The ER Curse

But who is more cursed- the ER doctor or the patient?

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[TheRealFigLizard]

And then the GI office calls and sets you up with an appointment for four months later

[Squidbush]

My mom went to the ER with severe lower back pain and weakness. She had to sit there for 6 hours before anyone even got to her. They then quickly told her she was just dehydrated and may have kidney stones and were going to send her home with an appointment in a WEEK for an ultrasound. She and I demanded they admit her because she could barely stand from the pain (and I know she has an extremely high pain tolerance)
Once they admitted her and did more tests, they found the life-threatening kidney infection that would have killed her in FAR less than a week.
Blindly trusting a diagnosis of an EXTREMELY overworked and overcrowded ER can be dangerous. I hate that so many people go to the ER for non emergencies like a cold.

[wholeNwon]

I did that once with a pt. who had abd. pain. Negative labs and exam. Recent colonoscopy negative. CT normal. Subtle discomfort persisted. Repeat CT negative. 4 wks. later mild discomfort still there. "Doc, what should I do?" I said that I think we should repeat the CT. Radiology was reluctant and Insurance said they wouldn't pay for it. Pt. said he would. Study was done and showed CA of pancreas!!! Insurance then paid for it.
As they say, "Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence."

[Rae-qiyp]

Went to the ER with ovarian torsion due to a massive dermoid cyst. Worst pain I had ever experienced. They kept trying to discharge me by saying it was psychosomatic. I flat out refused to leave.

I went for an ultrasound & was immediately sent to emergency sugery lol. They cut out a 4 pound benign tumor and saved the ovary.

[Lola-Anderson]

Yeah, there’s exact skid is what killed my best friend two weeks ago… He’s been searching for a cause and solution for his pain… And his doctor didn’t catch congestive heart failure… And every time you went into the emergency room complaining about his pain it was always a seven hour wait so he ended up leaving because he couldn’t sit stand or anything else

[groovymacjenni]

I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease roughly eight months after symptoms began showing. And that is called an “early” diagnosis in the world of Crohn’s Disease. Many go years. I can’t tell you the countless of ER visits, blood work, X-rays, CT scans, even had my gallbladder removed because that’s what they thought was the problem! Took me nearly dying from a perforated bowel—a four hour emergency surgery to save my life—to get my 100% “definitely have Crohn’s disease” diagnosis when the same doctor who gave me that definitive diagnosis told me 48 hours prior that he didn’t think I had Crohn’s, but irritable bowel syndrome “at worst.”

Chronic illnesses need more light.

[Hadorn_in_London]

My experience:
A couple of years ago my daughter had appendicitis. She was only 3.9 years old, so it was difficult to diagnose it, even with modern technology. We spent a day at a hospital and then we were sent back home, as nothing was found. Afterwards the pain almost disappeared (because it was the next stage when the appendix tissue doesn't hurt anymore and starts dying). When a couple of days later I insisted once again on a full check, it was already peritonitis.
My child had to undergo an emergency surgery and spend one week at hospital, connected to a drip and consuming lots of antibiotics.
That was a nightmare. If you are a parent, keep on insisting. It is you task number one to protect you children.

[chiaiyoku]

I had an abdominal ct a week before I went to the ER, it just showed a little swelling. So when I had the pain that I had previously, I ignored it, I spent hours trying not to move so I didn't puke and wasn't in as much pain. I finally caved when my partner and family made me move and I just couldn't stop screaming. Went to the ER, in agony, fingers curled up because I wasn't able to breathe properly from pain. Nurse told me to stop being a baby, my CT from the week before was normal. My partner had to camp in the halls begging a doctor to come and see me, finally an older one came in and sent me for a new CT, luckily let me have a little morphine to shut me up essentially. All of the sudden a surgeon rushes in the room, I was two hours from dying because I let my wonderous abdominal hernia get so bad. Let him rant to me about how dangerous it was, I needed to come in sooner. Sir, I'd been there for 5 hours screaming in agony and begging for help. Now I have a beautiful scar from my belly button to my ribs. It repeated twice, and every time the doctors at the same hospital were skeptical. Luckily for the last one I just had a month ago, they believed me looking at my history.

[dawn]

That guy is working harder for his patient that any doctor I've ever had. Multiple times it's like "whelp. I'm not concerned about your symptoms, so don't worry about it."
One of those times I was having a visible allergic reaction.

[silverscapes]

If the patient insists something is wrong, it’s probably good to listen. My husband ended up in the hospital for a week because the er doctor said “it’s just a migraine, he’ll be fine, ” despite my insistence that it had to do with epilepsy (medication change and all that). He was having almost nonstop petimal seizures that couldn’t be caught on a CT scan. Still paying off those medical bills. Still angry about it.

