# I'm in the ER waiting for labs and saline hookup. Guess the diagnosis? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 23, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806 "2014-04-23T21:14:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/41 "2014-04-25T16:05:59Z")
Got my walking papers! Well done, SD. Team de-briefing time TBD. Attendance mandatory. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/42 "2014-04-25T18:54:58Z")
Given that you are walking out today you probably did not have surgery and it was more likely a paralytic ileus from a gatroenteritis than a small bowel obstruction due to a yet to be identified cause. Glad you are better! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/43 "2014-04-25T19:45:18Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Given that you are walking out today you probably did not have surgery and it was more likely a paralytic ileus from a gatroenteritis than a small bowel obstruction due to a yet to be identified cause. Glad you are better! That’s what I was gonna say! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/44 "2014-04-25T20:16:34Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Got my walking papers! > > Well done, SD. Team de-briefing time TBD. Attendance mandatory. Yes, sir! Kind of a pity you got diagnosed so quickly. I was looking through the old humeric theory tomes and trying to decide whether you needed to be leeched or not. You were obviously hot rather than cold, but I couldn’t decide if you were dry or moist. I was leaning toward moist (and therefore needing the leeches) because you kept in good spirits instead of getting angry. Well, too late now. Looking forward to the debriefing. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/45 "2014-04-25T20:20:29Z")
WWSMD? What would Stephen Maturin do?. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/46 "2014-04-25T21:56:02Z")
I’d suggest Lycanthropy. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/47 "2014-04-25T21:58:44Z")
You had all the STDs, didn’t you? Every single one, from AIDS to zithromax-resistant syphillis. This is what happens when you don’t put those paper rings down on the toilet seat. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/48 "2014-04-26T08:33:56Z")
Dropsy. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/49 "2014-04-26T15:47:45Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > WWSMD? > > What would Stephen Maturin do?. Laudanum. Works wonders. Though I probably would not imbibe if I had a bowel obstruction as I hear it can make it worse. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/50 "2014-04-26T15:51:50Z")
I was going to guess that you had been parasitized by a Mongolian Death Worm larvae; something that can still not be ruled out at this stage. Many is the time (even though documentation is scarce, alas) that the people of the steppes have succumbed to this deadly malady. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/51 "2014-04-26T18:21:41Z")
Hey **Leo** , So what was the denoument? If it was small bowel obstruction what was the cause and if not what was the discharge diagnosis? ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/52 "2014-04-27T01:01:13Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I’d suggest Lycanthropy. We were supposed to diagnose his condition, not suggest new ones. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/53 "2014-04-27T02:16:13Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > So what was the denoument? If it was small bowel obstruction what was the cause and if not what was the discharge diagnosis? I thought he said here that the docs told him it wasn’t small bowel obstruction but rather idiopathic enteritis? Bolding mine: > [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Anyway, as you can see the sun set and rose and I was **undiagnosed with obstruction.** > > My feverish feelings are down, and for a while you could bounce a nickel off my guts, although it would hurt pretty badly, but the tenderness is less. > > I was Flagyl-ated and Cipro dropped all night and day today. **Enteritis. Cause unknown.** How jejune. Maybe I misunderstood? I’ve been watching the thread nervously like any good hypochondriac and rooting for Leo to have something easily fixable. If it was an obstruction they’d have done _something_ to, um, unobstruct it, wouldn’t they? Rather than just antibiotics, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/54 "2014-04-27T10:53:35Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I’d suggest Lycanthropy. > [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > We were supposed to diagnose his condition, not suggest new ones. It’s hard to argue about the improvement… ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/55 "2014-04-27T12:07:35Z")
> [@choie](#): > > I thought he said here that the docs told him it wasn’t small bowel obstruction but rather idiopathic enteritis? Bolding mine: > > Maybe I misunderstood?.. I think I am the one who misunderstood; I initially read that as having had obstruction that had been undiagnosed. With your bolding I can see that it more likely meant that they “undiagnosed” him, and left him as “enteritis” instead. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/56 "2014-04-27T22:48:00Z")
How about Lupus? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/848f3c/32.png) [@The\_Holdsworth\_Effect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Holdsworth_Effect)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806/57 "2014-04-28T13:23:28Z")
Idiopathic has long been a favorite word- the mentally challenged ones cannot determine the cause for the illness;). There was a Texas family doc who wrote a book about his postwar practice in the Hill Country, who coined the word pathopathy. He wondered about the social reasons behind the illnesses and injuries presented to him. Glad you are feeling better. That’s not a fun experience. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-in-the-er-waiting-for-labs-and-saline-hookup-guess-the-diagnosis/686806.md?page=2)