Current Events > Weird stuff patients do

(+) Yeah! (+)

Can't tell you how many patients think being in the hospital (or clinic) is some kind of quid-pro-quo deal. "I waited this long, you owe me some Norco" or "I'll take X if you will give me Y" or my personal favorite "Give me X or I'll leave AMA" as if leaving AMA has any impact on me whatsoever other than having one less person on my census.

Or basically bargaining in general. I'm not here to sell you something. I don't make any money off the things I do or don't prescribe.

It's so weird.

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So you purposefully withhold pain medication from patients who are in absolute agony and then say they are the weird ones? Smh.
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Shablagoo posted...

So you purposefully withhold pain medication from patients who are in absolute agony and then say they are the weird ones? Smh.

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I only eat my pills if they are stuffed into muffins!
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Another:

The alarming number of young people with bacteremia who leave AMA right after being admitted, then come back later with severe endocarditis (and sometimes leave AMA again).


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Lol, people really do that? I came in when my regular doctor fucked me over and put my appointment on Thanksgiving and I was suppose to get my pain med script. I was grateful that they helped me out cause I was fucked without it. But I realized they weren't just obligated, even though I was the one fucked over in the first place by someone else.
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Highwind07 posted...

Shablagoo posted...

So you purposefully withhold pain medication from patients who are in absolute agony and then say they are the weird ones? Smh.

To be quite fair doctors have been really hesitant on prescribing narcotics for a while.

While there is the general rule is that we should give them pain meds when they are in pain even if they don't look like they are some patients do in fact take advantage of this and scream and holler for pain meds. At least this is on the side of nursing.

As someone in these streets, a lot of people just sell them. To bad someone is always there to cop the whole script before I get notice.
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Highwind07 posted...

Shablagoo posted...

So you purposefully withhold pain medication from patients who are in absolute agony and then say they are the weird ones? Smh.

To be quite fair doctors have been really hesitant on prescribing narcotics for a while.

While there is the general rule is that we should give them pain meds when they are in pain even if they don't look like they are some patients do in fact take advantage of this and scream and holler for pain meds. At least this is on the side of nursing.

Especially because, at least with some of the stuff i.e. fentanyl, its become a national/federal issue now, right?

It sucks ass when youre in legitimate pain though. For me it wasnt so bad because they were able to more or less fix my health issue but watching my Dad go out slowly and agonizingly made me wish they could just keep upping the dose and not be so stingy with it.
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Shablagoo posted...

Especially because, at least with some of the stuff i.e. fentanyl, its become a national/federal issue now, right?

It sucks ass when youre in legitimate pain though. For me it wasnt so bad because they were able to more or less fix my health issue but watching my Dad go out slowly and agonizingly made me wish they could just keep upping the dose and not be so stingy with it.

Because you can kill someone with high dose opiates, and unless someone has extremely high tolerance or is "comfort measures only", most doctors aren't comfortable prescribing potentially lethal doses of opiates.


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Highwind07 posted...

Right.

One of the most common symptoms of narcotics abuse that you see in homeless people coming into clinics is that they complain of severe constipation.

Yeah I think they made it worse for my Dad too but by that point is organs were all kinds of fucked up as it was.
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Highwind07 posted...

Right.

One of the most common symptoms of narcotics abuse that you see in homeless people coming into clinics is that they complain of severe constipation.

The remedy to this is you stop taking them 16 hours before you plan on waking up. Also take something like miralax every morning.

10 years of experience right here
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DarkRoast posted...

Shablagoo posted...

Especially because, at least with some of the stuff i.e. fentanyl, its become a national/federal issue now, right?

It sucks ass when youre in legitimate pain though. For me it wasnt so bad because they were able to more or less fix my health issue but watching my Dad go out slowly and agonizingly made me wish they could just keep upping the dose and not be so stingy with it.

Because you can kill someone with high dose opiates, and unless someone has extremely high tolerance or is "comfort measures only", most doctors aren't comfortable prescribing potentially lethal doses of opiates.

Sure but at that point he would have been fine with that. (He said as much.)

But A.S. is its own issue. Only eight states allow it but itll be nine come 2020.
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Pain management is a never-ending pendulum that doctors can seemingly never win

Tick: Doctors don't treat pain adequately, they need to be less stingy with opioids
Tock: Doctors are killing people with opioids, we need to cut back

And it doesn't matter which side of the pendulum swing you're on, you will always lose a lawsuit. Whether it's overtreating pain or undertreating pain.

The worst part of all is that pain is the single most subjective "vital sign". You can't just target a specific X/10 number, because you'll have people playing Candy Crush saying their pain is 10/10 while someone in agony will say they're 6/10.


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Conflict posted...

You probably shouldn't abbreviate "Against Medical Advice" on a board where most people are not going to be familiar with that terminology

But it makes her seem so cool, intelligent, and mysterious.
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DarkRoast posted...

Pain management is a never-ending pendulum that doctors can seemingly never win

Tick: Doctors don't treat pain adequately, they need to be less stingy with opioids
Tock: Doctors are killing people with opioids, we need to cut back

And it doesn't matter which side of the pendulum swing you're on, you will always lose a lawsuit. Whether it's overtreating pain or undertreating pain.

