Anyone Else had Hospital Appointments Cancelled

LegacyUser · 06-04-2020 2:04am #1

I am not looking for advice, I am just extremely frustrated and saddened and looking for shared experiences, I think it might just give me a bit of comfort. I'd like to see who else had hospital appointments cancelled cause of Covid. Please don't eat me alive, I know I am very fortunate to not have the Corona virus, I am just looking for shared experiences. Skip my rant in the next paragraph where I just whine about my own problems :P I am mostly just looking for shared experiences but thought it only fair I put up my own as well.

I've had a problem for the past 6 months where I cannot stop vomiting after every single thing I eat; not just food, but drinks and even medicine as well. It starts maybe 5 minutes after I start eating and goes on for hours, sometimes 14 or 15 hours after I eat, it comes up mouthful by mouthful and feels like balls of fire and acid, the mouthfuls are too huge to re-swallow, and if I do manage to res-wallow it feels even worse than when it first came up. Its extremely painful, and uncomfortable, my chest and throat feels like they are being stomped on, my mouth and throat were on fire, like literally crying in agony with the pain, till my doctor prescribed me to take medication which stops my stomach making so much acid-which still leaves me burning, but not as a bad, I regularly end up choking on the food when it comes up, I'm pretty sure I'm going to need dentures despite only being 25 cause my teeth ache and are undoubtedly rotting....its been a pretty awful few months. If I eat I have to carry a bucket around with me for the rest of the day. I cannot eat in the presence or be around anyone for the rest of the day once I have eaten cause I will be puking for the remainder of the day, which is obviously embarrassing. Today I puked up 5L of food stuff-I skipped breakfast. My GP was meant to refer me for an urgent scope back in January but for some reason after 3 months and 3 attempts the hospital never got the letters so I FINALLY got what was supposedly an 'emergency' scope somewhere else booked a month in advance????? for next week which of course has been cancelled. Everyday feels like hell. Its very frustrating that the problem cannot even be investigated till an unknown date and in the meanwhile I'm just left living in pain, not knowing what damage this is even doing to my insides, and probably in the long term-I'm sure prolonged vomiting constantly for 6 months is not going to have 0 consequences. I've had to go through this every single day for the past 6 months and there is no end in sight. I have skipped eating for days at at a time cause its just a better prospect than eating. I've been told I cannot get a scope unless I am literally on the table with an immediate life and death situation, and I am so frustrated it has crossed my mind to do something drastic cause I cannot live like this anymore-I WONT, but I am desperate that the thought has crossed my mind. There is no way I can go into details here but it has ruined every single aspect of my life. I have had no quality of life at all for the past 6 months and my scope was going to be the first step to getting better and it feels like I am going to die before this is ever resolved. I'm at my wits end and I cannot go like this.

I am sure there are others out there who are in situations similar to mine where there is some medical test or procedure they need but can't due to Corona Virus Anyone else had experiences of hospital appointments being cancelled? I just feel like if I hear other stories of people in similar situations, I may not feel so alone in this, that it might even make me feel a little it better. Please once again, don't eat me alive, I know I am fortunate to not have Cornoa virus, and that people are literally dying from it. I am just looking for other people in similar situations, corona virus is a b1tch, this is just another side of it fúcking people over.

stayback · 06-04-2020 7:38am

Sorry to hear your going through . My only advice to you is too present yourself to A&E I’m led to believe it’s very quiet at A&E’s at present. While we have this pandemic the HSE have said if you are sick you must be treated cornavirus or not.
Get yourself to A&E and see what they say. Best of luck can’t be nice what your going through

LegacyUser · 06-04-2020 8:38am

stayback wrote: »

Sorry to hear your going through . My only advice to you is too present yourself to A&E I’m led to believe it’s very quiet at A&E’s at present. While we have this pandemic the HSE have said if you are sick you must be treated cornavirus or not.
Get yourself to A&E and see what they say. Best of luck can’t be nice what your going through

Hi Stayback, I came here not even expecting my post to be up, and here I see I even have a reply!

