ER doctors don't know about WLS

I had a very fun (sarcasm) evening sitting in the emergency department to get checked for dehydration from this stupid stomach virus that just won't go away. It was a good reminder for me that we have to know our stuff and advocate for ourselves as patients because some doctors have no clue what to do with bariatic patients.

Issue 1:

Oral rehydration. Thankfully I had just discussed this with my midwife and knew that the solution contains salt and sugar. The doctor told me he would start with oral hydration. I asked him if what he wanted to give me had sugar in it. He said he didn't know why I was asking that because I can have soda pop, right? Uh, no. Not unless you want to also treat me for dumping syndrome of which I then went through the symptoms. So ya, he ordered water.

Issue 2:

Why can't you get yourself rehydrated? Umm, because my pouch is the size of an egg so drinking water is already a full time job without the fact that everything is coming back up. And refer to point one where my hydration options are rather limited.

Issue 3:

I gave you an antacid because I knew you would have esophageal inflammation after vomiting for that many days. Actually no. I don't. Because I don't really have stomach acid anymore. At least not where it can easily regurgitate to my esophagus. He was further stunned when I told him that when I vomit it's just like the food that went down. That the bile enters the intestines much lower down in my digestive tract.

So ya, I don't really trust your opinions and giving me a gravol and a Zantac doesn't really solve the problem of me vomiting for a week. What should I do going forward? Just keep sipping water. Argh!! Oh, and now I have a stress headache.

PS - if this happens again I will attempt to go to Guelph which is sometimes moderately better about at least consulting with the bariatic surgeons about what to do. Sometimes.

PPS - apologies for all the sarcasm. It was a long night.

It was the same for me when I was dealing with my gall bladder, I had one doctor tell me I don't have a gall bladder because they would have taken it out with my RNY, so after arguing with her, she explained that she is from the USA and they do it automatically due to the higher percentage of WL patients who need it out after RNY.. If the roads weren't so crappy with all the snow we got I was wishing I went to Guelph as well.

Take care, hope you feel better soon.

You are absolutely correct. They haven't got a clue.

I talked to my GP about it and she agreed. They just don't know.

I got a medic alert bracelet and I have made sure that my "In Case of Emergency" contacts know about NSAIDS, sugar etc., etc.

We really have to be on my toes for this.

If I ever have to go to ER, I'm either going to St. Joseph's or Guelph.

So sorry to hear that you are going through all this, I hope that you get relief soon.

I'm pretty sure I read on here somewhere that the hospital in Oshawa has told people that they don't deal with bariatric patients. Crazy!

Good Lord! That is really scary! I had no idea that we were such rare unicorns

If it makes you feel better, I recently discovered a similar lack of knowledge in the ER...the doctors I saw had no idea what PCOS was. They also kept me for 12 hours with abdominal pain and then sent me home saying it was "probably a UTI." The next day I get a call that I had to go back to the hospital ASAP because my appendix was about to burst. Apparently it wasn't quite in the normal spot, so they didn't notice it!

Meg call Guelph and tell them about this and that you are dehydrated. They should be able to set up an IV for you. I went through this with a friend and she would often suffer from dehydration. Sometimes I would take her to the Cambridge ER and at first they didn't have a clue. Guelph seemed much better if you go through the clinic and they will make arrangements on the hospital side. Big hugs.

I'm sorry you went through this, and I hope you'll feel better soon. Why didn't they just give you an IV drip to rehydrate you? When my Mom was dehydrated last year from being sick, they did that right away for her.

I've been lucky so far in the Sault. I had pneumonia at about 3 months post op and the hospital staff were great. The knew about NSAIDs and even tried to find a protein drink for me (but I had brought my own so didn't need it). I was just lucky that I ended up with a doctor on call who knew about bariatric surgery. I bet it could easily have gone the other way with other doctors.

He said he wanted to try oral rehydration first and because I drank about 500ml while I was in there he said he felt I could just continue that. My midwife wanted me to get IV fluids and I don't know why he made it such a big deal.

Might be a southern doc thing as I live way the f*ck up north and have never had a doctor not understand what Roux en Y was. I even had a local surgeon fix my Petersen's hernia and candy cane limb without issue. Not an option for me to drive 10 hours to the nearest bariatric hospital.

I hope you're feeling better soon.

I experienced a doctor recently (when I was on a cruise), who had never heard of Bariatric surgery before. Thank God I went to see him for something that was unrelated to my surgery. I just needed to fill out a form stating if I had had surgeries I had had. So he commented on it and asked me what it was! I found that kind of shocking.

Barb