Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New profile posts
Latest activity
Internet Search
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
General Discussions
The Watercooler
ER Trip From Hades
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 8909" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>We were on holidays a few years ago when I got food poisoning. Now, I take fairly strong pain medications as a routine, all checked out thoroughly and authorised by specialists (including ongoing, long-term supervision by a pain management specialist - palliative care). I even carry a letter from my doctor to explain to hospital emergency departments what to do in the event I need emergency injections.</p><p></p><p>The food poisoning meant my pain medications did not stay down, nor had they been absorbed for over 36 hours. This meant my pain levels were escalating, fast. Add in the constant vomiting and severe headaches (part of the constant pain), with no top-up medications staying down, I knew things were heading downhill, fast. The increasing pain was also causing nausea, above & beyond the food poisoning. I was going into shock. husband called an ambulance and followed it to the hospital. Once there, we waited, with me on a gurney under bright fluorescent lights. I don't have a lot of recollection, apart from time passing with the pain getting worse. And worse. I was drifting in and out, only aware of pain and vomiting. When I finally got seen, husband showed them the letter from my doctor which gave specific instructions as to the cocktail injection of anti-vomiting medications plus pain medications which generally stopped one of these attacks. They told husband that they didn't have any pain medications on site! Yeah, right. An ER? They asked if I had any pain medications with me, but I'd been too out of things to grab my handbag. I did get an antiemetic, though, they had put in a drip by this stage. I'd been moved at some point to a darkened room and hooked up to a monitor. I remember things were not normal - I'm not sure now, it was hazy, but either BiPolar (BP) or pulse or something was going crazy. Finally, after about six hours and when I hadn't vomited for about an hour, they brought me a couple of pills that they KNEW were nowhere near as strong as my usual medications, but would have knocked out a horse that wasn't used to them. For me, marginally better than tic tacs. But with the antiemetic injection it was enough to ease the pain so I wasn't vomiting from shock, until husband got me back to our unit just on sunrise. I remember having to shield my eyes from the rising sun. As soon as I got back to our unit, I was able to swallow my stronger pills and thanks to their shot, keep them down (providing I went to bed, went to sleep and stayed in the dark).</p><p></p><p>We found out later, the hospital had thought I was exhibiting drug-seeking behaviour and the letter from my doctor was considered to be a forgery. Mind you, it had his phone number and they never tried to telephone him to verify it.</p><p></p><p>I was very angry about the whole thing. Not only did my doctor's letter get ignored, but it was the one thing which I had thought would protect me from such an accusation. How the h*** can I make sure it won't happen again? Any vomiting attack, for any cause, can trigger a crisis like this.</p><p></p><p>On the plus side, easy child took her siblings to a nearby bowling alley for the morning, to give husband & me some much-needed rest. Especially husband - he'd been alert the whole time, trying to argue with medical staff.</p><p></p><p>I'd love to not need to take strong pain killers. But unfortunately, I live on them. My days and weeks are measured by the march of capsules and empty foils. I hate it. But I'd always believed that in a crisis, I could get emergency treatment from a hospital.</p><p></p><p>Something similar happened when difficult child 3 was born - my doctor had ordered my usual medications ("as the patient requests"), since I had to use the hospital supply and not bring my own. But the nurses thought differently - even though the medications were ordered, they would 'forget' to bring them when I requested. A nurse would go off shift and I would have to repeat my request an hour later. When I kept persisting, about 3 days after difficult child 3's birth, they clearly thought I should be weaned off the medications. My pre-existing medical condition was in the charts; I was walking with crutches; there was clearly a lot more wrong than just recent childbirth. But they were refusing the medications that the doctor had ordered.</p><p>I asked them why, and was told, "We've lost the key to the drugs cupboard."</p><p>So I replied, "Then isn't it a good thing I have some spare supplies? I'll get my husband to bring in more from home."</p><p>They said, "You're not supposed to have your own medications with you, you're supposed to turn them over to us."</p><p>I said, "Where are you going to put them? You've lost the key to the drugs cupboard."</p><p>They were clearly in a quandary and by now I knew they were lying to me. There were patients on this ward who had just had Caesarean operations, they would need that drugs cupboard available.</p><p>So we compromised - I took my own medications WHEN I knew I needed them (actually taking a lot less than the doctor had ordered, so I clearly wasn't a junkie taking advantage of an idiot doctor), and I made a point of noting down time and dosage to tell the nurses, so they could put it on my chart. I also emphasised to the nurses that in taking the medications I was following through on what the doctor had ordered for me. I was really furious - plus, the doctor was a wimp. He was supportive and annoyed on my behalf, but he couldn't convince the nurses to "find the key" either.</p><p></p><p>The nurses could find no fault with my parenting skills or coping ability - especially not once I had access to my appropriate medications. But they had a blind spot about pre-existing conditions and needs above & beyond that of new mothers.