Thank you for your advice but I actually tried this following the announcement on the news, unfortunately for me I wasn't deemed a life or death emergency by the A and E so I was sent home and told to just take some panadol-this actually stung a lot after seeing Dr. Holohan pleading with people to go in cause the emergency rooms were empty. I was told that even if I was kept in no one from the appropriate team would even consider looking at me cause I was not an imminent life/death emergency, and only under extraordinary circumstances would I be considered being seen, and only those bought in about to die within the next hour(s) would be considered for a scope, apparently its the guidelines set by the HSE, unless you're in imminent danger you wont be examined/treated, only painkillers according to the doctors/nurses I seen. I've already decided not to eat today, cause atm no food>food.

However, if anyone is reading this and wondering should they go in, there was literally only 2 other people when I went in and I stayed for about 5 hours waiting for blood test results and literally only 2 other people came in during that 5 hour time period so it was not busy if you feel like you should be assessed very quickly.

anndub · 06-04-2020 1:43pm

I second the above. You must be very underweight by now and chronically dehydrated so you are well within your rights to go to your nearest A&E. They are very quiet at the moment and there was actually a statement from the head of the of the HSE last week urging people not to ignore symptoms and please do to the hospital if you were very unwell. They are still very much open for business fit anyone who needs medical attention.

Best of luck

LegacyUser · 06-04-2020 1:45pm

5 litres of foodstuff puked up in a day, what on earth or you eating or drinking /or how often are you eating that's multiple times the capacity of a human stomach for anybody!

Windorah · 06-04-2020 6:05pm

I have to agree with the other posters. Either insist your GP sends a referral to A and E for you or just present yourself.
I suffered with Hyperemesis (severe vomiting and nausea in pregnancy) and it was a truly miserable experience and at least I knew what was causing it and had a baby to look forward to! During that period I had to be admitted to hospital due to dehydration so I would assume you would need similar treatment. The doctors eventually found a drug that stopped the vomiting and it was a lifesaver. Surely if they can prescribe anti-emetics in pregnancy there must be something similar you could trial.

shesty · 06-04-2020 9:14pm

God OP.That sounds horrendous.Also....somewhat extreme of the hospitals to react in such a way?
Other illnesses don't just stop because of coronavirus.Some good advice given here.I am sorry I am not much good, but I hope you get help.
Just to edit...maybe try a different hospital?you never know, might have more success?

Big Bag of Chips · 06-04-2020 10:09pm

If you are still unwell you have to present to A&E. Hospitals are cancelling non essential outpatient appointments and surgeries to reduce footfall in hospitals. The places where the infection is guaranteed to be.

I understand your frustration and sometimes a patient will have to present to A&E a couple of times. But if you truly are vomiting up to 14/15 hours a day then you are dehydrated. That alone needs to be addressed and Paracetamol won't do much good for that.

Go back to A&E. Patients are still being treated.

Edit: also, depending where you are, some hospitals are being set up as dedicated Covid hospitals, with other hospitals being Covid free and dealing with all other issues. Private hospitals are also being used for public procedures. Contact your GP, at the very least.

Airyfairy12 · 07-04-2020 1:58am

What has your GP said? Have you contacted them recently? That is horrendous what youre going through. Surely your health is in immediate danger as your body must be starved and dehydrated. At least they should be required to keep you in and put you on a drip to keep you sustained. Have they even taken x - rays?

amdublin · 07-04-2020 2:43am

Do you work? Or go to college? How are you managing that while the vomiting is going on

op, do you live with anyone? Can they go to the A&E dept to tell what they have seen also?

I echo other posters. You need to go back to the hospital

radiotrickster · 07-04-2020 12:20pm

While you were in A&E for five hours, did you vomit at all? Or was the issue gone? It might help if you present while you’re that ill so they can see themselves how bad you are.

Hospitals are very limited in the services they can offer as they’re trying to keep as many people out as possible but if you’re urgent, you still need to be seen to. That means fighting for your care and advocating for yourself. Tell your GP that they need to sort this (but not rudely) and advocate for your care too.

