Okay, so my wife is in the hospital for a "malignant migraine"..meaning that she's had it since last Thursday and it hasn't gone away despite her home meds (60 mg MS contin qid and Actiq 600 mcg x 4 for breakthru).
She has been to the ER 5 times, resulting in 1 admission (for b/p issues, not pain). I tried to tell them that "if you get the pain under control, the b/p issue resolves." But they aren't listening.
Now she's been admitted again (different hospital - this one her neuro doc is on staff). Before you flame me for "doc shopping" know this...we only go to one ER unless we KNOW she's going to be admitted, because they are the one's who have treated her for 6+ years and know her well. The only problem is that her neuro and pain mgmt docs practice at another hospital.
We also carry a letter from her neuro doc that states her condition and what to do if she presents, which most docs are really good to follow.
My problem is this particular hospital admission. She is in the hospital right now - was admitted about 1500 yesterday. ER did a fantastic job of obtaining access (I stick little babies and she's HARD access) so we have an IV. YAAY, right? So they give her some meds through the IV and call the neurologist...on to admission.
The neurologist has a hospitalist admit her, and he (neuro) comes to see her in the hospital. He tells her that they're going to do alternating meds q1h in hopes of getting her some relief of her pain. This is working excellently at bringing down the headache - until the hospitalist comes back to write more orders. Now the pain meds are only q4h and she can't do any of her home meds in addition to it...it's an "either, or" situation. ***??
Can you say "withdrawal"????
Okay, she's been admitted before with this same type of thing..once 6 months ago...time before that was 3 years ago. Always has the doc continued home meds and given other things "in addition" to whatever they were giving her in the hospital.
This doctor obviously needs to be schooled in pain management.:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire
Arrrrghh. Believe me, I understand his notion of "not wanting to give her too much narcotics"...but he obviously didn't read her history, and that irks me even more. She's been on these meds for the past 4 years and we've NEVER had a problem in the past whenever she was admitted. They just continue her home regimen, and give her breakthru meds every few hours to get the pain to acceptable levels. A day or two of that and the headache goes away...and off we go...BUT NOOO, NOT THIS TIME...
Okay, so THEN I talk to her 3-11 nurse...wonderful woman. She tells me that since the doc only wants meds q4h, she's gonna see if she can give 1/2 the dose q2h..makes sense, doesn't it?? Excellent advocate for patients..kudos.
Then the biznotch 11-7 nurse comes in. She's either a new grad (sorry please don't flame me for this) or an idiot because she 1. has zero compassion for what my wife has been through in the last week 2. told me she couldn't discuss my wife's condition with me because of HIPAA, even though I'm specifically named on the privacy form. I even give her date of birth, got a total attitude with me, et cetera and I'm thinking....arrghhhh...this chick is killing me!!! 3. She refuses to call the physician back and tell him that the treatment regimen he began is NOT WORKING. If it were possible for her to just take her "home meds", then um... WE WOULDN'T BE IN THE HOSPITAL...grrrrrrrrr!!!! :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire
Ugh...ever want to knock the snot out of someone?? Glad I have a heavy bag at home.
I just hate to see my wife suffer at the hands of idiots and those who couldn't care less.
Thanks for listening. Any suggestions?
Have a good day.
We had finally started making progress..the headache was going away. NOW? Back to square one...the same intense pain she's had since last Thursday. I'm gonna have doctor for breakfast.
Thanks for letting me vent. Sorry it's so long...I just HATE to see my wife suffer.