</p><p></p><p>Hospitals are NOT healthy places. They're full of sick people. Only some of them are the patients. The others are mostly megalomaniacs.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 8909, member: 1991"] We were on holidays a few years ago when I got food poisoning. Now, I take fairly strong pain medications as a routine, all checked out thoroughly and authorised by specialists (including ongoing, long-term supervision by a pain management specialist - palliative care). I even carry a letter from my doctor to explain to hospital emergency departments what to do in the event I need emergency injections. The food poisoning meant my pain medications did not stay down, nor had they been absorbed for over 36 hours. This meant my pain levels were escalating, fast. Add in the constant vomiting and severe headaches (part of the constant pain), with no top-up medications staying down, I knew things were heading downhill, fast. The increasing pain was also causing nausea, above & beyond the food poisoning. I was going into shock. husband called an ambulance and followed it to the hospital. Once there, we waited, with me on a gurney under bright fluorescent lights. I don't have a lot of recollection, apart from time passing with the pain getting worse. And worse. I was drifting in and out, only aware of pain and vomiting. When I finally got seen, husband showed them the letter from my doctor which gave specific instructions as to the cocktail injection of anti-vomiting medications plus pain medications which generally stopped one of these attacks. They told husband that they didn't have any pain medications on site! Yeah, right. An ER? They asked if I had any pain medications with me, but I'd been too out of things to grab my handbag. I did get an antiemetic, though, they had put in a drip by this stage. I'd been moved at some point to a darkened room and hooked up to a monitor. I remember things were not normal - I'm not sure now, it was hazy, but either BiPolar (BP) or pulse or something was going crazy. Finally, after about six hours and when I hadn't vomited for about an hour, they brought me a couple of pills that they KNEW were nowhere near as strong as my usual medications, but would have knocked out a horse that wasn't used to them. For me, marginally better than tic tacs. But with the antiemetic injection it was enough to ease the pain so I wasn't vomiting from shock, until husband got me back to our unit just on sunrise. I remember having to shield my eyes from the rising sun. As soon as I got back to our unit, I was able to swallow my stronger pills and thanks to their shot, keep them down (providing I went to bed, went to sleep and stayed in the dark). We found out later, the hospital had thought I was exhibiting drug-seeking behaviour and the letter from my doctor was considered to be a forgery. Mind you, it had his phone number and they never tried to telephone him to verify it. I was very angry about the whole thing. Not only did my doctor's letter get ignored, but it was the one thing which I had thought would protect me from such an accusation. How the h*** can I make sure it won't happen again? Any vomiting attack, for any cause, can trigger a crisis like this. On the plus side, easy child took her siblings to a nearby bowling alley for the morning, to give husband & me some much-needed rest. Especially husband - he'd been alert the whole time, trying to argue with medical staff. I'd love to not need to take strong pain killers. But unfortunately, I live on them. My days and weeks are measured by the march of capsules and empty foils. I hate it. But I'd always believed that in a crisis, I could get emergency treatment from a hospital. Something similar happened when difficult child 3 was born - my doctor had ordered my usual medications ("as the patient requests"), since I had to use the hospital supply and not bring my own. But the nurses thought differently - even though the medications were ordered, they would 'forget' to bring them when I requested. A nurse would go off shift and I would have to repeat my request an hour later. When I kept persisting, about 3 days after difficult child 3's birth, they clearly thought I should be weaned off the medications. My pre-existing medical condition was in the charts; I was walking with crutches; there was clearly a lot more wrong than just recent childbirth. But they were refusing the medications that the doctor had ordered. I asked them why, and was told, "We've lost the key to the drugs cupboard." So I replied, "Then isn't it a good thing I have some spare supplies? I'll get my husband to bring in more from home." They said, "You're not supposed to have your own medications with you, you're supposed to turn them over to us." I said, "Where are you going to put them? You've lost the key to the drugs cupboard." They were clearly in a quandary and by now I knew they were lying to me. There were patients on this ward who had just had Caesarean operations, they would need that drugs cupboard available. So we compromised - I took my own medications WHEN I knew I needed them (actually taking a lot less than the doctor had ordered, so I clearly wasn't a junkie taking advantage of an idiot doctor), and I made a point of noting down time and dosage to tell the nurses, so they could put it on my chart. I also emphasised to the nurses that in taking the medications I was following through on what the doctor had ordered for me. I was really furious - plus, the doctor was a wimp. He was supportive and annoyed on my behalf, but he couldn't convince the nurses to "find the key" either. The nurses could find no fault with my parenting skills or coping ability - especially not once I had access to my appropriate medications. But they had a blind spot about pre-existing conditions and needs above & beyond that of new mothers. Hospitals are NOT healthy places. They're full of sick people. Only some of them are the patients. The others are mostly megalomaniacs. Marg [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
General Discussions
The Watercooler
ER Trip From Hades
Top