wednesday-12 august arounf 9pm ish
I recently came to the Emergency Department at Fiona Stanley Hospital in a wheelchair. My whole body was shaking so badly that the team initially thought I might be having a seizure. I couldn’t breathe properly, my eyes kept closing, and I had an extremely severe headache.
The nurses took me in straight away, and I honestly can’t thank them enough for how kind and caring they were. A special thank you to the nurse who helped me change into the hospital gown. She had blonde hair and glasses, and unfortunately I didn’t catch her name, but I will always remember how kind she was.
I also want to say a huge thank you to Dr Nick Kleithy, the Junior Medical Doctor who looked after me. He was so kind, patient and caring. He even used ultrasound to help insert the IV into my arm because it was difficult. I really appreciated how gentle and reassuring he was when I was so unwell.
The next day, I was discharged and diagnosed with what was described as a very severe migraine episode. I was advised to stay well hydrated and was told to return to the ED or contact my GP if the symptoms returned.
Unfortunately, my headache returned the following day. I called the ED and was advised that I could come back, but that I might have to wait around six hours. At the time, I honestly didn't feel capable of doing that.
At that moment i couldnt remeber anything but once i got home i recalled that I had already experienced two similar episodes where the pattern was headache → vomiting → very low blood pressure → fainting. This most recent episode was by far the worst.
I really want to get to the bottom of what is happening and have it properly investigated by a specialist. I’m now wondering what the best pathway is. Do I need to go through my GP for a neurologist referral, even if the public waiting time could be a year or more? Is there another pathway that could allow me to be assessed sooner?
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