Emergency Room

[lotusgem]

This question goes out to those of you who have accidentally ingested gluten and have then made a trip to the emergency room because of extreme pain. I've read this scenario numerous times on the message board, yet, it only just occurred to me to wonder what, if any, treatment is administered at the hospital. Can they actually do anything for someone in this situation?

Paula

[MySuicidalTurtle]

I sometomes wish doctors could give you something to take at home. Ow, it can hurt.

[flagbabyds]

if it hurts so much you can go to the ER and they can give you anti-nausea pills and such, sometimes the pain can be from dehydration because you are getting rid of so much stuff, so they will give you IVs and that can make you feel better.

[KaitiUSA]

Before I went gluten free I was in there 4 or 5 times for IV's and they would give me a few of them then release me. I felt so much better after getting pumped with IV's...of course at this point I was undiagnosed and had no clue what was wrong.

After I went gluten free I haven't had to go back there. There have been times when I have been glutened and almost felt like I needed to go but I always was able to hold out. IV's really do help though I can say that...if I get glutened now and a reaction gets really bad I will go to this place we found that will give you IV therapy.

[cdford]

The times it has happened to me they gave me IV phenergan and demerol until the gastro symptoms and pain were under control. It usually only takes a couple of hits and then they send me home with darvocet and phenergan tablets to get through the next few days. Once last year it took four days in the hospital to get it under control to where I could hold down mashed potatoes and juice. I hope to never repeat that experience again.

[cdford]

Oh yes, and remember to be sure they clearly mark your chart to verify gluten free meds with the pharmacy. I also carry a letter with me stating that.

*****

If you have children, be sure you have with you an authorization and phone numbers for someone to take care of your children or they will be placed with Social Services (DFACS or whatever they call it in your state) until you get out of the hospital.

*****

I found that one out the hard way when it took my husband more than 15 minutes to get to us. The ambulance drivers are often required by law to call them in for minor children even if there is someone the kids know there with you. I was too sick to contact anyone and luckily we were at a pharmacy where they knew us well and they contacted my husband for us.

[anewsprue]

Just before I was diagnosed I was in the ER with extreme pain, before they could do any testing they had to give me some pain killer IV, wish I knew what it was becasuse it really helped. It would be nice to have pill form on hand at home.

[plantime]

It seems to me that painkillers, antinausea, antidiarrheal, and fluids is all they can do to help. They have stronger meds at the ER than we can get OTC, so it does help to alleviate the symptoms. I'm not sure that having the meds in pill form would help us, though, since the problem is in the intestines.

[lotusgem]

Thank you, everybody! I just had no idea. Good advice, Donna, on looking after the kids. That would be so scary for them, both to have to see mom go away in an ambulance and then for them to be taken out of the family setting! Well, I hope that none of you has need of the emergency room again.

Take care.

Paula

[cdford]

Yeah, I don't which scared me more--the nasty neurological symptoms I was having or the thought of my kids under the jurisdiction of the state for any period of time!

[Generic]

They also give steroids, it actually really helps aleviate the reaction.

[Noneformethanks]

I got glutened big time in December after a visit to Rubio's Baja Grill (basically, I found out later, that the only gluten-free items on the menu are the black beans and lettuce). I was in such pain the next day that I could hardly walk and couldn't stop crying.

Walk-in clinic sent me to the ER, where I told them I thought it was a reaction to gluten. They were convinced otherwise; thought it was diverticulitis (sp?). Started an IV, mprphine, and I got a CAT scan, which of course, showed nothing. Six hours and 3 doses of morphine later, I wasn't any better.

Finally, the nurse decided to try another opiate, fentenal, and viala' the relief was nearly instant. Although, I hurt like I'd been sucker punched for another week.

I learned for the ER dr. that the majority of people in there for abdominal pain are sent home without a diagnosis. I'm thinking that perhaps a simple little blood test for celiac disease would seem like common sense, afterall they are already doing a CBT.

I hope never to relive that experience, but if I do, I'm asking for the fentenal first!

Barbara

[lotusgem]

Well, thank you for MORE interesting replies! Barbara, you answered another question that had been running through my mind, which is, do doctors take you at your word when you inform them that you are having a gluten reaction. I suppose that the response is different with each doctor, but since the medical profession in the U.S. seems to be largely ignorant of Celiac Disease, it wouldn't be surprising for them to ignore and go off in another direction, entirely. I'm glad that you finally got relief.

Paula

[cdford]

Once you have it on your hospital's medical records that you are celiac disease, they tend to ask if it is a typical reaction and, if so, treat it as such. Otherwise, you can count on them questioning everything and writing you off. My symptoms take such a specific pattern when I get into something that there is no question anymore. They just hit me with IV phenergan and some demerol without question. It has happened once each of the last two years and the last time it took three hospital trips to get it under control. They kept sending me home and it would flare back up again once the drugs got out of my system.

[pmrowley]

Just a note; if you DO end up in the ER in the United States, make damn sure they don't hook you up to a Dextrose drip. They do not monitor for gluten-based dextrose sources here.

-Pat

[celiac3270]

What do you mean? Dextrose is always gluten-free because it's sugar. Do you mean dexTRIN which can be made from corn or wheat?