A True Emergency
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- It's not always clear what's an emergency, but if you know it's not actually an emergency then you shouldn't go to the ER.
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I’m a chronic pain patient and I get SO frustrated with my pain management clinic because if you call them saying you’ve been bedridden with unbearable pain for a couple days and just want to see the doctor to see if he can give you a shot of steroids or something else to help get this pain flare to stop, they’ll tell you that if you need help in between your regular 3-month appointments to go to the ER.
They’ve told me this and I’ve overheard them tell other patients this on the phone.
The thing is, every chronic pain patient knows that if you go to the ER in terrible pain without having a broken bone, kidney stones, appendicitis, etc, they’ll label you as “drug-seeking” and you’ll never be able to get real help in that ER ever again.
The pain management clinic likely knows this too, but they still continue to refuse to help people and try to kick us to the ER.
@K It’s awful. The first time I had kidney stones, they diagnosed it, gave me pain meds and told me that if it gets worse to come back.
Well, two days later I was in the worst pain of my life. I literally wanted my husband to get a hammer and knock me unconscious. But I was in so much pain that I couldn’t form words so I was just kind of miming it with one hand while curled up in the fetal position on the living room floor.
My husband took me to the ER, they refused to give me any pain meds and said they didn’t believe I was in pain because I was just there the other day and they treated me already.
When my husband told them that _they_ were the ones who told us to come back if it gets worse, the nurse rolled her eyes.
He finally begged them to give me _something_ for the pain. Nothing addictive. Just a muscle relaxer, Tylenol by IV (I was throwing up everything) _anything_ .
They gave me something that barely helped but I could stand and they said that was good enough.
A week later I’m in horrific pain again and I have a fever and my whole body aches.
We go back to the ER. I can barely sit up because I’m so dizzy.
The triage nurse calls me back by myself and starts grilling me about “how often does your husband hit you?” And stuff like that.
I’m like wtf?
She said that either he’s hitting me or I’m drug seeking. She says this while I obviously look like hell, I have a fever, and every few minutes I’m violently puking in to her trash can.
I’m not aware of physical abuse that can cause those symptoms.
They wouldn’t give me any meds that time, but when my husband lit in to them, they referred me to a urologist. Took 2 more weeks to see him. So a month suffering with this crap.
What happened was the ER told me my stones were easily small enough to pass. But once the Urologist saw the CT, he said the ER doc read them wrong and the stone was almost twice the largest size a human can pass (5mm is the biggest most people can pass, mine was 9mm).
So it was stuck in my ureter causing a blockage, and that caused a double kidney infection.
I had surgery and had to go to the ER _again_ after the surgery because I had blood in my urine and signs of an infection (a different infection than the kidney infection).
The nurse had me give a urine sample, of course, then kept yelling at me that she couldn’t do anything because I was on my period and got blood in the sample. No amount of explaining to her that I’m _not_ on my period and that’s blood _in_ the urine would convince her. She said “that amount of blood in urine isn’t possible without an injury”.
Umm, does surgery count as an injury?!
But that’s when I learned that once you’re flagged as “drug-seeking” once, they won’t take you seriously ever again.
Even if you have a diagnosis. Even if they’re the ones that _made_ the diagnosis.
If one doctor or nurse decides that you’re drug-seeking, you’re done. You’re getting no help at all. You’re less than human and just in their way after that.
I was able to eventually get help in an emergency situation there, but it was only after I hadn’t been there in 7-ish years.
I have the same story as others in this comments. Bitch nurse said I had IBS (it’s normal for me to go #2 once a week, has been since childhood and I’d never felt discomfort from it). She said it was probably a cyst because my mom has endometriosis meanwhile I’m writhing in pain/can’t get comfortable. I self reported that I’d been taking urinary pain pills so my pee was orange because it was uncomfortable to pee. I’d been self medicating for a month. I had previously seen my GP for this issue but they were LIVID about my taking the urinary pain meds because they couldn’t do a proper urinalysis for infection (fair). Instead of doing a blood test, they did a FREAKING ULTRASOUND which was obviously fine. Like why not a blood test for infection? So 2 weeks later I was in the ER with my mom and roommate and bitch nurse. I’m concerned it’s appendicitis. But maybe it’s something else related to the urinary issue. They refuse to run tests and finally BN gets the doctor and they decide to run a blood test just to humor me. I have 3 out of 4 markers of a severe kidney infection. I’m pretty sure next step is sepsis. BN takes me to another room, hooks me up to IV pain meds and a heavy dose of IV antibiotics and I don’t remember anything after that. She’s shaking the whole time, apologizing. Probably trying to save face so we don’t sue the F out of the hospital (we really should have). My mom and roommate never saw the doctor again. Maybe he was too busy or maybe he felt like an ahole for assuming a 17 yr old girl with history of urinary tract issues was drug seeking. I quickly learnt to call my GP or make a Telehealth appt at the first hint of a UTI. I’m still prone to them and they hurt super bad every time but doctors tend to believe you if you have “severe kidney infection” on your chart
@K yes, medical trauma is horrible!!!
My body has varying levels of numbness and pain everywhere, has had for years, and it’s *really* bad in my abdomen, lower back, legs, and feet. It’s hard to do anything that requires movement, and I fall a lot. I’ve seen a few neurologists and 2 neurosurgeons and they all were like “Iunno, these scans don’t explain it. Good luck ma’am 👍🏻.” One neurosurgeon actually said to me he’s not smart enough to help me.
It may be endometriosis, and I’m sorting out the next step with my doctor, but how/why tf did it take this level of incapacitation… 😶
last time i went to the er in immense pain outside of my chronic illness they almost didnt want to run any tests on me i started threatening to report them, and made was asking them how to contact their legal staff with a letter. they finally relented and ran a ct scan and found out that my iud had cut into me and needed to be surgically removed. i hate hospitals and most doctors they cant do their jobs half the time.
This video hits different after working 12 hours in an emergency room triage.
A true hero
We really need more urgent cares. Also I’m currently going through nursing school and I’m very interested in going into ER work. Any big tips?
@@HolyGuacamole666 learn how to hide when you think someone's being dumb. 😂 It's a useful skill
@@HolyGuacamole666 ED nurses are rockstars. I’m biased as a ED resident, but I think they’re the best. EM is a team sport- don’t ever be afraid to speak up for your patients. You are with the patients way more than we are, your thoughts matter tremendously. If you think something is wrong, let us know! The good docs know to always listen to and respect the nurses.
@@HolyGuacamole666 THIS! For years the only urgent care my insurance covered was an hour drive away from me.
During Covid I still went there a few times because ERs were adamant that they were for life-and-death cases only and my GP couldn’t get me in for a month or more.
The thing is, this urgent care didn’t have a CT, so they couldn’t do anything the time I had kidney stones.
Without access to an ER, kidney stones _suck_ ! Well, they suck worse than usual.
I went to two different the ERs for severe pain in my abdomen and spasms. The pain was the most intense pain I've ever felt in my life. One ER thought I was a drug addict looking for a fix. The other found out that I had massive gallstones causing a blockage. There is no in between, you're either a drug addict or about to die when you go to an ER. Just keep that in mind when you go there for a non emergency.
(ER) Doctors kept sending me away. Gallbladder attacks quite literally feel like you're dying. Took me a year to get into surgery, and the time from when they finally realized what it was until my surgery was two days.
A couple of years after, my mother had the same issue. She said it was worse than childbirth to her.
My mom had pancreatitis caused by massive amounts of gallstones when she was brought to the emergency room by my dad after she'd been puking for hours out of pain - which she later described as "worse than birthing either one of you". A nurse was apparently really snide with her and implied she was an alcoholic because "it's either alcoholism or gallstones with pancreatitis" 😬 Yeah... It was... The gallstones? And she'd been puking for hours? Her gallbladder was described as "a bunch of grapes wrapped in cling film" when they removed it?
@@elieli2893 women are overlooked five times more when it comes to the ER and pain doctors do not take women's pain seriously
@@nervousbabbs2769 can confirm this, doctors have ignored my gf's pain many ttimes
thing is there’s times where something IS an emergency but isn’t an “about-to-die” one. like my girlfriend being stuck on the ground groaning from chest pain or times when my chronic abdominal issues have flared up so bad i can’t function
but nah everything’s fine go home
Honestly if our medical system was better than people won’t have to flood emergency rooms. My mom tried to get anyone to listen to her about her pain, ended up hemorrhaging (almost bled out) and getting a complete hysterectomy and her PCP appointment wasn’t for another 2 months🙃 So basically they make you wait until you’re on the verge of death to do a damn thing about it. Almost watched my mom die because someone wouldn’t just run more tests or speed up the process for her to get help.
Because there are thousands of people like your mother. It’s not that someone “didn’t want to” speed up the process we simply don’t have staff and resources to provide care for everyone in such a timely manner. Healthcare workers burnout rates a super high and less and less people want to work in healthcare especially after seeing patients who don’t appreciate anything and just demand more and more.
Did she have cancer? Generally bleeds from that area arent a emergency unless your pregnant, or have a advanced form of cancer. Most hospitals systems have advice nurse lines and messaging system so you can contact your md and get an answwr or appointment sooner. Bleeds from that area generally are a chronic problem, emergency hysterectomys dont happen much. Hope your not exaggerating
Our system runs faster than most of the world. It's not perfect, but it's not broken in that sense. It's broken in terms that we spend significantly more money for the same care as other countries.
I'm sorry to hear that, I hope it all worked out for your family. Burn out is real, and healthcare workers are underpaid and overworked. These corporate hospitals are destroying every ounce of moral they have. Plus it's hard seeing people turn down care they can't afford but need and there isn't anything I can do about it. Or accept care they can't afford and I do what's right knowing they will struggle to pay this bill that I can't control.
to be fair if you tell ANY pcp or doctor that you’re having chest pains they’ll tell you to go to the ER immediately
This is true, my spouse called the nurse line once AFTER being diagnosed with heartburn and was prescribed omeprazole or one of the other ones, he inquired about upping the dosage and all she said was to call an ambulance. We did not (yes he's fine, yes it was just the heartburn).
Mine got pissy that i asked them to look at chest pain once. No go to the ER advice, just “can it wait a few days?”
I lifted an 80 lb bag of dirt and felt a tear in my chest. To be fair, it was close to my heart. My left arm felt tired and weak the next day. So I called my doctor for advice on how to treat it. They refused to see me or answer any questions until I went to the ER. The thing is, I knew it was a tear. They did all the checks. When they had me do the stress test on the treadmill, I had to take an inhaler first (I'm an asthmatic). Man, did that hurt. It was the worst chest pain. But guess what they found after all of those tests. A torn muscle.
@@Eniral441 It does seem a little obvious since you were alive to call them the next day but I'm not a medical professional so I know nothing haha
@@samanthatheminimalistwe HAVE to legally tell anyone with chest pain to call 911 or go to the ED.
Hits different after having to wait 3 months to see a general practitioner just to be told "hm well we'll see how it goes in about three months?"
And then after that be referred out and wait 4-6 months for that appointment.
@@sunfloweralpacasexactly my Neurologist sent out referrals to a Rheumatologist and Endocrinologist at the end of June including my results showing I am in need of care. The Endocrinologist booked me for March 9 months after the referral. Rheumatologist said I am number 87 on referral and they will be in touch. Yet my symptoms are getting worse, constant pain, and flare ups, with bloodwork and Neurologist stating concerns. I go to walk in for steriod shot or prednisone. I do not takr or ask for pain meds. What I need is a proper diagnosis to treat whatever auto immune I have. In the meantime thing are progressing and I'm truly concerned the time wasted could be an issue of recovering in the future.
Don’t let them do that. Document your symptoms, if/when they got worse, don’t let them have you “wait and see” tell them I’ve already been waiting and we can already see. You gotta be a little bit of an asshole at the doctors sometimes.
