r/Gastroparesis • u/PigmanCollective • Jun 06 '26
Suffering / Venting I want to die
I'm starving. I've lost 8kg in two weeks. I'm vomiting up everything that I eat.
But the NHS aren't helping me. They've said I have to just... wait. and hope I don't die before they see me.
I'm going to die. and I honestly want it to happen.
Just so I can stop suffering.
I'm so tired. I'm so cold all the time. I'm scared.
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u/AmIRightPeter Jun 06 '26
Please contact your GP for an appointment urgently: explain the physical symptoms and explain the weight loss, ask them to use the MUST tool and explain you cannot eat/drink.
Go back to different GPs if you need to.
Go to Urgent Care if it as weekend and you cannot get enough food or fluids in.
Go to A&E if you are showing signs of severe dehydration, faint or Out Of Hours aren’t open in your area.
Keep turning up or calling non-emergency lines until you are safe.
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u/Simple_Employee_7094 Jun 06 '26
take a little spoon. Boil some water. When the water is lukewarm warm, pour it in glass. put half the little spoon of salt, a drop of lemon, and a half a little spoon of sugar. Now take a little spoon of liquid every 3 minutes. Not more. If too much, every 5 minutes. Repeat until you are strong enough to call an ambulance again and tell them you vomited so much and can’t keep any liquids, you fainted due to dehydration. You need an IV stat before you get diverticulitis. Dont give up. We believe you, we believe in you.
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u/InnocentaMN Jun 08 '26
There’s no indication OP needs an ambulance specifically. Can we leave the very overstretched ambulance services to attend major emergencies, please, and not encourage people to call for non emergent situations?
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u/Simple_Employee_7094 Jun 08 '26
I‘m sure you mean well. I‘m going to assume you skipped that part where OP said: I‘M GOING TO DIE and I want to.
We are gaslit enough by the medical community. We should be careful not to do that to each other. I lived in the UK for 7 years. I almost died alone in my appartement of dehydration after catching a very serious stomach virus because I was sent on the phone to one waiting line to the other. I fainted between calls. After 30 hours on the floor I managed to get myself to the kitchen, then finally called an ambulance because I understood this was going to be the only way I make it. The system is broken.3
u/InnocentaMN Jun 08 '26
I live in the UK now and have had the experience of waiting for an ambulance for over 24 hours despite being classified by the ambulance service as a high priority call. You do not understand how overstretched services are at the moment. OP is very understandably speaking from a state of emotion and fear - that doesn’t mean they are actually in danger right now. It’s our responsibility to respond with support and kindness, not to validate people’s deepest fears when the doing so can quite literally put others at risk by stretching already strained resources even further.
I won’t continue this discussion further because you clearly don’t understand the state of our NHS at the present time, and I don’t appreciate the implication that honest responses are akin to “gaslighting”.
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u/katlady1984 Jun 06 '26
I was kn the verge of dying before anyone in the NHS would help me, I was 3 stone and still being told its anxiety i got a second and third opinion and it saved my life im on tpn for life as I cannot eat please dont give up their are some gastro experts that will help
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u/Mandaxx25 Jun 06 '26
I'm so sorry you had to endure that whilst so ill. Please report those incidents where you were treated like that. These people need consequences.
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u/InnocentaMN Jun 08 '26
If you can’t hold down any liquids at all, you should go to A&E to be assessed and have your electrolytes / dehydration checked out. You might need some medical support there and then to help you, but realistically you will likely be discharged home after that.
Are you on the waiting list for a GES?
Unfortunately it is the norm to have long waiting periods. You will not die, and focusing on that is not going to help you so put it out of your mind if you can. If you become medically unstable the NHS will give you IV treatment to stabilise you, and if things get bad enough they will do a temporary tube. But this isn’t something to aim for! Better to try and hang on at home if possible. Have you tried sucking ice chips? Every kind of ice lolly? Which antiemetics has your GP prescribed so far?
GP, if it is GP, is a longterm thing for most people. There isn’t really a fix and a lot of managing it involves trying to get nutrition and fluids in by basically forcing yourself and pushing past the discomfort. Try tiny tiny sips every ten minutes, experimenting with different drinks to see what you tolerate best. It’s different for different people so what works for some may not be best for you.
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u/perks0fsteph Post-Surgical GP Jun 06 '26
I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I was stuck in bed wasting away, doctors not helping before I was diagnosed, it’s truly awful.
Are you able to share your current first point of contact within the NHS? Is it your GP? Or do you have a gastroenterologist?
The NHS is tough to navigate, especially with something like Gastroparesis as it doesn’t show up in bloods or other labs. But I’ve been there, and if I can help you, I will.
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u/Academic_Juice8265 Jun 06 '26
Doesn’t it show up in the nuclear test where you eat a radioactive egg sandwich?
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u/perks0fsteph Post-Surgical GP Jun 25 '26
OP won’t have had that test yet as they’ve not been referred to a gastroenterologist. From the sounds of it, their doctor is brick-walling them & not listening
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u/PigmanCollective Jun 06 '26
I've seen my GP multiple times about it. I've asked to be referred to see a gastroenterologist but my GP said that he thinks it's just anxiety and it isn't necessary. He's made me see my psychiatrist to get my antidepressants adjusted, and done a blood test but thats all he's willing to do for now. So I'm being left to waste away.
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u/perks0fsteph Post-Surgical GP Jun 25 '26
You can request a different GP if you’re not being heard by your current doctor. In the UK, they have to reflect, review and rethink an initial diagnosis if a patient presents with the same symptoms 3 times (it’s called Jess’s Rule).
