I was shitting blood, turned grey, and fainted in public. I did go the hospital. They literally said “idk” and sent me home with a 4000$ bill. It kept happening.
Went to a specialist that also resulted in a literal “idk”, and they wouldn’t clear a colonoscopy because I am “too young” and “don’t have a family history.” I was begging them to figure it out because this was a fucking nightmare. Nope. At least the bill was 400$ this time around.
It kept happening for over a year at random. Actually terrifying.
FINALLY, I put myself on a diet of oatmeal and water for a month and slowly introduced new foods every week. I was curious to know if maybe certain foods triggered it?
Turns out: yes. I triggered a reaction using one of my favorite foods/ingredients. No idea why, but I had developed some kind of severe intolerance to it. And I had to figure it out myself.
Tell that to my dog. Granted that sentient trash compacter eats anything and everything and somehow hasn’t done more than barf up a sock every once in a while
Yeah we’ve largely accepted that we will one day come home and find her stomach has finally met it’s match. With young kids in the house there’s only so much we can do to stop her from eating anything and everything she can
I’m very sorry that you went through that. I know it sucks with the American healthcare $ystem, but you are always allowed to seek a second opinion and any provider that is opposed to that is a bad provider and you shouldn’t see them again anyways.
One thing to keep in mind about the ER though, is that they’re there to rule out anything that is going to kill you quickly, and if you didn’t lose enough blood to drop your hemoglobin count (a measure of how many red blood cells you have), it is perfectly within the standard of care for them to discharge you and tell you to follow up with your primary care physician or a specialist. The ER has a lot of resources, but not enough resources to fully diagnose every possible problem. They can make sure you’re not on death’s doorstep, and stabilize you if you are, but beyond that, they’re pretty strapped for resources and staffing which make it hard to fully work up every mystery diagnosis.
Unfortunately, a solid diagnosis can be really hard to find and there are a lot of diseases and conditions that require more testing than can be completed in the ER. Part of why the ER is expensive is because the tests they do get come back almost immediately, but they very rarely order the tests that take a long time anyways. Expediency and staffing are the main contributors to the cost of emergency care.
With the example of your case, how would the ER get you the diagnosis of a food intolerance without spending weeks on an elimination diet? There are some allergies that can be tested for, but that testing involves injecting a sample of the offending agent under the skin and watching to see if it causes irritation… but allergies and food intolerances are not the same thing and the only way to test for food intolerances is an elimination diet. For the allergy testing, the ER doesn’t have the samples to do the subcutaneous injections. It’s really only allergy specialists that have those available.
how would the ER get you the diagnosis of a food intolerance without spending weeks on an elimination diet?
They sent me out without literally any clue as to what it was. My body felt like a ticking tine bomb, and I was terrified it would happen again. And it did. Several times. I had no idea it was an intolerance until nearly a year later. My weight kept yoyo-ing and I lost almost 30lbs in 2 months. I was terrified of my own body.
No medical professional told me about the elimination diet or even that it could have been food-related. I got desperate enough to try it on my own after my sister was talking some shit about “cleansing toxins” and mentioned it. I looked it up and did it on my own accord.
I get that ER is for emergencies, sure, but I left with zero answers and didn’t have access to another specialist, as they’re at least an hour and half drive away from my town. And VERY full. Not everyone has access to a second opinion.
This is true and the healthcare access problem is more than just cost. If you’re an hour and a half away from any specialists, then the ER you went to likely doesn’t have access to set up those referrals. I have worked in both metropolitan and rural medical systems, and the biggest problems in rural healthcare are almost always access-based. If a hospital/ER is not in the same medical group as a specialist, they can’t put in emergency referrals to that specialist, and I have worked in rural hospitals that don’t even always have imaging services available. There’s an MRI on a trailer that gets brought around to the various hospitals in the group meaning that each hospital has one day a week or one day every other week where an MRI is available. The other option a small, rural ER has is to call EMS to transfer you to another hospital with more resources, but if your insurance doesn’t like the reason they give, you end up on the hook for that 90 minute ambulance ride. Small community hospitals are really between a rock and a hard place when it comes to connecting patients with resources while trying to avoid unnecessary expenses.
