Pituitary News, Issue 28 - Summer 2003

I have twice been in the position of having very bad vomiting & diarrhoea after a lovely meal out. Being sick in a bucket whilst sitting on the toilet as all erupts is not a pleasant experience and on both occasions, I remember very quickly weakening, losing the ability to think rationally and a feeling of gradually slipping away. A little dramatic you may think, but that’s the only way can describe it

I am lucky in two respects, I was at my parent’s house and Mum knew who to contact in the Foundation for advice.

On the first occasion, I started the vomiting & diarrhoea in the early hours of the morning & soon felt I was drifting down. After a while, Mum called out a very sympathetic GP and at approx 5 am she (the GP) administered the much-needed steroid injection. I immediately felt an improvement and fell into a deep sleep.

The second time this happened to me, it was mid-afternoon on a Sunday and I was first sick at approximately 5 pm. Frequent visits to the toilet, bucket on tow ensued, and I deteriorated rapidly again. This time, I had an injection in my fridge at home but it turned out to be out of date and I’d mislaid the instructions. By 8 pm my Mum and sister had phoned several Foundation contacts, eventually speaking to our Endocrine Nurse. This time however, the advice was different because I didn’t start being sick until 5 pm and had taken two steroid doses earlier in the day so an injection wasn’t seen to be necessary. Had I not been able to keep down the previous doses, I would’ve needed an injection. I was given a dose of liquid Neurofen over two applications, which stopped the sickness and I was then able to sleep.

Two different but similar scenarios, which show just how important it is that you and also someone else in your household, knows what to do in any similar situation and also how to administer an injection. Perhaps it’s time to make that ’learning curve’ appointment with your practice nurse.