Medway hospital! USELESS!

[Tyler_89]

hey all....just been in the hospital for the past 9 hours...im taking pred and had a few side effects untill today when i felt my heaert pounding at work and passed out...so i rang my doctor who was off...and was sent to meddoc, who instantly sent me to medway hospital after a 3 hour wait i was seen by a nurse who took some blood and put me back in the waiting room....another 4 hours later i saw a doctor and explained what my side effects were and why i felt i needed to come to the doctor.....he felt my tummy...gave me a basic check up and some fluids 2 hours later he returned to tell me my CRP was still high as was my ALT....sent me on my way with the words '' continue your medication ''

the whole reason i went was becuase of the side effects and the fact i passed out, im fuming and seriously considering making a complaint.

any one elce had a problem with an incompitant doctor at medway? :mad2:

 

[Jennifer]

Not at that particular hospital but I have with all the hospitals I've been to. Some ER docs don't seem to work too well when its not an immediate emergency. Say if you were currently unconscious, then you might have gotten better care, maybe. Sometimes you just have to go when there's a good doc working at that time. Its sort of a luck of the draw really.

How long have you been taking Prednisone and what dose? What were your other side effects? Any other medications?

 

[Tyler_89]

takeing it a 2 months now, i get super hard heart pounding which makes me dizzy and today i passed out, surges of pain in my back either side of my spine, extream sweating, pain in my jaw and altered sleep patten...and some weird stuff with lights almost like doble vision but only when looking at lights, my dose is 5mg 4 tablets in the morning im also on mesren SL 400mg 2 tablets 4 times a day and b12 shots monthly. and yes luck of the draw is spot on....it was as if he didnt care about the fact i have these effects and the fact i passed out afte my heart went hypo was quite distressing!! Thanks fro you reply

 

[Jennifer]

So we made a discovery on chat today. You had missed two doses of Prednisone and weren't told that you can't stop this medication cold turkey. So you were likely experiencing symptoms of Adrenal Insufficiency/Crisis with a possible symptom of "Low blood pressure (hypotension), which may cause light-headedness or fainting when you stand after sitting or lying down."

Keep us posted on how you're doing Tyler_89 since you started taking it again.

 

[UnXmas]

I don't know this hospital, but it sounds quite typical for UK A&E departments.

I've only been in a couple of times - once I was admitted, but the other time I was getting heart palpitations (never did find out why). I'd never had palpitations like that before and my health wasn't the best so I went. They did do an EKG (I think that's what it's called) extremely quickly, but because it showed I wasn't having a heart attack, they sent me home again right afterwards. This didn't seem a problem to me - they'd made sure I wasn't in an emergency situation, so there wasn't anything else they could do other than tell me to follow up with my GP as an outpatient.

They really are only interested in dealing with immediate emergencies in A&E. If you were conscious, up and walking around, and there was nothing sinister in your blood tests, etc. then other than give you things like pain relief - fluids in your case - if you need it, it doesn't sound like they were particularly wrong in how they treated you. ('Though of course I don't know the details, and if they were dismissive in their attitude or anything like that then they would be at fault). I've accompanied others to A&E and seen them be assessed, told it's not an emergency, and sent home to follow up as an outpatient.

Waiting times depend on which patients are needed to be seen most urgently, so again, if you're conscious and not bleeding to death that's unfortunately just the way it is.

Telling you to continue your medication is important with prednisone, even if you are getting side effects, it's more dangerous to suddenly stop.

That said, they shouldn't have made you feel bad for coming to the hospital - it is part of the A&E's role to assess every patient and judge whether they are an emergency or not - it's not wrong to go to A&E if you're having scary symptoms, even if they turn out not to warrant emergency treatment. The staff should reassure you about that and should never make you feel like you shouldn't have bothered coming in.

You should definitely see a doctor as an outpatient to get the side effects under control or to see if these meds aren't right for you - and perhaps it may be something other than the meds causing the symptoms? It's always a possibility, though it does sound like it's connected to the meds for you since you're not had these symptoms before.

Sorry you had such a bad time and I hope you get things sorted soon.

 

[emmaaaargh]

I'm under care at Medway itself but I've never felt the need to use their A&E so I don't have any experience there but I just wanted to say that I hope everything sorts itself out soon and you find some relief. I do know, though, that I've never wanted to go to A&E because nobody really seems to care if you don't have something they can't see!

 

[Ihurt]

Wow, that is terrible. You obviously are having an adverse reaction to the prednisone. Passing out is NOT a minor side effect. I am appauled that the hospital did not even call your doctor and discuss this before sending you on your way. Unfortunately, Yes, I have seen more than my fair share of neglectful ignorant doctors. I would absolutely call your doctor who prescribed the prednisone to you and explain what is happening to you.. Hope you feel better soon and are able to get some help.

hey all....just been in the hospital for the past 9 hours...im taking pred and had a few side effects untill today when i felt my heaert pounding at work and passed out...so i rang my doctor who was off...and was sent to meddoc, who instantly sent me to medway hospital after a 3 hour wait i was seen by a nurse who took some blood and put me back in the waiting room....another 4 hours later i saw a doctor and explained what my side effects were and why i felt i needed to come to the doctor.....he felt my tummy...gave me a basic check up and some fluids 2 hours later he returned to tell me my CRP was still high as was my ALT....sent me on my way with the words '' continue your medication ''

the whole reason i went was becuase of the side effects and the fact i passed out, im fuming and seriously considering making a complaint.

any one elce had a problem with an incompitant doctor at medway? :mad2:

 

[Tyler_89]

i rang my doctor this morning and he told me to come to the clinic asap and the minute i arrived he took me to the consult room, and said he was very sorry that he didnt explain about pred and the fact it cant just be stopped and was under the impression i knew this...i explained my symptoms and he has given me a tappering schedule and an prescription for pred 1mg tablets i have to taper slowly dropping 1mg every 2 weeks and will be starting me on a an alternitive to pred, thanks for your replys!

when i said id missed 2 days of pred he said also that the passing out was most likely a result of Adrenal Insufficiency/Crisis, low blood pressure. :stinks:

i wont ever miss a dose again for the remainder of the time im on it that's for sure!

so the doc at MAU in medway was corrent to tell me to continue my meds however it doesnt excuse the face that he dismissed me the way he did as i was genrally concerned about the feeling in my chest ( pounding heart ) and that i passed out, the main thing is he acted as i didnt have a right to be there and made me feel quite guity as if i was stopping real cases from being dealt with...how ever its over and done now. hopefully start feel better soon!

 

[Jennifer]

That's good that your doctor realizes that they made a mistake Tyler_89. That's a real slow taper so you should do well with it. So are you going to be starting Entocort instead? When?