@@dreabia4759 I try, they really do not care. UK GPs are very good at saying a whole lot of nothing
@@dreabia4759 Now when I ask for something and they don't refer I just ask them to note it in my chart that they____their name wouldn't refer me to this test or specialist that way when they turn out to have been wrong it's already in my chart who to talk to.
This guy when he is playing the doctor character is tone deaf to what patients go through since the pandemic.
I know docs work long hours but the medical field has been broken that way for a long time. Nowadays all the bad policies from covid are coming to bite the medical profession in the a$$. We are all paying the price for bad policy.
Speaking from personal experience, this screams: I grew up without insurance or money so I don’t understand how the medical system works because I’ve only ever gotten any care in emergency situations.
As a Canadian it's a similar story here. I government hasn't given me a family doctor for 8 years & you never want to go to the ER cause it takes 12 hours easily.
SAME
i see a regular doctor about once every ten years. usually when my insurance changes and i get a new one.
otherwise, i wait until it's bad enough to just go to urgent care
@@dappercrab4243 emergency takes 12 hours? What? And 8 years no doctor? I call BS.
@@meloney
Seriously. If you're waiting 12 hours in emergency it's because the triage nurse knows it's not serious but wants to wait until a doctor clears you instead of telling you to go home.
And plenty of people go 8 years without seeing a GP (last one retired, never found a new one, etc.), but at a certain point it's a deliberate choice. 30 mins of Googling should find a doctor accepting patients in pretty much any Canadian city.
Called my doctor's office on a Friday with a severe pain in my ear, they wouldn't see me til Monday afternoon, even though they had Saturday hours. On Sunday my ear drum burst, it relieved the pain. Doctor asked why I didn't come in earlier!!
I read a book once called "How doctors think". Quick summary: doctors just want to rule out first threatening and then treatable diseases. Once everything is ruled out you can go home. The patiënt just wants to have the problem fixed. That's why sometimes we're just lost in translation between patiënt and doctor. I try to tell that to my patients too and sometimes they understand that.
P.S. When I am a patiënt myself I want the quick fix too 😂 Doctors are the worst patients 😉
Patients waiting for an appointment for months or for hours in the ER are doing it to get their problem figured out and their pain relieved. We shouldn't dismiss our patients' complaints just because it's not life threatening. I'm a nurse btw
@Jason Walter ... Did you not believe you had tennis elbow because you don't play tennis?
Holy moly guy
that's true but your diaeresis usage is freaking me out lmao
do you pronounce patient with three syllables?
@Jason Walter Tennis Elbow is just a term/ a name for Lateral Epicondylitis. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to play tennis but the mechanism of the injury is similar. Mayo Clinic has a very good pt education resource on this on google.
Once an ER tech said to me "just because you're in pain, it doesn't mean you're going to die." So yeah... great. Laid on the floor for six hours, curled up, sobbing, and actually wishing for death just to essentually get told to be ashamed of myself for being there. Btw, turns out one of my organs failed, and I needed surgery. I'm still a little bitter over how heartless it was.
I swear I've had flare-ups of pancreatitis, appendicitis and bladder spasms. I only ever went to the ER when I had pancreatitis hit me really bad and the pain was so intense that I collapsed twice, they did bare minimum to look for anything wrong. I'm so used to having my mental health being downplayed that even when I'm in physical pain I think I'm overreacting.
I've had completely harmless period cramps that left me physically in shock and barely able to move, when they lessened up enough for me to move I would often injure myself trying to get something for pain relief, most often burns from boiling water in a hot water bottle directly against the skin but I was also at risk of literally stabbing myself because I would get so delirious and panicked from the pain that my lizard brain would try and convince me to cut the organ out, I thought something must be attacking me and I needed to kill it, I never went to the ER because I knew it was just cramps and by the time they got that bad I was always too delirious and incapacitated to move enough to call an ambulance, but every time it happened the risk of me injuring myself went up because I started panicking earlier and earlier, and the earlier I panicked the more time I had to move before I was fully incapacitated. I was terrified of doctors laughing at me if I told them it was period cramps because I knew they'd think I was exaggerating but I really wasn't, I became agoraphobic and actively suicidal after a while until I finally got on a birth control that stopped them. Just because someone's body isn't killing them doesn't mean they're fine and don't need help with their symptoms, if your quality of life is severely impacted suddenly then that should also count as an emergency
@@butasimpleidiotwizard uhhhhh period cramps like that are definitely not normal.
@@imasinnerimasaint I mean no, they're statistically not normal I do agree with that, but the thing is I've had every test that doesn't involve surgery and they couldn't find anything wrong with me, and I don't have any other symptoms that would be consistent with endo and the birth control mostly stops the periods and when it fails to do that it makes the cramps normal, so there's no point doing a laparoscopy, as far as any of the numerous medical professionals I've seen about this can tell they're perfectly normal, healthy cramps *for my body specifically*, they're not causing me any actual physical harm aside from what the vomiting does to me (and the shock but I was always alone and unable to call an ambulance when that happened so I can't verify if it was actual physical shock or just the combination of severe panic and dehydration producing similar symptoms, but I've taken my brother to the ER for severe dehydration before and it looked exactly the same, and felt similar too from what he's told me about it, either way it was probably a side effect of the vomiting and sweating so)
I once watched a documentary about a kid, whose mother also took him to the emergency room on the weekend because of severe stomach pain. The kid hadn't eaten in over 16 hours, had spent the entire night throwing up without a break and could only walk hunched over because of the pain. The er sent them to a children emergency doctor (wasn't in the US but in Germany), where they were berated for taking up room and resources and that the kid was obviously just pretending (no tests, no checks nothing done). They gave them some light stomach meds and sent them home. At night the mother called an ambulance because the kid had passed out, had extremely high fever and was completely unresponsive. The ambulance took them to a different hospital, where they found out the kid had appendicitis, it had burst and the entire stomach area was full of puss. Kid made it thanks to the emergency surgery and made a full recovery. But he was less than an hour away from dieing.
I can understand that er personal is overworked and that people like the guy in the video worsen the situation. But if a child comes in not able to stand up because of pain, high fever, etc and they don't even quickly check his stomach (appendicitis is not that difficult nor does it take a lot of time to diagnose), that's just shitty and unprofessional behaviour. And I am really sorry for everyone who has ever had to deal with something like this.
True but when it takes 3-12 months to see a specialist 💀💀💀
Ask your doctor to help get you an appointment faster.
@@Steph9137 I have a relative who was able to get in to see their PCP on fairly short notice for a problem that was of sudden and acute onset (if that’s an appropriate description) of weakness in the arms while on vacation. Everything else seemed fine health wise, and certainly wasn’t a matter of life or death. Though eating had become difficult, likewise for driving. But this person was the sole wage earner for their family, and self employed in an occupation that required physical dexterity.
The pcp more or less said that they could call the speciality clinic for a referral, but that would probably take weeks or even months. Then basically said “you didn’t hear it from me… but…” then advised my relative to go to the ER at the hospital associated with the big specialty clinic… and to be prepared to sit and wait perhaps several hours but at least that would get them in on the specialist’s calendar sooner.
This is how it is in Canada all the time. Canadians deal with it. Long wait times are typically the price of having universal healthcare, or government subsidized (Medicaid or Medicare). If people are dying or pain=10/10, then go to the ER.
@@naturallynursing5392 the USA is like that too though. Paying for it doesn't really help standard of care or wait times, it's a fucked up system everywhere. So why pay exorbitant out of pocket fees for a system that's screwed if you're going to get the same care no matter what?
@@crowgang6678 long ER wait times just to see a doctor in the Canadian city I’m from are up to 20 hours….in the U.S. cities I’ve worked the “long” ER wait times are 5-7 hours in the waiting room before seeing a doctor (if you’re not truly having a life threatening emergency, as assessed by a the trained triage nurse), but usually no longer than 3 hours to see a doctor, and those were in some of the poorest inner cities, a middle class area and also in a rural region. So the private pay system still sees people sooner in U.S. ED’s compared to my universal healthcare system. Canada has great preventative care options though and that’s something I’ve recognized is better.
I have been to an ER twice. Both times my shoulder was out of the socket. Was I dying? No, but it hurt, and needed to be fixed ASAP. That’s an emergency.
Was it fully dislocated or subluxed? Full dislocation is definitely an emergency.
Thats not what he's getting at. He's referring to people who use the ER for non emergencies. A broken bone, stitches, dislocated shoulder are emergencies. Once your evaluated and treated, follow care belongs to a specialist or your primary care physician. This guy is using the emergency room as a primary care physician. One of ny employees went to the ER for ear pain. She had a work up and treated, along with a referral to an ENT. She kept on going back to the ER for follow up care. Eventually they told her to stop coming and see a specialist
@@Oktaviii Full dislocation.
I can't believe America has "primary care" physicians. LMFAO! Useless.
Yes, I can go to a private hospital now in Thailand and be seen
immediately be an ER, and no, they're not a gastro or ENT specialist,
but they can give me medication that helps. THEE ENT specialist can tell
me exactly what's happening in my throat, or a gastro.....but man,
America is just BADDDDDDD.
Wait 2 months for an appointment where they'll tell you it's anxiety.
I didn’t want to be “that” person so I went to urgent care, the doctor there promptly told me I was not to go home and she was calling the local ER to let them know I was coming.
Yup. That was me when I was having a literal heart attack at 33. I was told I was too young to be having one by my PCP(even tho I was born with a hole in my heart that supposedly closed and was on a heart monitor for the first year of my life). So I went to the walk in, they literally sent an ambulance from the hospital across the street.
Same! I had back pains but didn’t want too block care for nothing and the clinic rushed me to the ER. Turns out I have cancer at 19, yay
Went to my pcp appointment and got scolded for driving there. Told to get a ride to ER or I was going by ambulance. Thankfully got a ride. Who knew feeling like I would faint while standing was an ER, no drive thing.
That's ehat happened to my mother. She went to urgent care for bronchitis and the trouble breathing that came with it, only to be told to immediately go to the ER as she was in full AFIB. Two days later she ended up in ICU after crashing in the room. What a way to find out you have the same heart disease as your mother.
@@colombepoirier1340Oof.
Asks to schedule appointment for chest pain. Has to wait 8 months for appointment. Dies
but we don't wait in the us...ya right.
@@dinklehimerschlitz9111but we do have to wait in the us....
Welcome to AMERICA!
I went to the ER when I was 15 for overwhelming pain in my stomach. Because it went away a little tiny bit to the point I could coherently speak sentences on pain killers, the doctor said "I could look into it further, but honestly if I was you, I'd just go home. You should go home." I did, thinking this doctor's recommendation would clearly be the best thing for me. Wound up back there like 2-3 days later (I don't remember those days very well lol) where they told me I had appendicitis and needed immediate surgery :)
Did the same thing for a pain in my upper right thorax, did the LOT, they sent me home with pills for acid reflux, woke up to a worried call from radiologist that next morning at 6am saying my lung was 70% collapsed XD
I will always respect the drs who took me seriously when i went to the er for severe abdominal pain. It probably helped that the triage nurse immediately noticed i was incredibly jaundiced and so obviously something was going on. They did all sorts of tests, and originally assumed it was gallstones--they told me to come back the next morning and theyd get me scheduled to have my gallbladder removed. (They couldnt see the gallstones through the ultrasound, though, because my intestine was covering my gallbladder.) I went back the next morning, they did another ultrasound, and an MRCP. i cant remember how but they did rule out gallstones, maybe my tests had come back? But anyway, i had actually tested positive for EBV, or as most people would know it as; mono. My immune system went into overdrive and started attacking tf out of my liver, which is what caused my jaundice. They had no idea what was going on at first, i had a whole team of pathologists coming in with the dr in charge of me. It was actually kinda funny, one of the guys said "you might be kinda young for it, but if youve ever seen the show house, thats kinda what we are, but maybe dont watch it while youre here", and i laughed and told them how it was my mom, my brother, and i's favourite show when i was younger, and that we used to gather together on the couch every episode to watch. They were great. I was kept for a few days, they monitered my liver enzymes until i had essentially peed all the enzymes out and was stable enough to go home. (Though they wanted to keep me a few more days, i was discharged the same day my province got its first covid case which quickly went up to our first 100 cases, but i was not gonna complain, i hated being in the hospital, and i much rathered going home than risking catching covid while still having a few weeks before id be fully over the mono, especially because my brother was (and is) immunocompromised)
This happened to my sister and she lost her fallopian tubes and ovaries as a result… she developed sepsis and was in the hospital for almost 2 months… she was in her early 20s… she was sent home from the emergency room twice her appendix had already exploded by the time she made it to the hospital
People go to the ER because they're scared, they know something is wrong and maybe it's 11pm at night or on a weekend and they can't get in touch with their primary or they can't get an appointment for weeks. Maybe they don't have 24/7 walk in urgent care around. At that point, they don't really have many options. This is especially true in rural areas, and I happen to live in one.
