Unwell

I’ve been a bit unwell recently.

Last Thursday, after getting home from work and having some dinner, I felt very full (even though I hadn’t eaten much) and experienced a fair amount of upper abdominal and chest pain. This started to become debilitating so lovely wife called for an ambulance (which arrived very quickly).

The paramedic in the ambulance did a load of tests and concluded I wasn’t having a heart attack but should go to Royal London A&E anyway.

At the hospital, they did the same set of tests and effectively kicked me out. Clearly I wasn’t going to expire. The nurse who did my blood pressure/ECG even suggested that if I’d taken a paracetamol, I wouldn’t have had to come and inconvenience her. Charming. Somewhat at odds with the NHS assertion that you call for help whenever you get chest pain… 

Standing out in the rain at 2am in my dressing gown, I did feel a bit better, so went home. Friday was a day off and I took things easy. The weekend was the same, but I found that I couldn’t really eat anything (and nothing coming out the other end either). If I did eat, the pain would return.

Back at work I tried contacting my local GP but generally got busy signals, and my medical insurance via work seems to be in flux at the moment.

Tuesday at work, and having lost about 4.5kg in as many days, I thought sod it, I’m going to eat. Not much, but something. Unfortunately, by the evening the pain was back so I decided to suffer through the night and go straight to my GP in the morning. 

At 9am when the place opened, the receptionist asked if it was an emergency… not sure what the definition of an emergency is for them, so I said yes and finally got to see someone at 12. 

The doctor thinks my problem is dyspepsia but not sure of the underlying cause (probably GERD/gastritis but could be peptic ulcer or something nastier). Sample requested, drugs provided to aid delivery of said sample and a prescription for Omeprazole. I take this for a couple of weeks and then see what happens next.

I still don’t feel 100% and am quite nervous of eating anything as the pain was really quite bad before. I am much more comfortable now though and haven’t had any really bad pain since taking the drugs. Hurrah!

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I very rarely have cause to use the NHS in the UK. Apart from being a fat bastard, I’m quite fit and healthy, so this was a fairly new experience.

I have to say that the differences in attitude and care between the various departments is striking.

The ambulance crew were outstanding. Prompt, reassuring, helpful, engaging. Can’t fault them at all.

A&E nurse person was not good. Made me feel unwelcome and her personal medical opinions were borderline dangerous (having talked to real doctors since). Levels of cleanliness there were quite poor too. Staff going in and out of curtained areas and rest areas without washing hands etc.

The night GP at the walk-in centre at the hospital was very much: you’re not dying so bugger off. Fair enough – can’t really complain there. On the cleanliness note, it was interesting that the first thing the doctor did when I went in was complain to the reception staff how dirty the room was… hmmm.

The emergency GP at my local health centre (my GP was not there) was very good, very helpful, inspired confidence, but ultimately didn’t have time for questions. Not so bad in this day and age because you’ve always got wikipedia to fill in the gaps once you know the basics