Staying well

[Sophabulous]

I'm absolutely terrified to be perfectly honest! I'm currently on prednisone and azathioprine so my immune system isn't up to much. My other half has what I can only guess is viral gastroenteritis. He's had severe vomiting and diarrhoea for 5 days and is now short of breath too. He's lost 11 pounds in 5 days.

I'm torn between wanting to look after him and staying the hell away! I'm actually quite concerned he isn't getting any better too. How do you guys stay well when family members are sick? I'm washing my hands etc as much as possible but I've only just got over a bad chest myself and don't want to be starting with that too [emoji51][emoji53]

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

You might want to take him to the emergency room - if it's been going on that long, he's probably dehydrated and at the very least could benefit from some IV fluids. I think most of these viruses tend to run their course in about 24-48 hours, so it's worrying that it's been going on for 5 days for him, and the shortness of breath sounds worrying too. Better safe than sorry, take him to the ER!

As for you not catching it - washing your hands is a good start. You can also wash everything you can with bleach. Doorknobs, faucets, countertops, anything that he might have touched should get wiped down with bleach. If you have two bathrooms in your home, use the one that he hasn't been using (I only have one bathroom in my home so I feel for you if that's your only option!). I read somewhere that tummy virus germs can survive on some surfaces for quite awhile, so be as thorough as you can in your cleaning & bleaching.

Good luck, I hope you don't catch it and I hope he feels a lot better very soon! Keep us posted on how you're both doing.

 

[Scipio]

1. I'd not only wash my hands a lot I'd wear gloves and a mask too when dealing directly with him.

2. Is there anybody nearby, say a family member, who can come and help you care for your spouse?

3. I'd get him to the doctor right away.

 

[Sophabulous]

Thanks guys, sorry I didn't make it clear that we don't actually live together. I went to see him last night as he was feeling back to normal, but his symptoms have started up again today. I think he went back to work too soon, and I've potentially exposed myself thinking he was on the mend.

I am quite concerned about him, I'm going round in the morning to see how he is and if I'm not happy I will call 111 to see what they suggest. When we spoke on the phone earlier he was just incredibly tired and was going to bed. That was at about 7:30 pm.

The shortness of breath is worrying but he is a smoker, and hadn't had a cigarette in 3 days prior to going back to work yesterday, so I don't think that will have helped.

It's gone from being almost completely resolved to as bad as it was on Monday within 24 hours. Am I right in thinking this is gastroenteritis? I'm doubting it as surely I would have it too, we were together all day Sunday when the symptoms started?

He's had episodes like this before (the worst being when we were on holiday in Portugal and confined to the hotel room for 5 out of the 7 days - don't ask!!

Again I was fine and didn't catch it. He's a stubborn git though, I've told him to make an appointment with a GP for next week and then just cancel it if he's better. His response 'they won't do anything anyway.'

MEN!! ;-)

 

[Sophabulous]

Plus the fact we are in the midst of a winter crisis here. A large amount of hospitals are on black alert and people are waiting on trolleys in corridors for 30 hours plus to be seen. There's even been deaths from strokes and heart attacks because people simply can't be seen quickly enough.

The last thing I want to do is contribute to that stress and pressure if it's viral and there's nothing they can do. That would quite literally make us an NHS laughing stock/time waster no matter how concerning the symptoms are.

It's a very sad state of affairs but unfortunately it's the reality at the moment [emoji53]

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Viral gastroenteritis is highly contagious, so it's likely you would have caught it during one of his "episodes". I'm wondering if he needs to see a GI and have some testing done. With the episodes lasting as long as they do, and recurring like this, I am with you in thinking that it's maybe something more/other than gastroenteritis. Maybe it's not IBD, but it's probably also not gastroenteritis if it keeps happening and you haven't caught it from him.

For what it's worth, when I first got sick 7 years ago, I was mis-diagnosed as having gastroenteritis as well. Then I had several "episodes" of it myself and that's when they started testing me and looking at IBD. My husband also had some mysterious "episodes" of vomiting and abdominal pain a few years back - turns out his was kidney stones. So it really could be a number of things - if he can see his GP, they could hopefully at least do some bloodwork and stool tests.

 

[Sophabulous]

Viral gastroenteritis is highly contagious, so it's likely you would have caught it during one of his "episodes". I'm wondering if he needs to see a GI and have some testing done. With the episodes lasting as long as they do, and recurring like this, I am with you in thinking that it's maybe something more/other than gastroenteritis. Maybe it's not IBD, but it's probably also not gastroenteritis if it keeps happening and you haven't caught it from him.



For what it's worth, when I first got sick 7 years ago, I was mis-diagnosed as having gastroenteritis as well. Then I had several "episodes" of it myself and that's when they started testing me and looking at IBD. My husband also had some mysterious "episodes" of vomiting and abdominal pain a few years back - turns out his was kidney stones. So it really could be a number of things - if he can see his GP, they could hopefully at least do some bloodwork and stool tests.

This is what I keep saying to him, in all honesty I don't think it's IBD but something isn't right. He can go a few years being fine, and then have months on end of problems. This is as bad as it gets though, he's only been this bad twice.

The problem is he went to the GP when we got home from Portugal who ran a stool sample test and said it came back fine. I'm not sure what test this was though and now he's convinced they won't do anything for him.

And yes he's well aware that it took me the best part of 2 years of deteriorating to the point where I was nearly passing out of malnourishment to finally be correctly diagnosed with Crohn's!

Again...men!! Lol

 

[Sophabulous]

Or if it is IBD I would be inclined to think UC rather than Crohn's or maybe a bacterial overgrowth or something. I'm going to force him to go back ha ha

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Yeah, there's lots of things it could be, so many illnesses can cause gastro symptoms. I'm glad to hear you're going to have him go back to the doctor. Keep us posted as to how he's doing and what the doc says!

 

[Sophabulous]

He seems better today, I think going back to work before he was quite recovered did it. He's eating again and so far so good!

I'm definitely going to nag at him to go back though. He ended up having surgery on his shoulder not long ago because he felt fobbed off by doctors and suffered in silence until it got to the point he needed an operation. I think I'll start by reminding him of that!! ;-)