ER help!

HeartRN13 · May 6, 2014

This is very upsetting to hear. Drug seeking or not, I was always taught and have always practiced by teaching pain as a vital sign, and understanding it is subjective. It astounds me that I've seen people who ARE drug seeking catered to with a cocktail of pain meds, and the people who truly are in pain are apprehensively given pain medication. Please consider going somewhere else if your needs aren't being met. I'm sorry this happened to your boyfriend.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · May 6, 2014

We cannot give medical advice as per the Terms of Service.

I am so sorry your partner is experiencing health issues. Sadly the ED experiences many, many people who do use the ED as a one stop drug fix. Addiction is not a "certain population" disease and it affects anyone regardless of socioeconomic situation.

Chest pain should be addressed. Lower extremity edema/swelling should be addressed. That ED person was a butt head and even if this was the case there are better ways to communicate.

Go to a different ER. Call his primary MD there is always someone on call.

Does he have a cardiologist? or a Nephrologist? (kidney specialist). If you don't get answers in one place....go to another.

I am sending positive thoughts your way....((HUGS))

amoLucia · May 10, 2014

To OP - you comment that you seek health care thru the ED. Does your guy have a primary care physician? Emergency rooms are good for EMERGENCIES but chronic care with multiple issues such as his can be fragmented. A primary care physician could see the BIG picture of all your guy's multiple problems and a more comprehensive approach to his care might be better achieved..

You get the luck of the draw going thru the ED, whereas a PCP provides broader understanding with continuity of care.

Maybe that's a better option for him.

TriciaJ, RN · May 10, 2014

I agree with amoLucia. Sounds like a lot of ED visits, which means a lot of health problems that need to be addressed proactively. Your guy does need to find a primary care doctor and get referrals to the necessary specialists. He needs to be thoroughly worked up to identify the actual problems, and he needs a comprehensive treatment plan to get on top of his problems.

ED visits are stopgaps at best and not designed to provide ongoing comprehensive health care.

suanna · May 10, 2014

The "preception of these docs" is being fed by the current war on narcotics. At the state and federal level, anything but short term use of any narcotic pain medication is being labeled as suspicious of abuse. There are many individuals for whom narcotics are the best option for both rescue intervention (like at an emergency room) or steady state managemnet with daily use of a long acting narcotics. These drugs do get a bad rep from all the narcotic abusers that show up in the ER (or the morgue), but no one ever pronounces a moral judgment about someone in renal failure from ibuprofen, or a GI bleeder from the ASA user. Sure- we educate about side effects- but the ASA induced ulcer patient isn't treated like a drug seeking bum. Funny- narcotics my be advised since they don't have that nasty "eat a hole in your stomach" side effect. Unfortunately, the next time the patinet needs some type of urgent care- they are going to be judged as another drug seeking bum, for getting the script, and using the drug we directed them to when they showed up with thier ulcer. This pendulum has been swinging back and forth for a century- right now narcotics are BAD BAD BAD- 10 more years and we should be swung back to somewhere more the middle ground in the opinion pool.

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · May 11, 2014

The "preception of these docs" is being fed by the current war on narcotics. At the state and federal level, anything but short term use of any narcotic pain medication is being labeled as suspicious of abuse. There are many individuals for whom narcotics are the best option for both rescue intervention (like at an emergency room) or steady state managemnet with daily use of a long acting narcotics. These drugs do get a bad rep from all the narcotic abusers that show up in the ER (or the morgue), but no one ever pronounces a moral judgment about someone in renal failure from ibuprofen, or a GI bleeder from the ASA user. Sure- we educate about side effects- but the ASA induced ulcer patient isn't treated like a drug seeking bum. Funny- narcotics my be advised since they don't have that nasty "eat a hole in your stomach" side effect. Unfortunately, the next time the patinet needs some type of urgent care- they are going to be judged as another drug seeking bum, for getting the script, and using the drug we directed them to when they showed up with thier ulcer. This pendulum has been swinging back and forth for a century- right now narcotics are BAD BAD BAD- 10 more years and we should be swung back to somewhere more the middle ground in the opinion pool.

true! True! TRUE!! I have severe asthma that is further triggered by any NSAID or ASA or salicylate use. I also get

migraines. I use baclofen, and Tylenol, and hydration, and caffeine to treat them the best I can. It doesn't work nearly as well as Excedrin or Ibuprofen. I also ended up in the ER after an accident with some fairly decent injuries. They wanted to give me Toradol. As soon as I said I couldn't have NSAID's the docror's demeanor totally changed and I was given Tylenol and discharged in as much pain as I came in with. I now get panicked when my migraines start because I know I'll often be in pain for 3 days with no relief.

BrnEyedGirl, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN · May 14, 2014

Aubrey, while we obviously can not offer medical advice, and you should NEVER accept advice from an online forum,...I would like to add something. There seems to be a misconception that the ER offers the best care for every type of problem. While it is true, we see everything in the ER, we are all trained in emergency medicine. We are trained to keep people alive until they can get to the specialist who can fix them. If you are thrown through the windshield of your car or shot in the chest we are trained to work quickly and efficiently to keep you alive until you can get to the OR so the surgeon can fix the problem. We get people ready for the cath lab in record time and can get a stroke patient to the CT even before the doctor comes into the room. That is what our "specialty" is. For chronic health problems, and complicated health problems we can only perform minor "bandaids" and send you on. Your husband needs to develop a good relationship with his primary care physician and any specialists he may see, they should have a plan to keep him out of the ER. The ER doesn't know him, doesn't know what has been tried, what worked, what didn't work and why. No ER doc is a specialist in CHF or Kidney failure, they are ER specialists. Help your spouse develop a good relationship with docs that know him and his unique problems. I'm sorry to hear you were treated poorly, there is no excuse for that. I honestly believe you will be happier with docs who know you and know what is going on with your husband,.....best of luck to you both!

macfar28 · May 19, 2014

Since many of his visits to the ED involve severe pain, what about getting him hooked up with a pain clinic (if your community has one)? Good lucky to you both.