What does this mean? Confused by medical notes

[ItoldyouIwassick]

I had a hospital stay a few weeks back due to severe gastroenteritis. It was over one night and I felt dreadful but didn't go to A&E due to having a toddler and husband who thought I was well enough to wait until the morning ( I felt I needed to go but couldn't get myself there, continuous vomitingand diarrhea, unable tokeep any liquid down, shaking and teeth chattering).

I was in for 5 days, treated for dehydration (told I had Acute Kidney Injury, stage 2) and bloods showed low magnesium, calcium and phosphate. I stopped vomiting but continued to have extreme (20+ toilet trips a day) diarrhea for 4 days. No one could give me an answer to what it was.

I was discharged, diarrhea had stopped, but I still didn't feel great. The next morning I got a call from the hospital and asked how I felt, not great, and told they had had a positive blood culture come back , showing e lenta, and I needed antibiotics. So I started antibiotics a week after D&V started, 6 days after hospital admission.

I was unwell for over a week after discharge, feeling vwry weak and suffering with anxiety, insomnia and lack of appetite ( hadn't slept or eaten in over a week). My mental health suffered as a result. I don't usually have MH issues, and it was quite scary.

The whole experience left me quite shaken. I've had pretty good health before this and never had a hospital admission previously. I put the NHS app on my phone to look at test results to see if it would help me understand. I'm not medically trained, so not much clue what I'm looking at. But some things I don't understand I wondered if anyone here could shed light on?

•On my hospital admission it says complaint : generally unwell

Diagnosis: social problem (suspected)

What does that mean? When I've searched for 'social problem' in NHS context it seems to suggest alcoholism or homelessness, neither of which are relevant to me. Does it mean something else?

• I found a diagnosis of pneumonia on my file. I wasn't told of or, I believe, treated for this while in hospital and only discovered I'd had it from looking on the app. Is this normal? I find it odd I wouldn't be told.

• I was told the blood culture showed e. Lenta was present. Since coming out of hospital and saying this is what the antibiotics were for numerous people have said, 'so you had sepsis?' The term sepsis was never used at the hospital. Does this mean I had sepsis? On the app it says I had gastroenteritis and pneumonia but the e. Lenta is not mentioned. I went to my GP, after I was discharged, due to the insomnia and there was a document on his screen that said e. Lenta, which he only scrolled down and saw because i mentioned it. In the notes from that appointment he's said it wasn't on my discharge letter and mentions the antibiotics he thinks I have been given (I couldn't remember at the time and they mustn'thave been on the letter).

Basically I want to understand fully what I had and why I felt so ill and if I need to worry about things reoccurring. When I looked up sepsis it was quire daunting. So I want to be clear about whether or not I had it.

Many thanks to anyone who can help.

The social problem will be the husband.

You were clearly ill and needed hospital and he stopped you from going when you needed to and delayed your seeking medical care.

This attitude/action is associated with coercive control and domestic violence.

This. OP, you were seriously ill and your husband couldn’t even be bothered to take you to hospital. Can you really not see how the medical staff would perceive this as an issue at home?

I know all those things are scary, pneumonia, dehydration leading to kidney injury and being low on certain chemicals in your body

The delay in getting hell has lead to you becoming worse and you could of died

But with the fluids, meds and antibiotics, you are on the road to recovery and i wouldn't stress about reoccurrence

Make sure your husband knows how sick you were

This thread makes me sad. You were clearly very ill and your husband couldn't be arsed to get out of bed.

Eggerthella lenta is a normal part of the human microbiome, but overgrowth and migration can both cause serious health difficulties. Overgrowth in the gut (where it belongs) results in symptoms like the ones you had.

It can migrate to the bloodstream, so the person who told you it was connected to sepsis had probably had experience of that. The bacterium can also cause meningitis, liver disease, bacterial vaginosis and probably other infections, depending on where it settles in.

Pneumonia just means inflammation in the lung. The usual cause is bacterial - your e lenta may have started an infection there, and the treatment stopped it before you felt the symptoms.

Infections easily prompt mental distress symptoms.

Take good care of yourself. Rest, eat, hydrate, and keep an eye out for recurring or new signs of infection. I agree with PP's comments about your husband: is he supporting your recovery?

Your husbands a cunt.

Your husband is an abusive arsehole who put his comfort over your wellbeing. You are lucky to be on the mend, the kidney damage could have been even worse. You could have been dealing with lifelong after effects, or possibly even died. Yes that's a social problem because if you'd had the ability to seek medical help sooner you would have been a lot less ill.

Thanks for explaining the medical side of things, I've just really felt the need to understand exactly what happened. For background, I had colds and coughs one after the other for about 6 weeks leading up to this, and felt very run down ( it coincided with my husband being away almost constantly for a month for work) Then we all got flu symptoms which turned into what I thought was a chest infection but seems to have been the pneumonia. I further developed a sore and bloated stomach and fatigue for a few days in the lead up to the D&V and hospital admission. So the pneumonia came prior to the gastroenteritis. I've wondered if the pneumonia caused the stomach issues. I coughed so much I had to hold my side in as it hurt, and wondered if damage was caused then that lead to the e.lenta entering my bloodstream. They did an abdominal x-ray in hospital and said there were no perforations though. I've currently gor another chest infection, albeit a mild one, and am wondering if being that ill is the reason. I just really want to.be back to full health and break this horrible run of illness.

