The Dr that told me about the metabolism of codine was a genetics expert. The various comments made just show that we are all different  and react in different ways. For example my wife can barely tolerate paracetamol, almost knocks her out! There is work going on to personalise a lot of treatments depending on your genetics.
I have been victim of two ridiculous instances of NHS foolishness in the past week.
About 15 days ago I had a colonoscopy to investigate bowel cancer. Fortunately not, just three pesky polyps which were removed and job done. See you in three years. Then about five days later I got a phone call saying I had an appointment for a colonoscopy.I laughed and said they were too late; I had been comprehensively investigated. But no, this was a supplementary colonoscopy, a follow up to the first.I queried it but the person was adamant that I had a repeat appointment and the prep kit was in the post.
Bloody hell. Those benign polyps were obviously not benign at all and how was I going to be able to be my wifeâs carer when she is coping with major cancer worries of her own. For 40 minutes I phoned various GP and hospital contacts, eventually getting an admission that it was all a clerical error. How many people would have accepted this appointment at face value, would have gone on a three day white food diet, would have taken the vile preparation liquid, would have fasted for 20 hours, would have made a 50 mile round trip to the hospital, cadging a lift, only then to be told.âOops. Sorry. Our mistake.â
Bowel cancer out of the way, prostate cancer is now taking its place. My numbers are higher than they should be so my GP is referring me to one of the Leicester hospitals for an MRI scan and tests. This afternoon I got a text from the booking team.
â You are being referred by Uppingham Surgery ⊠An appointment is booked for you as shown below
Tuesday 8 August, 3.10 pm, Glenfield Hospital ⊠(and then) PATIENT MUST NOT ATTEND ⊠This information is provided for people attending appointments  but PLEASE DO NOT ATTEND as it is NOT an actual appointment. It goes in to say if you do turn up there may be no clinical staff on duty so wait for a letter or phone call.Â
What madness is this? My Italian friend Pino used to say âPity the poor foreigner who lives in England.â He was talking about spelling quirks and phrasal verbs but I think NHS bureaucracy would drive him nuts as well.
Thank you for that insight @punkdoc. My system does not react well to stimulants. Decongestants, caffeine etc. I don't have an allergic reaction and die obviously but I take a while to come down from the ceiling and feel dreadful while I'm up there. The adrenalin at the dentist made my life a misery for over thirty years and my teeth a mess as I got into such a state. I was given both diazepam and temazepam to deal with my anxiety before and during appointments. Thankfully I eventually found a dentist who knew what she was doing and tried me NA. It was and still is amazing. I take decongestants before flying and put up with the consequences as sinuses trump 'night before finals exam anxiety' in those circumstances. Bottom line...I avoid stimulants. Don't even get me started on blue M&Ms.
I took my mum for her follow up to the cataract operation. This one didn't improve things at all and will need to be lasered when it settles down. The letter she had making the appointment said that all future appointments will be made by email. They are going paper free. This despite the fact my 90 year old mother doesn't have internet. The eye department is sending this out to people who are practically blind, and probably only focus on the date , time and place.
I've only taken dihydrocodeine twice. It did the job, cleared a dreadful migraine I had for days, but it leaves me feeling all floaty. I only take co-codamol if I can't sleep and the Ibuprofen haven't worked. They put me to sleep alright, for most of the next day. In Sheffield we had an addict (sorry we are supposed to call them service users) who was taking 36 dihydrocodeine tablets a day.(Don't try this at home folks.) On daily pick up and would try to con more if she got the chance. I was amazed that she wasn't dead from overdose let alone standing in front of me.
Thatâs really weird, @plant pauper. There have been dental local anaesthetics around for many, many years, either with an alternative to adrenaline or just adrenaline free ( the numbness doesnât last as long though, so not always so useful) Adrenaline containing local anaesthetics are not recommended for patients on certain medications, in the very rare event that the local anaesthetic is injected into a blood vessel, ( again very rare, as there are several safeguards to stop that happening ) and as @punkdoc says, you have lots of adrenaline in you anyway. Just can have an effect if you get an extra shot of it all in one go. Very upsetting for you that you had problems for so long.
@Ergates you know those loyalty/promiscuity cards that you get in coffee places where your tenth one is free? When it came to my free one the lady always asked if I wanted large since it was free. My colleague and long time bessy always said "no she doesn't...you don't have to work with her!!!". đł
The saga/farce of my wife's hospital stay continues. A doctor from the orthopaedic department came to see her on Monday and said they were happy and she could go home as we had the commode. I think I said previously that we didn't and still haven't! We also questioned that the dressings hadn't been looked at or changed since the operation on Wednesday and the doctor said they would be done before my wife came home. Today my wife asked the nurse why nothing had been done and she said the dressing normally stays on until the first outpatients appointment. By that time it will have been on for 2 1/2 weeks. When my wife repeated what the doctor had said, she was told they haven't been able to get hold of anybody! I'm going in shortly and will be pushing to get her home. We said from the outset that my wife was happy to stay upstairs, with access to the bathroom until the commode arrives, but they seem to be ignoring that. The physio's have said she is handling the walker extremely well so they have no concerns about her using it at home.