LegacyUser · 07-04-2020 7:10pm

Hi All,

OP here, thank you so much for the replies, but unfortunately-or fotuately I guess-when I got my blood tests nothing overly worrying showed up, that is now the criteria to treat patients apparently, unless someone is in an obvious life/death situation or something 'extraordinary' shows up in the blood results, the guidelines dictate that there is nothing A and E can do bar send you home according to the doctors. Its like a tick box situation, no life/death scenario, blood isnt weird, then send them home. Its the guidelines set out by the HSE and theres nothing the doctors can do about that. Unless something weird shows up in my blood they won't see me. If I went back in I would just be wasting their time and my own. I am also living in one of the least infected areas of the country-and the entire hospital seemed very quiet when I went in, so I don't think theyre 'slammed' with COVID patients, its just the rules now, its not that theyre busy, the rules just say they cannot help someone unless theyre in a serious critical state

As for the 5L....yes. I puked up 5L. That wasnt all in one go....I had a pizza-pizza and heavy starchy foods tend to stay down a little bit compared to the likes of vegetables-I also had some biscuits, apple tart and drinks. I drink quite a lot cause, well I am dehydrated, I normally would never have eaten that sort of junk before but fruits and vegs and even meats are the worst when they come up. I had a chicken and vegetable dinner today, I didnt eat yesterday and I am currently on liter number 2....

I am dehydrated, the hospital knows that; I had to give them a pee sample and they had to take bloods, when youre dehydrated your veins get thinner and they even said it to me mine were very thin.

I normally live in a city/large town but as of about a month ago we were asked to work from home so I went home to my home house, which is in a very rural area, the hospital I went to is the only hospital I can go to :P My dad ended up pleading with the A and E staff when they were going to discharge me and explained how this happens everytime I eat, and he did the get the point across, but the staff said their hands were tied with the situation, you are either on deaths door or something suspicious shows up in your blood or they give you pain relief if you need it and you leave. Theres nothing the A and E dept. could do, and thet knew the dept. that would conduct a scope wouldnt even consider looking at me as I wasnt in immediate danger of dying. I did not get sick at the hospital as I chose not to eat that day. I currently have a 2L bottle of vomit beside me but that occured over the span of 4 hours. Sorry for the gross TMI

I went to a different GP, the local one where I am currently based but he said he couldnt do anything, my dad still got him to write a letter to the surgeon in the county who can carry out scopes having talked to the A and E staff about it, but we dropped the letter in to the secretary and she said even if it is marked as an emergency we won' hear anything for months-I have fantastic insurance via my job so thats not the issue. Scopes just are not being done unless you are literally about to die. Its actually very annoying cause I write this I am watching a clip of a woman with nausea who got treated in A and E, Ive been puking all day, Ive gotten sick every single day for the past 6 months.....perhaps something showed up in her blood cause that was the defining decision between being treated or not treated according to the A and E staff I was speaking with :P

So TLDR; Im stuck in limbo, but I am sure there are many out there just like me who were meant to have procedure or test, maybe quite badly, and are now put on hold....I'm sure I couldn't be the only one.

amdublin · 07-04-2020 9:20pm

Sorry am I missing something. Why (how??) are you vomiting into a bottle. Why not vomit into the toilet where it can be flushed away immediately. How do you dispose of the bottle of vomit?

Op you need to talk with a doctor. You said they have found nothing physically going on. Could there be anything mentally or psychologically going on?

LegacyUser · 07-04-2020 10:24pm

amdublin wrote: »

Sorry am I missing something. Why (how??) are you vomiting into a bottle. Why not vomit into the toilet where it can be flushed away immediately. How do you dispose of the bottle of vomit?

Op you need to talk with a doctor. You said they have found nothing physically going on. Could there be anything mentally or psychologically going on?

It comes up mouthful by mouthful-theyre much too large to reswallow and often spews out-I ruined a brand new laptop by accidentally getting sick on it. The spewing up goes on for hours, I cannot spend 3-14 hours in a bathroom waiting for it all to come up, so I spit it into empty containers, a bucket, and bottles if I have nothing else available. I then throw the contents down the toilet or down the field that is my back garden.

There is something physically going on, they need a scope to determine what the physical thing is that happening. The A and E docs could only test my blood to look for unusual findings that would indicate I am in serious danger now-my results were a little odd/off but not enough to warrant an emergency scope-things that indicated I had cancer or a serious infection would have.

Big Bag of Chips · 07-04-2020 10:28pm

Its the guidelines set out by the HSE and theres nothing the doctors can do about that.

This is simply untrue. Yes, hospitals are trying to cut down on unnecessary trips to A&E, and unnecessary admission to hospital, but if you've been vomiting every day for 6 months, up to 15 hours a day then you are certainly dehydrated and more than likely malnourished. And need medical attention, not Paracetamol. You're not going to get a scope in A&E, that's true. That's not what A&E is for. But if you are vomiting to the degree you say you are then you need medical attention.