If you're concerned about something and you feel that concern is warranted and that it can't wait another day or a week... it's always best to play it safe and most times the docs and nurses in the ER will tell you that you did the right thing by coming in.
The problem I see is usually the opposite of this. People refusing to seek help until the very last possible moment, or too late entirely. Who think they're invincible and will just "tough it out", refuse to seek any kind of care at all. Millions of families have lost loved ones because something happened where earlier medical intervention could've changed the outcome.
I mean I think most people are worried about the price and being scammed and ripped off by bad doctors
People that wait until the last minute do it for at least two valid reasons. 1. Their PCP has done nothing to fix the issue. They have been ignored and gaslighted 2. It’s expensive af on average in the US because nobody (administration/insurance) gives a shit about the patient.
Millions? Really?
Your should go to uc not er
@@anything.with.motorsbrother did you read the comment you replied to? The entire hypothetical was that there isn't an UC around...
My mom was discharged from one hospital and immediately went to another ER where she found out she was having a heart attack. She had all the classic symptoms for women and they gave her ibuprofen and sent her home; we lucky enough to live in a city with 2 ER's and she was having 2 stints placed the next day.
My mom has congestive heart failure, and one time while she was in there to get her lungs drained of fluid, she was sent home early, only to have to be readmitted because of pneumonia.
My mom had a blood clot that was already diagnosed by a local urgent care but the ER doctor tried to tell her it was water retention and sent her home.
Thankfully the bigger practices all have a hospitalist at the hospital so they were able to get her admitted.
My step-dad went into the ER, he was having a heart attack, they told him it was anxiety. Luckily another Doctor came in and saved his life.
holy fuck. Absolutely terrifying. My dad had a heart attack last month and I couldn't imagine the rage I'd feel if they did that. Thank god the person who actually took him seriously was a fresh-out of med-school nurse
@@notmyrrodrick4387 I think that's why your dad was taken seriously. the nurse hadn't had time to get jaded from all the bad experiences with overbearing Karens and ungrateful/unaccommodating and difficult patients.
this guy is why I laid on the emergency room floor screaming in pain while one of my organs failed.
Alot of patients that come in with these problems do need to see specialists, but the wait times are so long that people just suffer. Thats why they come back to the ED
When I broke my elbow I went to a GP to get an X-ray before I could get a specialist, the GP then sent me to the ER the ER then told me I would need to see a specialist. The specialist told me to not do anything the other Dr.s told me to do and "just don't lift anything including pens/pencils and you will be fine".
@@rrtepposo you received advice from someone who trained for 11-20 years. Good call. Hope you paid them for that expertise. It takes training to know when to do nothing, you know.
@@kayladonnrichardson7384 yes, but I also think it's a bit silly to be sent to 3 different Dr.s to tell me to do nothing and then write a prescription for extra strength Aleve. After it had been days and the worst of the pain was gone.
@@kayladonnrichardson7384 cant tell if this is meant to be joke or not lol, but it is true. If for example before or after surgery your doctor tells you a whole bunch of stuff you should and shouldnt do, you should absolutely listen.
I cant tell you how many times ive had to tell my patients not to drink on the day before surgery, and then they bleed like crazy and need a transfusion and glucose drip during surgery because they didnt listen, then blame me for all of it. Nowadays i have to ask if they had a drink in the last few days before starting surgery, and send them home if they are (with a reschedule for the surgery). If they keep doing it then i just go through with the surgery after reminding them of why in the next few hours theyre going to bleed like a fountain. And record them as non-compliant for good measure since they kept doing it even after we gave them several chances to restrain themselves. We're a dental clinic and yet we have a breathalyzer, this is ridiculous.
Edit: and just to remind everyone, its not life endangerment for us to start surgery on a patient that is intoxicated, since most dental surgery is minor, we also practice minimally invasive techniques to reduce the incisions and blood during surgery. This is absolutely not a good idea in major surgery though since people can lose a lot of blood very fast in this case especially if it refuses to clot. We only have to worry about poor visibility and quickly waning anesthesia, which itself is a huge pain, but in contrast a cardiothoracic specialist surgeon cant operate at all.
@@kayladonnrichardson7384 Did you even read what he wrote? He got bounced around between entities, all of them giving conflicting advice, before being told to follow none of it by the specialist. That training system is working a treat.
So good that an emergency room doesn't have steps in place to refer you to a specialist or set up an appointment for you to see a doctor for a persistent issue if you're not dying on them.
as a (very tired) ER resident, this actually makes me wanna cry
I have empathy for you, I really do…
But now consider that some of us will have to spend as much as 45 minutes on hold in hopes of getting an appointment in the “same day clinic”, and if those slots are all gone by the time your call is answered, you have to either try again tomorrow, or take a regular clinic appointment that might be days or even weeks out.
@K not so much because you “just don’t want to wait on hold”…. But because the average person doesn’t necessarily have the knowledge to know if something can wait until next week or next month to be seen. As I said, in the time it might take for my call to be answered, all of todays urgent care appointments will have been filled.
Also, some things are not *emergencies* !!!!… but also can’t really wait.
If all the same day clinic openings have been taken, and you get a cut that needs stitches… waiting too long means that stitches cannot be done, and the wound will not heal properly. Not healing properly may not be a life or death emergency, but could potentially have lasting implications.
Would you change a patients medication if it put them in a Junctional rhythm?
As a fellow ED resident I feel that too. I’m with you, Lewlav. And K, that’s understandable, really. And I would be happy to take care of a patient like you. I just wish people understood better that less urgent problems don’t get the same attention as life or death emergencies and that likely means waiting for a very long time.
@@tanya5322 you're right, stitches are a good example of how certain issues aren't life-threatening but also can't wait for next week or even tomorrow. I try to keep in mind that our patients aren't doctors, they don't always know what qualifies as an emergency, and being in pain is stressful. Unfortunately I feel like a lot of people think of the ER as an "easy solution" where you just come whenever you want because doctors are "always available anyway"... And then they become angry when they have to wait several hours :(
I wish we could better educate the general public about "what are true emergencies". But how???
Working as a caregiving , I've seen symptoms like these be ignored and lead to the early death of residents .
😢
Had that happen to a family friend and he ended up dying in the waiting room.
My dad was in & out of hospitals a lot when I was on late middle school/early high school &he kept being told that it wasn't a heart attack. It was really scary. He also missed a lot of work because it happened most often when he was working. Someone finally set him up for surgery for a peace maker because his heart kept reaching dangerously low.
My mom also went into a doctor for a bump on her bust she was worried about only to find out it was cancer. My mom was rightfully upset because not only did she have cancer but she was told she likely had it for years & she got regularly checked. She had a bunch of images taken & such & during one of them she was told she needed surgery because they were worried that if she didn't have a rod in place she'd break her hip. The doctor told her that he doesnt like to give numbers but that they expected her to live about 3 years. She's so alive 8 years later but it's not a matter of if, it's when a is terminal.
My dad is now struggling to see a lung specialist right now. He was diagnosed with asthma & another breathing issue. But now, from what I've heard, it's cancer of the lungs & they are very concerned because it's fast & aggressive.
@@VercealI’m so sorry you’re going through this with both parents
@@morganmiller9627 because my dad is bad at explaining things all that well I'm confused on some of the stuff going on. He was recently told by a cancer doctor that he thought it might be an infection in his lung but the lung specialist told him it could be an infection but it could also be cancer. They plan on doing some breathing tests for him & then doing a biopsy to try to figure it out.
It is extra scary because of how bad it has effected his ability to get stuff done & he is already a cancer survivor. He had bladder cancer & they removed his bladder because he had a good chance of it coming back.
Keeping my fingers crossed we get the answers soon & they can knock it out, whatever it is.
I went to the ER in breathing distress... I told them about my asthma and pollen allergies (crazy environmental stuff that week) and I gently suggested that I needed to be nebulized or at least given a ventolin inhaler or some kind of bronchodilator.... I didn't tell them this until after they asked me what they needed to know about my medical history. So they gave me an EKG, tested my blood pressure... And decided since I wasn't having any cardiac symptoms they would discharge me... Still wheezing and unable to breathe... Went to CVS and got some primatene.... Didn't sleep for two days because I kept waking up gasping for air. Thanks, Somerville Hospital. I was having a full on asthma attack. Would it have killed you to check my O2 SAT or give me a single shot of epinephrine?
Sometimes you have to be your own advocate and insist they treat you
@@tinaholmes4868 Like the person below said its not always that easy, there was a time I went to the ER for what I believe was pancreatitis but once my adrenaline wore off after being given painkillers I could no longer confidently say were the pain was exactly coming from. The pain woke me up so on top of being given painkillers I was also now tired and just wanted to go back home.
wow you’re literally the guy in the video!
What the actual fuck is wrong with American hospitals I have never heard of that shit happening here
@@fulltimeslackerii8229 asthma attacks can literally kill people, you know that right
The medical system is so fundamentally broken and it's affected me since the time I was 6 years old. To this day it still fails me.
I know how you feel. Without ER care I probably wouldn't have seen a Dr. I was a monthly visitor from 5 years on.
I can't believe America has "primary care" physicians. LMFAO! Useless.
Yes, I can go to a private hospital now in Thailand and be seen
immediately be an ER, and no, they're not a gastro or ENT specialist,
but they can give me medication that helps. THEE ENT specialist can tell
me exactly what's happening in my throat, or a gastro.....but man,
America is just BADDDDDDD.
@arsenioseslpodcast3143 the United States does the same thing...primary care is just your personal doctor that knows you. Many of us have the same doctor for most of our life. They can provide better personal care than an ER. But they aren't meant to be used for immediate care, only long term routine care.
If you want immediate cate for something not an emergency, we have Urget Care that is significantly cheaper and still provides nearly the same instant care an ER would.
It’s really tough. How to do the “emergency room only for emergencies” messaging. I’ve seen people really get hurt because they were convinced their chest pain must be “just stress” and didn’t wanna be seen as a complainer by going to the ER. They should have gone to be better safe than sorry but instead they went without and got hurt.
And then there’s like. How do you know what chest pain is dangerous or not when you’re just a lay person?
I think some basic health education should be taught in schools. People need to be able to identify possible emergencies but also learn that 3 weeks of back pain aren't an emergency.
As an ER nurse, I've told patients plenty of times if you're concerned, come. Better safe than sorry. All I ask is that if you are not triaged as an emergency, do not get mad that you have to wait.
you don't. so go to the ER. better to be safe than dead (or worse).
@@dalfireasha many years ago, I called to the local ER on a Saturday afternoon (urgent care was not an option at that time) and tried to describe my toddler who was … “off”… but not noticeably sick or injured. I sincerely did not want to take up any time/space of the ER if it could be avoided. Since I could only give seemingly vague descriptions of how/why she just didn’t seem right, I heard the doctor say the same thing I’ve heard my favorite veterinarian say to dozens of clients “I really can’t tell you much from that without an examination”
Imagine my horror when I came back from filling out the paperwork to find my toddler stripped down to nothing but a diaper, and hooked up to a cardiac monitor 😢
I don’t think the doctor expected her to be *that* mysteriously ill either.
