Okay so this whole post is mostly embarrassing and gross so if you don’t want to read it I don’t blame you. Due to all of the meds I take along with sometimes being just too fatigued, I often have constipation. It had been three or four days and so I took a couple of Dulcolax. At around 4:30 this morning the cramps started. I got up to go to the bathroom but nothing was happening except more and more pain. The kind of pain where you pray for death pain.
I woke up Grant and curled into the fetal position letting the cool air from the night wash over me. I then started to dry heave heavily and couldn’t even tell Grant to get something for me to throw up in, but he was on the ball and I made it into a bucket. By then he is telling me no ifs, ands, or buts, that he is calling 9-1-1.
I have a strict no E.R. rule unless death is imminent because it usually winds up being a waste of time, but this pain was pretty bad.
There were three fabulous volunteer EMTs. I can’t believe that people would get up in the middle of the night and take drunks, miscreants, or me to the hospital and not get paid for it. My hat goes off to them. While I we were driving the woman took my hands and started to talk to me about Jesus. Normally this makes me uncomfortable, but she said that she sensed I was having a battle with my faith, which is true. I told her that I felt like God and Jesus don’t hear me any more and she said They still do, they always hear me and not to give up. Perhaps she was my EMT for a reason. When she left me she said she would be praying for me.
As I was being wheeled around the E.R. to my cell block, one woman looked at me and said, “Call 9-1-1 for me when you get out of here. You’ve got to help me, these people are sadists!” Then they wheeled me in to my cubicle where I was directly looking at a man who seemed to be getting a bullet taken out of him. There was blood EVERYWHERE and I wondered why his curtain was open.
But I watched fascinated as it distracted me from my pain, not just from my stomach but from my joints and rib cage. I couldn’t get comfortable. Finally the doctor came over to me and said, “Every medicine that you are on causes constipation!” and prescribed some gentle medications for me to stay on permanently, adding “Dulcolax sucks!”
They wouldn’t give me anything for the pain, because everything would make me even more constipated, and they gave me no cat scan or X-rays. The “treatment” basically was non-existent.
My joints and rib cage really started to hurt and I do thank God and Jesus that I had an emergency Percocet in my purse.
When I got discharged, I had no shoes and no jacket. They gave me heavy socks and let me take a blanket home. I looked like an escaped patient. $28 of cab fare later and I was home.
Thus ends another pointless trip to the E.R.
Both my DH and I have had that happen, we just haven’t bothered with the ER.
It is scary and painful. I’m so sorry you had to go through this.
You probably know this but… vomiting will make your costo flare most likely.
I rarely experience this now that I take Miralax daily. (It’s actually cheaper than all of the senna, stool softeners, and fiber I’d been taking before.)
If the Miralax fails I make myself take mineral oil because I’m so afraid of going through what you did again.
.-= Wacky Lisa´s last blog ..Having one disability is not an insurance policy =-.
so sorry that the e.r. trip was such a waste… hope the new meds will help you manage better…
.-= Heather ~ Acting Balanced Mom´s last blog ..Happy Dance!!!! =-.
Oh wow. What a sucky ER trip. I hope at least the new med works.
I got chills reading about your EMT.
M
.-= Pissed Off Patient´s last blog ..Quitting Birthdays and the Hidden Family History of Adrenal Weirdness =-.
Oh no I am so sorry
I will be thinking of you.
I wonder if some alternative methods might be better than adding another med. If only I knew which one.
.-= mer´s last blog ..Two years ago today =-.
That sounds like a truly awful night, I’m really sorry you had to go through it. As someone who’s survived (surviving?) anorexia, I’m very familiar with the horrible, horrible pain Dulcolax can bring. At least they had the opportunity to check everything out at the hospital, and I’m glad it wasn’t life-threatening. Hope you’re feeling better now!
.-= Catherine´s last blog ..Hello again =-.
Sounds miserable but thank goodness for Percocet and Jesus!
Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving the great comment. I agree with you, everything happens for a reason.
.-= Marla Hansen´s last blog ..Everyday Is Thanksgiving =-.
Perhaps permanent gentle meds will help avoid the problem in the future. The ER is a nightmare. I think it’s a great policy to avoid at all costs. Still, when you need it, you need it.
.-= Joey @ Big Teeth & Clouds´s last blog ..Hearing loss cause- unknown =-.
How very uncomfortable – on many different levels. But, sometimes you have to go to the ER. I hope the new medicine helps (so this does not happen again). Elimination of an ER trip (in the future) = greatness!
Heather P
Hi Emily –
Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving your question. I wrote you a lengthy response, one that I planned to post about anyway.
http://heartensoul4u.blogspot.com/2010/10/god-is-true-to-his-word.html
I hope this helps.
.-= Sharon Cohen´s last blog ..Thank God for Laughter =-.
Ugh, I avoid ER’s like the plague. They never help chronically ill patients and all that happens is bills get racked up. I am sorry you had to go through that
.-= Casey @ Caseys Good Life´s last blog ..Flu Shot Response =-.