Bad experience at the ER

TimBukWho? · Apr 1, 2009

I think it's the fact that there are many drug seekers who use the ER and this doc lost the sensitivity factor d/t working in this emotionally demanding environment. I think that many people become emotionally hardened and choose to be judgmental instead of treating each person individually and not fitting everyone into a stereotype. It's sad, but it obviously happens. I doubt very much that it had to do with you but rather the physician's experiences. Maybe the physician had a really long shift or lacked much sleep, possibly had dealt with other patients that were asking for narcs. Maybe even the physician had been questioned about the amount of narc prescriptions she had given recently. Who knows. None of this is an excuse for the insensitive behavior though.

morte, LPN, LVN · Apr 1, 2009

because your blood work came back neg; and as we have seen recently on this board,you cant be sure that the report was yours; the doc ASSumed you were lying. It is too bad you didn't see your own doc for f/u and have he/she write a letter to the ED director. But that is "water over the dam", for your own mental health you need to let it go. When you do get to work ED YOU will be on the lookout for this issue, knowing how it felt! good luck.

argos · Apr 1, 2009

If you had to wait 4 hours to get seen then it means the staff in the ER were very busy that day. The MD was in a bad mood and probably has a poor attitude to begin with. Seekers are notorious for refusing iv narcs so they can get their po narc rx filled. When you refused the iv meds and your labs came back normal you fit the profile of a seeker.The Doc answered a question that they get asked a million times by seekers before you could ask it. It was a pre-emptive answer. The attitude from the doc was because seekers are a drain on ER resources and they delay care for other patients.

morte, LPN, LVN · Apr 1, 2009

gee, i thought most of the seekers would be thrilled with the iv, a quick high, and THEN get the script filled.....

lpnstudentin2010, LPN · Apr 1, 2009

This is something I am always concerned about when I am in the hospital. I am allergic to: Morphine, Dilaudid, and Oxycodone. For after my surgery I always request demeral due to the fact that it works really well for me, also the last few surgeries I have had, I freak out while waking up and it calms me down.

However there have also been times that I requested a really weak med since it was all I would need. I had my wisdom teeth out at my hospital and the oral surgeon who did it worked with both my current and old surgeon, and I had been evaluated by her in the past (and she rememberd it). and she asked what i wanted for pain meds told her tylenol 3.

However, I can understand the feeling of being thought a drug seeker, I always worry that my medical professionals who are not used to me will think it of me.

retiredlady · Apr 1, 2009

A lot of doctors don't understand chronic pancreatitis. When you have this, your enyzmes will not go up always, your pancreas is not working correctly. Pancreatitis has the worst pain that there is. After a while, the ER doctors will just have that look on their faces that says drug seeker. Especially, when the patient knows what works and what doesn't, because haven't they been through this before. Not all patients are unintelligent. That's my rant. I just feel that they don't always get the care that they deserve, because the doctors don't deal with it very much.

Editorial Team / Moderator · Apr 1, 2009

However, I can understand the feeling of being thought a drug seeker, I always worry that my medical professionals who are not used to me will think it of me.

When patients come in and request a specific narcotic as well as the dose they'd like, I'll admit it does set off some alarms. I figure if the patient isn't seeking, he or she has had way too much experience with being in pain. I try very, very hard to not judge people, but sometimes it is difficult, I admit it. I strive to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but I've been fooled by seekers more than once. Some performances are Oscar-worthy! It's really sad to see people at that level of desperation and subterfuge.

We had a patient come in to the ER to be seen just to request a refill of her "Di-la-la." OMG. I couldn't stop laughing at the way she said Dilaudid! She wanted her ticket back to Di-la-la-land, I suppose.

And to the OP -- I'm sorry you were judged harshly.

mcleanl · Apr 1, 2009

A lot of doctors don't understand chronic pancreatitis. When you have this, your enyzmes will not go up always, your pancreas is not working correctly. Pancreatitis has the worst pain that there is. After a while, the ER doctors will just have that look on their faces that says drug seeker. Especially, when the patient knows what works and what doesn't, because haven't they been through this before. Not all patients are unintelligent. That's my rant. I just feel that they don't always get the care that they deserve, because the doctors don't deal with it very much.

I personally don't think that chronic pain should be managed in the ED.

morte, LPN, LVN · Apr 1, 2009

I personally don't think that chronic pain should be managed in the ED.

while i agree with your sentiment, it has no relevance to the post you quoted, nor the OP

SillyPinkBunny · Apr 1, 2009

Thank you for the responses. Well I guess what is done is done. I have never even thought of getting an RX for narcotics at the ER, I had pain meds at home, and since I am scared of most other meds. I got phenergan cause reglan and compazine gives me that weird side effect where I feel like I'm climbing the walls and have to be given benadryl to calm down. And since I started having pancreas problems when I was 14, until now, I have never been given a script for any pain meds @ the ER, and never expected to be given any, and the few times I needed pain meds for my stomach pain, I got them from my GI doctor, but he always gave me hydrocodone or oxycodone and they always made me vomit like crazy, so I am not a fan of pain meds. Thats also why I was also in a hurry to get off the meds I was on for chronic pain, which I only took for 8 months, and had absoutly no problams coming off of. Like I said, I am very very sensitive to most meds. Even when I had my kids I refused any drugs, I was too scared. Also I was wondering if this docor red flagged me, which is not fair, cause I didnt want IV pain meds, and I never asked for a prescription to take home. This doctors exact words where "Well your blood tests came back normal, but I see your taking methadone", and I said "yes", and she said "well I dont refill that type of med here", and I said "okay...." very confused like, and then she said she was gonna discharge me, and by this time I was so tierd of being at the ER, so I just went home and let the vomiting and pain take it's course and I finally fell asleep, cause all this happened at night and I got home form the ER about 6am, and fell asleep about 9am, and woke up at 2pm, with most of the pain gone, but I was very very weak. I was also thinking that maybe the phenergan and zofran was fake, and maybe just saline, cause those meds always work for me. Zofran was always my favorite cause it worked so well and didnt make me drowsy, and that was the only time it didnt work on me, it was strange. And when they gave me the phenergan, which usually makes me drowsy, didnt do anything this time. But I am really thinking that maybe they had a bunch of drug seekers that night, and the doctor just thoght I was one of them too, but instead she thought wrong and made me suffer But also it seems like she didnt read the meds I was til later. this whole experience just mademe fear going back to the ER, and also I am not a frequent flyer, maybe I was before I was diagnosed with pancreatic divisum, but that was when I was a teenager, butnow I go maybe once every few years, I ususall prefer o go to doctors office to get treatment, even my pcp has an IV room for emergencies, but I couldnt go that one time cause it was night time, and I guess I never followed up til way later, cause things like that where not unusual for me, but I absoutly hate vomiting. I can deal with the pain, but I absoutly can not deal with vomiting. Well thank you so much for the responses.

-SillyPinkbunny

morte, LPN, LVN · Apr 1, 2009

if this an ED that you may frequent again, you might want to get a copy of your records and review them.