I'd say just go. The last time I went to the ER I had what I can best describe is weird symptoms I wasn't sure how to really describe. Which lead me to wait from oct of 2020 to April of 2021 to go in. Turns out that was way to long to wait cuz I was having a massive MS attack, and the damage it caused was why I was having the issues I was.
It's hard to try to delegate what is or isn't an emergency, and the better safe than sorry approach is really for the best. Would you rather wait around and possibly be told to get in contact with your PCP, or wait around and find out the hard way it's worse than even you would have thought? Yes you might have to wait a bit, and yes you might get an answer you don't like. But it's better to look at it as taking a step in finding out what's going on, rather than going in and expecting them to immediately fix it.
there's also the problem of emergency rooms not doing anything though too. a few years ago I broke my arm and went to the emergency room and because I wasn't crying out in pain they sent me home with just a flimsy sling and made me sleep on it. I went to a clinic the next day and had to have months of physical therapy to be able to rotate my arm again
i was literally having seizures and they didn’t take me back
Damn. I broke my arm a few years ago and they sent me home the same day with the bone set and on the way to recovery. Then again, I'm here now with a broken kneecap and other damage and have basically waited a month to get it fixed. The medical system is all over the place
I feel your frustration. I shattered both my lower leg bones, and the desk nurse scoffed at me and said it was just dislocated. When I told him I couldn't remember my SSN because of the pain, he rolled his eyes.
@@liamgavinwellso
No xray? Xrays are cheap.
Went to the ER three times for extreme pain in my side/low back. Got told I had a back spasm and to “walk it off.” Given pain meds and rushed out the door. Went to a PCP with the same issue expecting a medication refill, she sent me to the hospital for an MRI and a CT scan and it turns out I’d been having gallstones. It was turning necrotic and they removed my gallbladder that night. I’m very, VERY grateful for the doctors and nurses who have been supportive (and literally saved my life both then and when I had my appendix removed a year later), but I’ve experienced a LOT of dismissal and mockery and told that “it’s all in your head” and to just “walk it off.”
Edit: for those who don’t know, gallstones have been described as being a pain worse than childbirth. Imagine walking THAT off.
I've done both and childbirth wins my friend
@@rachel_Cochran I suppose pain is subjective-I’m just repeating what I’ve read. I’m not sure what the mockery is for.
Dude I had to have my gallbladder removed too. That pain was intense. I have no idea if it really is akin to childbirth and frankly I hope I never have to find out, but that pain was literally crippling so I feel your pain. I'm at least glad mine wasn't in necrosis, but it was so full of stones it was on the very edge of bursting sooo, I'm glad I crawled my ass to the nearest building with a phone and called for help. I was told if I had waited one more day I'd have been dead! Fun 💀
Oh and edit because I forgot but I was also dismissed. They kept telling me it was endometriosis (which I have, it wasn't that and I knew it) they tried to tell me I just need to change diets, I already had and it wasn't helping. They gave me a ton of nausea and heartburn medicines, nada. Told me they had no idea what was going on, up until a week before I had to go to the ER. Lovely...
I hope you're doing a lot better OP!
@@rachel_CochranHopefully it happens again. Condescending women deserve the worst ❤❤❤
My husband had been having weird chest pains for months. Our PCP REFUSED to see him and yelled at us that we needed to go to the ER immediately for chest pains. It wasn't an emergency, so we didn't go. Eventually months later we racked up hundreds of dollars in bills for 1 visits to a surly cardiologist who did nothing but an EKG and said she didn't know what it was.. That was 5 years ago and he still has weird chest pains and no answers. Too many times, doctors will not even try to figure out what's wrong with you until you show up at the ER on death's door, then they berate you for not going in sooner.......but not too soon, cause that's not an emergency.
I can't believe America has "primary care" physicians. LMFAO! Useless.
Yes, I can go to a private hospital now in Thailand and be seen
immediately be an ER, and no, they're not a gastro or ENT specialist,
but they can give me medication that helps. THEE ENT specialist can tell
me exactly what's happening in my throat, or a gastro.....but man,
America is just BADDDDDDD.
I don't get it. chest pains is not an emergency? Who told you that? He could've been having a heart attack = dead. Is the emergency enough for you? lmfao
That's sound slike TRASH CAN AMERICA lol
They legally have to tell you to go to the ER
Or... if you don't have insurance and the er is the only place a doctor will even look at you
This is a big one. They might "only" need antibiotics, but no one will prescribe them without an appointment (which many can not afford, especially without insurance).
Right? They are always like "don't come if its not an emergency." Okay, well its pretty much impossible to get one of yall to look at us for less than a grand.
Or when you have insurance and a specialists orders a test and insurance won’t pay for it saying not medically necessary - but the ordering doc says it is…
And it’s covered test under benefits contract (without prior approval)
Sometimes you feel like going to the ER to seek the test to force insurances hand because under emergency medicine they have to pay for it.
Yea, but that's actually a decent reason haha
My clinic still sees me. Even after I haven’t paid a few of the bills. Man, the collection agency is gonna be on my ass real soon about that 40 bucks hahaha
I’ve always been told severe abdominal pain is an ER issue. I once had this and was treated so badly by ER staff. Sent home and told it was just anxiety. No tests run. Days later I’m still in pain, barely able to eat anything and vomiting. Even my PCP gave me attitude when I begged to be seen until he saw no tests had been run and how much pain I was clearly in. Ran bloodwork - Liver enzymes were very high. Sent for an ultrasound and I was loaded with gallstones and required surgery. Then I almost died in the recovery room after the surgery because both my lungs collapsed. I still carry trauma from that whole awful experience and don’t trust doctors anymore to this day. I get that some people go to the ER for stupid things like a hang nail or a cold but I’m on the patients side with this one. Significant Abdominal or chest pain should always be an ER visit.
I had a similar experience but with massive kidney stones. Been to the ER 2 times and normal doctors 3 times. They always said it was psychosomatic because I had mental issues at that time. It took over a year or reoccurring kidney stones until It was so bad, I peed massive amounts of blood and my tubes were clogged completly for a while already. It was almost becoming a sepsis/blood poisoning because of that. Immediatly had to get surgery when they for the first time checked my blood and kidneys they immediately saw what's wrong and operated. It was terrifying. If they had sent me home I might have died of sepsis. And that's the first time I got heavy painkillers. Collapsed so many times because of that.
Yes the doctor wants you to diagnose yourself. He even says you couldn’t know if it was a heart attack or appendicitis but then implies it’s wrong to go in because you should know
The ER doctor is the one that told me abdominal pain should always be seen in the ER.
Nobody, and I mean literally nobody, has ever gone to the ER for a hang nail
@@rachaelhill6maybe an infected one? 🤷🏻♀️
it's sometimes hard to known when to go in. when I was developing POTS, I went in the first time I fainted. they said to come back if I fainted again. of course I did faint again two weeks later so I went back in. I didn't realize that I needed to make modifications so that I wouldn't faint so much and I was still working with a specialist to get a diagnosis. the ER staff started getting mad at me for going in when I fainted and it took me some time to learn what my new normal was and not be afraid every time something happened. learning to live with an illness can be hard and sometimes you might end up at the ER when it's not a true emergency and you're just scared.
I have hyperadrenergic pots so my problem with me is my blood pressure can get very high. I also have an electrical heart issue.
It's actually relatively simple but nobody ever tells people how to make that decision.
If your issue is acute, of unidentifiable cause and either so severe that you can't tolerate it for another day or a sign of more serious conditions (heart attack, stroke, etc), you should go to an ER.
First couple times fainting were an acute condition of unclear cause that could have been a life threatening emergency. After surviving enough fainting spells and ruling out the worst, those qualifiers didn't apply anymore.
They should have been more clear and explained what you should do until you can see a specialist.
@@iz2333 unfortunately the issue comes when it happens in public and someone calls an ambulance. I have regular seizures and paralysis episodes that don’t require medical care, so both myself the ER don’t like me being there but unfortunately I’m not allowed to be taken home if I collapse on the street.
So u went to the ER multiple times.. for fainting? 😖 omg
Same really. I've just been recently told it's likely I have a form of dysautonomia (my sister has PoTS). They don't know exactly what kind I have and really don't seem to care. I got a referral 4 months ago from my pcp to go up to Cleveland clinic and haven't heard a peep from them.
When I was first experiencing symptoms I thought I either had blood clots or had some kind of neurological disease and ended up in the ER multiple times within a few months. Every single visit was fruitless and I was usually told it was just anxiety or asked if I ever thought of trying to work out (I was going to the gym 4 times per week at that point). Now even when I have a severe flare up where my heart rate is through the roof with chest pain, adrenaline surges and nearly fainting I just say if I'm not unconscious and unresponsive don't even worry about going to any doctor and just hope it passes. I've spent too much time and so much money on testing and doctor visits that I'd rather just leave it to fate at this point.
Right so if I’m in pain I should wait half a year to talk to a doctor. Good advice 👍
Yeah or die.
You can do that. The doctor will just say, "You need to stop taking aspirin for that pain." They won't offer a prescription. Or, you can go to the ER. The ER will say, "Drug Seeking behavior", also send you out with no pain prescriptions, and send you a bill for $5,000+..., or they'll just turn it over to collections the next day.
no, you take pain meds, schedule an appointment, and wait a little bit. if its an emergency, go to the ER. if it's not, and you go, don't be surprised when nothing happens; if you really want to fast track some sort of something, look into local urgent cares
@@mschuhler So, how do you take those pain meds before you get in to see a doctor - who often doesn't prescribe pain meds anyway? See a drug dealer? The ER won't prescribe pain meds, nor will urgent care.
@rudra62 there are like a dozen different pain meds you can get at a 24H CVS, what kind of question is this
I'm not gunna lie I kind of understand this guy's logic. A lot of people end up going to the ER because they either can't go see their doctor right away or their doctor doesn't call them back. And going to the ER seems like a better option than waiting weeks while worrying about something or being in pain.
Tbh many primary care providers don’t want to do their jobs by proper investigations to make sure it is a emergency so they cover themselves by sending to ER.
Primary care has sent migraines and cluster headaches to ER for the er drs to make a diagnosis when these things could be done in primary care, it’s quite annoying.
@@kittycat1004 severe migraines are an ER issue. Primary care docs don’t have the IV meds necessary to stop those and those suckers can cause severe dehydration, nausea, and vomiting that get dangerous if we wait.
I’ve spent time in the ER hooked to IV meds to combat a migraine because the at home options failed. Urgent Care sent me there (which was honestly a good thing in that case).
@@kittycat1004 that depends on the migraine. If it's unresponsive to treatment then they do recommend an ER visit so they can get DHE infusion. But I was referring to the lack of communication between provider and patient or the lack of availability of the provider. They see so many patients a day that they have little to no time to respond to any messages or phone calls from patients. Sometimes to me it seems like doctors are all about patient volume, packing their schedules so they can make as much money as possible but they neglect other parts of their job because they're too busy but they're only too busy because they make their schedule that way. I wish the one I work for would leave some available times in his schedule so that when I need to bring someone in I can instead of just sending them to the ER or walk in.
@@LeadTrumpet1 never said it was severe. It was not an emergency. It was things that could of been diagnosed in primary care. Why I can say this- I worked ED. Many times primary care referred NON emergent things. The above situations stated needed no such things. You are sending a pt with a 2/10 pain scale to ER with a 10year history of headaches- come on man- I also worked primary care as well, it did not need emergent care. As I said some primary care drs are lazy and just refer everythg
There are walk-in clinics if your doctor's not available. If it's a pressing issue but not serious enough for an ER visit there are Urgent Care Centers.