[madtabby]

My friend almost died because the ER diagnosed a burst appendix as “indigestion”

5 hour drive through Canadian mountains and he finally found another hospital.

[mistypain]

Went to the ER (for the 4th time trying to get help with the same issue) with upper abdominal pain and hadn't been able to eat for three days or drink for more than 24 hours. Drs and nurses kept treating me like I was faking it. They did a ct scan and gave me some meds and asked me if I wanted to stay over night. I said yes. A very annoyed nurse gave me meds. I'm not sure what she gave me but I told her it wasn't working. She said that's all we have' and left the room in a huff. When morning finally came a new Dr. came in the room and told me that I had a problem in my duodenum and that they would set me up with a Drs appt for the next day if I wanted it. Turned out it was closing up for an unknown reason and that's why I want able to eat or drink. The food had no where to go. That's also why I had so much pain and nausea. What food I had tried to eat was just sitting in my stomach with no way out but back the way it came in. This is just one of several examples I have of Dr. Not wanting to listening, believe or take things serious. 6 surgeries later and I could finally eat again.

[GraceCreatesLivingSpace]

I got lucky and went into the ER on thanksgiving at meal time and was pretty much the only person in there. I am convinced that’s the only reason I got the life saving scan I did because the ER doctor was convinced I had just ate something bad (even though I told him over and over again that I hadn’t been able to eat all day from feeling so sick). Turns out I had some of the most acute appendicitis they had ever seen without it bursting, it was so infected that the surgery took an extra hour and I was in the hospital on antibiotics for days. I had never seen a man walk into a room looking so ashamed than that ER doctor when he came back with the scan results after he had repeatedly told me I was fine and just had a stomach ache. I was immediately put in an ambulance, signing all the release paperwork on the drive, while they pumped me full of meds and hydration.

[greydaze]

I was the patient in this story. Bad abdominal pain, I thought I had appendicitis. Went to the ER, got blood work and an exam, doctor said vitals were fine and I could go home as he couldn’t find anything. “Probably gastritis.” I fought for the CT scan, and fortunately won. Guess who has Crohn’s Disease and had an abscess on the small intestine wall?

[booplesnootle]

Had something similar happen to me as a kid, but it was actually very serious. Had a really bad eye infection that wasn't going away and got dramatically worse one morning, so my pediatrician sent us to the ER. ER said I was fine and sent me home. By the evening, it looked 100x worse and my eyes were sealed shut, so my parents took me back and the drs were mad they didn't bring me in sooner...almost lost my vision from that

[pcbassoon]

The ER sent my husband's grandmother home twice saying she wasn't sick one thanksgiving and then the third time she went to the hospital that day, she collapsed in the floor with a massive heart attack.


You have to advocate for yourself in this country or no one will treat you. I had a doctor who kept ignoring my blood pressure when I was pregnant until one day, I came in and it was 178/95. If I hadn't pushed for treatment, I would have just had a stroke at home by myself.

[electriclilies]

At least he listened to the patient. Most frustrating thing that’s happened to me is when the ER says your issues should be addressed in clinic but you can’t get a clinic appt in the next three days so your gp sent you to ER with a note to see the on call neurologist because you’re having seizure and stroke like symptoms but the ER won’t get the on call neurologist because you’re supposed to be seen in clinic since your symptoms aren’t severe enough.

[MorganMakesThings]

As someone with an invisible chronic illness, this hits hard on multiple levels

[cherien]

Discouraging doctors from running tests is a major problem in our health care. Do you know how many people live with unexplained disabilities for years that could have been treated if the proper tests had been run? It's cruel

[Pollyanna_x]

My aunt was in severe abdominal pain/ white as a sheet/ vomiting- my grandma called 911 (mind you, this is a MONTH after my other aunt had just died in that same house and my grandma had to go through this again right after my aunts funeral while my grandma is battling breast cancer for the 3rd time)- the EMTs came and they suggested my aunt just try taking pepto 🙃 they would take her to the hospital if she wanted, but they wouldn’t help her walk or get on the gurney or anything- my friend had to help her with each step. At the hospital, they brushed her off as she was SCREAMING in pain- they told her they wouldn’t give her pain meds. They finally did a CT and found a large mass in her intestine- it had also caused it to tear, and she was septic. She had a rare GI cancer. Before they even did a biopsy and confirmed it was cancer, a nurse was in there telling my cousin (I don’t know if my aunt was even awake at this point) she would be surprised if it wasn’t cancer because she had never seen a mass that size in that area before. They had to do an emergency surgery, get the mass out, and start multiple strong IV antibiotics (again, because she was septic)- I always imagine what would have happened if my aunt had just *stayed home and taken pepto* like the EMTs told her to do- my aunt herself has said if my friend hadn’t been there to help her take each step, she would have just given up and crawled back into bed