Best Hallucinations Thread

Nurses General Nursing

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Cmon, what's some of the good stuff?

I had a patient who spoke only Russian and finally when I was assigned to him, I think I might have been the first person who understood him (I speak Russian). Turns out he'd been hallucinating for God knows how long! It was sort of sweet because he was comforted by the baby bear and his mama bear in the corner. Bears are a common animal in Russian folklore. One of my favorite residents got her nickname 'Baby Bear' that way because the patient pointed right at her to indicate where he thought he was seeing it.

I had another patient who hadn't slept in days and was demanding every sedative/narcotic/benzo we could give but fighting terribly to stay awake so we couldn't say she was too sedated for the next dose. It was nuts. By the time she had a psychotic break, she was accusing me of plotting to run away with her boyfriend and that there were puppies in the hallway.

That also reminds me of the lady who said she watched a wedding procession in the hallway.

There are so many of these, right?

Oh, and there was the time when the whole staff on the 75-bed Alzheimers unit where my students had an optional rotation decided to dress as Smurfs for Halloween. Blue makeup and white hats and all. Words fail me.

Specializes in being a Credible Source.

Man, I take Ambien regularly... and I'm starting to feel ripped off...

Specializes in Gerontology.

I had a pt who kept saying he was on a plane. He would ring his bell and ask when the plane was going to land, where we were going etc.

but he would also ring the bell for the nurse when he needed pain meds, bathroom whatever. So one day I asked him, " if you are on a plane, why are you ringing for a nurse? "

His answer? You come!

Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

I had a fellow with DTs, way back before CIWA protocols, who was in leather 4 point restraints. He was absolutely panicking about the motorcycle gang with rifles riding around in the light fixture over his bed, trying to kill him. Poor thing being tied down had no where to hide and no way to run away from them. I felt really sorry for him.

This happened years ago when I was a PCT and all of 19 years old. I worked on a surgical unit and we often got pts who reacted to pain meds and anesthesia. My all time favorite was a little elderly lady in her mid to late 80's. I had introduced myself and given her my name. I was standing next to her counting her pulse rate. She grabbed my hand with her other hand and said your hair looks lovely Scarlett. I thanked her and corrected her on my name (its not Scarlett). She then told me to stop teasing her. So I just went along with it. I had no idea why she thought I was Scarlett until later that night she started asking me about my plantation and then asked me how Rhett was doing.

Finally I figured it out. The way I had styled my hair and my curls she thought I was from Gone With the Wind. Bless her little heart. She would become so mad when anyone tried to correct her on my name. The sweet little lady would cuss anyone out for accusing her of not knowing "who the hell Scarlett is!" And even told the nurse to get the F out of her house and stop calling her a damn liar. The name stuck and for years my co-workers called me Scarlett.

one of the anti-rejection meds was made by injecting pt's blood into horses (yes, horses), then harvesting serum from the horses and giving it back to the pt

Still do that but with rabbits!

Specializes in Gerontology.

I had a pt who blamed her incontinence on her stuffed pig. If she was wet she would point to the pig and say "he did it". We would joke around with her about that stuffed pink pig..

Until one day

I walked in once to find her head to toe full of stool. Seriously.I don't know how she did it, but that was poop everywhere! I had to get a second person to come and help me get her on to a shower chair because there was no where to touch her without coming in contact with poop.

The only clean place in the entire bed was that damned pink pig.. And I swear he was smiling at me......

I once rounded on an elderly patient clinging to her side rails while begging, "Somebody, please get me off this boat." She was on an alternating pressure mattress.

I love the patients who think their SCDs are kittens or puppies, too.

Known hallucination pt called out that there were 2 men with guns drawn in his room. When we entered the room he was very upset, we explained that it was a mirror. He turned toward the empty chair beside him and said "Back me up, Jim!"

At one point he was asked what the guy looked like. He pointed to the chair and said "Like that!"

Specializes in Pulmonary, Lung Transplant, Med/Surg.

Had a loopy post lung transplant who was convinced there were giant holes in floor of her room, would SCREAM every time a nurse walked in to "warn us"

Same transplant patient later thought we were holding her hostage, barricaded herself in her room one night, closed the door, body against the door and called 911! Turns out cops showed up at her house (they traced address of her cell phone bill), we were frantically calling 911 to cancel her call it was AWFUL!!

DT patient was terrified of the purple alligator and purple goo all over her floor

Another DTer we could only get the lactulose in if we told him it was a shot if vodka....down the hatch!

On orientation, for some odd reason, I was assigned with my preceptor(yes an RN - such a waste of resources, ANYWAY haha) to a md ordered 1:1 for an ETOHer. So I was with this lady for 8.5 hours straight....

favorite line "GET ME OUTTA THIS CAKE BAKERY!!"

my response "I wish I was at a cake bakery..." (sigh) and the best part was I didn't even think about it, that's just what came out! my preceptor was dying laughing!

Specializes in Med-Surg.
I had a fellow with DTs, way back before CIWA protocols, who was in leather 4 point restraints. He was absolutely panicking about the motorcycle gang with rifles riding around in the light fixture over his bed, trying to kill him. Poor thing being tied down had no where to hide and no way to run away from them. I felt really sorry for him.

Yea, it's real easy to feel sorry for them...until you untie them and a poor nurse ends up punched in the throat and rushed to the ER....

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