I've actually been to the ER so so many times, but through doctors advice or the non emergency hotline given I am very slow and hesitant to react when something is terribly wrong. My ER started to get so fed up that one doctor once went in yelling at me to not waste their time and that I had been there too many times. Mind you, I did not make the choice alone to go, and every time I've been there I have gotten treatment because something was indeed wrong and life-threatening without urgent treatment. I left and when I got tested the next day at my doctors I was positive for a bacteria, and was in such bad condition that I needed antibiotics and around the clock care for 5 days because they were afraid my organs would fail due to illness. The lab results took 3 days to come in, so my treatment was delayed far more than it should have been and I am just thankful I didn't develope sepsis!
I am now even more scared to go to my local ER, because of the way I've been treated as a human and a chronically sick person.
I empathize with this. I've been in similar situations, but mostly (thankfully) I've only been made to feel bad by the receptionists who are not medically trained, but still make you feel bad.
There are many times I probably should have gone & decided not to.
But I do wish doctors would realise most patients with chronic issues have an entirely different baseline, and making the decision to go to A&E/ ER often happens way beyond the point the average healthy person would decide to go.
I understand it's all subjective, so that's harder to see unless there are glaring issues with test results, but the more pain/ symptoms you live with daily, the more you tolerate - because you have to.
I would really like emergency questions to start with "compared to your 'normal'/ baseline, how would you rate [symptoms, pain etc]?"
It would be a much better perspective.
@@gmun2248 I am nothing but pleasantly surprised to have someone comment on this, and the fact that I agree completely just makes it even more heartwarming. It is nice to feel less alone in something that seems so taxing. Thank you!
@@LivMLund
For me, shared experiences really do have a huge impact on your perspective. The main reason I am still on certain social media sites is because of connections through a few groups for a couple of specific chronic health issues I deal with. Feeling that you are not the only person dealing with something feels comforting, even although you wish nobody has to suffer that way.
Thanks for your lovely reply, I hope you are currently doing well, whatever that looks like for you.
What sucks about taking care of an 87 yro is that whenever you call for care advice for dizziness, breathing, or confusion is that it’s ALWAYS considered an emergency until you get to the er and they ask you why you’re wasting their time 😪
I had to go to 11 different doctors to diagnose that my gallbladder needed to come out immediatly. I’d show up to the er and they’d do nothing so I’d try my doctor or walk ins, many of those places took one look at me and asked if they wanted me to call an ambulance.
I don’t work in the ER but I do know a lot of them really don’t give a fk and just want to get you out of there…
what a despicable country
When i was an out-of-network college student I was told i couldnt see a doctor unless i went to the ER so not everyone is spoiled for choice, unfortunately.
that was your choice to move away yet still depend on your parents' insurance
@@cartermilanyeah imagine not getting stuck in poverty and blaming him
@@cartermilankys
Yup, I have a rupturing ovarian cyst, and because I was born addicted to meth and being a drug addict was on my medical files even though I’ve never ever touched meth my whole life on my own. I kept calling hospital after hospital, nothing would work they all told me I had to get a er referral to come to the hospital, was in and out of the er so much that now I have $6,000 in medical debt because they kept refusing to do ct scans or ultrasounds, just loading me up with ibuprofen and sent me home every single time, because they had this opinion of me that I was some drug addict coming around and begging for pain meds. I told them I don’t even need pain medication, I’d much rather you guys figure out why I hurt so badly and to stop it.
And now if I have minor pain, I’ll treat it myself over the counter before I EVER seek doctors advice.
And then the flip of this are the patients who set up an appointment two months out with a specialist and have to have urgent surgery on their appointment date bc they really should’ve been seen two months prior to that appointment.
EXACTLY THIS!!!!!!!! They Made Their Patient Wait To See a "Specialist" Only For Said Patient to FIND OUT They Needed Immediate/Emergency Surgery Well Before They Were Able to See Said "Specialist."
Like what's the Point of Doctors Existing if They Don't Already have a list and Specific ways to figure out what the problem is and instead have a Specialist that Takes WAAAAY Too Long to See???? I get they are specialists knowing the most about their said field, but it feels like a waste of becoming a Doctor without knowing common, basic or even related symptoms for what's going on with you/your body.
I went in two weeks after having a p.e and the ambulance driver said to the nurse that she think I didn't know what to expect pain wise for recovery.
I was not on pain meds when I came in the first time, but after two weeks, three different strong pain medications and I was in more pain then when I first presented. That one comment made the nurses put me to the side and not worry about me until I started to gasp for air and coughing up blood. I was drowning on my own blood and made to feel like an idiot for even coming for help.
I've been to the ER twice in my life, in two different states. Both times they acted like I was bothering them by just being there. First time, major chest pains, which turned out to be minor, but hurt like hell. Second time, it was appendicitis. They actually asked me what I wanted to do, told me I could go home if I wanted and see if the pain went away. I chose to go to the hospital and it turned out my appendix had burst. Going home could have been fatal.
We need to start rethinking how devastating 'just' pain is. As a severe chronic pain patient (that was a mild pain patient, but wasn't given the meds I needed to limit my pain), it irreversibly scars your brain, you become sensitised to even the lightest touch. It benefits doctors to dismiss pain patients because they don't have to worry about explaining how someone developed addiction issues or OD (only about 10% opioid patients develop addiction issues). It's purely self-interest and I makes me lament how empathy has been dismantled.
I hear what you are saying, and I agree with you. I do not agree with the only 10% not being a big deal. I don’t know the statistics, but if it is 10%, that is a lot. I work in healthcare, and I see pain treated all day everyday even when people say it’s fine/they don’t need anything for it. I agree that pain should be treated. I also think alternative methods should also be used to retrain the brain and body in its response to pain. I also don’t think patients realize how many side effects can occur from pain medication.
@@connorhill9047 I'm defo not saying don't use other meds before opiates (NSSAI, anti-depressants etc), or don't use physio or OT or infra red light or anything else (who want's to be dependant on opiates?) but for me, I don't respond to anything other than opiates and ketamine (and a tad to infra red light). If I'd of been prescribed those meds sooner & wasn't dismissed as 'just a woman with pain complaining' (women receive 25% less opiates in ER settings), then I might of avoided the severe, constant, lifelong pain I now will die with (abdominal sensitisation).
I used to have bad period pain but it became severe because of a worldwide birth control shortage (Norimin, in 2020), that the Aussie govt decided to ignore because 'women can interchange their birth control, it's all the same, right?', so they waited 6 months, in that time, my pain became constant and severe, now I'm practically housebound. I would *never* say opiates/ketamine should be 1st line options, but when you've tried 20 plus different meds, all of which do nothing or give terrible side effects, then these docs should actually help me rather than just thinking of their self-interest.
Pain destroys you. If it wasn't for the meds I'm on, I'd have to end my life. And for so many people (maybe not so much in America, re: opioid epidemic), but in Oz, it is very very very hard to get any doctor to prescribe opiates. I've had more doctors scoff at me, belittle me, condescend me than respect me, just because I only respond to something they feel uncomfortable giving. I say: don't be a pain specialist, don't take my money or my referral and don't treat me like I'm your enemy just cause I had the audacity to be born a woman with pain!
Don't worry, you can call and make an appointment in a month or two at the earliest....
or 3 or 4
@@dinklehimerschlitz9111or a year . . .
Right
100%
@@dinklehimerschlitz9111 3 or 4 sheesh my mother needed to wait almost a year to see the doctor once
November 2020 I was in a lot of pain but every time I tried to get a doctors appointment it went like this…
Me: (explains all the pain I’m in, including joint and muscle pain so bad I couldn’t walk and a never ending headache) I need an appointment
DO(Doctor’s office): well muscle pain and headache are some Covid symptoms we need you to take a Covid test
Me: okay (test comes back negative)
DO: well it’s possible that it’s a false negative so we refuse to see you, bye
So I would go to the ER where after running all the tests they would tell me I’m not dying and send me with Motrin. And repeat this process every time the pain became unbearable for the next 2 months… yeah not a fun time in my life. It was lupus for anyone who cares.
I am so sorry. COVID policies screwed so many of us over. I hope you are now getting the help you need.
Oh my god
Thanks for sharing your story
How did you find out?
@@cneer17 every time you go to the ER they take urine samples and so every time I went to the ER it would show a lot of protein in my urine which is a symptom of Lupus nephritis. I guess it finally got the attention of my doctor
But... it's never lupus
Yo that's crazy I also found out I had lupus in 2020...
I injured my chest on a Monday and went on a weekend overnight campout. On the 9th day since when I went in for an Echo appointment, I realized that I forgot to ask them about my symptoms during my visit.
Luckily I chose to call the hospital and explain to an on call nurse about my symptoms, a big one being that it hurt when I tried to breath in deeply. It felt like the pain from my chest had prevented me from being able to take a decent breath without the stabbing pain of hurting.
After explaining this, I was told to check in with an in-network emergency. Luckily, there was one nearby our house.
Turned out that I had fractured 6 rips on my right side.
While I wasn't in immediate danger right then, it was important to seek medication for pain so I wouldn't run the risk of pneumonia which would have been worse with my congenital heart condition.
Fractured ribs can turn into an emergency very quickly. Hopefully they looked at the fracture(s) and determined they weren't an immediate threat of a lung puncture.
My doctor works banker hours, and so do I. So, I have to take time off work to even try to see them.
There's lots of barriers, such as lack of doctors that work outside the mainstream 9-5, that make even discussing issues very difficult.
@K some people genuinely cannot afford to miss a shift. They need that pay to keep food on the table and bills paid. Sometimes taking time off just isn't an option.
@K thing is, I'm not a doctor. I have no way of knowing if that random intense pain I'm having is serious or not. There's been many times I've not gone to the doctor when I should have, and made things far worse for myself than was necessary. I'm not going to continually put myself through misery just because something "might not" be an emergency. I'd rather go and it not be an emergency, than not go, suffer intense pain in the name of "toughing it out" until I can see my PCP, and then them telling me "yeah you should have gone to the ER when this started"
@@taylorbritt499 I would recommend that you try a urgent care clinic if you have access to one nearby. If you're not sure that what's happening is serious or not, generally they have access to basic imaging and tests of an ER and are open for walk-ins. At least in my area the urgent care clinic is open from 8am to 8pm. Hope this helps.
@@taylorbritt499 that stinks
@@flamingabyss1545 Unfortunately for me, all the urgent cares in my area are owned by Fast Pace and I have never had a good experience at one of those. They are only out for money.
The wait time to see my PCP right now is five months 👍😊 I love forking over an entire days wage for my health care meanwhile still feeling like absolute shit. It's the spice of life! ❤️
Honestly better safe than sorry especially with sudden chest pain.
PCP can be seen in like 2 months. You can actually get a referral from going to the ER.
Instructions unclear: I'm now dead ☠️
I can't believe America has "primary care" physicians. LMFAO! Useless.
Yes, I can go to a private hospital now in Thailand and be seen
immediately be an ER, and no, they're not a gastro or ENT specialist,
but they can give me medication that helps. THEE ENT specialist can tell
me exactly what's happening in my throat, or a gastro.....but man,
America is just BADDDDDDD.
PCPs take sooooo long. I went to the emergency room for an actual emergency, and they found masses in my breasts, uterus and lungs. It took 3 weeks to see my PCP. Then I got a referral for a mammogram. My mammogram is 3 months away. I'm going to die 😂
Yup. PCP s are basically useless turds. By the time you get to see one you've either suffered for months unnecessarily or it cleared up on its own, but who knows why. They do nothing but stand in the way of actual medical care.
Yeah but it's great to see the millionth video of a doctor or nurse joking about how stupid the entire population is, except them.
I kept calling mammo every day asking "has anyone cancelled today?". I was seen in 2 weeks.
Oh wow. That sucks. I’m sorry that happened to you.
When my mom found a breast lump, years ago, she couldn’t get into her OB/GYN despite telling them what the problem was. She ended up getting in with a different doctor rather quickly & had a mastectomy. Her original doc was very upset when she found out what
happened & asked why hadn’t my mom just called her straight. My mom didn’t think she should have to do that.
Anyway, she survived that & then a second one 20 years later & then a kidney removal because of a mass about 10 years after THAT. She’s still going; finally retired as an RN a couple years ago.
