HI! I post this only as a warning and NOT for the MUCH DESERVED sympathy. Got the "stomach flu" --not influenza but perhaps norovirus or food poisoning Tues..and was nonstop vomitting from 3 am - 10 am every 10 min with all the "extras" and finally told family I needed to go to the hospital....where the doctor said I had INDEED needed to come to the hospital. I had quickly become totally dehydrated, would not have kept the prednisone down, and one nurse said the retching would have carried on for a long while. I was given IV of hydrocortisone (they knew how much per my prednisone dose, odansetron hydrochloride (world's GREATEST anti nausea drug) and 2 liters of saline solution. AND I slept in the ER for 7 hours then was given choice to be admitted for the night or leave. I went home and am tired but fine this morning. The Warning is.. if you are REALLY sick don't tough it out. Our immune systems are compromised and the doctor said she would have worried about an adrenal crisis had I not come in. Get thee to the emergency room! Also they asked me for my health care directive...which is ALWAYS asked for here..and I said.. it's the flu.. RESUSCITATE! NOW back to my jar of GOOD THINGS. I've had the bad thing for 2018 ON to the GREAT and FUN things!!!
Off to the Hospital and home again: HI! I post this... - PMRGCAuk
Off to the Hospital and home again
Oh my goodness, I am so sorry to hear this.... I hope that's it for 2018! You're done! All good from here....
Thanks for the reminder and I hope you are feeling better!
A nasty experience, yogabonnie, and one I experienced last summer, only mine turned out to be Clostridium Difficile caused by a GP overprescribing a particular antibiotic (Cefalexin)! You were so wise to go to the ER when you did, not least because of the intravenous steroid need - a good reminder for all. Onwards and upwards now with all those “great and fun things”.
C Diff.. so much worse. !!! glad you have (I am assuming) recovered completely!!
Yes, thank you, yogabonnie, I am one of the lucky ones who has recovered. It was all quite dramatic though from firstly C. Diff being suspected so put in isolation, then the consultant the following day decided that as my stomach sounds had returned to normal and diarrhoea stopped, I probably didn’t have C.Diff and could discharge me. Three hours after arriving home, I got a call from the hospital asking me to return and collect a course of antibiotics - the results of a stool sample had arrived showing that I did have C.Diff after all! So grateful that I came straight home from hospital that day and didn’t visit anyone, especially our baby grandchildren!
Ditto Celtic re; C. Difficile. Last Feb, I celebrated! my 70th birthday in A & E with C.Difficile. 5 days hospital isolation. Was first thought to be Norovirus, but stool /bloods showed it was antibiotics, from 3 months earlier, when I was admitted to hospital with COPD.
Once home, I put myself into 12 days further isolation, with notices on doors, saying 'no entry'. I lost 2 stone in 3 weeks. Think it was worst I ever felt.I am over it now.
So glad you are over it!
Oh Karools, that is really scary to know that C.Diff can hang around for as long as 3 months after being infected via the antibiotics - did you not have any symptoms during those few months? Which antibiotic was it in your case? It sounds as though you had a far worse time than me but thank goodness you recovered because I gather some people don't, and it can have dire consequences.
I do hope you are going to make the very most of your birthday celebrations next month to make up for what you missed last year. Very early happy birthday wishes to you!
Celtic, I can't remember which antibiotics. There were no symptoms. I had only just recovered from the COPD and 8 days hospital. I live alone. On the morning, I took ill with C. Diff, I woke feeling queasy and thought it was the mushrooms, from the night before. Went loo, and there 3 hours, top and tail. When dr came, he said I was dehydrated and confused. Rang for ambulance, which came that evening.I thought I was dying.
Thank you for your good wishes.
That must have been an especially scary experience for you when living alone, karools. I’m not surprised the Dr found you dehydrated and confused after all that time. It must have been quite a relief finally having someone with you. We are both blessed to have come out of this experience safely!
Well done for making the right decision and getting excellent treatment.. now onward to many GOOD THINGS in 2018, great positive attitude yogabonnie!
Bad experience but humour intact....resuscitate 😂😂😂
Mind you - the mind boggles how you would survive in the NHS EDs at present!
Yes, and does him in charge care......not a chance!....he's just apologised, so everything is alright now then😠
I don't think you would even get admitted PMRpro 🙁 l waited 10 weeks for a synacthin test then 2 days before the test they cancelled it.
