When to start worrying

[Sophabulous]

Hi all!

I swear to God hospitals/appointments in general stress me out so much I start getting symptoms! This happened straight after one of my first appointments too - yay! I think it's when I have decisions to make. But I digress....

I'm in a little bit of trouble, and I'm still too new to this to know how long to try and manage things myself. I had the appointment on Thursday and on Friday someone had called in sick at work so I was covering their role which is on your feet all day. I couldn't leave when I finished work I was literally too exhausted to get out of my chair. I only worked 3 days last week as I've just come back off holiday and I cover that role quite a lot so it shouldn't have affected me like that. I ended up lying down on a sofa for half an hour before dragging myself home where I went straight to bed and slept for 15 hours.

I woke up with horrendous nausea and vomited up all my medication and the cup of tea I took it with - great. I swore off food for the day, however by early evening I was craving a burger of all things (I NEVER eat red meat.) I gave in and ate one which stayed down ok. Hospital took some blood to check for iron on Thursday which I suspect is low again based on how it's felt in the past when I've been anaemic.

I haven't actually vomited today but I feel quite weak/lightheaded and I'm not hungry at all. Liquids are thankfully staying down so I've decided to put myself back on Ensure plus shakes and adopt a liquid diet for a few days and hope for the best. How long should I give it if things don't improve? I feel like if I call my IBD nurse for help they will think I'm just making it up because we're at a crossroads with treatment and she'll think I'm just malingering so they will escalate my treatment which was discussed as a possibility on Thursday.

 

[ronroush7]

Hi. I.am sorry for what you are going through . I would not wait too long. If it continues i would call in the next couple of days. I hope you feel better soon.

 

[cmack]

Hi Soph,

I agree with Ron. If things start going further downhill I would see a doctor. Pain, persistent fever and increasing weakness all warrant a doctors visit.

I wish you the best, hopefully things improve. Try not to stress, it has never helped anyone that I am aware of.


Finest wishes,

cmack

 

[Sophabulous]

Thanks guys, I'm actually feeling better today. The shakes are staying down so hopefully in a day or two I'll feel stronger. I'm just sooo thirsty, but having to drink in small sips so I don't awaken the beast!

Honestly, sometimes it never occurs to me that I might actually be able to manage these things myself. If I had a superpower I would be worst case scenario woman lol!

 

[ronroush7]

Glad you are feeling better.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I hope you continue to feel better, Soph. I'll tell you what my GI has told me - new symptoms always warrant at least a phone call. If vomiting isn't one of your typical symptoms then I'd say at least call your doctor. And I'm sure you know that vomiting can sometimes indicate a blockage, which is obviously serious. Hopefully it was just a tummy bug or something like that. If things worsen or don't improve, if you continue to be dehydrated, anything like that - please at least call the doctor today (or go to be seen by a doctor if you can). At the very least they could check you for a blockage and get you some IV fluids to rehydrate you. Feel better!

 

[Sophabulous]

I hope you continue to feel better, Soph. I'll tell you what my GI has told me - new symptoms always warrant at least a phone call. If vomiting isn't one of your typical symptoms then I'd say at least call your doctor. And I'm sure you know that vomiting can sometimes indicate a blockage, which is obviously serious. Hopefully it was just a tummy bug or something like that. If things worsen or don't improve, if you continue to be dehydrated, anything like that - please at least call the doctor today (or go to be seen by a doctor if you can). At the very least they could check you for a blockage and get you some IV fluids to rehydrate you. Feel better!

Thanks Cat, vomiting has always been my 'thing' unfortunately. I think when things flare up food/drink just hits my duodenal activity and bottlenecks! Which is incredibly annoying as I've actually had a much better appetite recently and I can actually eat normal portion sizes without getting full 3 mouthfuls in.

Hopefully it's just a blip or a bug as you said. I actually dropped off a FC sample this morning which was requested last week so we should be able to tell from that. Is it possible to have a blockage but no pain? I did go and get checked last year as I was having what I can only describe as contractions lol, but it turned out to be just really bad cramping. I'm still not convinced it wasn't at least a partial blockage though. Hmmmm.

I feel 200 times better today, everything has stayed down and I'm starting to feel hydrated. I actually made it out of bed and pottered around for a bit. It's strange what we get excited about isn't it ha ha. Yesterday I couldn't even go for a bath/shower, had been wearing the same t shirt for 4 days and I can't even remember when I last washed my hair. What a glamorous life I do lead )

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I've never had a blockage myself (yet, knock on wood) so I can't say for sure, but I think blockages almost always come with pretty tremendous pain. I'm so glad to hear you're feeling a lot better and I hope it continues! Hopefully it was indeed just a bug or virus and you'll get back to normal (whatever normal is for any of us anymore!) very soon.

I've been there and done that too with being too ill to be able to shower. Showering takes so much effort when you're feeling that ill! And I can relate to what you said about cramps that felt like contractions, I had those last year myself during the worst of my flare. In fact, (we may have already talked about this in the IUD thread) when I had my IUD inserted back in December, they told me to expect horrendous cramping along the lines of contractions. The nurse was so nervous on my behalf that she was holding my hand. And then actually having it inserted wasn't bad at all, certainly it wasn't anywhere in the same universe as what my guts have done to me.

Keep us posted on your fecal cal results and bloodwork too. Take care!

 

[Sophabulous]

I actually googled it after I asked and yes apparently it's definitely something you know about when it happens. If I hadn't managed to get in to see my IBD nurse that day then I would have gone to A&E as the pain was so bad, I've never experienced anything like it before or since. The spot was tender for a couple of days later too, but I was put straight on steroids so it must have been a nasty flare.

Today I've slept all night, then gone back to bed at 10:30 am and not woken up until 5:30 pm. That bath must have really taken it out of me lol! The worst thing is my GP's surgery has been affected by the NHS cyber attack so they can't access their system to see my blood work from last week, and they can't share it with the hospital as they have cut all ties with those affected so they don't get infected themselves! Who knows when I will find out what's going on :-/

Oh yes, I was expecting epic pain with the IUD! They were so shocked on the day as I was clearly very nervous so I think the Dr thought I was going to be a terrible patient, they had to tell me it was all done as I hadn't felt a thing! I did have some cramping for a couple of hours afterwards but nothing compared to what I expected after watching some YouTube videos of others experiences.

I guess that's one good thing about Crohn's, our pain tolerance must be higher than average for sure!

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Yeah, I sat with my heating pad on for a few hours after my IUD insertion too as there was some cramping, but it was a cake walk compared to what my guts are capable of doing to me. I do think that we tend to have higher pain tolerances when we've dealt with this sort of illness for years, although sometimes I still feel like a wimp (I still hate it when I get a papercut at work, for example!).

I heard that about the NHS being affected by a major cyber-attack, that sounds awful and I'm sorry to hear it's affecting your ability to get your test results! I hope they can fix things soon and get you those results. I had read in the news recently that they think that North Korea is behind the attacks, which makes no sense to me as I didn't think they even really had much in the way of the internet there? But at any rate, I hope they can fix it soon as I'm sure everybody there is really frustrated by it.

I'm glad to hear you were able to get a lot of rest, sounds like you needed it! I hope you continue to improve each day.