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Elysium · Aug 31, 2009, 12:36 AM

(((((Thunder & Husband)))))

I am a Critical Care Nurse....and a good one!!!

If your husbands abdomen is distended and he is experiencing nausea and/or vomiting with a history of Crohn's, he needs to be admitted to the ER for an eval now....sooner than ASAP. It could be that his Crohns is just extremely exacerbated right now, but these are also signs/symptoms of his bowels shutting down and if he has any fever, this could also be a sign of sepsis or bowel infarction.

The vomiting can lead to severe dehydration and throw off his chemicals like sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium which are all very dangerous things to mess with and could cause heart arrythmias which could be fatal.

If he is having chest pain with this, that is not good either. More than likely this chest pain is referred pain from his distended abdomen, but it needs to be checked out now.

My Nursing advice to you is get him to the ER. Do not let him eat or drink anything as this could cause him further discomfort and problems. He needs an eval by GOOD Doctors and Nurses and needs bowel rest and medication.

So what if he doesn't want to go. Call 911 and tell them he's having chest pain with nausea and vomiting and they will come and take him to the ER. Just because he's making sense doesn't mean he's thinking clearly. Take charge.

I'm sorry if this scares you but if this gets you to get him to the hospital then I'm kind of not. I have seen people who ignore symptoms like these die. I know that's harsh to say...but he needs to be in the hospital. This sort of crappy medical care just pisses me off. Make sure, once he's getting treatment that you write down each call you made, what was discussed, what time you called and what the issues and outcomes were. This will be important when/if you file a complaint. I'm really sorry for him and you for having to go through this. He should have never been discharged in that condition....period.

Please keep us posted.