Sorry if this is a bit too much info but interested to see if anyone else has had similar and can give some advice. Wednesday night I went up to bed with my fiancΓ© and just before he fell asleep I mentioned that I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick out of nowhere. I get a lot of stomach acid with my lupus so it's not necessarily unusual but this one was a bit out of the blue.
Within half an hour I was being violently sick and thought oh god food poisoning here we go. At the same time I was getting really bad stomach cramps from trapped wind which once I stopped being sick led into really bad diarrhoea. By 4am I'd stopped being sick but the other end was still going and I'd started to see some blood so I rang the 111 service as I was a bit worried about it. They went through their assessment procedure and told me that they thought it was food poisoning and I would be fine to call my own doctor out that morning. I spoke to my doctor by phone just before lunchtime and by then it was very clear I was very noticeably passing blood but fresh red blood so I guessed it might be a small cut. Half an hour later the doctor turns up to check and says she thinks it is gastro enteritis of some sort and she can't see a cut. I hadn't been able to keep any fluids down that morning but she sorted a prescription for dioralyte and said to keep drinking little sips of it even if it did make me sick and the usual advice re flat coke to get sugar onboard Etc. She was concerned about the bleeding as it was unusual to see that so early but my temperature was normal so she would check on me again when she had a chance and to update her that afternoon if I needed to.
By 4pm I was getting what felt like bad period pain across my stomach and I passed a significant amount of blood on its own. I rang the surgery to update the doctor but unfortunately she'd had to go out on an emergency call. They rang me back at about 6 with a message from her that if it happened again I should get back on to 111 for them to reassess me and either get an on call doctor to come and see me or send me to a&e. I then fell asleep for a few hours but woke up at 9pm doubled up with stomach cramps and passed a whole load more. At this stage 111 decided that I needed to go to A&E.
After an hour of waiting to see the triage nurse and another 45 minutes waiting to be called round for blood tests I had passed another 6 loads of blood but for smaller amounts. My temperature, which is normally 36.2 for me, had shot up to 37.9 and my pulse rate was far too high which was concerning them. I was sent for x ray, urine sample and blood tests. The blood tests came back indicating an infection and due to the fact I'm on methotrexate and the high temperature Etc the junior doctor in minor injuries checked with the main doctors and they decided they needed to see me and probably admit me to be safe.
5.5 hours later the doctor finally managed to get round to reviewing me by which time the diarrhoea had stopped so ironically I couldn't provide them with a sample (if only they'd asked earlier!) and I was now holding down water, although with severe acid reflux, and I was more exhausted and reacting to the lights than anything. He then advised that he thought I had a severe bout of dysentery which threw me as I thought that was mainly waterborne and tropical but not always apparently. He was in two minds about keeping me in because of the methotrexate and my fever but by this stage I just had the temperature and the by now severe stomach cramps and they didn't have any beds anyway! If I start being sick again or my fever doesn't come down by Saturday evening then I have to go back in and they will look at admitting me then.
So we finally got home at 6,15am where I promptly sent the other half to bed for a few hours as he'd now been awake for 24 straight and I can't sleep anyway because my stomach is so painful so I stayed up with the puppy who is traumatised at having been left so long. I'll then go to bed once he wakes up and stay there.
I've been told to drink lots of dioralyte as I'm slightly dehydrated and take paracetamol for the temperature Etc but I'm stuck with these REALLY bad stomach cramps and wondered if anyone had ever had this and any tips to help? He said he doesn't want to give me anything to stop them as it slows it all down and they want my body to clear the infection as soon as possible. Hot water bottle isn't helping and is just make me feel hotter with a temperature and beyond that I'm stumped. I'm due to go on holiday Monday so desperate to get it gone before then ... and hoping to god the other half doesn't come down with it although the doc did say I shouldn't be contagious as long as i washed my hands properly Etc.
Flipping dysentery .. that's a new one even for me!