Get all the opinions you need to make the best decisions for
yourself but please don’t fall for those “miracle cure” charlatans.
I hope all goes well for you!
@K If she’s telling the truth, she has stage iv cancer. That doesn’t end well for anybody.
Some general life advice to other commenters who've been to the ER/doctor with a serious issue - if you're seeing a doctor and you think you might have one specific issue or another, and the doctor is brushing you off or generally not caring enough, make sure to tell them to write into your chart that they're not helping you and why. Usually you'll get the help you need, but if the doctor has some serious pride issues you'll have evidence of malpractice
The only way to file and sue for malpractice is if said doctor has malpractice insurance in some US states sadly
If a dr has pride issues they absolutely wouldn't write what YOU want on your records. They just lie about you instead to make you look non-compliant or health anxious.
@@qwandarytotally agree with the "non-compliant", they absolutely WILL note that and it'll screw up your care for years
Or they can go for the Jugular "pt exhibits drug seeking behaviors"
@@qwandary That Dr. mysteriously went "missing"
if it didnt take a full 12 months to get on the schedule as a new patient then maybe the ER wouldnt be so clogged
Plus, if they actually treated instead of just shrugging people off... they wouldn't be so clogged due to repeat visitors...
hell, prescribe a placebo, and the ER would still be doing more work to solve its issue than it currently is.
@@matthplays-2312placebo still gonna cost you a grand or more. I'm tired of whack a mole docs. Like a shitty mechanic just throwing parts at the problem.
It's not yet normalised and widely used, but we have something like an "emergency general practitioner unit" in Belgium, where they have accommodation for several doctors and a secretary for weekend and evening consultation for cases that are not hospital emergencies, but still warrants not waiting to see a doctor. One such unit is stationed just in front of the ER entrance which is really neat if it turns out that it is a "hospital emergency".
This video is also why people don't get emergency care when they need it. They downplay their symptoms until its literally life or death because they don't want to get judged if it's not as bad as they thought.
Literally me!!! I always don’t wanna make a big deal or waste time being away from the responsibilities. Turned out I couldn’t sleep from all the pain and it was a kidney infection, a busted ovary, and appendicitis. All at once 😂 my dr was wonderful and confirmed I wasn’t being dramatic.
True. But you dont wanna be the guy who comes in at 2am for a flu, right? Or be the guy whose had back pain for 3 months and just decided to go on a weekend? Like you waited 3 months to see a doctor, you can wait another 2 days.
One time I had to call my doctor on the out of office exchange for an “urgent medical matter that can’t wait until normal business hours” and I felt SO bad. It was an issue that truly could not wait but when her receptionist had to call me back I was like “I’m so sorry, I swear I tried everything to figure this out on my own.”
That's a situation for Urgent Care, unless it was severe/likely to kill or seriously injure you within a short period of time (which would be an ER thing). Urgent cares are meant to help you when you can't wait to see a doctor
@@smudge8882 valid but also I feel urgent care does a poor job often bc they don’t look at the entire clinical picture.
@@smudge8882 I don’t really want to get into it online but it was an urgent medication issue that really needed to be dealt with by the prescribing doc, urgent care would not have been appropriate.
@@smudge8882 unfortunately, where I live, “Urgent Care” has been replaced with the “Same Day Clinic”. A visit to the same day clinic requires making an appointment, that same day. Unfortunately, those appointments fill up fast. Really fast. Phone lines open at 8:00 am, and all openings are usually gone by 9:00… and they can’t schedule tomorrow’s appointment slots until tomorrow.
@@smudge8882 In my area, all the urgent care places close at 7 or 8pm and open at 7 or 8am.
If you need help in between those hours they tell you to wait or go to the ER.
It’s really frustrating getting so many mixed messages.
I work in an animal ER and omg this is so true. We have the owner brining a dog in with itchy skin for the past 3 months complaining that they've waited 4 hrs as we're literally wheeling in a gurney with a German Shepard that has a 106 fever and is actively bleeding into its abdominal cavity.
"I suddenly decided that I want to deal with this problem" does NOT equal an emergency.
Honestly neglect to let it go for that long also
My husband used to have to cover after hours emergency calls for small animal when he was first out of vet school and working at a large mixed-animal practice. (12 vets, only 1 small animal vet)
One night someone called, about 2:00 AM, insisting that their dog needed to be seen. NOW!
My husband suspected it wasn’t really something truly emergent, but it’s hard to know for certain over the phone, and the voice sounded persistent (like they would just keep calling until my husband agreed to meet them at the clinic)
The owner was drunk, and I think maybe the dog had ear mites. (It’s been nearly 30 years ago). After the exam, my husband settled up the bill with the guy and his buddies and walk with them to the door. Moments after he had locked the door, the owner was banging on the door saying he forgot something.
Um, yeah, he forgot his switchblade next to the register, which he then demonstrated to my husband and said “my dog dies, I kill you”
We don’t have that problem with farmers. (Well, the death threats anyway)
@@tanya5322 wow. What a took
@@tanya5322 That man should've been arrested
I think health care workers have to have a mandatory 10 minutes a month of a "Harmless but painful" session of shocks to keep them grounded (pun not intended) on what pain feels like.
That and mandatory EQ training.
Look if I'm in serious pain I'm not waiting to see a doctor 12+ hours into the future. I'm going to the emergency room. Imagine you get hurt in Friday evening, and you're in a lot of pain, but no doctors until Monday. Well, actually you can't even call and make an appointment until Monday. So if you're lucky, maybe an appointment by Thursday. So, breakdown: you're in serious pain for a week, because "it wasn't an emergency".
Or my American favorite:
You can't afford insurance and you've contracted a virus and can't go to work because you're very sick. But you'll be fired if you miss work without a doctor's excuse. Can't go see a doctor because just to walk through the door it'll cost you $115, plus any tests that need to be ordered which will run you another $60 on the low end. That's nearly half of what you make in a week. So that's not plausible. So, to you, it's an emergency to be seen by an ER doctor so they can give you a proper excuse saying you're not fit to work.
It's not black and white. Most People wouldn't choose to go to the er over seeing an actual doctor. They only see the er doctors when they gave no other choice.
This should be one of the top comments. It's not the patients fault that the health care system is not designed well, or that an inexperienced doctor/nurse diagnosed them wrong.
This video just seems to blame the patients for not having adequate health care options. So many of the comments I've read boil down to "if you're poor: die", and it's so painful to read.
@@dragonfloof5484 its also not the ER's fault that we have 30 patients in the waiting room and everyone expects to be seen as soon as they walk in. The ER only has so much space, they cna't see everyone all at once, so you're gonna have to wait 12 hours. Triage is there to make sure that you aren't in immediate danger, and if they have you wait, than you can wait. things are extremely busy when the er still has to hold patitents from the previous night because the hospital upstairs isn't taking anyone in. Getting mad and blaming the staff, the doctors and the nurses isn't going to help you, it just gets them frustrated at you. I know, I work the front desk of a ER daily. I don't appreciate getting yelled at because someone hasn't been seen in one hour because we have 5 traumas that came in, 15 ems being sent out to Triage, and another 5 people checking in to be seen, all at once.
@@stevenhedge2850 Waiting isn't the issue I'm addressing. It's ER personnel having a clear disdain for patients who don't have any other options, and being dismissive and rude towards patients who they think fit into a certain stereotypes with no intention of actually treating them.
It's not the doctor's fault that the system sucks, but it's their fault if they behave badly, and it's their fault if they refuse to acknowledge that the system sucks, and it's their fault if they diagnose someone incorrectly because they refuse to look at their symptoms.
@@dragonfloof5484 we don't have a disdain. we are just tired of hearing the same complaints every 5 minutes, and people blaming us like we aren't trying. listen, when you have over 30 people yelling at you that they should be treated befroe the person whose been stabbed because they don't have their medication ready as soon as they walk in the door, wouldn't YOU be frustrated at others? I have to repeat my self several times of "you have to wait. we DON'T have the space at this time. it has been a busy day. The front staff does not know when you are going to be seen because hospitals go by acuity, not by how long you have been there.
@@stevenhedge2850 I wasn't referencing 12 hours of waiting in an ER. I'm referring to waiting until you can see a Dr, appointment based. If you're in pain and you know you'll be seen soon, it makes it easier. But if you're in serious pain, and you are told you'll have to wait to make an appointment because it's not an emergency... That's bs. Pain or sickness that prevents you from living out your daily life aka work, caring for children ect IS AN EMERGENCY. You must not have read my original comment even though you've commented under it.
Also, you signed up to work in high stress environments where healing and caring for people was your priority. So, it is your fault for getting rude with people who are in need of help. You'd be asking "about how long?" If you were on excruciating pain too. Most people are willing to wait if they know they'll receive the help and are understanding of there are traumas taking place but y'all don't tell us anything so we assume you're back there chatting and making tiktoks. Most of us have been in a Dr office or er and have waited for hours to be seen because doctors didn't want to get up and work. Empty er's but still waiting for 5+hours to see anyone at all. We're the ones in need, you're the provider. Get that nose out of the air because humility is what makes a good Dr.
I was in a lot of pain and my aunt said we should go to the ER. I panicked because I was terrified they’d be mad I’m taking time away from real emergencies
When I showed up and they did a blood test, they immediately took me to the hospital because it was an actual emergency 😅
Moral of the story is that sometimes going there to check you’re not actively dying is useful
My friend nearly dying from sepsis because they were so adamant about not going to the emergency room
This hits different for me as someone who lives in Quebec , where we have a doctor shortage and legit most people have to go to the ER to see a doctor. Seriously, its a minimum 3year wait to get a family doctor assigned to you
You chose : 6 months or 6000$. Have fun
Takes about that long to track down a primary-care physician in the US too
@@PsylomeAlpha And the doctors never inform the insurance company that they’ve retired so you waste your time trying to get an appointment with them with an answering machine from which no one responds.
@@PsylomeAlpha LOLz no. It's not that long.
Yup NB here. Ive been on a waiting list for a new dr for about 3 years now. All the walk in clinics are booked months in advanced and you have to go to the ER to have anything seen- and bigger issue- the ER has a 20-30 hour wait time currently and people often die waiting here
In England we currently have to wait 6-18 months to see a specialist, sometimes even more.
Boy, western countries are an abomination.
Just got a phone call the other day letting me know it'll be around 18 months till I see a physio for help with my chronic pain, and then got told there could be a 17 month wait on top of that. It's a pisstake
As messed up as the US system is, these stories about NHS always sound awful. Friends in England said their son who has multiple disabilities was run through a battery of tests to figure out the source of some health problems, and then were told they'd get the report in a year. Other countries do a better job than either of us.
@Tracymmo Unfortunately, that's fairly standard. I've been struggling just to get a spare feeding tube due to stock issues and shortages. I had to fight for over a month just to get my regular supply of catheters due to shortages. These are essential medical items that shouldn't be this hard to get. I've been waiting to have my cataract out since 2017. Even "urgent" things are taking months. The system is so broken. At some A&Es you're waiting over 24 hours just to be seen.
When my son was two years old I took him to the emergency room one time due to a fever that wouldn't go down along with his ear piecing howls. We were regulated to a corner to wait. After 45 minutes of my son inconsolably screaming, I finally got up to ask how much longer we would need to wait. The nurse was very dismissive, until my son threw up all over her desk and key board 😂. We were promptly ushered back to a room. Turned out he had a really bad ear infection that wasn't reacting to the antibiotic he was on. The ER doctor was very compassionate. Gave my son something for pain and a new antibiotic. My son made a full recovery and hasn't had anymore ear infections so far.
Reminds me of myself at the age of 23 going to see my GP who had just told me to go home and take paracetamol, until i stood up and promptly vomited in his room. He sent me straight to the ER and called ahead. Turns out it was acute appendicitis (gangrenous).