There really isn't any point doing that sort of thing though - unless they are making those nurses work on wards which I suppose is possible. Though most outpatient nurses have chosen it to avoid ward work so it wouldn't please them greatly! I do see the point of stopping elective surgery - that frees up extra beds at least - but not all outpatients stuff. But MrsMaybe says "the NHS is better prepared than ever before" so it must be right. Although it isn't what my frontline reporters tell me. They have both been in the NHS for at least 8 years and say they have never seen anything like it. The paramedic one has only done 2 shifts this year - and has already got 2 "not in window" payments (you didn't get your mealbreak in the 2 hour window in the middle of your shift, on a 10 hour shift it is between the 4th and 6th hours for example) and 3 hours late finish - you've already done a full shift but are in the middle of a job so can't just drop it. It's crackers...
Yep, my nephew is a surgeon, he said without being political, open boarders is not helping the situation....
Dunno where he works - but the EU contribution to the NHS has been massive. In most places at least 10% of staff are "immigrants" and in London it is nearer 25%. Since the referendum a LOT of EU NHS staff have left because they feel they have no security and don't feel welcome. THAT is contributing to this years problem.
Hunt and co can say we will train 5,000 new GPs (for example) by 2020 as often as they like. The sums don't add up. That would be almost the entire medical school turnout for a year becoming GPs (which isn't going to happen) and it takes 10+ years to get from school to registration as a GP or any other specialist. So the only other option is to bring them in from abroad - more immigrants.
In the US Eight Insurance company executives made $171.8 million in total compensation in 2016.For some context, the CEOs' combined realized compensation would be enough to cover the average annual premium for about 59,150 people. I would take NHS over putting millions in the pocket's of CEO's any day...warts and all. At least it serves humanity.
Sadly since big chunks of public services privatised money still going into pockets of CEO equivalents.
Not to mention the PFI initiatives to build hospitals. In Durham it wasn't just the building, it was the "hotel" services that were PFI. Instead of them having an in-house estates department like they used to, the private company charged my husband's department £450+ to replace a damaged electric socket. Because they could. Money that took away from the budget for working with patients...
That's shocking😥
No it really is. What a waste and I would love to follow the money to its final pocket.
A couple of doctors on the news today said that they reckoned fifty per cent of people going to A&E at the moment either did not need anything done or just needed advice. They felt it was a matter of organising the system better.
I often wonder if hip and knee surgery is postponed what do the orthopaedic surgeons do? There will not be much more work for them in another area. I suppose one of the main problems is the flow of patients so everyone is fighting for beds, nothing to do with the medical side at all. I must admit having sat for eight hours waiting for an emergency operation recently which was then cancelled until the next day I did find the organisation had a lot to be desired.
OK in the winter - they can deal with the breaks from falls on ice!
Every A&E should have a GP and a couple of paramedics/nurse specialists on site to do triage/treat minor stuff. Instead of giving early retirement for damaged backs/knees/whatever they could offer them a post in A&E where they will be sitting and not needing to carry/lift and so on. They could even work part-time. Which, by the way, is half the trouble with the lack of GPs: women want to be part-time GPs to fit with family, more GPs does not equal more full-time posts filled. The men who work full-time have to cover the gaps, get pissed off and tired and retire early on health grounds.
Here they introduced a 15 euro charge for A&E some years ago. They didn't want to but people were turning up like they now do in the UK. They considered 50 euros but started low - and it worked. Anyone who really just needed a painkiller stopped turning up. You don't pay it if you go via the GP (one is always at the end of the phone and you can see them same day) nor if you are admitted - when everything is free at point of receipt. In the winter Italian families from the south were turning up to get their annual screenings done here - as they were free and not at home (the systems are separate to a great extent but they can have what we have).
They also have a very limited list of drugs that are covered. My husband needs a slow release form of cardiac drug for good management, no idea what it is. The cost of the basic immediate release sort is fully covered except 1 euro prescription charge - but he has to pay the balance. Not sure any PPI is covered - I would have had to pay for omeprazole so I said no thanks. Loads of other things can be had - on private prescription. Anything that is available OTC is OTC, never on script unless it is required for a chronic condition and you have an approved exemption.
The NHS is too generous - it should be there so everyone has basic essential care. If you want more - take out top-up insurance like the Germans can. Basic care is still free though.
