Embarrasing illnesses

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in Trauma, ER, ICU, CCU, PACU, GI, Cardiology, OR.

generally speaking, i work in environment that caters mostly to male patients at least 96% of our patients are men. having said that, last summer one of my regular patients, you know the type i'm referring to, came in with a trench-coat in the middle of summer!. needless to say, after he closed the door behind him, he open his trench-coat to reveal a condition known as priapism! that he has sustained for over 6 hours!!! however, he was so embarrassed about it, he was praying that it would go away own it's own. therefore, my question to all of you is, have you encountered any embarrassing illnesses that you had to addressed knowing; that the patient was totally ashamed having to discuss this with you? :no:

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Not an illness, but embarrassing all the same: had a patient come up from the ER with a "foreign body" that was still buzzing away after we resected her colon.

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Specializes in PACU.
Not an illness, but embarrassing all the same: had a patient come up from the ER with a "foreign body" that was still buzzing away after we resected her colon.

Yeah, the foreign bodies definitely rank up there. I suppose one could contend it's a mental illness which leads to the insertion of at least some of these items, esp. the bizarre improvised ones.

I've seen men (esp. teens) embarrassed about testicular torsion who wait to seek care, which is of course quite unfortunate. That can be sad.

I like the play stupid games, win stupid prizes injuries, too. You know, the real "hold my beer and watch this" moments.

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Specializes in ED/ICU/TELEMETRY/LTC.

Dear father. Saw a 5 hour priapism once. This poor guy was in torture. And then, OMG, the doctor took this HUGE, and I mean HUGE,( must have been an 18 gauge) needle, and a humongous syringe, put it right into the side of the member and drew out blood. I expected some instant relief, but it was still there.

Poor guy was in terrible pain.

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Dear father. Saw a 5 hour priapism once. This poor guy was in torture. And then, OMG, the doctor took this HUGE, and I mean HUGE,( must have been an 18 gauge) needle, and a humongous syringe, put it right into the side of the member and drew out blood. I expected some instant relief, but it was still there.

Poor guy was in terrible pain.

Talk to a few urology peeps and you'll find this is becoming a common occurence since the advent of giddy-up-again pills.

Scary stuff. Not sure men are educated enough about the adverse outcomes associated with waitng and hoping it goes away instead of getting into the doc pronto.

As to the thread topic...and the mention of a trenchcoat...I remember a case of a shop vac nozzle...

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.

The fellow that came in from a motel after getting his member stuck in the motel pool drain.

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Penile implants and how to pump them up. Never send in the new grad to do a crusty old bat's job.

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Waay back in the day.. I had a patient with priaprism.

Was not quite sure WHAT to chart.

Erection persists?? All we can do is remain professional and supportive.

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Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.

Man and dog. Man got stuck. 'nuff said.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Man who shot one testicle off after shoving his gun into his waistband and sitting down in his car, apparently believing that since 9 mm pistols never discharge accidentally on TV, it wouldn't happen to him IRL.

The same man returned to my hospital some months later, minus his OTHER huevo as well as part of his manhood. And yep, he'd done it the same way. We couldn't help being just a wee bit relieved to know that he'd eliminated all possibility of passing on his, um, intellectual gifts to another generation.....:uhoh21:

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Didn't take me very long to figure out that when a gentleman makes an appt for his upper thigh and looks stressed out that it might not be his thigh......

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I worked in uro for awhile. We saw all kinds of "interesting things". I'll never understand why people think it is a good idea to stick items into their urethra.. Items can get stuck/sucked in there.. Also cocaine and viagra do not mix.. Just an FYI we learned from a patient..

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