Tips on how NOT to appear like a Drug seeker

If you have a chronic condition, the pain is best managed outside of the ER.

Even so Val, the ER is the place people end up because frequently even chronic pain involves breakthru, and that is an acute condition best managed in the emergency setting.

My advice to the OP, talk with your doctor about the best course of treatment SHOULD YOU HAVE TO go to the ER. Carry a letter with you from him/her that says "This pt. is under my care , please give med X, Y, and Z and call me if you have any questions or concerns." You will find that many doctors appreciate this (both ER and private practice). This will expedite your care and allow your ER doc to know that YES, your PCP is aware and that he/she can be contacted at any time. This can go a long way in avoiding the perception that you are a "drug seeker".

vamedic4
Good luck!!!!

Oh really? Reading through some of the threads on here about the assumptions that are sometimes made regarding who is and who isn't a Drug seeker, as well as hearing testimony from others who have mistakenly labelled as "drug seeking" and mistreated because of that fact, along with the fact that I have personally experienced being mislabelled as a "just a junkie looking for a fix" by ER staff, I seriously beg to differ with you on this point.

In 1997 I presented in severe pain to a local Emergeny Dept. I was sent there directly from an after hours medical service and was suspected of having a Pneumothorax. I had been experiencing severe headaches and earaches all that day, by night time I was vomiting and being wracked by extremely painful spasms all through my neck, back and stomach. I have never experienced anything more painful in my life so far, and that includes crush injuries and fractures to my foot and post Laparoscopy/Hysteroscopy pain, I was literally screaming with pain and I could not help myself. When I got to the ED right from the start I was treated badly. The admissions Nurse berated me for not being able to say more than 2 words at once through the pain to give my details properly, the Nurse who was assigned to look after me once I was admitted was very short and abrupt with me, at one point she lowered the back of the bed down and it set off a series of extremely painful spasms, so she quite roughly shoved the bed back up to a more upright postion and walked off with a huffy "there hope your happy" comment thrown back at me. At all times, whilst I screamed and cried and begged for pain relief, I was made to feel as if I was just a huge inconvenience and annoyance to them. When the X-ray came back clear for Pneumothorax, do you know what they did?? The Nurses and The Doctor who were supposed to be looking after me went and stood in full view of me drinking coffee, laughing, pointing, rolling their eyes in my direction and making comments about "junkies looking for a fix". I was discharged with a valium and one Panadeine Forte tablet. I half squat walked, half crawled out of that ED, still in excruitiating pain and still vomiting. 2 weeks later it was finally realised that I had Bornholms Disease.

So after an experience like this please do not try and tell me that only a Drug Seeker should be worried about being seen as such.

Word.