I always wonder what's going on inside the heads of people like that. Did the nurse think he was faking or did she just not care?
a tried and true method to get them to take you seriously, i had heat stroke and was waiting in the lobby for 3 hours and immediately puked on someone's desk and got the care i needed
you should've had to pay for the mess.
I can't believe America has "primary care" physicians. LMFAO! Useless.
Yes, I can go to a private hospital now in Thailand and be seen
immediately be an ER, and no, they're not a gastro or ENT specialist,
but they can give me medication that helps. THEE ENT specialist can tell
me exactly what's happening in my throat, or a gastro.....but man,
America is just BADDDDDDD.
I have the opposite problem: I will put off going to the doctor, because I don't want to be a problem. It has gotten me into serious trouble. My mom has had to drag me to the doctor just to get something checked out, cause I sometimes refuse to even call them. "It's fine, It's probably nothing, don't worry about it."
I woke up with significant pain last week, I thought I was just period cramps and brushed it off. Within an hour of the pain starting I was doubled over and couldn’t walk, bf called an ambulance and I went to the ER. Kidney stone 😑 I just got discharged from the hospital today but the whole time I kept apologizing to staff for the inconvenience and for the first time EVER they went “no, don’t apologize for this, kidney stone pain can match or be worse than childbirth” (my mother confirmed this) 😅 SO glad I listened to my bf and went to the hospital this time because I thought I was being a wimp
"kidney stone pain can match or be worse than childbirth”
"SO glad I listened to my bf and went to the hospital this time because I thought I was being a wimp"
Funny thing is, apparently any time a _guy_ goes in for kidney stone pain, they're treated as though they're being a wimp and told to just suck it up.
Expecting a doctor to do their fucking job is like expecting your dog to talk.
Yeah but when you’re in pain and have to wait 4 months to see your doctor it feels like an emergency. And yes that’s how long the wait is to see my doctor
Trying to book a dotors appointent is such a gamble. Sometimes they ask if you have time in march next year and other times they book you for later the same day and there is just no way of knowing how long you will have to wait.
I have chronic pain and sometimes it flares up so bad I can't even walk. Having to wait that long for appointment can feel like an emergency because I don't know how I'm supposed to work long enough to make rent. Yet I "don't qualify for disability" tf am I supposed to do then
Spoken like a true American....
I've been on the brink of death from my crohns and colitis and being on chemo pills....ended up waiting for 9 hours at UCLA and stayed for 4 months.
Took 3 ER visits, with known Crohn's not fully controlled, and a full ass tantrum to both physicians and billing from myself and my family to get surgery for a fully scarred section of bowel that was trying to rupture. My surgeon looked at me a few days after and told me I'd have had less than 3 weeks to live if we hadn't fought like we did. I had just turned 18. I still can't go to 2 EDs because I was labeled a drug seeker during that incident. I fucking hate the American med system
@@MamaKat92 the fact that the reaction to the opioid crisis was to make healthcare less accessible and turn away everyone in pain who's symptoms didn't have a super overtly obvious cause is probably one of the most fucked up things I've heard of, addiction is a health problem what the fuck is stopping the medical system from admitting them, giving them the drugs under supervision, and seeing how their body reacts so they can determine whether they need to refer them to addiction treatment or not, opiate withdrawal can kill you, the American healthcare system is fucked (I mean all of them are but especially the US)
So sorry u had to experience that💔 hope ur doing well❤️
@@julesoxana3630 Thank you Jules. Its just something I went through. It taught me patience and to breath through the pain.
I hope your having a wonderful holiday!
@@MamaKat92 I always wonder why nobody in these stories seems to clarify if they contacted the original physicians or their mgmt after the correct diagnosis was made. you know they'll just keep on misdiagnosing this stuff and possibly killing people until someone tells them what the mistake was.
I went blind overnight and the only thing remotely i could find online about was a stroke. So i thought it was an emergency and i went and they ACTUALLY did nothing. My bp and temp were taken. That was it. I was very clearly having a brain issue and I didnt get an mri/ct/bloodwork or any kind of testing done.... Straight up could have been dying and they did nothing....
Oh wait, they referred me to an eye doctor... 5 months later, turns out I have a very serious version of MS 😐 which was figured out by my eye doctor.... Literally if they just giving me an MRI (which they should have) I would have been able to treat it much sooner and avoided a lot of irreversible damage
So, what you're saying is you didn't have an emergency.
How could you find anything online if you were suddenly completely blind??
Before I clicked to see your replies I predicted that you would be mocked because blindness is a spectrum that most doctors don't even recognize. Of course you were. Pathetic cucks😂
No one knows how you feel but you. If you've already made the decision to go, don't leave until you feel you've been given adequate care. It's not your fault
@rdizzy1 they never said completely blind. there are different levels of blindness, but most types of blindness are something that covers a lot of your vision.
Eye, life, or limb is an emergency.
Sounds like you need to sue them.
Doctors always tell us here in Canada to go to the ER so you can get tests done faster and get looked after within a day
Thank you. You know, I live in Thailand and this medical system is unbelievably amazing to the point all arabs from arab nations come here, as well as other rich people. You get everything QUICK. I heard Canada is great, and I'm planning on moving there, but I wouldn't touch my native USA with a stick. Repulsive doctors and nurses
We get that in the US too, though it creates a heavy burden on EDs.
My mom went to the ER because she was having chest pains. (She would double over)They couldn’t figure it out so they sent her home after a bunch of tests. She was finally taken seriously at a different hospital and it turned out her heart was 80% blocked and was on a verge of a full blown heart attack.
Dude, that happened to my grandpa also. Three visits to the ER later they realized it was a heart attack and he had emergency surgery. He is fine now.
Interesting that your Mom got sent home with heart attack symptoms but down below someone's grandfather was taken seriously and helped for his heart. All doctors note this: Take women patients seriously.
@@puggirl415Take note to read properly, too. The comment said it took them 3 VISITS TO THE ER for grandpa to get diagnosed.
😢😭 it's so scarryyy
Bruh this hits differently when you've been in severe pain begging for help and the ER is just like "eh, not my prob." bro HELP me!
Yeah... When I was 10 or 11 my friend's dad died in the ER waiting room. Dunno if traige ignored him or what but apparently they kept bugging the nurses and medical staff and they kept getting told to wait. They were there for like 4 hours
@@enb3810 but he was alive… was he not?
Yup. I got literally kicked out of the emergency room by a nurse who said I was fine and they needed the space. She refused to get a wheelchair. I kept falling on the floor so she kicked me and shouted at me to “get up and get out”. Now even the ambulance drivers know I’m not going anywhere because I’m terrified of the staff at this hospital.
@@ItsViolaRose Nnnnnobody should be literally dumping you on the floor out of a wheelchair and kicking you. Either that didn't happen or you could've gotten that bitch fired on the spot for assault.
@@herecomesmysun What? He's not alive now.
Me when I waited months to go to a specialist for my chest pain TWICE and after doing some tests they just said it's nothing and sent me away: 👁👄👁 well if ita nothing why tf am I in pain
Legit I wish they'd at least offer some suggestions or give you a referral to a different kind of specialist, it's fucking scary being in a ton of pain for no discernible reason
@@butasimpleidiotwizard true, random pains on the lower left side of my chest. Scary af sometimes. I’m sure I’m fine but man. I think it’s literally just my rib cage sitting on my stomach because I slouch.
The specialist told me I was depressed. Depression causes chest pains too.
for me it’s stomach pain, i’ve been vomiting and gasping for air while trying not to shit myself in the ER and they just give me laxatives and send me home
@@jadeeliss1370 sounds like systemic inflammation coupled with something in your gut. The laxatives will help to get whatever it is causing you to backup and puke. Also, being severely backed up can put pressure on your stomach which then lifts up into your lungs, which causes that light headed feeling and gasping for air.
Drink twice as much water, take two days off and make sure to get plenty of super antioxidantsand anti-inflammatory rich foods into you and then start on a guy based diet to prevent whatever caused you those issues in the first place.
People think gut based health is just niche for MLMs to make money off you, until they actually start showing permanent damage to their bodies later in life and need surgery for it
I'm on the wait list at so many doctor's offices. Finding a doctor covered by my insurance that's accepting new patients seems impossible. The ER starts sounding better and better. I haven't seen a doctor in over 6 years and I need some major help.
The worst is when you have emergent symptoms that don’t flare all the time and your doctor can’t see you to see what it’s like, but the emergency doctors don’t care if you tell them it’s related to a chronic condition and they refuse to do any diagnostics or admit you for monitoring. There isn’t anything in between seeing a doctor for a cold and having something that’s going to kill you right now.
THIS. A million times.
This so much. I had been having out of control asthma (it's adult onset so it just started showing - ot was bever diagnosed before even tho i recall symptoms in childhood) and i been told for a year that I'm fine when I'm at the GPs office so they can't help me, meanwhile i kept coughing 24/7 and living was hell. I finally just insisted on my way for a referral and what do you know it's moderate persistent asthma! Who would have thought not breathing is caused by asthma! What an idea!
I mean, isn't the middle ground a family doctor?
They exist, even if I don't have one myself.
You get to see a doctor for a cold? Mine is booked 3-4 weeks out. Cold will have come and gone or escalated to the point that ER makes sense. 🤷🏻♀️
@@ZT1ST why don't you have one?
"This issue is going to require a specialist" is the wooorst thing to hear, it translates pretty directly in my head as "This is something you're just going to have to live with for the rest of your life now." The issue with scheduling doctors appointments is they never line up with the issue, I feel bad for wasting that urologist's time having so many appointments when everything is normal because I have on and off severe urinary urgency. I feel bad wasting that cardiologist's time because my heart skips beats but I can't prove it. I just live like this now It's Fine
Also I have two major marks against me in my record (Was once hospitalised for mental health, and was once prescribed painkillers after a surgery) so getting anyone in the ER to treat me like a human being is damn near impossible, I'd only go there if I were actively dying and even then I'd probably try the urgent care first...
Wait, why would you having painkillers after surgery make you get that red mark?
@@remy_ratking The fact that I took oxy at all. I was given exactly seven pills, just to survive the first three days, but now it's permanently on my record that I took oxy and am potentially seeking more. It has been one full year since then and when I went for my one year post-op, I saw it on the papers I was given afterward, oxy is on my 'recent medications' in bold even though it isn't recent, and let me tell you when I go in for any kind of pain ever, it affects how they treat me.
Almost everyone has been prescribed narcotics before. That isn’t affecting how anyone sees you.
We have an ad here where a patient is on the OR table, a doctor says, "Clear," the staff stands back, but then the Doctor clarifies, "Clear her nose" and sprays a nasal spray up the patient's nose. The ad then suggests people don't clog the ER with non-emergencies and shows a nurse coming to speak with a guy with bloody tea towel around his hand. It's both humorous and effective.
I just worry that some people will get the wrong idea. I've had people in my family with chest pains drive themselves to the hospital because they didn't want to bother anyone (especially paramedics) and turns out they were having a heart attack.
The sad thing is, it’s even worse than that. Frequently, when people get bored at night, for some reason they find the emergency room, the place to go, and, since those without insurance, or those on Medicaid aren’t paying out-of-pocket, they see no reason to not go into the ER, one of the emergency rooms in the town I live is notorious for having those sorts of people filling the ER. I am just grateful we now have more than one choice so we don’t have to utilize that ER anymore.
Where I live, it can literally take months to get in to see your doctor. So, sometimes Instacare or the ED is the only way to go. It may not be an "emergency", but you need the medical attention sooner than 2-3 months out.
Fr bro the medical system is so messed up
This hits different when you live in a rural place, with overworked family doctors, no clinics and you can only go to the ER triage.
Agreed. ERs are very expensive to run. Hospitals should add a 24 hour urgent care next to the ER. There could be a few beds for used sick people released at 5am with no sleep. A clothes supply could be provided to those who need them.
Instead, to get to, say, gastroenterology, you have to *make an appointment at urgent care for a 9-5 appointment Or make an appointment with your PCP and wait 3 weeks THEN get the referral, reach the department front office, and make an appointment that will be 1-2 months away, after which tests or procedures will be scheduled.