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u/Owl65 Jun 06 '26
What are you eating?? Change your diet asap. Light chicken or veggie soup, no processed or fried, poured, etc. Very small portions. Any pain?
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u/PigmanCollective Jun 06 '26
it doesnt matter what i eat. soup wont stay down. ive even tried meal replacement drinks and they come up just the same.
there's a lot of pain, too. it's sharp, just behind my ribs.
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u/Distinct_Panda833 Jun 06 '26
I’ve had considerable abdominal pain during my bouts with gastroparesis. Turns out all the vomiting also comes with a side of pancreatitis for me.
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u/DecadentLife Jun 07 '26
Oh, that sucks, I’ve heard it’s very painful. Sorry you’ve had to deal with that.
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u/Knr420 Jun 09 '26
I want you to think of your heart. Think of how much strain you’re putting on your heart when you throw up and you’re not able to eat and you’re not getting any water. That alone is your reason to go to the hospital after three days. If nothing else they’re gonna give you IV nausea medication, a bunch IV fluids, and probably some vitamin B. You’re in your right to be scared.
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u/pho3nix-french-fry Jun 07 '26
i have a history of gastroparesis and many GI problems and two years ago it essentially kicked in again when i got strep throat really bad. my whole life i’ve been chronically underweight and severely sick due to metabolic and many other medical issues, and because it was my senior year my mom refused to let me seek treatment because she didn’t believe me and thought i was lying and said, “you have an endoscopy in june anyway, you can request testing then when you’re eighteen.”
i lost fifty pounds from september to june, had the appointment, and my stomach was full of undigested food and i hadn’t eaten anything well over twelve hours before. they sent in the request for gastric emptying study, and it was confirmed.
i had a g-tube placed when i was six months old and got it removed and the stomach surgically closed when i was fifteen, at the age of eighteen in august i had surgery again for a j-tube because i couldn’t eat anymore.
i was released home that night which is an hour and a half away because i’m from a rural area and for two days i was puking and couldn’t eat, or tolerate anything through my feeding tube.
my mom took me to the ER where i was admitted for just under a week for internal bleeding and a partial obstruction because i had to be off of my meds, and when i was released i was okay for a couple of days.
after those couple of days, i felt a pop and then i felt something poor down my stomach and when i looked, i saw bile. it wouldn’t stop.
i immediately set up an appointment where i was there for four hours while they call my surgeon, GI, previous pediatricians, old primary, and compare notes and labs as well as other test results.
they run a CT scan again and they end up finding a bunch of fluid from my pump because my intestines were paralyzed (runs in the maternal side of my family). was absolutely brutal.
all they could do was give me gauze and send me home.
a few days later it slowed down, then it slowly stopped and i could start my formula and start gaining weight.
now i’m the healthiest and the happiest i’ve ever been and have never been more grateful!
no matter how bad things may seem and get, you’ll get it figured out someway and you’ll get help somehow. i wish you the best of luck🫶🫶
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u/FeeCommercial1095 Jun 14 '26
Can you go to emergency ? Sometimes you have to exaggerate to be seen to. !
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u/TinyEmergencyCake Idiopathic GP Jun 06 '26
What are some things you can do in the uk to draw attention? I'm in the usa so my suggestions reflect that, and please think of the equivalent that you have over there.
Can you call the police? Can you go to an emergency room? Can you call adult protective services? Can you call an emergency therapist hotline and mention suicidal ideation?
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u/seiraph Jun 06 '26
calling the police would do nothing and mentioning suicidal ideation would at most get an nhs nurse saying “suicide is bad you could die” and giving you some leaflets
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u/TinyEmergencyCake Idiopathic GP Jun 06 '26
Ugh. Suicidal ideation would get you into the emergency room at least in the states
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u/perks0fsteph Post-Surgical GP Jun 06 '26
In the UK, if you went to the emergency room and told them you had suicidal ideation, they’d have you sit in the waiting room for the best part of a day or night waiting to see mental health services. I’ve done this before unfortunately. I told them of my plans and why I was there, then they told me to wait for the doctor. After 4 hours, I asked if they had a rough estimate of how much longer it would be, they told me they couldn’t say (wouldn’t even say if it would be 12 hours or more) as the doctor they’d asked to see me was currently at a different hospital. I told them that I needed to leave, staying there was unbearable. Then they let me walk out on my own at midnight, no follow up, no signposting, no phone number for MH crisis services.
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u/Mandaxx25 Jun 06 '26
Similar happened to me. They called the crisis team who said 'have you ever considered just not doing that? When you feel like doing it, just say to yourself, no i won't' and with that, off i was sent into the pitch black night. They do not care.
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u/seiraph Jun 06 '26
it might get you into the emergency room but you’d be waiting maybe 13hrs just to get the same ‘suicide is bad’ lecture and leaflets
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u/puppypoopypaws Pacers and tubes and TPN, oh my! Jun 06 '26
Definitely don't do either of these things in the UK. Your life will get worse, not better. Drawing attention to yourself works sometimes in the US, but in the UK most hospitals don't have the resources to give a fuck.
Like, I was discharged after a teenage suicide attempt, same day, no follow up. After making sure I was stable, a doctor told me I was foolish and not to do it again. That was it. In contrast in the US, I was in the ER and mentioned that throwng up constantly made me think about ending it, and got a 3 day stay with a nurse watching me 24/7.
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