The best advice I have for anyone in a rural area with poor healthcare access is to establish care with a family physician for primary care because, most of the time, the primary care physician is the one that actually gets to the bottom of things or coordinates the referrals for specialists. If you have a standing relationship with a physician, it’s a lot easier to make an appointment and they have a baseline to work from as opposed to starting from scratch like an ER physician has to.
I stay on a diet and then just out of seemingly no reason will get symptoms.
Well most of them are gone now but like today I had something which I was allergic to but no idea what. Oh wait perhaps it was the tomato. But then the delay would’ve been like weirdly long.
Anyways it’s a bitch.
Sometimes I really enjoy making food but then with all these reactions, sometimes I’m share Captain Holt’s opinion
I was shitting blood, turned grey, and fainted in public. I did go the hospital. They literally said “idk” and sent me home with a 4000$ bill. It kept happening.
Went to a specialist that also resulted in a literal “idk”, and they wouldn’t clear a colonoscopy because I am “too young” and “don’t have a family history.” I was begging them to figure it out because this was a fucking nightmare. Nope. At least the bill was 400$ this time around.
It kept happening for over a year at random. Actually terrifying.
FINALLY, I put myself on a diet of oatmeal and water for a month and slowly introduced new foods every week. I was curious to know if maybe certain foods triggered it?
Turns out: yes. I triggered a reaction using one of my favorite foods/ingredients. No idea why, but I had developed some kind of severe intolerance to it. And I had to figure it out myself.
You can’t just not say what it was
Green onions.
Oh nooo that’s so good, is it just green ones?
Ye! It’s very strange. I haven’t noticed an effect from standard white/yellow onions or anything. Just green onions.
Ever since I cut them out of my diet, I’ve never had an issue since.
I did love green onions… but I also love not shitting blood and passing out in front of strangers.
Huh, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as green onions. I’ve only heard of red and white before.
edit: wait, looked it up. Apparently green onions are what we call “scallions” where I’m from.
I prefer passing out in front of strangers and then shitting blood personally. Try it in that order you may be able to enjoy green onions again!
Tempting. Veeeeery tempting.
It was definitely something weird that everyone would tell them was the obvious thing.
“I just like dipping my fries in crude oil. What of it?”
“I had recently switched from salt on my tomatoes to crushed glass for the extra crunch.”
Probably chicken bones. I’ve heard of people who like eating them have serious issues.
Do not eat bones. Seriously people, I can’t stress this enough!
Not many chickens where he lives I’d guess. Maybe it’s fish bones? (His username is SharkEatingBreakfast… and Im explaining a dumb joke… Fuck)
I don’t eat chicken bones on the regular, if at all.
But turns out it was green onion.
My condolences! I love green onion! That’s a really weird food reaction!
Tell that to my dog. Granted that sentient trash compacter eats anything and everything and somehow hasn’t done more than barf up a sock every once in a while
Your dog may be fine 99% of the time but one day you could wind up with a very expensive vet bill!
Don’t let the dog eat garlic or onion, it’s poisonous to most animals. Not sure about after heat treatment, but I wouldn’t risk it
When it comes to that, just stop feeding her green onions.
Yeah we’ve largely accepted that we will one day come home and find her stomach has finally met it’s match. With young kids in the house there’s only so much we can do to stop her from eating anything and everything she can
Aw man, one of my favorite parts of chicken wings is eating the marrow on the ends :(
You can eat the cartilage and the marrow. That’s fine. Just don’t eat the bones. You can’t digest them and they’ll tear up your intestines!
Broken glass
I’m very sorry that you went through that. I know it sucks with the American healthcare $ystem, but you are always allowed to seek a second opinion and any provider that is opposed to that is a bad provider and you shouldn’t see them again anyways.