I'm not sure if you misunderstood or misinterpreted what A&E said to you. Or why you went to A&E on a day that you weren't actually being sick. But you need to either go back to them, or contact your GP.

Edit: And no, of course you're not the only one who has had a procedure cancelled. Thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of people across the country have had appointments and procedures cancelled. But equally, thousands are being treated in our hospitals at the moment too for many and various illnesses.

LegacyUser · 07-04-2020 11:22pm

Big Bag of Chips wrote: »

This is simply untrue. Yes, hospitals are trying to cut down on unnecessary trips to A&E, and unnecessary admission to hospital, but if you've been vomiting every day for 6 months, up to 15 hours a day then you are certainly dehydrated and more than likely malnourished. And need medical attention, not Paracetamol.

I'm not sure if you misunderstood or misinterpreted what A&E said to you. Or why you went to A&E on a day that you weren't actually being sick. But you need to either go back to them, or contact your GP.

Edit: And no, of course you're not the only one who has had a procedure cancelled. Thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of people across the country have had appointments and procedures cancelled. But equally, thousands are being treated in our hospitals at the moment too for many and various illnesses.

I said in my initial post and a subsequent post that I came here looking for people to share their own stories with me who were in similar positions cause I know I am definitely not the only one, and would get comfort from hearing other peoples stories so I wouldn't feel so alone in this. I never said other people werent being treated, but the doctors in A and E told me they could not treat me/I would not be able to get a scope for those reasons.

I went on a day I wasnt getting sick for a few reasons 1. You need to be fasting to get a scope 2. Some days I decide not to eat cause its a better prospect than getting sick all day and 3. I had been in contact with someone in the hospital who said it was empty but advised I go in that day and not a later date as whilst it was empty that day, theres no guarantee that the next day it wouldn't be filled with people with Corona virus or other illnesses. I am watch the Tonight Show atm and theres a private consultant on it explaining how he cannot treat his patients with glaucoma or cornea problems, if hes carried out a procedure on a patient every few months in order for them to remain well with a certain condition, he can no longer do that even tho his patients require that treatment to remain well, he's not allowed to treat his patients/use his office, patients which he has treated for years.

The doctor who seen me in A and E told me that I did not qualify for a scope cause I was not a life/death situation and nothing "extraordinary" showed up in my blood results. My dad came in and got the senior doctor and head nurse out as well. They reiterated several times that as an A and E unit that there was nothing they could do, based on my blood results I was not deemed an emergency and even if they kept me in they knew the doctors who conduct endoscopes in the hospital would not even consider seeing me as I was not deemed an imminent emergency. Anything to do with the mouth is apparently high risk for catching the virus according to one of the doctors and that it was the rules set out by the HSE that meant I was not deemed an emergency, the risks outweighed the benefit. They reiterated it several times that it was the HSE guidelines that as I was not in imminent danger of death and nothing hugely worrying showed up in my blood I was not going to be seen by the GI dept. (or whatever dept. it is that does upper GI scopes) I'm sure they're still treating broken bones and many other things but for my situation I was not considered an emergency. One man came in with a limp and left without, but for my situation I was sent home as I was not going to die without treatment/being seen.

All of this has gotten a little personal, I genuinely felt like pure rubbish when I first posted my post and was just looking for other peoples experiences cause its really getting to me. I didn't come to discuss my situation cause it genuinely hurts to talk abut it at this stage, there was a whole hulabaloo about this for the past few months and I think I'm going to die before I ever get seen, so rather than focusing on my own problem I just wanted to be reassured knowing I wasn't alone in this situation and others were suffering too. I don't mean that callously, I just know there must be others in a similar situation too, and maybe I wouldn't feel so sorry for myself if I heard other's people's stories.

amdublin · 08-04-2020 12:20am

Op, in my opinion you need medical help.

Go see a doctor (while staying safe from covid e.g. ring your GP's surgery or attend A&E with a mask on).

Tokyo · 08-04-2020 1:54am

Mod:

As others have stated, given the situation you describe, you need the assistance of a medical professional. Leaving this thread open and delaying that would be doing you a disservice. Thread closed.

Anyone Else had Hospital Appointments Cancelled

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