I've been searching for Eggerthella lenta on Google and hit some research papers which have spooked me further. They all refer to how under researched it is but that when discovered there seems to have been an underlying reason such as diabetes, MS or cancers. It's making me nervous to say the least. I hate how this anxiety around health is constant now as other than trying to eat well and stay active I've not thought deeply about health in this way before.

As for my husband, I've not gone into the full detail of how awful he was during that period. Everything is 'back to normal' now, only for me it really isn't. I don't feel I could depend on him if anything like that happened again (which I obviously hope not to have to test out) Because I felt so upset by him while ill and anxious I spiralled and ended up reporting him to safeguarding. I've since wondered if I overdid it and have said so to the social worker who got in touch. There's no immediate danger to me or my child but it has changed how I look at our relationship. It had never occurred to me before that he was controlling or abusive but now I can't fully relax as I don't understand his actions. It's never been fully resolved, to my satisfaction, and he won't do couples or solo counselling. I am doing counselling for myself to see how to go on. Everything he does and thinking about things he's said or done in the past, is now through a lens of 'does he care'and 'is he abusive'. It's a fairly horrible place to be in. I hope I'll find an answer to that too in time.

Your husband delayed you seeking medical care. Yes, that’s abusive.

What would you say to a friend in the same situation? Please get support from the GP & social worker xx

Thank you, @ItoldyouIwassick. Yes, your long run of coughs & colds (which may have been whooping cough or Covid, both have been rampant) left you run down - by definition, then, your immune & recovery system wasn't working properly. This gave any opportunistic microbes a chance to party. The papers you read, mentioning MS and cancer, etc, just mean they've observed e lenta behaving opportunistically.

You're undergoing several serious shocks at the moment, aren't you? The physical shock of a health crisis - you'll still be in recovery - alongside the mental shift after being faced with your vulnerability as a living organism, plus the emotional re-evaluation of your marriage as unsupportive, even dangerous.

I really feel for you. I've been through all these, though not at the same time. You must feel as though you're in the middle of an avalanche! It's a very good idea, I think, to work through it all with a counsellor; I'd recommend ensuring this person will support you to examine difficult issues. If s/he seems to be more about soothing, find another one!

And, importantly, do look after yourself. That infection really knocked you about by the sound of things; you need to rebuild your health.

The social problem suspected is in reference to your appalling husband. I had a similar partner once. Please get some help, go and see your GP who can help in many ways, you are in an abusive relationship. I also have anxiety, not health related, due to abuse. The sooner you are away from him and around reliable people who care for you the anxiety will decrease.

I hope you feel fully better soon.

@blondieminx The thing is, as I was so upset I contacted a few old friends, who've known me long before I met my husband, to get perspective. Two of them (individually as they don't know each other) asked if it was an isolated incident. I was contemplating leaving him at this point as I was very, very anxious, I think in part because of my physical health. That probably came as a surprise to them. Previously I had thought I was in a really happy and supportive marriage, so they probably did too. My family were initially supportive but backed down and now think everything is fine again.

I feel very confused. For the sake of our child it's obviously better when things are harmonious and I've had some normal, relaxed times with him since. But I can't shake the feeling of distress I felt when I was ill and he was being awful to me. It's colouring how I feel about things, I'm second guessing whether things he's doing are with ulterior motives.

Going through lists of what coercive control is, none of the other aspects seem to be there and he's not physically or verbally abusive. So I'm not sure if it was an isolated incident that he's reflected on and I don't need to worry about or whether it is worrying for the future

Also, our GP was unhelpful. I said I would like his behaviour documented and he advised that I talk to my husband and tried to refer me to a psychologist. He didn't listen to my worry and offer advice about domestic abuse, it was all about my MH.
They have a weird relationship anyway, GP called and told my husband I could call and leave a message if I couldn't get an appointment after coming out of hospital. Our child has had a cough for a while, been generally OK, but last week was worse and with my new health fears I decided to call the doctors but couldn't get DC an appointment. When my husband phoned, also after appointments had gone, he said the GP has told him to leave a message and was given an appointment straight away. In that regard he's shown more concern and sympathy around health fears than before I suppose.

@ItoldyouIwassick go with your gut feeling. It’s there for a reason.

and god, so sorry to hear the GP attempted the mad woman trope rather than listening to what happened. Really hope the social worker is more supportive.

I remember your original thread Op - glad to hear you're on the mend.

You know he's abusive & you need to leave him although appreciate how hard that is, especially if your family have backed off.

Just look after yourself for now & take the time you need to gather yourself. I hope you find the strength to get free.