One thing to keep in mind about the ER though, is that they’re there to rule out anything that is going to kill you quickly, and if you didn’t lose enough blood to drop your hemoglobin count (a measure of how many red blood cells you have), it is perfectly within the standard of care for them to discharge you and tell you to follow up with your primary care physician or a specialist. The ER has a lot of resources, but not enough resources to fully diagnose every possible problem. They can make sure you’re not on death’s doorstep, and stabilize you if you are, but beyond that, they’re pretty strapped for resources and staffing which make it hard to fully work up every mystery diagnosis.
If I’m going to be charged 4000$, I want a fucking diagnosis.
Unfortunately, a solid diagnosis can be really hard to find and there are a lot of diseases and conditions that require more testing than can be completed in the ER. Part of why the ER is expensive is because the tests they do get come back almost immediately, but they very rarely order the tests that take a long time anyways. Expediency and staffing are the main contributors to the cost of emergency care.
With the example of your case, how would the ER get you the diagnosis of a food intolerance without spending weeks on an elimination diet? There are some allergies that can be tested for, but that testing involves injecting a sample of the offending agent under the skin and watching to see if it causes irritation… but allergies and food intolerances are not the same thing and the only way to test for food intolerances is an elimination diet. For the allergy testing, the ER doesn’t have the samples to do the subcutaneous injections. It’s really only allergy specialists that have those available.
They sent me out without literally any clue as to what it was. My body felt like a ticking tine bomb, and I was terrified it would happen again. And it did. Several times. I had no idea it was an intolerance until nearly a year later. My weight kept yoyo-ing and I lost almost 30lbs in 2 months. I was terrified of my own body.
No medical professional told me about the elimination diet or even that it could have been food-related. I got desperate enough to try it on my own after my sister was talking some shit about “cleansing toxins” and mentioned it. I looked it up and did it on my own accord.
I get that ER is for emergencies, sure, but I left with zero answers and didn’t have access to another specialist, as they’re at least an hour and half drive away from my town. And VERY full. Not everyone has access to a second opinion.
This is true and the healthcare access problem is more than just cost. If you’re an hour and a half away from any specialists, then the ER you went to likely doesn’t have access to set up those referrals. I have worked in both metropolitan and rural medical systems, and the biggest problems in rural healthcare are almost always access-based. If a hospital/ER is not in the same medical group as a specialist, they can’t put in emergency referrals to that specialist, and I have worked in rural hospitals that don’t even always have imaging services available. There’s an MRI on a trailer that gets brought around to the various hospitals in the group meaning that each hospital has one day a week or one day every other week where an MRI is available. The other option a small, rural ER has is to call EMS to transfer you to another hospital with more resources, but if your insurance doesn’t like the reason they give, you end up on the hook for that 90 minute ambulance ride. Small community hospitals are really between a rock and a hard place when it comes to connecting patients with resources while trying to avoid unnecessary expenses.
The best advice I have for anyone in a rural area with poor healthcare access is to establish care with a family physician for primary care because, most of the time, the primary care physician is the one that actually gets to the bottom of things or coordinates the referrals for specialists. If you have a standing relationship with a physician, it’s a lot easier to make an appointment and they have a baseline to work from as opposed to starting from scratch like an ER physician has to.
What was the allergy, out of curiosity?
I’m figuring out my own allergies. Atm on a GFCF diet. Seems to be working somewhat.
Green onion.
Just green onion? I tried allium exclusion for a while. So green onions give you allergies, but like, garlic doesn’t?
Correct. It still baffles me a bit.
Yeah figuring out mine is a bitch.
I stay on a diet and then just out of seemingly no reason will get symptoms.
Well most of them are gone now but like today I had something which I was allergic to but no idea what. Oh wait perhaps it was the tomato. But then the delay would’ve been like weirdly long.
Anyways it’s a bitch.
Sometimes I really enjoy making food but then with all these reactions, sometimes I’m share Captain Holt’s opinion