I do agree the NHS is too generous in some cases and then really mean in others. They keep saying charging hits the vulnerable. They could ask for a refundable deposit which would only hit someone if they did not turn up for an appointment, they could always appeal if they had a good excuse before the cash was taken. As you say over the counter drugs should be encouraged unless long term need. Also they should stop the gluten free prescriptions. In all fairness my cleaning lady’s husband can no longer get special Italian bread on prescription only normal rolls, so they are cutting back!
It's a minefield. I feel guilty with the amount of money I must cost but I paid in for 30plus years as did my parents and my other family members. I try and balance it by fact I had no children who made use of education I contributed to and never so much as went to doctors for a 20 year period. That doesn't stop me me guilt pangs. Rheumy put me on very expensive SSA & gp practice now having to partially fund it. I did have long think about stopping it just yesterday. I see rheumy at the end of January. He wanted me at 8mg pred. I am at 9.5mg going slowly.dont seem to have side effects now from SSA but do I reject on moral political and economic basis? It's very hard to decide. Steroids cost pennies SSA thousands I think.
That's different - not what I mean. We get the seriously fancy stuff if it is appropriate too. But there is a lot of stuff that is actually cheaper to get OTC than it costs the NHS and as for OTC painkillers being dished out because someone gets free scripts, that is a piece of nonsense when paracetamol costs pennies in Lidl (other discounters are available!).
But you look at the fuss made about the suggestion of "drunk tanks" - an ambo being requested for someone off their face on drink costs £400+ or thereabouts by the time they have been transported and taken a place in A&E. Not so long ago they would have been charged with D&D and fined next morning. Just chucking them in the cells is risky - but a large "ward" of the old-fashioned variety with plastic covered mattresses on the floor so they can't fall off and damage themselves further and a couple of trained supervisors would relieve A&E staff greatly. If they can afford the booze - they can afford to pay. And should.
No I realised what you meant i didn't respond in the spirit of someone guilt tripping me or anyone else. The guilt I feel is about the cost of a drug that may not be required. I actually couldn't begin to.pay for drugs I need on prescription and I always but otc when ut s a simple thing like creams or cough medicine. Everyone can afford 19p or whatever for paracetamol and 30p for ibuprofen at a supermarket but I have seen people get them on prescription.
I remember taking people to drunkk tank at the bridewell in the court house in Leeds and the nurse being in charge in the 70s and 80s.
A friend who works at the Royal Free said at weekends 60% of A&E is for people with alcohol problems. I notice they have portable drunk tanks now, which struck me as a good idea. The argument seems that “vulnerable” people may be put in a drunk tank, while if they went to A&E they could then have special councilling etc. I cannot understand why the staff in the drunk tanks could not recommend that too and organise for anyone who may need A&E to be sent there. It also means that the police do not have to spend time with a load of drunks taking up space and incurring expense. I suppose actually being a member of staff in a drunk tank may be a bit of a nightmare on the other hand.
Exactly !
At least you are only supervising drunks and not trying to mix that with trying to deal with really sick people - heart attacks, strokes and broken hips. Which takes away a bit of the stress - that affects them badly.
That is true. On the other hand it may be more interesting to deal with a variety of sick people than try and keep a load of drunks under control unless they have passed out of course. It is probably pretty smelly too.
Whoaaaa....What an extreme way to 1. lose weight; 2. spend a night in a different bed; 3. be waited on hand and foot.
In seriousness, so glad that you had the presence of mind to go to the ER. What a nightmare!!! Rest today the best you can. Your friends here will be sending you many well-wishes!!!
And thanks for the reminder that we are not healthy and need to take extra steps when we are ill.
How awful for you!! Quite scary!! Thanks for posting this - we all need to be vigilant . Yes as you say get back to your jar of good things. Onwards and upwards!
I fell sick after my son's wedding across the country last spring. Non stop vomiting. Finally the casino where we were staying called EMTs. Had a very expensive ambulance ride and they fixed me up. I figured it was my very sad immune system unable to respond. Took me a couple of days to get well.
Glad you did! and I agree.. I think it is our immune systems not coping well. I am now carrying wet ones everywhere!! I perhaps shouldn't have grabbed that grocery cart handle without a care! Probably was more fun for you grabbing the 777 pull handle.. but just as germy!
I use anti bacterial wipes on communal property like trollies. When I still got flu I was a bit .....er ranty. I started a thread about coughs and sneezes and was glad I wasn't alone in my slide toward being term phobic. I am trying to find happy balance.
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