It wouldn't hurt to hire enough staff
That's a good idea. Only if they have the space. Here one hospital does this. I love it!
My hospital did have that (was super helpful with my nursing hours too). Unfortunately, after Covid, they got rid of it.
I don't understand why hospitals don't do it.
It would help a pressed ER to be able to redirect patients, while also being close enough so if something is "minor" but ends up being an actual emergency, they're close enough to get the attention they need
I feel bad but maybe 2 to 3 years ago I had the worst panic attack ever and couldn't calm down. My dad didn't know what to do so he brought me to a hospital where they knocked me out for an hour and a half. I feel like most people when they don't know what to do. They try to go to a hospital to get some type of help or diagnosis. I'm sorry for all the people who work at a hospital that had to deal with me that day and probably wasted time.
Most people don’t have time to take off work and need to get “fixed” immediately so they can resume their normal, stressful lives making ends meet.
Most people do have some sick time you’re just generalizing to suit your narrative.
I have a heart arrhythmia, and when I learned going to the ER basically all they would do is monitor my vitals, I bought everything to monitor my vitals at home, including a portable 3 lead monitor.
Rule of thumb. If it's not going to kill you within the next 24 hours we don't care. Go to your cardiologist.
Sometimes it’s definitely easier to go to the ER then to your doctor, it would’ve took longer for me to find out I had cancer if I went to my primary care and then got tested. Went to the ER for something else and they to find it accidentally.
How are u now? Hope ur doing well❤️ so glad they found out
That's why i can't agree with the video because a lot of people do the opposite and avoid getting help because they don't think it's as bad as it really is
If he does instead of calling an ambulance I’ll call that a win. I volunteer as an EMT and the number of people that call for things that aren’t emergencies when there are multiple people present that could drive them to the ER, or urgent care, is amazing.
2:00 AM and your toe has been hurting for a week? You have a car, your wife has a car, your parents that you still live with both have cars, and your five kids all have cars. All are home. So call the ambulance and they can all follow in their own vehicles. That’s how this really works.
This is y the doc at the ER thought I was faking when I had appendicitis. He ordered the cat scan anyway, if I would've waited anymore it would've burst.
Canadian medical system will let you die before they do igire out what is wrong with you.
when i leave the er after that many tests and they find nothing i don’t hold it against them and honestly just thank them for trying so hard. but more often i just sit in the waiting room for 5 hours and don’t even get called back so i give up and leave. one time i was literally having short seizures in and off the whole night and they didn’t take me back
I found cutting a 14x4 inch gash in your leg with a chainsaw dose wonders for waiting times ....still asked me could I fill out this paperwork...... I said yes but someone might need a mop and bucket for the blood pooling on the floor.... Apparently those are the magic words
14×4 inches? Yikes!
@@JackTalyorD Saw a girl with breathing problems go right in as well You don't last long if you can't breathe.
@@harringt100 that's what she said 😁😋😋😋😋
@@jamesphillips2285 or having 800mg of caffeine 45 minutes before will give you a 180 BP and get you taken back straight away.... Until the realise you're there for a STD and not a heart condition
Not gonna lie, I recently went to the ER for a simple ear infection because I don't have a PCP and the only walk-in clinic in town is only open on Sundays, and I wasn't waiting six days and running a risk of it getting into my bones when I already couldn't fully close my jaw because of the inflammation.
That's why i wait till a problem becomes an emergency
If the pain is super intense to the point where it's all you can think about, it kind of does feel like an emergency. My sister was almost sent home before they offered one last test but didn't really want to do it. She took iot and ended up being rushed to the OR instead of being discharged.
What was the test & what ended up being wrong??
I hope she is doing well now!
I went in because I was having severe muscle spasms in my back (new symptom ofc I'm gonna run) I was treated like crap offered no tests and just got told we don't deal with that kind of stuff here see your GP 🙃🙃🙃
Recently after having rapid onset tingling, burning, itching, numbness, and confusion spells, I was referred to the emergency room by an RN. However because I live in a rural area, we had to drive almost 2 hours away, where I then proceeded to lose motor function of my left arm, as well as almost all feeling from my lower back down to my legs. I had to wait 6 hours, only to find out that the emergency room staff forgot to put me on the chart. They then saw me immediately after that, where I was tested to see if I had a stroke, early onset heart attack, aneurysm, and various other things. In total I had to wait 8 hours, just for no answers other than "You're not going to die today"
It is now been two and a half months, and I'm still waiting on my appointment for a neurologist. I'm only 18 years old, and the pills they gave me only partially work. I can't drive, I can't have a job, and I can't even hang out with my friends a lot of the time because of nearly instantaneous loss of feeling my legs and/or arms
Probably nerve damage, something to do with your spine...my opinion. Good luck, hope they run some tests
absolutely sounds like an emergency to me. I'm so sorru
I hope your appointment is soon or time passes quickly! Waiting for an appointment sucks. I'm also suffering from nerve issues, but not as bad as you are. It's frustrating not knowing what is wrong with your body.
@@elizadanu3272 I only just came back to this thread right now.
In the time that has since passed, I have been diagnosed with non-injury related fibromyalgia, and after my diagnosis we ended up finding out the reason that my mom has been suffering so much for the last 10 or so years is also because of fibromyalgia. Before all of this, we had no idea that you could be born with genealogical fibromyalgia. We were under the assumption that you had to be in some form of accident, but that's not the case for us. My mother has fibromyalgia, and she passed it on to me
Her fibromyalgia rears its head in the form of joint pain, extreme fatigue, and restless legs
Well mine manifests in the form of full-blown neuropathy, sleep irregularity, and motor skill issues
Luckily for me, I have since been put on a symptom treatment dosage of gabapentin, which has dramatically reduced my neuropathy, and has greatly improved both my life and my mother's life.
Ever since our proper diagnosis, it's been so much easier to go around day to day understanding that the random pains and aches that we have are not something we are imagining, but rather are a symptom of an ever-changing dynamic disorder that we deal with.
Well it is discouraging to learn that there is no permanent cure for fibromyalgia, it is immensely liberating understanding that it is at least coming from one underlying issue, which gives you that sense of preparation and expectation for things going forward
@@disneybunny45 please feel free to read the response that I just sent to a different commenter on this thread. Your support is immensely appreciated
Considering it sometimes takes up to three months to see a GP here the ER is often used as a last resort.
"Three months"
The VA has entered the chat 🫠
Huh?@@sabrecrafted7409
I'm glad I have a minor injuries and illness like place near me. Like when you are not sure if you aren't sure whether you have broken a foot or not etc. Now they mostly do stuff you used to be able to go to the GP for. Back when you could get an appointment same day, or 1-2 day wait. They follow the priority wait order, so you can be waiting 4+ hours, but its worth it if there is something you need. Plus you feel less embarrassed going there for something that just needs antibiotics than going to an ER. Funny thing is, they are now worse for minor injuries than before things went crazy. Hurt your leg? If it's not broken, it's ligament damage (it wasn't)
@@baby_dino3300 Funny I see your reply today. Just saw on the news today that wait times across the country are getting even longer. :\
I'm an ER nurse and this couldn't be more true. Most patients will get frustrated that we didn't fix their issues, when all we're doing is ruling out actual emergency diagnoses
"Its better to wait 6 to 8 months to attend an appointment that may or may not get canceled last second, and will 99% include you waiting at least an hour after your scheduled time than it is to try to immediately get help"
The emergency room is for emergencies, meaning you are injured or dying in some fashion that cant wait till later. It is not a 24/7 walk in clinic. What happened here is what they are supposed to do. They made sure the person wasnt dying or in imminent danger of dying and probably told him he needed to make an appointment with his doctor instead. Because they need to focus on people in actual immediate danger.
And if you were made to wait 6-8 months to get something scheduled, thats a problem with your doctor being terrible and worthless (or possibly the best in his field and thus crazy busy) Either way, find another one.
@@chrishubbard64a lot of places have shortages, many people have a hard time getting a family dr. Unfortunately the hospital in my town, the ER doubles as a walk in clinic to most people lol. They wait, get their pills and go home.
Or you could just go to urgent care.
Finding doctors are impossible in my area, even a lot of our walk in clinics are being shut down cause doctors are quitting constantly. I have literally no choice but to go to the ER or see the walk in clinic (which are both useless options here) at this point im considering google more helpful than doctors at this point because I’ve been able to help myself faster just diagnosing myself through google than waiting 12 hours in the ER or walk in clinic for them to say my “low blood pressure is caused by nothing and just to drink gateorade”
@@chrishubbard64or maybe they should just fix the problem instead of punting us off to the PCPs every damn time! What do i need to do slice my arm open before going in for intense pain?
Only a student and you've already mastered the art of dismissing patients.
Yeah it's really sad how quickly doctors seem to internalize the idea that they can take out all their stress on patients.
I don’t think it’s dismissing a patient if you’re informing them exactly why they were discharge and why they should see a specialist. That’s a stretch.
@@dontworry9029 they need help there and then. Being told to see a specialist is equivalent to be told to fuck off and hopefully not die. People don't go to the hospital for funzies.
@@dontworry9029in this video he saying chest pains aren't an emergency they are, I got a ct scan at the er that said nothing was wrong and i was healthy at a bmi 15. After finally getting to see my primary weeks later, I was finally diagnosed with the abdominal tear, my primary is literally having to fight to take shit off my record from Miss diagnosis and miss reporting in my record.
All this makes me think of is how my gi tells me to go to the er and urgent care when I have symptoms and have them care for me, which always leads to getting sent home and waiting 2 months to see him
Ha I very recently had this happen to me. Tmi but no bm for 10 weeks. Seems like an emergency to me! But nope ER billed me $15k for doing nothing for me just to be sent to a GI appointment three weeks later. I feel your pain
If a patient is in extreme pain - that IS an emergency. Patients deserve to have docs act like their pain *matters* Just because a person isn't terminal, doesn't mean they're not suffering & in need of help.
As a disabled person with a family full of doctors, this is less common than patients not being taken seriously during emergencies.
Look through the comments and you'll hear countless stories of people with everything from organ failure to heart attacks to ruptured intestines being labelled drug-seeking or anxious before being sent home without treatment or tests of any kind.
Seriously. I get that doctors in the US are overworked and ERs are understaffed, but the patients aren’t at fault for not knowing what’s going on or where they should go for help. Patients who are truly attention-seeking or deliberately misunderstand what a doctor is saying make funny stories, but they’re in the minority compared to the people who go to the ER because they’re having symptoms that legitimately worry them. Even in cases where mental health problems are involved, people need help and education and to be treated with respect. Doctors need to be more aware of the structural issues in the US healthcare system that are causing hospitals to be understaffed and overworked, rather than complaining about patients being the problem.
EXACTLY
bruh i was having seizures (no epilepsy) and they just left me in the waiting room for like 5 hours
Yeah tbh doctors on social media like this tend to come off as out-of-touch and condescending for stuff like this. Just because you've done a bunch of tests and not found anything doesn't make me not in pain. It literally means something is still wrong AND even the doctor doesn't know what it is, AND now the doctor is acting like nothing is wrong while you're still in unexplained pain.
Yep😢
@@sholem_bondyep
Super valid but what's super frustrating is when you try to make an appointment with your PCP and they tell you to go to the ER. Then the ER says "you're not dying today so go see your Primary Care".... go see Primary Care who says... "well, we need this test but our rooms are booked, you need to go to the ER and have them do xyz.."
The sucky part is even if you go to a bunch of specialist, there’s no guarantee that you’ll stop being in pain you’ll just cycle through them until you get to something that works temporarily and then you’ll have to go back again it sucks but it’s life at this point
my abdominal pain like
Shout out to all the times i was forced to suffer for months of pain and sickness because the ER says its not an emergency and I'll be better by the time the specialist appointment arrives, thus leaving me no choice but to endure the death wishing pain.