What has been your scariest health situation?

[TheoWalcott38]

nearly falling out of a tree thought i would break a few bones.

I got Covid in July.
Closest I've ever been to be ambulanced to hospital, moments I thought I was dying.

Passing out on a plane in pain where my nipple had practically exploded. Rushed to A&E at home to be told that I needed to see a breast surgeon and put on a 72 hour pathway with the breast clinic as they thought I had Paget's Disease. I'd been ignoring the pain and pus for weeks and using salt water to clean my nipples which seemed to work but I'd been on holiday for 2 weeks and hadn't kept that up.

I was 27 with a 9 month old baby and absolutely terrified I wouldn't live to see him grow up. Thankfully all good, I hadn't breastfed my son as my milk never came in. I was diagnosed with periductal mastitis. The doctors believe that the reason why my milk hadn't come in was due to the blockages so everything had just sat around for 9 months with huge pressure building up - hence my practically exploding nipples.

Hearing a doctor say the words that I'd pushed to the back of my head after googling was terrifying. I remember my mum had taken me to A&E and left my husband at home with the baby and me wanting to vomit as I waited for the consultant.

I've developed asthma during Covid so haven't seen anyone face to face yet.

Had an asthma attack and didn't know how to use the inhaler properly and most importantly was sticking to the recommended prescription dose which wasn't helping.

I should have just mainlined the inhaler and called an ambulance as I couldn't breathe. Instead I stayed awake all night taking one breath at a time to get through til morning when the GP opened.

I imagine that's going to be pretty tame by the time this thread gets going.

Taken in at 23 weeks with heavy bleeding.
Thank providence, he’s just gone off to university 😊

I had pancreatitis due to a bad reaction to an over the counter medicine and was blue lighted to hospital. Left on trolley in corridor and developed respiratory depression so was breathing 2-3 times a minute. I remember looking down at my arms and hands and seeing them start to go blue and mottled. I genuinely thought I would never see my children grow up. Typing this has made me realise just how traumatised I am by it.

I had undiagnosed pancreatitis. I'd seen 3 doctors who'd all given me a different reason for the pain (stomach ulcer, chest infection, etc). I woke up one night in agony. I was in so much pain that it took me an hour to dial 999 (phone was next to my bed! but I couldn't move due to the pain). Ambulance eventually arrived but in A&E they couldn't work out what was wrong. At 5am a nurse said they were sending me home (even though I was bent over double in pain) but luckily a passing consultant overheard and stopped them. I ended up on a ward and was correctly diagnosed. I was told by the consultant that if I'd gone home, I would have been dead within 5 hours. Took me a long time not to be scared of sleeping alone at night in case the pain came back.

Developing sepsis twice was pretty terrifying, although more so afterwards than at the actual time, especially after the Second time. I couldn't think straight at the time to be scared iyswim

Horrific first birth with lost heartbeat etc and then a baby who we were told might not make it through the night. That was horrific and I think the fact that he was full term and I'd had a very normal boring average pregnancy with no hint of anything awful made it much harder to process. Plus the fact that he was a 10 pounder and the sickest by far in amongst all these tiny preemie scraps. He pulled through magnificently thank goodness with no ill effect for him or me (I didn't become hugely over protective or develop health anxiety over him I mean which I was told was pretty common for NICU parents)

My dad telling me he had cancer. Just that moment/that evening. Then it went onto practicalities and prognosis etc. We were lucky, it was very treatable, caught early etc and he's still with us. But again, hearing him say that, just that utter disconnect to what was happening and the terror of what might be coming.

I've had loads of stuff wrong with me. Utterly ridiculous medical history. Currently waiting for an appointment at the moment in fact to investigate mysterious internal bleeding. Many operations, emergency admissions, tearful relatives and loved ones etc. But even though I've been aware of the seriousness I've never really felt scared. I just haven't really felt like 'this is it, this is the really big one' despite being incredibly poorly. Maybe it's survival instinct, maybe I just know my own body. Considering how blindsided I was by the above two examples I'm probably just quite good at denial although I'm still here and still standing so I've been proved right so far!

Right now. I have long Covid and I’m disabled from a bloody virus.

I’ve gone from normal, working mum of 2 to … the sofa.

I can no longer live as I’ve always lived. Can’t go for a bike ride, work to support my family, play with my children, cook a meal, clean the kitchen.

Feeling pretty fucked. It’s bleak.

Being told that the swelling in my abdomen was actually ovarian cancer "the size of a rugby football" as he described it. 20 years later I'd still here but it was very scary at the time, and required much surgery and chemo.

What is the point of this thread?

Scariest one affecting me was in labour with DD1. Absolute agony, no break in contractions, just horrendous pain that nothing touched until the epidural. Then I spiked a temperature and developed sepsis with DIC as a complication. Baby got distressed. Emergency section which lasted 4.5 hours, 7 litre bleed, had 10 units of blood plus various other blood products. I was shown DD but could see she looked poorly and just wanted them to take her to SCBU and look after her. I genuinely thought I might die - remember watching the monitors and had a heart rate of around 200 and BP down to around 60/30. I think we were both very luck to survive and I am so grateful for the skill of the surgeons who avoided a hysterectomy for me otherwise I’d never have had DD2. The worst of it was I’d just finished a junior doctor job in obs and gynae (in the same department!) so I knew exactly what was going on and how far down the major haemorrhage protocol we’d got.

Being diagnose with a pulmonary embolism when I was seven months pregnant, then reading about it on the hospital ward and realising how serious it was for me and the baby ! It caused health anxiety for many years after !!

@starrynight21

Being told that the swelling in my abdomen was actually ovarian cancer "the size of a rugby football" as he described it. 20 years later I'd still here but it was very scary at the time, and required much surgery and chemo.

It’s so inspiring to hear that you’re still here, 20 years after ovarian cancer ❤️❤️ I can only imagine your fear at the time

Heart attack in 2019. 4 days of increasingly frequent angina, which I didn’t know was angina, then one evening it just didn’t go off. The pain was nothing like you might imagine, and the paramedics were more shocked than me when the ecg showed a massive heart attack going on.

Having a defib slapped on you as you hurtle down a corridor on a trolley being pushed along by a consultant running is a bit sobering…..

Sepsis at 22
Cervical cancer at 24

Nothing compared to what others have been/are going through.

An episode of a posterior nosebleed..brought on by high blood pressure. Would not stop for hours and was both nostrils. Was hospitalised for three days and I have a huge horrible crippling phobia of blood pressure machines, hospitals and nosebleeds ever since. It was 20 years ago. I cannot have my blood pressure taken in a medical setting and expect anywhere near a normal reading. When I have been forced it has been at a level of hypertensive crisis. I explain and when I get home and I can be calm it is nowhere near that level. I think I have PTSD

@1001nights I should imagine that was very scary , when I was a student nurse I did 4 weeks on a ENT ward and we got quite a few nose bleed patients , one of whom died sadly because it couldn’t be stopped . My own scariest moment was being blue lighted to resus with a BP of 50/- .

Lost consciousness due to blood loss after caesarean section. I knew I was going but couldn't hang on.

Three life threatening asthma attacks.

When I got Guillain Barre. Throughout the course of one day I became totally paralysed. Couldn't even breathe without a machine in ICU.

5 months learning to walk and talk and breathe again. Putting up with misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis. The nurses cutting all my hair off and I could do and say nothing.

I've never been the same since.

Having my first (and only) GA.

I was apprehensive anyway and the whole experience was horrific. I still get flashbacks even now.