Should I go to hospital or should I wait?

Now I know this seems like one of those dumbass questions where you just think 'don't ask TSR, go to the doctors!' but I'm genuinely having a dilemma. I don't want to roll u[p at A&E for them to go 'yeah, you coulda just waited till tomorrow' but at the same time I'm in a lot of pain and I'm not sure what to do.

I'm pretty sure I have a cyst/abscess on the base of my spine. Pretty sure because my Mum had the exact same thing repeating a few years back, and had to have surgery, and was told it was hereditary so she should keep an eye on me, and now I have exactly the same pain in the same place with the same symptoms (small lump under the skin).

It started hurting bad on Friday night, but not unbearably. I figured it'd have to wait till Monday morning but its getting worse and worse. Tonight its really painful, I can't walk or move or sit or lie down without being in pain and if I do try to move then the pain is even worse.

My Mum told me last night she thinks I should go to hospital then because from having it before she said the pain only gets worse until you get anti-biotics and even then they take a few days to kick in. So if I were to go tomorrow morning I'd have to live through the pain all of tonight and maybe a little through tomorrow as well.

I'm just not sure what to do because I don't know what really counts as an 'emergency' in situations like these. I don't want to waste the A&E staffs time but at the same time I'm in so much pain and even from taking ibuprofen nothing is happening. Tried to settle down and watch a film to take my mind off the pain but its just constantly there hurting, and if I even move a tiny amount in the wrong way the pain is enough to take my breath away, my housemates keep hearing me yelping in pain and wondering whats going on!

What should I do? :sad:

Reply 1

No!

Go to A&E ASAP! It could rupture and sever your spinal chord and paralyze you from the waist down.

Yep, off you pop!

GO NOW BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!
omg

Reply 4

The_Goose

18

Original post by fran.ha

Now I know this seems like one of those dumbass questions where you just think 'don't ask TSR, go to the doctors!' but I'm genuinely having a dilemma. I don't want to roll u[p at A&E for them to go 'yeah, you coulda just waited till tomorrow' but at the same time I'm in a lot of pain and I'm not sure what to do.

I'm pretty sure I have a cyst/abscess on the base of my spine. Pretty sure because my Mum had the exact same thing repeating a few years back, and had to have surgery, and was told it was hereditary so she should keep an eye on me, and now I have exactly the same pain in the same place with the same symptoms (small lump under the skin).

It started hurting bad on Friday night, but not unbearably. I figured it'd have to wait till Monday morning but its getting worse and worse. Tonight its really painful, I can't walk or move or sit or lie down without being in pain and if I do try to move then the pain is even worse.

My Mum told me last night she thinks I should go to hospital then because from having it before she said the pain only gets worse until you get anti-biotics and even then they take a few days to kick in. So if I were to go tomorrow morning I'd have to live through the pain all of tonight and maybe a little through tomorrow as well.

I'm just not sure what to do because I don't know what really counts as an 'emergency' in situations like these. I don't want to waste the A&E staffs time but at the same time I'm in so much pain and even from taking ibuprofen nothing is happening. Tried to settle down and watch a film to take my mind off the pain but its just constantly there hurting, and if I even move a tiny amount in the wrong way the pain is enough to take my breath away, my housemates keep hearing me yelping in pain and wondering whats going on!

What should I do? :sad:

If you call your GP now, they should have an out of hours thing - there will be an 'on call doctor' usually they can come and see you or give you a call and they'd be able to advise you on the best thing to do tonight - that way you wont have to wait in a + e for 3 hours and you wont feel guilty

Reply 5

lilyrawstorne

9

Go! It's not worth waiting ... try and convince one of your housemates to come too and if the pain lessens you can always go home and come back the next day.

Reply 6

laeof

14

Go or at least call NHS help line.

Reply 7

Tyler.

7

Better be safe than sorry, just go.

Reply 8

Sabertooth

20

I'd probably lie in pain all night.

It does sound quite serious. Perhaps you could call an out of hours service instead.

Reply 9

mehhhw/e

11

Take the advice that TSR is giving you, and go.

Reply 10

noodles!

14

I know what that is, I had one. Go to the hospital, they might drain it or just give you the antibiotics. But you DO NOT want the cyst to burst in your house, the stuff stinks :frown:

Reply 11

Lantana

10

They'll have seen worse - think of friday nights :tongue:

Reply 12

Vanbrugh

9

Go now. Don't be foolish and wait before the condition gets any worse.

And don't worry about "bothering A&E" because (1) they exist to deal with these kind of problems, and (b) you pay your bloody taxes for the service!

Reply 13

fran.ha

OP

17

I just called NHS Direct on the advice of someone here and they said I have to wait until 11.30 for the nurse to call me back to tell me if I should go to hospital ffs. So now I don't know what to do, whether to just got or to wait until 11.30.

Reply 14

No!

Original post by fran.ha

I just called NHS Direct on the advice of someone here and they said I have to wait until 11.30 for the nurse to call me back to tell me if I should go to hospital ffs. So now I don't know what to do, whether to just got or to wait until 11.30.

You might be able to walk by 11:30.

I have a PhD in Medicine. from Oxford. I know my stuff. You've got what's known as a gynoclondragonomonosepaloid.

Reply 15

Helenia

20

If it's really that bad that you can't sleep, go down there. I would have been quite happy to see something like that when I was working in A&E. By the sounds of it (i.e. being able to feel it under your skin) it doesn't sound like it's involving your actual spinal cord etc but abscesses anywhere aren't fun so get someone to have a look at it.

You will probably have to wait quite a while though, so it's whether you'd rather do that tonight or wait till morning and possibly get seen a bit quicker.

Reply 16

fran.ha

OP

17

Original post by Helenia

If it's really that bad that you can't sleep, go down there. I would have been quite happy to see something like that when I was working in A&E. By the sounds of it (i.e. being able to feel it under your skin) it doesn't sound like it's involving your actual spinal cord etc but abscesses anywhere aren't fun so get someone to have a look at it.

You will probably have to wait quite a while though, so it's whether you'd rather do that tonight or wait till morning and possibly get seen a bit quicker.

When my mum had it they said that yeah its something to do with a little pocket in the spine? Or that there is a gap between the base of the spine and the coccyx or something like that which is where the abcess can occur, so I know its not going to render me paralysed but it ****ing hurts.

My housemate is going to take me to the hospital in 15 and if the wait looks set to be a few hours then we'll give up as I might as well try to dose myself up and go to bed (although last night I swear I was waking up every few minutes in pain, but hopefully I can get some sleep). If its not that long a wait then hopefully they can give me some hardcore drugs because it hurts so bad :frown:

Reply 17

laeof

14

Original post by fran.ha

I just called NHS Direct on the advice of someone here and they said I have to wait until 11.30 for the nurse to call me back to tell me if I should go to hospital ffs. So now I don't know what to do, whether to just got or to wait until 11.30.

They told me that before but called me back fairly quickly =)...Well, you could at least decide 'If they havn't called me back by 11:45, i'll go to A&E'.