire an external candidate.

No, you're not dead, you're not even dying, but you're not indispensable either. If you dropped dead they'd get by. Why should it get to that point before you're taken seriously by your workplace? I don't think any rational employer would want that and if they're not a rational employer then they're opening themselves up for an employment tribunal because they're not above the law.

Tl;dr go to A&E fgs. And stop going to work if you have to walk and you've got no mobility aids to take the weight off your foot!

Go to A&E, a different hospital if needs be.
Stay off work! You are just a number, and would be replaced quickly and easily.

If you ignore the above, stop moaning about it and just get on with it. It’ll get worse, take longer to heal, you’ll probably do more damaged but at least you can say you didn’t take any time off work.

But she didn’t know this when she presented to A&E. She had to get it xrayed to find this out, at A&E, she had an accident and went, quite rightly, to Accident and Emergency. Why on earth should she feel shameful for doing this?

Regardless of whether one person at the hospital told you it was fine to walk on it you need to be reactive to the pain levels and rest it if it hurts, then you’ll be more informed to revisit with the hospital if it hasn’t settled down in a few weeks. You’re unlikely to hurt it anymore while resting it and seeing if it improves. Saying treat it like a sprain so keep walking on it doesn’t tally when often with bad sprains you need to keep off them for a couple of weeks at least

I had a terrible fall this summer. All my left side. All ribs. Collarbone protruding (operated on at five weeks). Shoulder broken in two places. A week in hospital. Two young children. Life went on. Was agony. Technically could still office work. But needed some serious drugs. Fucking sore. Conservative management is akin to prolonged childbirth. Ask for some decent pain relief. Good luck.