Wait....I can act like my pain pill use is your guyzes fault and sue.... interesting

seriously, someone notice me in this topic. Im not going away
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who posted
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There's a large number of people on chronic opioids who are, quite literally, only satisfied when they're on so much medication that they're stuporous. If they regain any level of consciousness, they immediately ask for more medication.

It doesn't really matter how bad your pain is, that's no way to live. It's cruel to those who are actually in that much pain, and it's dangerous and irresponsible to those who are doing it for the high.


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Shablagoo posted...

who posted

Lol, oh you

Highwind07 posted...

Lost_All_Senses posted...

DarkRoast posted...

Pain management is a never-ending pendulum that doctors can seemingly never win

Tick: Doctors don't treat pain adequately, they need to be less stingy with opioids
Tock: Doctors are killing people with opioids, we need to cut back

And it doesn't matter which side of the pendulum swing you're on, you will always lose a lawsuit. Whether it's overtreating pain or undertreating pain.

Wait....I can act like my pain pill use is your guyzes fault and sue.... interesting

seriously, someone notice me in this topic. Im not going away

One of the weirdest stories that one of my professors told me was that there was this one patient in the facility that she used to work at that used to do cartwheels, yes cartwheels, up and down the halls everyday but he'll stop ever so often and ask the nurses for pain meds and always rate his pain on the upper side(5-8 I believe).

Sheesh. Hate those people. Makes it harder on people who are actually limited without pain meds. My spine looks like Chun-Li kicked me in the side tho. So I don't gotta convince anyone I got back pain. But for people who don't have the visual signs :/
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Conflict posted...

You probably shouldn't abbreviate "Against Medical Advice" on a board where most people are not going to be familiar with that terminology

Thank you! I kept wondering why a patient would say "I'm leaving, ask me anything"
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Shablagoo posted...

But it makes her seem so cool, intelligent, and mysterious.

Or maybe shes just used to speaking the terminology of her profession

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I didn't really think "AMA" was all that unknown by the general populace, since half the patients that do it actually say "I'm leaving AMA"


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DarkRoast posted...

There's a large number of people on chronic opioids who are, quite literally, only satisfied when they're on so much medication that they're stuporous. If they regain any level of consciousness, they immediately ask for more medication.

It doesn't really matter how bad your pain is, that's no way to live. It's cruel to those who are actually in that much pain, and it's dangerous and irresponsible to those who are doing it for the high.

Its like those people in Inception who stayed hooked up to their dreams 24/7. Or alcoholics and the oblivion that can be bought with booze. Or even kinda like The Matrix a bit, too.

Alpha218 posted...

Shablagoo posted...

But it makes her seem so cool, intelligent, and mysterious.

Or maybe shes just used to speaking the terminology of her profession

Maybe
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you'll have people playing Candy Crush saying their pain is 10/10 while someone in agony will say they're 6/10.

does pain tolerance get in the way too? like do you ever run into absolute tanks of people who should be outputting a 10 but they're like bored?

i knew what you meant by ama but i still read it 'ask me anything' and it made it funny.
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Pancake posted...

you'll have people playing Candy Crush saying their pain is 10/10 while someone in agony will say they're 6/10.

does pain tolerance get in the way too? like do you ever run into absolute tanks of people who should be outputting a 10 but they're like bored?

i knew what you meant by ama but i still read it 'ask me anything' and it made it funny.

I always tell people "10/10 is you having open abdominal surgery without any anesthesia" and they'll still say it's 10/10 while reading on their phone.


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DarkRoast posted...

There's a large number of people on chronic opioids who are, quite literally, only satisfied when they're on so much medication that they're stuporous. If they regain any level of consciousness, they immediately ask for more medication.

It doesn't really matter how bad your pain is, that's no way to live. It's cruel to those who are actually in that much pain, and it's dangerous and irresponsible to those who are doing it for the high.

When your tolerance goes down from over applying, it takes so many to get to that level. I wouldn't even tell people here how many I've taken in 24 hours. But Im also fine with my life on the minimal amount to get me by.
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Pancake posted...

you'll have people playing Candy Crush saying their pain is 10/10 while someone in agony will say they're 6/10.

does pain tolerance get in the way too? like do you ever run into absolute tanks of people who should be outputting a 10 but they're like bored?

i knew what you meant by ama but i still read it 'ask me anything' and it made it funny.

See when I was last in the hospital my pain was manageable (I had an esophagus and lung infection) except for when I had to swallow (i.e. eating and drinking). So even though the pain wasnt constantly bad, I really needed it gone to be able to get food down so I usually ranked my pain a pretty high number so Id be able to eat.
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Highwind07 posted...

Ooh sorry to hear that about your spine.

Don't be. We all got our things to overcome. Mine being visual gives me a sympathy that people who are scarred inside don't get. We all deal with shit and some people don't get the other fallbacks I have in life during. Plus, after 10+ years, you gotta just accept it's your norm and not get caught up in what others have. Cause like I said, just cause you don't see their scars don't mean they have it better.
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