Hand hold while I wait for ambulance for daughter

[StopTheQtipWhenTheresResistance]

Currently waiting for an ambulance for my daughter. Been sent as category 3. She's not been right for a few days now, not eating, not drinking, just laying slumped on her bed. This morning she collapsed in the bathroom and went really pale.

She has a learning disability and complex mental health problems so she can't tell me what is wrong as she doesn't verbally communicate when she feels unwell.

She was in hospital a couple of weeks back due to an infection (see previous threads) so I hope it's nothing to do with that.

I'm so worried, I feel sick.

Keep a close eye that they have the cuff properly fitted. What is her heart rate, o2 and resps? Are they prioritising a bed?

Is she on o2? If so how many litres? Are fluids still going in?

Thinking of you.

@ChiefEverythingOfficer You are spot on, the healthcare assistant had the wrong size cuff on. Nurse came back and used a different one and she was 107/73. That gave me a scare for a minute.

Heart rate was 99 but she would have been stressed by having the obs done. 02 was 96. I'm not sure about resps.

She's not on any oxygen. She's had 1000ml of fluid so far. I think the nurse said they were going to give some more.

Still no news on a bed. Stuck in A&E still and my backside is killing me on this chair lol.

Hang on in there, sending you big hugs.xxx

Phew, well there is a small mercy.

I'd push for a refill of the bag, if you have struggling to get food/drink in, she might need a bit more.

Got everything crossed that she will be admitted asap. Keep us posted.

She was just examined by a new doctor. He did a PR exam and couldn't feel any faeces but thankfully he agrees we should do a bowel X-ray to rule that out. He said her bloods show raised infection markers but nothing extreme. He said there's an infection somewhere but doesn't know what's going on at this point. Giving her more fluids and wants a urine sample when I can get her to have a wee.

Oh also wants to do an ECG

Forgot to add that this doctor doesn't think it's a chest infection as the X-ray showed it was all clear.

Thank you so much 😊

Phew, Im so glad the low BP was an error. It's good that the doctor is going to do an X-ray and ecg, it'll either find the problem or remove potential causes. None of my DC show signs of constipation when physically examined despite all being badly constipated. I couldn't get the A&E doctor to do an X-ray on DD when she was dehydrated and in pain because she couldn't feel anything on physical exam complicated by DD having situational mutism and not reacting even though she was in a lot of pain. Took her to my GP who'd just got back from mat leave a week later, straight off for an x-ray and my GP called me as soon as she got the results to tell me it was really bad and gave me instructions so we could start treatment immediately. FX your DD can get admitted soon.

@EliflurtleAndTheInfiniteMadness My daughter was exactly the same last year when in hospital. Abdominal exams showed all to be soft. Took 6 weeks of no bowel movement to get an X-ray which showed she was moderately to severely constipated. That's terrible that the A&E doctor wouldn't do an X-ray. It's always best to rule things out surely.

How was it treated in the end?

Doctor apologised and said he was thinking of another patients blood results so my daughters are fine. There are no infection markers.

Sounds like the doctor is taking her condition seriously.

as for the paramedics, I have two dear friends who are paramedics and they would be raging at the treatment of you and your daughter. You do have to report the lack of care and professionalism. Do so politely and calmly, and ask that they receive update training on dealing with people with learning difficulties and/ or mental health problems.
Sadly, there are still people who get by the vetting process when calling an ambulance by lying or exaggerating their condition ....e.g. arriving at a house to find the 'patient' has hit his finger with a hammer and none of the other people in the house could be bothered to drive him to hospital (even if he had needed to go!)'Conversely, there are those that put off calling for help until the situation is critical as they don't want to be a bother and then the 'fun' really starts, so to speak!
Try and get some sleep as well as a hot drink and something to eat.

I really want to know this. Who put YOU in charge of deciding who needs an ambulance and who doesn't? Are you an ER doctor? An internist? A medic? A Physician's asst? Nurse Practitioner?

You want to know a fact? Even if you are/were/wanted to be one of the above, it STILL would not give you the right to decide who gets an ambulance and who doesn't. Only the people on the other end of the phone can make that decision based on ALL the facts, not just the facts you decide are important. They listened to the facts and decided an ambulance was needed.

Just remember, the higher you sit up on that high horse, the farther you fall out of the saddle.

Just moved onto the ward

That's good news.

Just saw the same doctor. She is extremely constipated. All backed up in her bowels and he said her bowels are dilated (not sure what that means). I'm so glad I stuck with my instincts.

She's going to be having daily enemas for the next month and some other laxative medication.

She must be so uncomfortable; poor thing.

@StopTheQtipWhenTheresResistance it means the bowls are large to compensate for the impacted stool.

I'm glad they got to the bottom of this.

Thank you for explaining. I'm glad too, and so glad I pushed for the X-ray. So if I had left it, I assume it could have been quite dangerous?

@StopTheQtipWhenTheresResistance it can cause complications and by the sounds of it, it's causing her an infection.

Please don't beat yourself up though for not knowing sooner. There was no way you could have known if she can't communicate the issue.

Has she had blockages before?

Thank you for being so kind. She had a similar thing last February when her mental health first declined and she was sectioned. She hadn't had a poo for 6 weeks and her LD nurses finally managed to get a bowel X-ray done that showed moderate constipation. I think this has probably been the worse though.

For goodness sake LET IT GO.

You are in no position whatsoever to decide what is ambulance-worthy or not or what is a medical emergency or not.

You might have valid comments about the state of the NHS on a saturday night in january 2024 but this is NOT THE PLACE.

You just sadly come across as insensitive (at my kindest interpretation) and you ought to be thanking your lucky stars you are clearly not in a situation like the OPs.

I’m glad she’s being seen to on a ward now. My only experience of severe constipation was my dd as a toddler and she was admitted with an ng tube for laxatives but wouldn’t tolerate it so just ended up w a movicol prescription and was on it for years!!
As for the paramedics - no words. It’s def pot luck who you get (and if they come at all!). Dh had to take me in the other week as no ambulance- I could walk though. They suspected a stroke - it wasn’t.

My elderly mother has recently been transported by ambulance after a fall and a very serious infection to hospital....she waited in A&E for nearly 12 hours so in your eyes obviously not an "emergency"....should she have made her own way there?

Ridiculous!

She won’t ‘know for another time’. She’s said her DD has MH issues that can lead to non-compliance. Why would she post on here about being desperate to get her DD to hospital and then sit at home NOT calling a taxi? Parents of LD children already face ignorance and criticism on a daily basis whilst living the battle of caring for their children. Use your heart and imagination a little bit and don’t add to that.

@StopTheQtipWhenTheresResistance Poor love ! I've been in that situation and it is so incredibly painful 🥲 so awful for you both. Glad you are finally on a ward. I hope she feels much better soon 🥰