The saga/farce of my wife's hospital stay continues. A doctor from the orthopaedic department came to see her on Monday and said they were happy and she could go home as we had the commode. I think I said previously that we didn't and still haven't! We also questioned that the dressings hadn't been looked at or changed since the operation on Wednesday and the doctor said they would be done before my wife came home. Today my wife asked the nurse why nothing had been done and she said the dressing normally stays on until the first outpatients appointment. By that time it will have been on for 2 1/2 weeks. When my wife repeated what the doctor had said, she was told they haven't been able to get hold of anybody! I'm going in shortly and will be pushing to get her home. We said from the outset that my wife was happy to stay upstairs, with access to the bathroom until the commode arrives, but they seem to be ignoring that. The physio's have said she is handling the walker extremely well so they have no concerns about her using it at home.
It must be so frustrating!! Will they, won't they, have they, haven't they ........ How's she going to manage to climb the stairs with a walker?
After surgery on her mouth my wife had 70 staples in her neck (I counted them while she was dozing) and some were infected. For three consecutive days the registrar asked the nurses to clean the infected sites but they never did. It is another example of shabby nursing care she has received while in hospital.
When my mum had her stoma (caused but a botched hysterectomy) I stayed with her from 2 - 9 so could look after her, Â one day I was helping her change the bag and noticed an angry mark about half inch wide, Â all around the opening, Â I called the nurse and said it was infected, Â she asked how I knew that, Â I replied, Â Because I can see it! She called another nurse who was equally as âbaffledâ. She drew a line with a felt tip pen and said theyâll look again another day.Â
The next day, Â I found the doctor, Â he looked , Â took her straight down to theatre where they removed a length of gauze/bandage about 3â long. That is not to due lack of funds. Â Thatâs just shoddyness. Â That was way back in 2003. Seems theyâre no different, in fact itâs much worse.Â
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.Â
Posts
About 15 days ago I had a colonoscopy to investigate bowel cancer. Fortunately not, just three pesky polyps which were removed and job done. See you in three years. Then about five days later I got a phone call saying I had an appointment for a colonoscopy.I laughed and said they were too late; I had been comprehensively investigated. But no, this was a supplementary colonoscopy, a follow up to the first.I queried it but the person was adamant that I had a repeat appointment and the prep kit was in the post.
Bloody hell. Those benign polyps were obviously not benign at all and how was I going to be able to be my wifeâs carer when she is coping with major cancer worries of her own. For 40 minutes I phoned various GP and hospital contacts, eventually getting an admission that it was all a clerical error. How many people would have accepted this appointment at face value, would have gone on a three day white food diet, would have taken the vile preparation liquid, would have fasted for 20 hours, would have made a 50 mile round trip to the hospital, cadging a lift, only then to be told.âOops. Sorry. Our mistake.â
Bowel cancer out of the way, prostate cancer is now taking its place. My numbers are higher than they should be so my GP is referring me to one of the Leicester hospitals for an MRI scan and tests. This afternoon I got a text from the booking team.
â You are being referred by Uppingham Surgery ⊠An appointment is booked for you as shown below
Tuesday 8 August, 3.10 pm, Glenfield Hospital ⊠(and then) PATIENT MUST NOT ATTEND ⊠This information is provided for people attending appointments  but PLEASE DO NOT ATTEND as it is NOT an actual appointment. It goes in to say if you do turn up there may be no clinical staff on duty so wait for a letter or phone call.Â
My system does not react well to stimulants. Decongestants, caffeine etc. I don't have an allergic reaction and die obviously but I take a while to come down from the ceiling and feel dreadful while I'm up there.
The adrenalin at the dentist made my life a misery for over thirty years and my teeth a mess as I got into such a state. I was given both diazepam and temazepam to deal with my anxiety before and during appointments. Thankfully I eventually found a dentist who knew what she was doing and tried me NA. It was and still is amazing.Â
I take decongestants before flying and put up with the consequences as sinuses trump 'night before finals exam anxiety' in those circumstances.
Bottom line...I avoid stimulants. Don't even get me started on blue M&Ms.
Will they, won't they, have they, haven't they ........
How's she going to manage to climb the stairs with a walker?
That is not to due lack of funds. Â Thatâs just shoddyness. Â That was way back in 2003. Seems theyâre no different, in fact itâs much worse.Â